Racing HR

[paulypurplepants]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie, so will give you a quick resume:

Fit 60 yr old male, who runs, mountain bikes, plays golf etc.

Had racing HR in mid Aug 21 which reverted to AF but clicked back to normal 24 hrs later.

six weeks later, another racing HR that clicked into AF and stayed there for a month until a Cardio version which took three attempts to revert to normal rhythm. (27/10)

Initially had a few flutters which made me nervous but on 31/10 while standing doing nothing, I felt my HR race and immediately say down and tested (Fibricheck) to see it was 120bpm (was 50bpm minutes earlier) ....but literally within a minute was back to 50 again! (no alcohol consumed)

12/11 all had been fine, but was on a Lads golf trip and drank a lot of alcohol. 5.30am I awoke to a racing HR and tested to see it was 160bpm. I took my biosoprol drank water but no change. 2hrs later was 172bpm and felt very uncomfortable. Took another beta blocker at 10am. Nothing changed until 1pm when I decided to go and play golf to take my mind of it and it went back to normal. at 1.30pm it was 73bpm and although it was still a bit erratic for the reat of the day,the next morning I awoke it was 47bpm and has been low ever since and stable.

So....was it the booze? Do I need to give it up....mostly?

[Hidden]

Sadly yes most likely. It’s best avoided altogether if you can. And rubbish idea though that sounds initially, I did give up all alcohol and several years on, do not miss it at all. Giving up won’t cure AF or stop all episodes of it but it can lessen frequency and duration paulypurplepants.

[paulypurplepants in reply to Hidden]

Oh dear, thats really not what I wanted to hear! How many people believe that consuming alcohol has contributed to their ongoing AF and HR issues?

[Hidden in reply to paulypurplepants]

Hi! Years ago, I was a regular consumer of wine, red and white. Whenever I had it, even moderate, there was a reaction, of course, a negative one. It was the reason for a research, for my own needs, to see if I am sentenced to spend the rest of my life without booze. The result was as follows: I can drink beer without limitations, I can stand the brandy, but do not feel quite well after I take it, but I can not drink the wine without being punished for it. I wish you a lot of joy while researching, lol!

[paulypurplepants in reply to Hidden]

Thanks SteelHeart......I am now very depressed, but I will tread very carefully and start with nothing for a couple of weeks and then have one beer and go from there. 👍

[Hidden in reply to paulypurplepants]

Lol, I do understand that paulypurplepants! Life's cruel at times! 🙄. Shame that sometimes we just have to deal with what is, and not what we want it to be. But it is still a choice, and if you can live with a heart which is flip-flopping around every so often after having an alcohol drink or two, it is unlikely to see you off, but can be very uncomfortable.

[paulypurplepants in reply to Hidden]

Thanks C....will take it very easy and see how it pans out. The simple fact is that I won't enjoy drinking a nice bottle of wine if I know it will set me off again! 😢

[Hidden in reply to paulypurplepants]

Its horses for courses .... some will be affected others, like me, won't be affected. I drink, ( although in smaller volumes these days) all the alcohol I like - lager beer, G & T, red wine, white wine, dessert wine ..... any of that of what I fancy, usually before or with ( depending) with my evening meal ( except dessert wine). As I say - its what I feel like at the time. Has no affect on my AF or propensity to lurch into AF.

Food however will guarantee to cause issues - as at the moment.

John

[Buffafly]

You didn’t ask but maybe ease back on the running and mountain biking - sounds like your heart is trying to tell you something and if you don’t listen you could end up in permanent AF ie cardioversion won’t work.

[paulypurplepants in reply to Buffafly]

I had actually not done anything for three weeks due to hurting my knee quite badly, (when I went into permanent AF) so if anything, it suggests that pushing my heart regularly was better than doing nothing.

[Buffafly in reply to paulypurplepants]

Painkillers?

[paulypurplepants in reply to Buffafly]

yes...naproxen.

[Buffafly in reply to paulypurplepants]

NSAIDs not advised for people with AF - sets it off 😬 More bad news, sorry!

