All went a bit Pete Tong and ended up in hospital with atrial fibrillation. I have had a couple of previous episodes over the last couple of years but uncaptured by an ECG. One of them, like this I suspect, triggered by being too cold, which I was at the start. We were hanging around a lot and I got very shivery. When I started running, I did feel a bit funny. Gradually this feeling coalesced into feeling my heart not beating properly. I kept stopping and starting hoping it would settle down but at 15k I gave up and handed myself into St John’s ambulance who agreed that it wasn’t looking so great and whisked me off to the Royal Sussex. HR was around 120, and they gave me bisoprolol to get it down and it did go down to around 70-80 and magnesium infused to try and sort out the rhythm which didn’t seem to have any effect. They didn’t do cardioversion as at my age (62) felt that there was too great a risk of spraying out the clots. They gave me apixaban for the stroke risk then sent me home with prescription for 14 days of bisoprolol & apixaban.
I have got a fourth frontier chest strap monitor which I put on when I went home and at about 5am, my heart went back into normal rhythm -and Today in GP surgery ECG was normal. So am in NHS system but will probably go back and see sports cardiologist that I consulted before as well, to get a view on the running. I think he will say cut back back a bit.. So not exactly the champion’s rematch with Brighton that I had been looking forward to. But on the plus side, living to fight another day.
Any thoughts on the above experience? Any advice? I obviously exercise, maybe too much, Any other runners or swimmers out there? In terms of my diet, I have been doing the Zoe nutrition thing for the past month, which leads to being mostly plant based. All advice gratefully received.
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Sixtyslidogirl
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The lady lives to fight another day and that’s what we all do. You drive buses all day John, and the stress that puts on the heart is the equivalent of someone exercising fora period of time. Most of us do not want to give in and live out a sedentary lifestyle, we have fight, and long may we continue to do just that whatever the cost.
Yep ... each unto their own, although, the stress I have bus drivin' is nowhere near that inflicted on an athletes heart ... I use my tracker dashboards to keep me informed as to what happens during my working day.
One the other hand, would he drive if his heart ‘felt funny’? I would count this as a lucky escape. The usual advice is ‘AF won’t kill you unless you try to run a marathon while in AF’. Maybe dying might be considered too high a cost…..
This year so far my ticker has been as good as ...... ! previous years when I have had AF events and felt 'weirdo' I have put myself off the road and rung in sick. Usually for a few days only. I let the little demon have its wicked way, let it amuse itself and keep calm and carry on. I'm confident I am reasonably protected by my medications and so I sit back and enjoy " Day Time" TV .......... groooaaaan!
Yes I have had a full work up including echo and my heart is structurally sound with slightly enlarged left ventricle which is not unusual with athletes.
Well you would have all bases covered with an Echo and if your sports cardio person can interpret it correctly and advise accordingly so much the better. But AF is a devious little demon, it is all things to all people .... in fact it is pure mongrel. Whilst we all have a number of common denominators with the condition, it will nevertheless largely please itself and do its own thing in each and everyone of us.
Sure, see what all the peeps on here say but don't be too sucked in by all the stories of successes and failures. You have AF, your very own version, personal to you to enjoy or loath as the case maybe. But ( respectfully) at your age the numbers are going to get higher as the years unfold so a philosophy of steady as she goes might be wise. Perhaps you could use this moment to plan your athletic future and sort out what sort of similar activities you might indulge in in the years ahead (as you age) that would give you the same or similar enjoyment as you get in this moment. Also plan your medical treatment future too. I always have had a Plan A, a Plan B and sometimes a Plan C. 🙂
for what it is worth , endurance athletes are prone to afib . I cycled and developed it. But i do more moderate exercise now and in the last 12 years i have had just one episide
My cardiologist said I should aim to be Hussein Bolt not Mo Farrah. My thing is climbing mountains/hill walking. My PAF is a lot better since I reduced the length and so the duration of my outings, but I'm still very active.
There are many people on this forum who continue to exercise in moderation and also those who maintain an anti-exercise rhetoric. I have had AF for 15 years but continue to cycle 120 miles a week. I now use an electric bike and my EP has helped control things with medication and ablation. I also can go into AF if I get too cold. Most of us have found a way forward whilst continuing to gain from the benefits and enjoyment of exercise.
I feel your pain as a fellow "athlete". Be reassured that the last big meta analysis of af showed exercise gave an increased risk of af in men who exercise but decreased risk in women. So overall no effect and they say the benefits by far outway the risks. You could hop over to the Facebook page "cardiac athletes" too, very supportive group. I can also provide the link to my own study into afib and athletes if you like. Good luck xxx
Neither my private cardiologist (chosen as expert by my doctor wife) nor the very experienced arrhythmia specialist in Oxford (done thousands of ablations for AF) have suggested there is any danger in exercising during AF episodes. Plenty of people are active living with permanent AF. I have PAF - more than one episode per week. I get on with my life pretty well as normal, I cycle a lot. Slightly enlarged left ventricle too. I’m 61. There are plenty of benefits in staying fit! Everyone is different though. AF raises my pulse by 30-35 bpm - I work out at gym fairly hard in AF, no problem. I believe I tolerate it well as I am fit.
I have been active my whole life even playing football in the over 35’s when I was in my late 50’s. I paddle ocean skis now and go for long brisk walks most days as well as do 3 reformer Pilates classes a week at a more relaxed pace!
