Drinking Water

[dmac4646]

I thought I would just re-emphasise the importance of hydration in staving off AFIB. Unusually I had a bad few days over Christmas which was largely caused by my failure to pay attention to this. Stupidly was in steam room and sauna - did not drink anything - 2am AFIB - peeing all the time I was in AFIB and not replacing fluid properly - maximum doses of Flecanide make the situation worse - on day 4 I realise that my 1.5 litres of daily water intake has been ignored. day 5 sinus rhythm an lesson learned - that 1.5ltrs of water is very important indeed.

[Cavalierrubie]

Yes thanks for sharing that. Hydration is very important as you say. I have low blood pressure and dehydration can make this go even lower. So, very important for the mechanism of the heart and body. Can cause lots of mayhem. All the best - we always learn the hard way, but when we do we never forget.

[Buffafly]

Also, thought this was interesting - we worry about eating too much salt but low sodium for whatever reason can have serious effects dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

I wonder if drinking too much water in relation to salt intake can have this effect? It seems another example of getting a good balance.

[MarkS in reply to Buffafly]

That is an excellent point, Buffafly. It's possible to drink too much water. It flushes the system out but gets rid of essential electrolytes rather than the bad stuff which is excreted by the kidneys anyway. The best way to measure whether you are drinking too much or too little is to measure your urine. This should be about 1.25 litres/day according to my urologist.

[Nick1957]

Ditto! I have got into a good habit of drinking 2 pints of water in the early evening after my meal. (Also a frequent water drinking during the day!!) A 'good habit' formed as apposed to a bad habit!!

[Snowgirl65]

Good analysis. You just made me drink a glass of water.

[dmack4646 in reply to Snowgirl65]

Bad enough having AFIB but to bring it on is really stupid ! The only time I was admitted to ER was really bad afib driven by dehydration…

[malaekahana]

I have begun drinking extra water even during the night when I go to the loo. I take 400 mg of magnesium just before bed and find that it does dehydrate me a bit. I know that I have headed off at least one return to afib doing that. Given that our bodies are upwards of 50-60% water, I wonder about its importance even in constituting the fluids that are part of interstitial and intracellular depolarization and repolarization processes in the myocardia. (I wish John Campbell had a Youtube on this one ...) Old Japanese lore suggests we begin each day with a big drink of water, and that has been my practice for years. Thanks for your post, dmac!