Neck ache with AF?

[Spj57]

I hope this doesn't sound too strange but I was wondering if anyone else suffered with neck ache just before and during an AF episode? I get a dull ache at the back of my neck at the base of the skull every time. It was significantly worse during my dobutamine stress test which triggered a bad episode. I just wondered if this was a usual part of AF or is it unconnected? Thank you for your thoughts!

[mjames1]

Not strange and not uncommon. Neck strain/pain is a definite afib trigger for me. There are a lot of nerves in that area, including the vagus nerve, and that may be a part of it. Gentle neck, stretches, and exercises have become part of my daily routine.

Jim

[BobD Volunteer]

Never for me but we are all different. AF is a mongrel condition with few commonalities.

[Buffafly]

I get neck pain at the front of my neck when I have a bad episode of AF or constant ectopics. You can even get angina pain in your teeth so why not the back of your neck? When I was in hospital the first time with AF a nurse kept asking me a bit anxiously if I had chest pain, to which the answer was no, but never thought to say I had pain up my neck into my jaw! I would mention it next time you have an opportunity.

[Spj57 in reply to Buffafly]

Thank you, I will 🙂

[Singwell]

See what others say re the neck. Fir me it was a little pain in my left breast - like something pulsing. I'd get an episode of AF either the next day or later that day.

[ninks01]

If i have a heavy episode of AF.......hb over120 , yes i get the neck ache...i always take it as a sign of a long session on the way........i always put it down to tension. Having PAF , you never know .

[Rosemaryb1349]

Yes, not every episode but if I have a nasty one with HB over 120 and heart wobbling about all over the shop then I get a strong ache in my neck right up the front and sides and under the jaw line. It can also give me that dull pain at the back just at the base of the skull.

[Spj57]

Thank you everyone 🙂 I will discuss with arrhythmia nurse!

[Auriculaire]

I get a feeling of constriction - though not exactly pain - in my neck mainly at the front but I have had it sometimes at the back too. Also weird sensations across my upper back. If afib comes on when I am sleeping it is this that wakes me up and I then check my pulse .

[ozziebob]

Yes, an increase in neck pain/tension at the back of my neck at the top of the spine has been noticed by me as a precursor to an AF event. I hear what is said about the vagus nerve in that area, and my situation may be aggravated by the cervical arthritis I suffer.

But I also have a dormant polio virus in my spine (from childhood polio), as well as herpes zoster ( shingles), and I understand my neck tension as a periodic flare-up of one of these or related dormant viruses (?).

And while I have no definitive cause for my situation, the pain/tension always "wound me up" incredibly because I was unable to alleviate it no matter what I did. I am driven to distraction when it occurs and lasts for days. So eventually I realised it may have been my own aggravated response that led to an AF event, rather than the tension/pain itself.

So, after many years of this recurring situation, I finally resolved (doh!) to take 2 paracetamol when the tension/pain appears. And it has worked ... the neck pain goes within 20 mins, and along with it my excessive annoyed disturbance. I seem to have successfully removed myself from this "loop of AF induction".🤔

Hope something helps, Bob.

[Windlepoons in reply to ozziebob]

That's very helpful Bob. I'm going to try that as I get bad shoulder and neck pain periodically and it may prevent me going into AF. I really hadn't connected the two, but as my AF is vagal nerve related you may have given me a eureka moment. Thank you.🤗

[Dollcollector]

I get pain across the back of my shoulders and strangely in my mouth , while in afib. Both pains go when l go back into n.s.r. l must add that l have a very fast heart rate while in afib.

[Sozo]

I have been having neck aches off and on each day for a couple of months. (I am low key not prone to stress easily, so its not that) I don't seem to be in afib, but I feel in my soul that it is related to my heart/low blood pressure somehow. Ugh