Has anybody had afib attacks provoked after using their upper body a lot? I have been moving rocks about ( not very big ones) and resetting concrete border stones and for a couple of days felt some aches and pains in the pecs and a feeling of heaviness in my chest. Last night afib struck only 5 weeks after the last episode ( normally I go 6-7 weeks between attacks) and I am wondering if all this work has contributed and if the heavy feeling was a warning sign - not to be ignored in future!
Afib after upper body work: Has anybody... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Afib after upper body work
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Auriculaire
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I’m old and fragile 😉 Some years ago I was cleaning our motorhome, affectionately known as FlapJack and after a few hours of polishing with a heavy electric polisher I went into AF which was quickly stopped with a prescribed Flecainide PiP. I certainly think there can be a connection between strenuous work and AF…….
Auriculaire in reply to
Thanks Flapjack. I have used a bit of strenuous housework to stop afib attacks sometimes . But housework is not as strenuous as lifting rocks and lumps of concrete! I am a lot more fragile skeletally than I care to admit. Old age sucks!
As a friend of mine once said to me "If I had known how S**t old age was I would have been more adventurous when I was younger" . I told him I was which is why I am in the state I am now!
Yes a misspent youth is all very well while you are burning the candle at both ends but you pay for it later! Having said that I had a responsible middle age so feel a bit miffed that I'm not in better shape.
There's another side, too: I spent my youth playing basketball, and figured all that cardiovascular work would strengthen my heart for my golden years. But turns out there is a strong correlation between afib and basketball players. Two of my buddies from the old pro days have it . Sigh.
Nahhhh, it could have happened anyway, at least you had fun getting there!
Yes I have brought on AFib by picking up boxes of books and turning a 6ft mattress - you’d think I would have learned my lesson by now but. … …. …
Thanks Desanthony - I suspected I'd been overdoing it!
I've gone into AF when pulling brambles up out of the ground. I try to dig them out a bit more now before pulling them up.
Thanks Jean - I must be careful with that as well now! I did struggle with a stubborn bramble yesterday as well.
it's odd because I'll get a rare day when I feel really well and go out and work in the garden. I have so much energy it's like being a normal person without AF. Then that evening AF would strike and knock me down.
Noted! Our place has a lot of those
I sometimes have a gardener, mainly to cut the hedges. Last year I asked if he could come and have a purge on all the brambles. I was amazed to see that he did this without wearing any gloves! Even his helper who was taking them away didn't wear any. I asked how can you do that, but never really had a clear reply.
My gardener ( who is 82 and even more doddery than I am) mentioned the dreadful word "retraite" - retirement yesterday. He is actually retired from his job as a builder but loves gardening and lives in a flat . He says he adores coming but I think he is worried about driving the 10 minutes to get here as his eyes are starting to deteriorate. He does all the pruning and cutting back of spent perennials. I am going to suggest I collect him if he would like to keep coming. My garden is about a third of an acre and I am now putting back parts of borders to lawn to try and reduce the work. I can only manage about 2 hours a day now but that is every day it's not raining or too cold. Even in winter if it's sunny I can work - at the moment in a t shirt ! I used to work 4 hours a day when we were creating it but now it has become too much to manage on my own with only 2hrs. My husband will help but does not like gardening and has not much idea what are plants and what are weeds in the ornamental part - he does grow a few veg but now prefers I pay Antoine to weed the potager.
Don't let him leave, go and get him! (said in the light of experience with many so-called 'gardeners' after losing an absolute gem).
I would not describe him as a gem really. He has to be watched like a hawk to make sure he does not take initiatives! Though of Portuguese origin ( his French is very difficult to understand) he is thoroughly steeped in French ideas of gardening which tend towards the rigid and orderly. I have tried to explain that mine is not a French garden but an English garden in France and regimented pruning is not the style I'm after. He is totally unfamiliar with a lot of the plants in the garden which I brought as cuttings or divisions from my garden in Brum so I daren't let him weed. But as long as he sticks to what I tell him to do he's invaluable.
I had one like that many years ago and had to watch him like a hawk nevertheless he was very useful for doing the really strenuous jobs. I would def go and get him when needed. I too tend to go out and do gardening on my non golfing days - weather permitting. I find if I do too much at a time my A/Fib is much worse but a couple of hours max and then a break before going out again is just about doable. Mind you my A/Fib never really goes away now but I can live with it if it does not worsen (which it very well might).
I have to wear gloves otherwise I am forever digging rose thorns out of my hands. Cannot understand those souls who don’t have to do so. We are lucky in that we have no hedges. We have wonderful old walls cos it used to be a kitchen garden so very fertile. This is why we bought the house 53 years ago.
