My husband has a fib since being diagnosed in 2018. He is an otherwise fit and healthy 76 year old. Walks a lot not overweight no smoking and no alcohol since diagnosis. Is on digoxin and Rivaroxaban once a day.
He gets a fib on average for about 24 hours every few weeks. Never found a trigger. He can exercise and it doesn’t start it off or same exercise another day and it starts up. Normally he does not even know he has it, I check him with the Kardia mobile.
A few times in the past it does make him very dizzy and he can’t even stand.
This happened today on his walk. Came from nowhere and nearly fell over. Luckily someone came to his aid and helped him home. A hero!
He stayed dizzy for an hour or so, heart rate of 161 that came down to 93. Kardia showed a fib. Fine afterwards but still in a fib. I did call an ambulance but with the long wait times he got better on his own and I cancelled it. He hasn’t been sent an appt from cardiology since before lockdown. Last test was a 48 hour tape. Nothing showed on it. Otherwise all is good leads a normal life takes his pills!
My question is how do you deal with this as it comes on so suddenly? I am a bit younger and still work. Luckily I could leave work to come home to him. But how do you deal with this if there are no warning signs and I’m afraid he can’t now go out on his own without me worrying and when I’m at work?
Thanks for listening
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Janau
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I think he needs to make either his EP, cardiologist or GP aware of what is happening. Is he taking any medication to calm his heart rate?
Unfortunately, this is one of the drawbacks of having AF attacks that come out of the blue. I pictured myself in my retirement joining the local rambling club, but then thought I couldn't possibly do that and spoil the day for everyone else if AF struck.
Perhaps finding another man to walk with could be the answer.
hi Jean thanks for your reply. He has never been given an EP unfortunately. He takes one digoxin a day and the blood thinner. Most of the time it’s fine but it’s a worry isn’t it. Hope you’re doing ok with your a fib
Get him to see his GP to discuss these events, he may send him to see a cardiologist to discuss some tests and perhaps suggest a drug that may be more fitting for him.
Only investigations will discover the cause. Do you take BP? When in AF one’s BP can become extremely erratic & this was the usual cause of my syncope (fainting/near fainting).
Sit/lie down helps - legs always higher than heart. Ensure well hydrated - dehydration is a common cause. Taking a salty snack or rehydration electrolyte sports drink often helps but my favorite is drinking coconut water as has good mix of all essential electrolytes.
I would talk to GP and get them to chase cardiology and/or go to A&E immediately if it happens again.
Very often they will send paramedics who will do an ECG, BP & other tests and send the results through directly to cardiology who then will instruct whether or not to go into hospital.
Often the difficulty is getting into the system. If you’ve been treated and don’t get a re-referral you drop below the radar.
Cold water on the wrists used to work for me butI only had a partial ablation because they couldn't scar the left side of my heart,Now I'm on bisoprolol and clonazepam and that helps a lot,2mg of clonazepam and 3.75mg of bisoprolol.
thankfully he did sit on the floor. Good idea. Oh I’ll remember the cold water trick. Anything worth a try. I have SVT which reacts differently to a fib and I can stop it in it’s tracks with ice on my face. Doesn’t work for a fib unfortunately 🫤
I would guess there could be different reasons for this happening. In my case after a few dizzy spells I fainted and hit my head on our kitchen radiator causing it to bleed. The upshot being a trip to A & E, a hospital stay, being closely monitored & a pacemaker to stop my heart rate dropping below 60bpm. Personally I would ring 111 and follow their advice should it happen again. You can’t be too careful particularly if you are on blood thinners.
ouch! Yes big concern. He had the sense thankfully to drop to the floor and sit but so easy to hurt yourself. His heart rate can be all over the place around 50 whilst not in a fib and anything up to in the 100s. I rang 999 yesterday and we waited for paramedics. We were still waiting 4 hours afterwards and he was fine then so they said they would cancel it and keep an eye on him. Thanks for replying 👍
I had had milder dizzy spells until the last one which was worse which caused me to faint. I didn’t know what had happened until I found myself on the floor. I had no control over it that time. I guess my heart rate took a big dip on that occasion. I was very lucky to be admitted and a good team of cardio’s & an EP who sorted my problem. The NHS treatment I had was second to none. I spent aweek in hospital. I wish you and your husband a satisfactory outcome soon.
