I had a very rare (for me) 'AF type' brief episode at 2.30am this morning. Not sure if it even was AF, pulse missed a beat every 7 beats and a flutter type addition. It lasted, say 15 mins before NSR back but it certainly hit the panic button as it has not been an issue for years!
Why: My theory is an accumulation of circumstances; a hot busy day, still had a thickish duvet (crazy!) on the bed and had a bad dream. Woke up very sweaty. Also had a stress factor - important meetings today.
Action taken: 'Belt & braces', not sure whether taking Flecainide early would be enough so gulped down a cold drink from fridge (worked before as my Vagus Nerve is still overactive) , went on a steady half mile walk and listened to slow heartbeat on YouTube.
My advice: React more actively to heat, once again AF shows you should never get complacent.
Today: Cancelled busy travel day visiting 4 farms. No jobs and staying out of the heat 🤞🤞🤞.
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secondtry
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Sometimes life just doesn't respect heatwaves!! Good for yqu for cancelling your busy day. I've tried to do my work visits in the morning when it's been cooler.... Then taken myself to a shady cool part of my garden to write up my reports. That's worked well.Another great trick is to go to the supermarkets cafe for a drink. Sainsbury had their aircon going full blast. Bliss! I didn't want to leave.... Sat working on my laptop. My heart loved it.
I thought about buying a portable aircon unit for home.... But they r expensive & I guess eye watering expensive to run....
Yep!! That's the hazard of them! It's all those naughty tempting treats that u justify by telling yourself ure working hard.One mo th to go & and will be free, fully retired woman! My friends all tell me about time!! 🤣
Very wise to cancel a busy day, secondtry. With the combination of heat, duvet and sweating, you may have been dehydrated and your heart rebelled - hopefully a one-off. Stay well.
Very few people drink enough . If you wait till you are thirsty is is far too late. Check your wee. If it looks like Lucozade you need to drink water. NOW! Dry white wine is a good colour. Clear is better.
Yes good advice especially in this heat , chances are it might not have even been af , sometimes if you have an uncomfortable dream , that can send the heartbeat up and missing beats and still beating fast as we awaken which can be normal for people my cardiologist told me once , but its best not to push it to hard especially in this heat . I have been af free for over 15 months now also on flecanide 25mg twice a day reduced from 50 mg twice a day eight months ago with a lot of lifestyle changes as well and before the flec I was having episodes quite frequently every other day nearly..I woke from a bad dream the other morning in this heat and my heart missed a few beats and was beating faster than normal only for a couple of minutes but I noticed it.. I think when you have suffered af you notice any other changes and always fear the worst even when it's not af , but I think your right , sounds very much like you over did things a bit...also swap to a lighter duvet for sure it's much better for sleeping in this heat...all the best andyb
Health Unlocked sent a notification to me asking if I “have any advice regarding Flecainide.”
I don’t have any advice regarding it because my experience was very brief, lasting only 4 days.
But you also mentioned running in heat, so I’ll comment on that from my experience, just to be chatty.
I have lived in Arizona for fifty-some years and my favorite time of the day to run is in the hottest part of the afternoon as strange as it sounds.
But since getting a-fib, having a cardioversion, two ablations and now being on metoprolol tartrate, which is a beta blocker that keeps my heart from getting very excited with adrenaline… I still enjoy the heat, but it’s not the same.
So instead of running an hour, an hour and a half or longer, lately I’m running about 30 minutes a day.
I guess I should mention my brief experience with flecainide:
The first thing that was done to address my heart rhythm problems was a cardioversion for atrial flutter. That was the reason for my flecainide experience.
I was already taking daily Metoprolol succinate for the atrial flutter, and the doctor told me to start taking flecainide two days before the cardioversion. On the second day of flecainide, I went running in the heat and heart rate stayed at about 150 or 160 as it had been doing up till then with atrial flutter + Metoprolol succinate.
But after running about a mile, I started to feel faint, switched to walking and glanced at the heart rate read out which indicated heart rate above 200.
I expected heart rate to stop rising and start going down when I switch to walking but it kept going up until it reached 235. I was extremely lightheaded and having a little bit of difficulty seeing but altogether it lasted probably less than 30 seconds at the very most.
I stayed on flecainide for two more days. But on the fourth day of the total time I was on flecainide, I started feeling very bad in a way that’s hard to describe. Plus I had shortness of breath as though I was having asthma, and there was a sort of wheezing / crackling sound in my lungs.
so I stopped flecainide after four days and haven’t taken any since.
That’s probably not very helpful for you and if so, I’m sorry.
Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter returned after the cardioversion. The first ablation was to cure the atrial fibrillation.
it seems to help a lot but then atrial flutter returned.
The doctor put me on the next drug other than flecainide, which was sotalol. Sotalol seemed to get rid of the atrial flutter but it caused other problems associated with an imminent cardiac arrest and the doctor had me stop it after three days.
Atrial fibrillation returned and then atrial flutter again.
So another ablation was done which seems to have done the trick. It has been five months and I am still in a normal heart rhythm.
As far as drugs for the heart rhythm go, the doctor has me taking metoprolol tartrate, which is the least expensive of the four heart related drugs he’s prescribed. It suppresses the amount of adrenaline that gets to the heart so I just run slow, substituting willpower for adrenaline and heart rate doesn’t get very high unless the weather is sort of hot like today at 97°F. (About 36C).
When it’s in the 90s or higher, like today, heart rate will start at between 100-120 -130 for the 1st mile or two and then go up toward 140 and maybe into the low 150s.
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