His reply was..."forgot them at home" (\;^)
😂🤣🤣 I’m going to remember that one for when people say they can’t do anything because of their AF! (Before anyone gets cross I am well aware that AF affects people differently and your initial state of fitness affects response!)
Mmmm, well, Last Monday I swam for 20 minutes, aqua exercises in a salt pool. I’d got foam ‘weights’ to work shoulders, pecs and biceps. Later in the afternoon I got chest pain😵💫 Breathing in produced discomfort 😵💫Husband thought I’d got indigestion as I’d used my Kardia, all was ok, my Apple Watch readings were ok, so he gave me some antacid. I did burp a couple of times but I wasn’t convinced. Much later I ‘remembered’ my pool exercises and think it was probably that, over done it 🙄 Today I’ve had an episode so tomorrow’s exercise regime will not be as normal, take a little rest.
Thanks LaceyLady. It's all too easy to over do. My muscles and tendons are poor after being floxed and I often pull muscles doing things as simple as picking up an overfull watering can. Maybe the addition of the foam weights was too ambitious?
The over ambitious was using the bigger foam weights and forgetting they’re as heavy as weighted weights in the water and PLUS I am actually 64 and not 34!! 🤣
I have worked out for many years, just not that much in the last 2 years
And I tend to forget I have challenges 🤷🏼♀️
Don't we all! I am still having to use upper body strength to lever myself up from a kneeling position. My surgeon said my thigh muscles were badly deteriorated from the hip arthritis and will take some time to recover. I could weep when I think of the fantastic quads I had when I was dancing . But thats 11 years ago and they will never be like that again. Since the last two floxings my cartilage and muscle tissue have gone to pot and damage easily and I have to be very careful not to over solicit them.
Remember, ‘Many a good tune played on an old fiddle’ 😜 As my dad said
I've kept careful records. My primary triggers for my paroxysmal AF are adrenergic. I've also found shoveling snow can trigger AF, even if I keep my heart rate low. My hypothesis is that the lifting causes increased blood pressure for a second or so, causing mild, but physiologically important cardiac stretching that can trigger AF. Add to that the fact that some of these activities (shoveling, raking?) are rhythmic and it makes sense to me that such rhythmic, low heart rate, BP-affecting activities could trigger AF. Also, note that in the Haywire Heart, ultra-endurance cyclists are even more prone to AF than old ultra-runners (like me). Imagine the rhythmic BP changes standing up out of the bike saddle to climb a steep hill.
If this BP relationship is true, exhaling while lifting could mitigate the problem.
--Not a doc! Just a former EMT, MS Ecology, nerdy AF sufferer, grateful for the community!
Just to add canoeists (rhythmic paddling) are very prone to AF!
Thanks. I think it was not just lifting but pushing / pulling these things into place with one arm while trowelling earth round them to keep them in place with the other . The exhaling when lifting is interesting . If one can remember to do it!
Probably the bending over rather than using your muscles. Vagus Nerve?
No I spend all my time bent over (though kneeling) when gardening . And I garden all year round weather permitting.
Yes I can relate to this for sure, long walks which include hills or steps which lasted in a 3 day spell - lifting heavy objects and even helping my mother in law out of the bath - off it went. Very frustrating .....
I haven't been on a long walk for years - more than 20 mins and I get pain in my Achilles tendons! It is frustrating but so are lots of bodily "betrayals" that arrive with aging.
I find walking uphill is difficult. Makes me breathless. Walking on the flat much easier.
My afib episodes almost one year ago, after moving pieces of grass turf. We toiled all day in the garden, cutting out and relaying turf elsewhere in the garden. Further episodes of afib occurred, always after exertion. I was diagnosed at Xmas with Paroxysmal Afib. Episodes occur approx 3 months apart, and seem triggered by exertion. I used to do a brisk walk daily, but have eased back, on days of strenuous work in house or garden. I’m waiting echocardiogram in March, currently taking 1.5 Bisoprolol a day, and 5mg twice a day Apixiban). My last afib episode was In November gone.
Thanks Sunblush - I'm not sure mine are always tied to exertion . I had one that started just opening a window and breathing in cold air! Previously I had been relaxing reading. Feeling very tired though can be a trigger. I sometimes think my body is saying - rest a bit more .
I know that if I do any work above my head eg pruning a rose on an arch I can almost guarantee an episode the next day. I now try to remember to stop and breathe properly at regular intervals. Swimming also set me off.
Thanks Buff. I will keep that in mind when I start pruning my clematis. Normally it just gives me rotator cuff tendonitis! Interesting that it's the next day after effort and not immediately after like some people are reporting.
Weird I know. Once it was straight after when looking through clothes on a double height shop rail - not much chance of that recently 😤
Using long handled loppers above my head is something I can no longer do for more than about 5 mins or so.