yes people complain about the NHS but we are very lucky to have it. I had melanoma this time last year and had to have a chunk of my leg removed. I cannot fault them. I had to wait a long time but when I had it done they were amazing. Hope you’re well and thanks for replying 😊
Thank you Janau I am fine. Now in persistent AF but I haven’t been troubled by it so far. I wish you & your husband the best of health in the future & I hope he gets sorted out soon.
My 'first aid' when feeling a bit wobbly is to recline so head is level with my heart. I do 4-8 slow belly breathing from yoga to slow the pulse and raise blood oxygen. Usually within 15 to 30 mins light headed feeling subside.
Those are also symptoms of a TIA. When I had my TIA, I felt dizzy with tunnel vision. I recovered in about 10 mins. My wife, a GP, recognised the symptoms otherwise they would probably have been ignored. I suggest he gets checked over properly.
yes I did worry about that too. From start to more or less back to normal was about 2 and a half hours. He still couldn’t stand without feeling dizzy up to 2 hours then it gradually wore off as his heart rate came down. He’s had this a few times and they did an MRI on his head a year ago and nothing showed up which was good but yeah I know what you mean
Definitely get it looked into. While it's not uncommon to get syncope or presyncope during an AF episode due to fluctuations in blood pressureand HR, it could be his HR is dropping too low and you don't want that. He needs to still live his life, not be proscribed by his AF, especially as he otherwise doesn't notice.
Agree with Jean, get an early cardiologist appointment for an opinion and some NHS tests, private if necessary. These days unfortunately you have to include in the consideration whether the Covid vaccine has affected existing conditions or healthy hearts, many have been affected.
HI I'm no medic but when I was walking my hr would go to 140 and I would feel dizzy and sweaty.Kardia always said possible a fib which of course that's what I thought I had.I had an ablation in May and they said actually I was suffering with atrial flutter and that was causing the high hr as I also suffer ectopics this was causing the kardia to register a fib.My kardia nurse said sflutter couldn't be registered on kardia only a proper ecg in hospital.It made such a lot of sense after .My point is make sure you get a medical ecg.Best wishes.
thank you Ethel hope you’re feeling well. Yes his was first diagnosed by ECG first time he had the dizziness. I called the paramedics as he was so bad. We didn’t know he had it until then. 😊
Hi! That’s interesting. He was on bisoprolol when first diagnosed but they took him off it as his heart rate was only 38! He hasn’t had the monitor since before lockdown. He’s had it 3 times the last one was for 48 hours but nothing is ever caught on it. Typical! Hope you’re well 👍
Well coping with the fallout. Glad to take away the Bisoprolol.
Had 2 fillings last Tuesday at hospital so recovernf from gum injections, jaw prised open for the long period, and soreness. But I've awoken to being settled and comfortable today. Apparently a large hole close to nerve.
I am back to watching my BP and H/R.
Delighted that the Dr was right and BP has come up some.
124-132/85. H/R 88. Night 47.
Driving Tuesday and Wednesday with eyes being sensitive to light was spooky.
i’m sorry to hear that your husband is suffering from this. I get them as well and I believe it is when my heart rate is extremely high because that is tachycardia. I also partially lose vision when it hits. I have taken several bad falls so yes he needs to be careful and even then it is difficult. We don’t have a crystal ball so we do not know when it will hit. If he is dizzy when he stands then he should immediately sit back down. I was getting the dizzy spells when I first got diagnosed. I ignored them and fought through them to walk. One night I had no option because without warning I went facedown on my concrete floor in the house totally blacked out. When I awoke long story short I blacked out again and landed on my back in my bathroom. I am grateful to be here. It sounds like you need to be more aggressive even if it means going to the ER to get it started again. There is no time to wait or he will end up like me on the floor and may not be as lucky as I was with injuries and I had several Please let us know how he makes out about this and please get him some action on his health
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