I am 65 now and first diagnosed at 30 with PAF always triggered by alcohol/caffeine then exercise the morning after. My occurrences have been every 5 years since the first time until last year when I went into AF in August and December. Both times Cardioverted., previously I would convert into sinus by exercising.
I have listened to Bob and others on this board and have given up alcohol with the occasional sip only of a nice wine. Only decaf coffee now and have started daily magnesium, vitd3 and CoQ10. I’ve taken these steps to hopefully reduce chances of dropping back into AF though I am realistic ti know it will come back at some time. My exercise continues but at a more modest rate of effort. I am on low dose 12mg of Metopropol for the time being to be reviewed in July
My cardio is keen for me ti maintain a sensible exercise regime. Whilst AF is an electrical thing I still see the heart as a muscle which I will try to keep strong…I maybe wrong but it’s how I feel.
Also buy your self the book Breath by James Nestor it has helped me tremendously to learn how to breath properly and consequently when I feel ectopic beats I can do something to relax things
I’m finding a ‘new balance’ to my exercise regime, 12 weeks post my first (hopefully only) ablation. In between time I’ve done much reading around training for veteran athletes. My one line summary is less intensity more ‘time on feet’. I reflect on how I’ve exercised for the past 30 years (endurance cardio) and can see chasing the stats has probably resulted in me winding up in the Cath lab! So far so good for me. I think enjoying the activity and being grateful for being able to run / cycle / row will be enough for me now. Best of luck with your recovery.
Similar story. I was 63 in the gym when my AF started, 200 pulse. I'd always exercised, never smoked so why me. Anyway, I've had 3 cardioversions each of which lasted over a year during which time I've been able to exercise on my execise bike, swim etc but not as much. I've asked Doc about benefits of exercise if you have AF they have told me it doesn't help and can if too much make it worse,sobe careful. its a bloody pain though if you enjoy exercise and I have not found walking a good substitute. Bisoprolol helps control and will allow you to do most things not sure about marathon running though and I'd have thought you'd be on the bisop and apixaban for life from now.
Two things to look out for, my low pulse 50-55 which I thought was due to being fairly fit was caused by leaking heart valves which I've had to have repaired and secondly how's your sleep, cos sleep apnoea is a big contributing factor to AF.
I am a bit concerned that the 1.25 mg bisoprolol is taking my pulse too low - 35 at lowest point overnight. I have sent the trace to my GP to ask for advice.
35 does sound low and Docs I've seen all seem to prefer to prefer pulse to be about 70. I have a pacemaker now to stop it going lower than 60. Yours is small dose of biso, my doc says 1.25 is a placebo anddoesn'treally do anything, So what was your normal pulse before the AF. Ask about heart scan.
I first had paroxysmal AF aged about 30 (I'm now 72). At the time I took little exercise. Looking back, it was almost certainly caused by stress (not knowing if I'd keep my job), and alcohol (celebrating when my contract was renewed!). This is a pattern that has repeated throughout my life, with stress and tiredness being my main causes, and alcohol a close third. It was many years before an AF episode was caught on ECG, and even then my only treatment was taking "junior" aspirin.
I decided to become more active, and took up running and commuting to work by cycling. Eventually, I got into orienteering and fell running, and ran a couple of marathons aged 50. I was definitely more into endurance activity. I became very fit. At age 60, if my days work was in the office, I would regularly cycle 12 miles into work, then run 10 miles back home without feeling at all exhausted. Every luchtime I either went to the gym or did running speedwork training. All of this did not seem to have much influence on my AF episodes, as best as I can tell (I'd get an episode every few months - they'd last about ½ to 1 day, then revert to sinus rhythm).
I have been in permanent AF for over 3 years now. I blame this on severe family stress, involving long and regular drives from NW Scotland to Manchester, and then moving to SW Scotland when I was quite ill with a virus. Basically pushing myself far too hard. All this was exacerbated when my scheduled treatment was blown into the weeds by Covid.
So, that's my experience for what it's worth. As has been pointed out, we are all individual with many physiological differences. However, I'm very glad that I did all the running . It gave me a lot of satisfaction for many years, and undoubtedly made me very fit. Coupled with a vegetable-heavy low-fat diet I believe this greatly improved my quality of life for many years. Did it contribute to my present condition? I don't know. I would not go back and change things, though, in terms of being an "athlete". I certainly would change my response to having an ongoing family crisis whilst living 9hrs drive away!!
Rough race. AF will severely degrade your performance, to the point where you want to stop. Try the book Haywire Heart. And if you can control it thru drugs or ablation, you can go as hard as you want. My experience. Good luck.
You could try experimenting with your diet and suppliments. I've found what works best for me and generally I can be SVT free. No use telling you what works for me as everybody is very different. The only medication I take is Apixaban. I well on the way to 80 now and still racing.
I am on the Zoe nutrition journey. Poor fat and sugar control, excellent gut biome. I thought I ate pretty well, not too much meat, plenty of plants but have found that it can be improved. The DrS Kitchen guy Rupy Aujla apparently had AF so this episode has encouraged me to continue with that. My cholesterol was too high and the Zoe plan has brought it down. I realise that AF is an electrical problem but can’t do any harm to keep my arteries clear.
Not sure the Zoe plan would be for me, it's very expensive and my cholesterol is very low anyway. (Lowest my Dr's ever seen.) Never eat sugar, limit carbs. Plenty of fish etc.
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