[Buffafly in reply to Buffafly]

But doing something (not too strenuous ) to take your mind off it is an excellent strategy. There are people who swear that extreme exercise stops their AF but some people who tried it are dead - when we say AF won’t kill you we mean ‘as long as you don’t try anything stupid’ 😀

[paulypurplepants in reply to Buffafly]

Well, I specifically wrote to my Cardiologist and asked him if it was okay to take Naproxen and he said it was absolutely no problem. I'm only taking the odd one now, when the knee gets a bit sore, rather than the two 500mg per day prescribed.

[Buffafly in reply to paulypurplepants]

Cardiologists 🙄

[secondtry]

In your position, I would stop all alcohol, reduce the challenging runs and mountain biking and put John Days book The AFIB Cure on your xmas list.

[paulypurplepants in reply to secondtry]

Does the AFIB cure involve eating weird foods and self flaggelation? 😬

[Ducky2003 in reply to paulypurplepants]

If it does, I haven't got to that page yet and not sure I'd have the energy 🤣.

[secondtry in reply to paulypurplepants]

Oh you've read it then 😆

[Ducky2003]

Alcohol is a known trigger so I'm surprised your medical bods didnt mention this to you. I haven't had alcohol since diagnosed 5.5.years ago, partially due to the medication they put me on as well. A couple of folk I know have problems if they have more than one glass. It would appear that it's a trigger for you. Only you know how rough you felt in AF and whether its worth having that few pints/glasses/shots.

[paulypurplepants in reply to Ducky2003]

Indeed...its a whole new world for me and I am finding my way slowly!

[Ducky2003 in reply to paulypurplepants]

You'll get to your happy compromise.

[needlestone]

I can only drink gluten free beer in moderation now and vodka that is not wheat based in moderation. Otherwise up all night with pounding fast heart rate.

[paulypurplepants in reply to needlestone]

Interesting, does that mean you avoid all wheat in your diet too? Or is it only wheat based alcohol?

[needlestone in reply to paulypurplepants]

Yes, I can no longer eat anything with wheat in it. It will immediately set my heart off. I also have to avoid artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

[Hidden in reply to paulypurplepants]

I totally agree with needlestone. I found very early in the journey that AF would be triggered with/by food. Long story short ..... I chose to consult a Nutritionist as to diet and initially was told to go Gluten Free, Wheat free, and oats free. Something I still do some 10/11 years later. Overtime I expanded my diet ( or food consumption plan) and it now embraces shedloads of food. Suffice to say that if I followed the health mantra of eating 5 or 7 fruit and veg a day I'd be a very sick laddie and permanently occupying the bathroom. There are many on here who have written words of wisdom on this topic, CDreamer is one who comes to mind.

By the way I cannot handle/consume/process (I'm in UK) English real ales, whether from a supermarket shelf or draught in a pub. Just cannot deal with it - sets off the vagal nerve, causes bloating, triggers AF.

John

[wilsond]

As in ' normal' people, moderation is the key. I still have wine,good quality as few sulphide as possible and occasionally a locally brewed real ale.If I had AF / flutter occur when I have had either I would stop altogether.

We are all different with thus strange condition.

I do think you might consider taking down the exercise and drink down a bit ,your heart is protesting I think lol!

Best wishes

[paulypurplepants]

Thanks wilsond....I'm sure (currently) the alcohol is big issue and that my heart actually loves to be pushed with exercise. The more I do, the better it is.....certainly nothing suggest otherwise at present.

[paulypurplepants]

I thought I'd add a quick update on this as Ive not touched a drop of alcohol since last Friday night (19th)and had not a single palpitation. I even went to the Pub on thursday and out to dinner for my daughters birthday on Friday. 😇So yesterday, as part of the assessment/experiment, we had a house full for the big birthday lunch and I had a beer and then a glass of white wine with my meal and a few hours later a small glass of red wine. My indulgence was complete by 6.30pm and I then drank a mug of tea and then coffee. So went to bed and wondered if I'd awake at any point with palpitations or a raised hr, but all was fine and dandy....although I didn't sleep very well.

I'm not taking this as a green light to go crazy, but it does at least give me the knowledge that I can drink alcohol carefully without issues!