Felt ILL Monday tested negative for covid Monday. Tuesday tested positive for covid rough times despite being fully vaccinated…. AF episode started early Thursday morning and I am still in AF I recently was put on flexanide 50mg morning and night and 1.25. Bisoprolo at night however after two days bisoprolol sent my pulse rate to 44 so stopped bisoprolo but continued with. Flexanide . Was advised if AF Breaks through to. Take 100 mg in addition however. Other than reducing my pulse. Rate on Kardia from 150 now down to 100-119 it’s not shifting on a previous af episode I had tried bisoprolol and it had no effect on AF so not sure I want another medication in the mix that won’t help as I feel exhausted enough as it is! Not got meeting with EP till February so worried I will End up with permanent AF… normally it settles within 24 hours since I had the ablations .. i still testing positive for covid but feel those symptoms are resolving at least . I know most are not medics but interested of your opinions about my situation or any similar experiences ?
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judybrowneyes
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thanks Bob so in your opinion my extended AF EPISODE might be result of covid and it hopefully will settle back into my usually sinus rhythm with wide qrs ?
I had Covid and pneumonia together and my heart went wild. It took a couple of months for it to calm. Could have been more the pneumonia with me, but who knows!
Jean just read your bio Sounds like you changed your eating as way to manage your Af I think I eat pretty healthy but always on to new ideas on how to improve my lot ! Any tips ? Thanks Judy
I also had COVID with pneumonia and have found that although my AF is now more or less absent in my life - whenever I have an infection AF returns and my heart remains ‘bumpy’ for about a month. Hopefully yours will settle when you are clear - in the meantime go carefully, keep well hydrated and keep an eye on electrolytes - if they go out of wack it will prolong and exacerbate your heart dysfunction.
thanks for your reply out of interest hie do I check my electrolytes? Is there a test kit ? I do feel out of wack hard to know how much is covid and how much is Af !
Hi - yes there are tests you could buy but to be honest I wouldn’t bother as it will only give you a reading at that time. If you are in hospital they will test. It’s just wise to know the foods and drinks that can help eg: banana for potassium, pure coconut water has a great balance of electrolytes so worth while keeping some in the fridge. There are also some powders to add or electrolyte drinks - but beware as many contain sugar or even worse aspartame. You can make up your own mineral drink with sugar and salt for ‘emergency’ use.
Do you take Magnesium? That is the one most often depleted, especially in people with AF and many people on this forum take a regular supplement, some say it helps others not so it’s trial and error as to whether or not it does help. I cannot take Mg orally but use an oil spray. Here is a useful article
Main symptom of low Magnesium for me is restless leg at night and muscle cramps - I reach immediately for topical Magnesium spray.
Bathing in Epsom salts, very like bathing in natural mineral spa/lake also helps but be warned as it can make you feel very tired and quite weak - good to have to relax before bed - but not if you are going to be active!
Often if you are ill I found I don’t eat properly and obviously diarrhoea and vomiting, sweating etc may mean you get dehydrated - the absolute worse thing for AFers.
Speaking of electrolytes, and the dangers of not having enough...in 1998 I was playing in a soccer tournament...in August, in Ottawa (our nations' capitol) and it can get brutaly hot during the summer there. Our game was scheduled to kick off earlier in the day to "beat the heat", but delays and ref scheduling issues saw us having a 2:00PM kickoff. We all knew that meant water/GatorAide breaks every 20 minutes, but for me, it was still not enough. On the way home, my eldest daughter...who was the only family member brave enough to endure 90 min of that heat mentioned I looked "a little pale" ...I replied that I didn't feel that great and needed to pull over. Luckily, I was near the RCMP training support complex, and the commissionaire was nice enough to let me lay on the cool floor in his little AC shack, and he called EHS.
At this point my daughter is stressing as she thinks I'm a goner. MyHR is through the roof, I am breathing like a race horse on the final stretch. I'm thinking this is it.
The ambulance was fast...less than 10 minutes. I'm conscious, so the medic starts asking me questions (I'm thinking why aren't I on the way to the ER) so I tell him about the game, and how brutal it was, but we drank lots. He asks "Gatoraide or water?" I reply "both" his reply "well clearly not enough Gatoraide" and he gets up, asks the commisionaire for a salt shaker and a mug of water. He pours a good heaping 2 tablespoons of salt into the mug of water and says "drink it all". I comply.
Within 5 minutes my HR is sliding down..down...in 20 minutes it's like it never happened. Nadda, right as rain. He just slapped me on the shoulder and said "off ya go, and remember, hydrate or die is not just a catchy sports drink phrase." Turns out that I did not replace the lots electrolytes at the rate they were dripping onto the turf, so lesson learned.
I now am much older, am loathe to break a sweat, and live in a more temperate clime.
wow quite a story !! Yes I don’t have a natural Thirst trigger mechanism usually when I feel parched! Which obviously too late trying to b more symptomatic about I. . Oxygen levels 95 so better get drinking water thanks for reply
I had Covid with a really bad asthma attack and chest infection. The AF kicked off big time, and it was more than 2 weeks till it settled a bit. Try not to panic too much, as that doesn’t help, but I’m sure you are well aware of that, and I know it’s hard not to. Hope you feel better soon. 🤞
I got symptomless covid (only tested as someone else in house tested postive) last Easter & went into Afib/AFlutter, hospitalised with it for 3 days. It was 6 months & several drug changes before the rate came down below 100. Still getting runs of slow AF now 😞 and had a phone call yesterday for another ablation scheduled for beginning January.
