I have been diagnosed with a f

[Rainy111]

Been diagnosed with a f .haven't had know advice .so would appreciate advice please. Feet swollen since taking. Lixiana

[Hidden]

Good afternoon Rainy111,

Welcome to the forum. I am sure our members will be able to give you lots of advice and tips for life with AF.

You may like to take a look at our Edoxaban (generic name for lixiana) information sheet here: api.heartrhythmalliance.org...

We have many other resources on our website which may help with learning more about the condition here: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...

If you would like to chat with one of our Patient Services Team about AF or medications please feel free to contact them on 01789 867502 or email [e-mail]

[jeanjeannie50]

Hi Rainy 111 and welcome to the forum.

Having had AF for 18 years, three ablations (they're bit like an angiogram where they go up to the heart through the groin) and numerous cardioversions (where they shock the heart back into normal rhythm) my advice to everyone diagnosed with AF is the following:

1. Be Aware you are most unlikely to die from Atrial Fibrillation (AF). I used to think that the way my heart bounced around I would surely be found dead next day. Still here though!

2. Changing your diet to a more plant based one, avoiding any foods containing artificial additives, not allowing yourself to become dehydrated, cutting back on sugar, alcohol and caffeine, also losing weight (if it's needed) will all have a beneficial effect on your AF. Artificial sweeteners were a sure trigger for my attacks. How I wish I'd known all of this before having any of my ablations. Would I have listened if anyone had told me? Probably not, because I believed ablations would cure me - three didn't! They have helped some people though and my AF now is not so severe.

3. This is a hard one, but looking at gadgets that show your pulse and AF will make you anxious and anxiety feeds AF. I was obsessed with what my heart was doing for about the first ten+ years of my AF journey and my attacks were so debilitating I'd end up in a hospital ward, it has taken me a long time to take my mind off this subject and get on with living. The less I think about it, the better I feel. Now I used to feel cross with people who suggested I stop looking at my pulse rate machines, I thought that their AF couldn't be as bad as mine and they didn't understand how poorly attacks made some of us feel. I would get cross with anyone who said they could still go on holiday and carry on life as normal. They made me feel evil, by not understanding how ill I felt! In our minds AF is only as bad as we have experienced, for some attacks are mild for others they're more severe.

4. Make sure you don't slouch, or unwittingly do shallow breathing while watching tv or if you're online. If you do your heart will protest. Also avoid tight clothing around your waist.

5. Try supplementing with magnesium, any type except oxide (I use glycinate from YourSupplements and also take taurine, zinc, vitamin B complex, D3, K2 & C). I feel fine and there's little I can't do now, despite being in constant low rate AF. Or at least I think I am, I don't check these days.

6. If over 60 I would make sure that you’re taking an anticoagulant to prevent blood clots forming and causing a stroke. Note that they do not thin the blood in any way, just stop it from clotting so quickly. You should not notice any major difference in the way you bleed. Hope all this info will help you.

Jean

[Rainy111 in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Thank you Jean

[LadyLawson in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Great reply Jean. I really value your advice here.

[Ppiman]

If you haven't already, then I think I would ask my doctor the following, if I were you:

- can I be put on the list to have an echocardiogram to check the output and structure of my heart

- do you think I have sleep apnoea and might that might have led to the atrial fibrillation starting?

- Is my blood pressure high and could that have caused the AF?

- are my blood electrolytes, kidneys, insulin, thyroid and cholesterol levels normal and might anything there have led to the AF?

As for buying a home ECG monitor (the cheapest is an AI device from Wellue at around £80), then I think they are a truly useful things to own if you have any kind of worrying heart arrhythmias. That said, as Jean rightly says, there are a very few people in whom they can lead to an obsession with the heart and that will make matters worse, not better.

Assuming you to be otherwise healthy and your doctor approves, and that you eat or drink healthily, I would set myself a target to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and combine that with daily walking with some uphill.

Taking something like a magnesium supplement or similar seems to help a few people, but eating healthily, especially green and coloured vegetables, pulses and nuts, will give you all the minerals your body needs. Which supplement you choose, if you go for one, won't make any difference at all and the cheapest is the equal in that respect to the most expensive, since all types will provide the extra magnesium you need if you are genuinely short of it.

Steve

[Rainy111 in reply to Ppiman]

Thank you

[Sandych55]

My feet are really swollen too and I'm on Lixiana. They normally swell up a bit in the heat but not this much.