I suffer from paroxysmal AF and ectopic beats, but occasionally get a racing heart (fast (150), but regular), accompanied with an energy rush, need to urinate and trembling - does anyone else experience this, too?
I can go for weeks without these symptoms, but, after they occur, I'm left with an increased resting heart rate (about 15 beats faster than normal) for around 24 hours.
The fast but regular t 150 sounds like it could be Atrial Flutter. I had that a few years ago - was up about 5 times in the night to go to the toilet (I rarely get up in the night usually). My heart rate was 150bpm for three days so I was hospitalised and given a cardioversion. A few months later it came back and I had an ablation for a litter and AF.
When I suffer AF my heartbeat feels weak, and I feel somewhat empty inside, but the regular fast rhythm I feel is just like sinus rhythm. It also feels like it comes on in stages, rather than just an instant switch like my experiences with AF.How does atrial flutter feel, are the beats more forceful than AF?
I'm scheduled for AF ablation in December, so part of me hopes it is atrial flutter.
It's a few years since I had it so it's hard to say with any accuracy. I definitely felt my heart racing.
When I had reentrant flutter I had a heart rate of 140bpm which was rate controlled by the diltiazem I was taking for my afib. It was very constant. I was very symptomatic with flutter, was breathless going to the kitchen for a brew (20 steps! in contrast asymptomatic in afib except for the 165bpm resting HR). Definitely I had no energy not more, and the flutter never stopped once it started. So it does not sound like the flutter I had . But we are all different!
Note that flutter is normally in the right atria, it can occur in left atria but is very rare. Afib normally left atria.
If you are going to have an ablation you could do with getting an ECG of this to confirm what it is prior to that ablation so your EP knows what he has to deal with certainly advise him of the new development.
I developed flutter after my AFib ablation . However my EP told me if there had been any sign of flutter on ECGs before my ablation or during he would have dealt with it at the same time.
Are you taking flecainide? I ask as flecainide is known to promote other arrhythmias. It almost certainly caused my A flutter.
I had a second ablation one month after the first to stop it. A flutter ablation is 90% succesful and it almost never recurrs if the ablation is succesful.
I have never had flutter nor afib since my ablations now going on 3 years9 months ago.
Not medically trained, just recounting my experiences.
Best wishes
You have my sympathies. I have had the urination and energy rush feeling often. I gather it’s a common feature of arrhythmias. I also had persistent tachycardia of 155bpm but that was when I had atrial flutter. It made me feel beyond awful (much of that feeling being down to anxiety, I expect, looking back).
One rough and ready way for you to check if you have AFl is to see what heart rates you are getting since, with flutter, your heart can only beat at a fixed ratio of the right atrium’s flutter rate, which in your case will be 300bpm. Hence look for rates of 150 > 100 > 75 > 50.
Since my ablation, I get something similar to you but without the energy rush (in fact, the reverse…) and usually only 90-110bpm with a peak of about 130bpm. It is accompanied by single or runs of ectopic beats and can trigger my afib, but usually it goes away quietly. I take a bisoprolol tablet which seems to help.
Steve
I was interested in your rough check for atrial flutter but didn't quite understand what you meant about the ratios. Are you saying that if your normal rate is, say, 60 bpm then any atrial flutter will be regular at 120, 180, 240 etc.?
Sorry for not being clear. When the top of the heart is in AFl, it is, unlike AF, beating evenly at c. 300bpm. The ventricles beat at a fraction of this but in a fixed ratio of a half (called “2:1 conduction”), third (3:1), quarter, sixth, etc. with no smooth transition just a stepwise jump. 1:1 conduction is very rare indeed, thankfully, as it is life threatening.
Steve
As the others have said it sounds like atrial flutter. If you don't already have one, it would be worth getting a Kardia which would confirm this.
I didn’t think that a Kardia could show AFl? That’s interesting.
Sometimes AFl can be masked by AF, too, I gather.
Steve
I'm not sure if it will actually flag atrial flutter with a message, but the 6L would show it on the ECG so an EP could identify it.
When I had it, I was told a twelve-lead ECG was needed and even then that it can be masked by afib. They injected adenosine during my ECG to show it up on one of the lead traces like a sawblade.
The Kardia is an excellent device though.
I googled for this and found the following article from AliveCor:
kardia.com/press/press_rele...
It says that Kardia 6L is more accurate than other devices such as the Apple Watch and has 63% accuracy in detecting atrial flutter. It doesn't list atrial flutter as being detectable instantly however (i.e. with a message). So it seems that it has some ability to pick up flutter, but this has to be read from the ECG and it isn't as accurate as it's detection of AF at 97%.
I only bought mine last month as things arrhythmia-wise were getting worse and my Apple Watch seemed to miss things.
I’m not sure it does now, but the Kardia does give a lot of extra information (at least for the extra £9.99!). My doctor was able to work out quite a lot from the ECG printouts that I emailed him, and I’m now on new treatment as a result. I think it’s worth it’s price all-considered as without that I’d still be in the dark.
Steve
My possible AFib was fast and variable but had no effect on my pulse rate which went up to a constant 60 bpm.
Thanks for all the responses.
I think it's one of three things: atrial flutter, inappropriate sinus rhythm, or a fight or flight response to ectopics/atrial fibrillation.
My cardiologist is aware of all my issues, but wants to concentrate on an ablation for AFib, which he thinks may eliminate some of my other symptoms, too.
I'm still not clear on atrial flutter: does it have a gradual onset, or does it immediately appear at 100, 150bpm etc?
I’ve not been dx with atrial flutter only aFIB so far but when my HR can rise to 180bpm I was referred to an EP because of tremor. I experience a left-sided shake from heart down through leg and unsure whether fast HR comes before or after this sensation which can last hours and even days. It improves on rest but returns daily and just as suddenly as it appears it can disappear. I haven’t worked out the triggers but notice driving, dehydration, overdoing gardening, tension headaches to constipation. Magnesium 1g daily helps and 125g Bisoprolol (1/2 tablet) as a pill in the pocket.
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