AF back again

[patience12]

Hello

It’s been awhile since posting as I had AF beginning of 2020 which returned to normal after 2 ( hellish) weeks.

I was eating healthily and lost weight.

On Saturday it returned - trip to A and E. they were going to cardiovert me on the Sunday being as it was less than 48 hours onset, but in end didn’t as felt safer to put me back on Xarelto (20mg) and bisoprolol (2.5mg) this time versus 1.25mg in 2020 to avoid risk of stroke.

The trouble is I can’t help feeling I brought this in myself with recent bad food choices and sudden weight gain. ( over the year … 30lbs) Am absolutely beating myself up. Does anyone know if you lose weight can it put you back to NSR?? Is there hope? I was so relieved last time when I got back in NSR. Don’t know if I’ll get there again.

Also … I’ve been cold water swimming since October… every week even when 4C . No problems. Anyone know if safe to do when in AF? ( water about 18C now so it’s relatively quite warm )

Thank you for any assistance

[BobD Volunteer]

There is no doubt that being overweight adversly affects people with AF . The LEGACY trials in Australia showed that BMI of 26 or better often reduced AF burden to the point that treatment was uncessary. Be strong.

[mjames1]

Losing weight can potentially help keep you out of afib, but it's much too slow a path to get you out of afib.

It sounds like they put you on AC's for several weeks until they feel it's safe enough to cardiovert you? An alternative is to do a TOE procedure (An echo that looks for clots) right before the cardioversion. That's how I always had my cardioversions done without having to wait.

Probably no harm in waiting a few weeks, but you really want to limit the time in afib as much as possible.

Jim

[patience12 in reply to mjames1]

Thanks - I have a cardiologist in 1 week. I’ll mention the TOE . What does it stand for please?

[mjames1 in reply to patience12]

TOE = Transoesophageal Echocardiography

In the United States it's called TEE

[Jalia]

I agree with what mjames1 has said.

Don't beat yourself up. You're only human , even though you have AF. Some of us put on weight so easily with the smallest deviation. It can be a lifelong struggle. I lost nearly 3 stones after my first ablation in 2009 , felt really good but still went back into AF within 15 months.

Having said that we all know it makes sense to lose as much excess weight as you are able to.

[localad]

im holding in NSR since Jan ‘21 ablation but had put some weight on. Just trimmed a stone in a month using a meal replacement program, keeping me near bmi 25. Trying to give that ablation all the help i can give it !

[bassets]

Sorry to hear the beast is back, but you are human and we all make the same mistakes. I'm currently trying to lose the weight I've allowed to creep on. Hope you can get the AF controlled soon. x

[secondtry]

Diet in the general sense (ie not going on one) I would say is one of several key factors to stopping AF.

I cut processed food, gluten, caffeine and sugar by 50-90%. No fizzy drinks incl.water and especially tonic water. You may need to make an appointment with an experienced Nutrionist.

I used to be on the typical roller coaster diet fads, off the weight goes back it comes later. However by accident 10+ years ago I came across doctor-natasha.com and westonaprice.org/#gsc.tab=0

Both solved my weight problem with good old fashioned common sense eg now I eat a full fat diet and struggle to put weight on 🤪.

[patience12 in reply to secondtry]

Thanks…. Just did a quick look. Noticed link with diet and microbiome and low ultra -processed food? too of which more people ( doctors and nutritionists) look at and seem to agree we should eat less of …leaving us with fresh meat ,fish and vegetables and fruits …. ! Which was more of less what I was following when lost the weight. And no surprise , I guess, this year things ( the odd cake, chocolate, protein bars…etc) crept in which isn’t terrible except the frequency which became more and more often 🙄😬. Then daily…. And The weight came back on. Oh well, here we are. Back to it 😮‍💨…..

I hadn’t noticed an issue with fizzy drinks? I gave up alcohol in 2020 when first AF. Ironically I al-most got tempted in the hot weather last month to have a small alcohol drink….glad I didn’t or I’d be blaming it and me- on that!

thanks for the help …. Good to know others on similar journeys

[OzJames]

I got AF back late August after being free for 4 years. I was just about to go overseas so they gave me Flecainide Metopropol and Apixaban. They booked me for a months time for cardioversion. My HR was really steady as was the rhythm with the drugs but still in AF when I got back so they cardioverted late September. In December I overindulged and back in AF this time CV a few days later and been good so far. So don’t be concerned if you stay in AF the CV can still work I was in AF just under 5 weeks

[Brandue]

Can you control Afib through diet? Yes you can to a point. The difference is your episodes will be shorter and not as violent if your having proximal Afib. Permanent Afib is a different ball game. Eating a big meal or, eating junk food is a big trigger for me and now I stay away from it. Exercise is a tremendous benefit because it helps condition the heart. I take 150 mg of Flecainide daily and it helps a lot with pvcs but the number one thing that helps me more is a supplement called Heart Calm that you can buy on Amazon. I hope this helps and your feeling better. I know what you are going through and Afib has been a monster that is always on my mind.

[patience12 in reply to Brandue]

Wow. I wasn't aware of the big meal thing - i had a large meal (largest in a while) and before finished , AF started! So....smaller meals from now on.....

[Brandue in reply to patience12]

It's called Vagal Afib. If you don't have a valve problem then you probably have this. My symptoms are always worse at night and this is caused by the parasympathetic Vagas nerve as it calms the body down which effects the heart muscle.

[KMRobbo]

How did you get rid of AFib the first time??Dont beat yourself up too much, I never found any AFib triggers and WAS NOT overweight, but I still had 13 Afib attacks in 20 months despite medication. Not saying its not a good idea to lose the excess weight as it is, BUT it still might have happened.

[patience12 in reply to KMRobbo]

Well I’d say no reason ..,, except looking back it was 29th December and as most of us do had been overindulging… and had been eating more ‘junk’ ( liqueur chocolates for example) . Only thing I can think of. Wasn’t even particularly boozy - chocs aside ! So I’m stating to think general large meals/ overindulgence ? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️