I had Covid in early October, and it was luckily a mild dose - I did worry as it was a long time at that point since the last booster. My heart rate was weirdly regular all the way through, no blips at all.
Then a couple of weeks later my next A Fib episode didn’t respond to the PIP, or extra Flecainide. So here I am in persistent - until an ablation next week. Crossing fingers!
So, perhaps the Covid affected it, who knows. Or maybe it was ready to turn persistent.
I caught Covid back in March and the PAF that had only raised its head very occasionally went nuts a week or so after testing negative. And it’s never gone away.
Covid is known to affect muscles, in particular the heart muscles.
Hi Judy, I’m pretty much certain that catching covid opened the door to longer and more frequent PAF episodes.
I’ve had 2 ablations and my episodes were averaging once a month for roughly 6 hours but covid put me in AF for 14 hours at a time and more frequent episodes since.
I’m hoping that AF settles down again as my heart sensitivity seems like it was pre ablations (I used to get regular 24 hour AF episodes)🤷♂️🫣.
hi Chris thanks for your reply … what a bummer for you !! I hope in time it calms down soon for you. Otherwise another. Ablation? I have been in Af continuously running from 100 -120 still showing positive for covid so maybe explains at least horrible cluster headaches gone and other symptoms greatly improved just dealing with the Af totally exhausted .. welll can’t do anything but rest so I am resting lol
yes covid wasn’t pleasant, but for me, dealing with symptomatic AF is worse. I was down for a 3rd ablation earlier in the year but in consultation with my EP, we decided to put it on hold as the chances of it working for me dropped from 90% to 50%🫣. I’m an active 63 year old and didn’t want to spend another 6 months recovering from the procedure given the lower chance of success!
having covid plus Af episode bern horrible and I am stuck Af tomorrow morning will be 4 days .. I totally understand your thinking was pace and ablation ever suggested to you ? If the the af does not settle down I may be facing a 4 ablation… but h says ther are risks …. I agree we all want to remain active and enjoy life without knowing any time it can take over your body…
He did say that a pacemaker might help with the heart pauses. I remember having scary 7 second pauses after my first ablation, it was all I could do to remain conscious and upright😵💫
That must have been scary ! Yeah never too sure if pacemakers are the answer with AF as for normal….. after watching England in World Cup not sure what my heart feels other than gutted. Thanks again and good luck on your journey
Hi Judy I had just started taking flecanide last April when covid struck and I went into Af for 3 weeks, no pause no let up I really thought that that was it and flecanide was useless, however after Covid and it's aftermath (horrible chest infection) AF stopped and I haven't had an episode since. Prior to that I was having around 3 episodes a day, every day lasting up to 4 hrs each. Flecanide has been amazing for me so stick with it.
wow that is amazing so pleased for you !! I feel encouraged! I will keep waiting it out. Lol guess I have no choice ! Stay well and hop flex keeps th beast at bay !
I don't have AF but I had my covid booster about 6 weeks ago and almost immediately started with 4 weeks of constant ectopics; over 5000 in an 8 hour period. The following week they started to reduce and a week ago they disappeared completely. No one could give any other reason for them.
Very relieved. I'll be worried to get another booster. MY son's had it twice; right at the start before any vaccines he was seriously ill. Second a few weeks ago was little more than a bad cold
it’s rolling at 110 bpm. Fkexanide not dong much other then usually in Af can go 150 inhaler for me as usually since ablations resolves in24 hours but her we are day three I was wondering should I try a bisoprlol 1.5 which I had to stop as it sent pulse to 44 bpm …yes nit drinking any alcohol or caffeine resting still testing positive covid But it’s not a week yet so no surprise Thinks for your reply !
I had what I would describe as a mild Covid. But as it was ending I went into AFib and it was there for three months. Had private echo, saw private doc, taken off flecainide and Bisoprolol and put on sotalol. Nothing worked. Then it just went. I’m back on Bisoprolol,flecainide and Apixaban . I think Covid definitely was the cause of this and it was bad luck. I sympathise.
Took a long time to see NHS cardiologist. When I did he recommended I go back on to flecainide but a smaller dose. That was six weeks ago and he still hasn’t written to gp about it. GP won’t prescribe as they haven’t got letter! I have a stash which I am halving and this will keep me going until January. Got to keep on top of things.
that’s so annoying ! I also saw my cardiologist EP at Bart’s similar time and yes we still not received letter either I was more fortunate as flexanide was my pill in the pocket my surgery accepted my word that I need 50 mg morning and evenings to. Hopefully to prevent AF breaking through … maybe try your Consultants secretary.. with postal strikes who knows when but these days often you are notified and your can see it online … x
Load with Vitamin C 1000 MG per day, 500mg in morning and 500mg at night, you can snap one in half and drop it in water, nicer in a small glass of Orange Juice, I bought ones with Zinc and without Aspartame. Also get Vitamin D3 into you. You'll get better I'm sure
thank for your reply. Pretty much over the covid remaining bit of a cough mainly at night And strained tummy muscle final the coughing main concern is still in AF day 5 can’t get hold of anyone at Bart’s for advice so will try Gp again tomorrow morning Mondays usually extra busy .., feel really. Tired but I guess a mix of af and tail end covid I take prescription vit d And vit c will add some zinc. I also take multi vit and b vit within shot b12 and liquid magnesium
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