Afib symptoms

[Hilianna]

My head is in a daze. I was diagnosed with a fib a few years ago, nothing spectacular, just the usual symptoms - racing heart, shortness of breath and lack of energy. I take edoxoban once a day (no side effects). I have tried beta blockers but they make me faint (blood pressure too low) and feel v tired. My fatigue, tiredness, is now chronic and I am really struggling with everyday tasks. Because I am so tired I am sleeping better than I have for many years - 6 to 7 hours a night instead of the 5 hours I had before because of an overactive bladder. Theoretically I should feel energised. I am at a loss what too do. My GP can find no reason for this tiredness - all other tests clear - and wonders if the afib is causing my problems, even tho' it is nowhere near what some people experience. I am seeing the cardiac nurse again next month. Anyone else experience this terrible tiredness? It is affecting my life in a very negative way. The GP is trying me on a different beta blocker in the interim.

Thank you.

[mjames1]

How often do you go into afib and for how long?

[jeanjeannie50]

I certainly have felt that way. Evenings about 9-10pm. It would be just like someone had turned a switch and I would become overwhelmingly tired. When out for a walk, tiredness would suddenly strike and I'd feel like dropping to the ground and sitting wherever I was. I could not take another step. It was all down to an underactive thyroid, taking drugs to right that gave me back my life. Have you had your thyroid checked?

Jean

[mav7]

I am seeing the cardiac nurse again next month.

Should provide answers.

Can you share more about your AFib ? Paroxysmal ? When was the last time you were evaluted with an EKG ?

[beach_bum]

Ask him/her why beta and not calcium channel blockers?

[Hilianna]

My episodes are v erratic. I recently wore an ecg monitor which showed a low percentage of afib activity. Yet the day I took it off, I experienced an episode that lasted a couple of hours at least in the evening. Also, this last weekend I had episodes lasting a couple of hours each for 3 days. At the GPs on Wednesday I was in the middle of another one which had started earlier on. I can cope with these episodes, just sit quietly, and hope they pass. My legs feel like jelly sometimes but not always. I started off in a-flutter, following a knee replacement op, four years ago, which changed over the years to afib. The tiredness and fatigue I experience is changing my life radically - it is so hard to keep boosting up my flagging energy reserves.

I shall ask my GP about the alternatives to beta blockers.

Thanks for all the responses.

[Hilianna]

My GP has tested me for thyroid issues - aĺl tests normal. Interestingly my mother had thyroid probs, her sister (died in her 50s from cancer) had a goitre and my daughter had thyroid problems after having her first child. She had it treated after completing her family.

Thanks.

[excel1234]

That is exactly how my Husband is. Was diagnosed in 2016 but has been experiencing this dreadful tiredness too. He sleeps nearly all day so gets no exercise, hence now he can hardly walk. He too takes Edoxaban Digoxin Bumetanide and other meds for other things, he cannot tolerate beta blockers. It is difficult isn't it Hilianna. He won't let me contact our GP, he seems to have given up. I hope that you can get some help, let's hope so.