What Sets it Off?

[MacGrumphy]

Being a compulsive note-taker I have collected a fair amount of information about Atrial Fibrillation attacks over the last twenty years and the circumstances that seem to provoke them. My wife flies to Bucharest every year to visit her family and although I am happy for her to do this, there is sufficient underlying anxiety about her safety during the flight to trigger an attack of AF. Does anyone else identify with this scenario?

[stoneyrosed]

The autonomous nervous system plays its part in AF attacks in my opinion. You can even think yourself into an afib attack. Any kind of stressful event can kick it off. Your body recieves signals before you know it which is why sometimes you don’t have a clue what sets af off. Your digestive system reacts in the same way which is why it can happen after eating certain type of foods that put your body under stress during digestion. Lots of events that happen to the human body that starts stress and kicks off af. Not exactly a science lesson but it is my basic take on what is happening.

[pottypete1]

My AF has become very infrequent in the past couple of years following decades of AF almost every few weeks on a regular basis. This was after having a number of ablations.

During that long period stress definitely contributed to my problems.

The only AF I have had in the past 12 months was whilst watching Southampton playing Manchester City last March.🥵 They lost 3-0 unsurprisingly. 😂

I can no longer deal with any stressful situations and do my utmost to avoid stress.

Pete

[ozziebob in reply to pottypete1]

Best avoid tonight's game then. Go City !!!!!

[pottypete1 in reply to ozziebob]

😂

Seriously I used to go to many matches at Southampton I saw MC beat Southampton 3-0 when Raheem Sterling was in your team.

Mind you I was there when Mane scored the fasted hat trick in the Premier League when we beat AV 6-1. Good day that was.

However, I got AF on more than one occasion.

So I decided I would listen on the radio but still got bad ectopics.

Every now and again live matches are on Prime Video so last March I watched you beat us once again and that gave me AF just watching it on TV.

Now I have a total match day news blackout until about 15 minutes after the match. If we win (not too often these days) I will do what all fair weather supporters do and I watch the highlights.

Best wishes for tonight I doubt if MC will have much of a problem the way Saints are playing right now but you never know. Football is a funny game.s

Thing is I have had heart rhythm problems for over 30 years and therefore this way is the best for me avoiding any stress.

Best wishes

Pete

[ozziebob in reply to pottypete1]

Good reply.

Even this Man City fan (since mid 1960s) avoids the live radio coverage when things get difficult during a game. Just too much angst ... and many many past years of City struggling like your team and being expert at conjuring defeats out of certain victories.

I can only blame your situation on selling too many of your best players to Liverpool, but also hope things change for your team ... starting tomorrow !!!!!

[pottypete1 in reply to ozziebob]

2-0 oops. 🤭

[CDreamer]

Stress (anxiety) = inflammation in the body = trigger for AF.

[Paulbounce]

Hi MacG. I have flown to Bucharest OTP many times. Your wifes flight will either be with Whizzair or Blueair. Both airlines are very safe and there really is no need to feel stressful about it. I have always find safety is their main concern. There is a greater risk getting to the airport than flying itself. The flight time isn't to long so please try not to worry.

A money saving tip is to use the Skysanner site (free to use). Use the 'whole month' option and if she is flexable on dates she will pick a return for next to nothing.

Paul

[secondtry]

If your wife can manage it and it reduces your stress maybe she should try going by train. I am afraid I don't know the connections to Romania but the long distance sleeper routes in Europe have improved a lot recently.

[Shrek1974]

Hello MacGrumphy,

Absolutely 100% there’s a link between stress/anxiety & AF. As a compulsive analyser I’ve realised that these & viruses are my AF triggers. I’ve done everything I can to reduce stress from my life including any career progression plans I had & believe this has greatly helped my situation since. Stress has made me very ill in the past, though at the time I was oblivious to my behaviour, it’s really quite scary thinking back - I actively avoid it now & am much better for it. Hope you can become at ease with the flight situation, there’s plenty of info out there confirming flight safety - for somebody with your compulsion, maybe such positive statistics could help?

Stay strong. 💪

Steve

[Singwell]

In short, yes! Stress and anxiety my biggest triggers. My trick is (was) to get through the stressful or anxiety making situation, relax, and then get AF!

[Hidden]

Absolutely! I now try to actively avoid stress and probably makes me a bit weird at times. Even movies could bring on AF, now I only watch movies I’ve seen before, so no surprises. As I said, weird, but self preservation rules ok!

[Budken in reply to Hidden]

I have had several events, while watching movies that got me emotionally involved!

[jimlad2]

Yep. From 16 years experience - over 170 episodes: heightened anxiety/fear increases my risk of an AF attack. In fact, anything that raises adrenal gland activity seems to increase the risk of an episode.

[Sandych55]

Not sure if this is a good idea or not but if I feel myself getting anxious and my heart beat rises from the normal 60's to the 80's at rest I take a propanalol which helps me relax.