My EP told me to avoid moving logs, rocks and boxes in repeated / repetitive actions. He also advised ( rather unnecessarily) shovelling snow. His insight was that several “ successful” ablations have been undone by this type of work.
I have taken his advice
Steve
Thanks. I see why you qualified successful!
My AF is triggered (mostly) by exercise, especially long/stamina testing stuff rather than short bursts (think Mo Farrah, not Hussein Bolt). The AF tends to manifest itself in the wee small hours - vagally-mediated I'm told by contributors to this forum. But, I have had occasions where moving heavy weights (in my case tree linbs) has brought on AF. In these instances, it tends to be at the time or not long after the exersion, starting with ectopics then either subsiding or launching off into full AF. I think the only solution is to do less, although with the vagally mediated AF, as long an interval as possible between ending the exercise and going to bed probably helps reduce risk.
Thanks. I had been moving the stuff in the garden (alterations to try and make it less labour intensive and the rock garden more accessible for weeding lol) in the afternoon for a few days but had noticed the feeling of heaviness in my chest starting the day before . The afib came on relaxing reading after dinner when most of my attacks start. I have been incapacitated for awhile with hip arthritis but now both hips have been replaced I am maybe overdoing in an attempt to get back to what I used to be able to do!
if i bend ,stoop, reach ,climb and crawl as in painting and decorating im sure to set of an episode, i want to do these things , but its becoming increasingly harder. even washing the car.
That is a real drag. I stopped painting and decorating ages ago as I am too sensitive to paint smells now. The house can go to pot - I call it shabby chic- but the garden is my passion.
I always say that the housework accumulates arithmetically and the garden geometrically and therefore the garden is more of a priority.
The exact same thing happened to me in the past. Being an avid gardener, I like stonework in my landscaping and use lots of boulders of various sizes. I've injured myself numerous times doing so, and felt that the strain on my upper body contributed to a-fib episodes at the time.
Thanks Snowgirl .I can only shift smallish rocks now but this is the first time it has happened. I used to be able to shift much bigger ones 20 years ago but have to call on husband for that now!
I guess we both have to tone down our gardening efforts after a while! I hope your heart stays calm in the future.
It's hard. Since I retired from dancing gardening is my only creative outlet. I liken it to painting a picture. Trouble is the "paints" grow and have to be pruned or divided !
Strange that you should mention paints, since I'm an artist and presently working on a painting. You're so right, that gardening is, in a way, painting too.
I am nearly 70 and my soft tissues have been weakened by several exposures to Cipro. My muscles and tendons damage easily and I have to be careful. The trouble is I get carried away in the garden , lose track of time and often end up with severe aches and pains. This does not bother me as much as perhaps it should - I used to dance so am used to skeletal pain -but I don't think it has ever brought on afib before.
It is so easy to get carried away in the garden. My husband often comes out and says sternly ‘come in. You have done enough now.’ I sometimes take a timer with me to tell me when to stop. I come in and have a drink etc and go out again a while later.
Absolutely. Though these days my aching back and knees are as useful as a timer! I have an old watch that I keep in my pocket but it does not actually tell the real time so I have to remember to look at it before I start . I had a timer in my tool bucket but was always forgetting to set it! I do not even get hunger pangs as much as I used to when younger . Time goes quick when you are enjoying yourself.
I agree. I too forget to eat when I am out there.
Well, I’m not sure doing more would help. I’m feeling discomfort in the slight off centre near heart. Concerned it might be worse than suspected. Caution better than gay abandon I thinks.
My first and second episodes of afib came after exposure to Cipro. It is now nearly 7 years since the last exposure and I feel that I am recovering ( ie I don't feel crap a lot of the time ) . But the damage to cartilage cannot be repaired. I have had both hips replaced within a year and this has helped greatly with pain and mobility but they cannot give me a new ribcage! It is hard to accept the physical deterioration of aging especially when you still feel young in the head!
I think this image says it all! I get aches/ectopics/afib-like episodes if lift any thing heavy or push it too much re: gardening, housework and the other day decided to excercise my upper arms and by next day very afibby or I call it strokey.
Clean living funny
It's surprising me how many people are reporting this. So far it hasn't come on after pushing the vaccuum cleaner about - might be a good excuse not to do it!
Yes, this happens to me, with pulling things up in the garden or lifting heavy objects. Always involving my torso. It hurts generally when twisting or breathing in deeply, which can wax and wane.
It usually turns into AF just before I go to bed or when in bed.
Maybe it's to do with the inflammation of damaged muscles when it comes on later. I also get the chest pain with certain movements or breathing in deeply. Bending forward with my arms extended just to take something out of the oven can bring on horrible muscle spasms in my chest.
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