I have been getting AFIB 30% of the time when i was wearing a 14 day heart monitor.I was already taking Apixaban 5mg and Soltalol 40mg twice a day. I had Pulmonary embolisms in March 2023 from a DVT in my lungs. I am 52 years old and had good fitness until the DVT struck. I had been drinking red wine around 3 small glasses a night whilst on the monitor. My plans to to get rid of alcohol are in place. Just been prescribed Flecainide 50g twice a day.Could anyone advise on possible triggers with food and drink.I have episodes of Supraventricular Tachycardia, possible Atrial Tachycardia and Atrial Fibrillation/Flutter.
Kind regards
Andrew 😔
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Current research suggests that moderate caffeine consumption is OK in most cases.
From the British Heart Association:
Research suggests that caffeine isn’t a cause of abnormal heart rhythms or atrial fibrillation, and drinking four to five cups of tea or coffee a day shouldn’t increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease either.
However, the effect of caffeine will vary between people. Some find that it affects them more than others and may feel that it exacerbates some symptoms, such as palpitations.
Interesting to read this and it is right every one is different. A person who was to have an ablation after me (cancelled due to Covid lockdown) always went into Af on a Friday after 10am. He used to treat himself to a coffee from a well known chain on a Friday morning break time - he stopped having the coffee and no longer had AF on Fridays - he obviously had found one of his triggers but it didn't stop all his AF. Another knew full well one of his triggers was drinking white wine so no longer drank white wine but still had AF though at least both probably had fewer AF episodes because they had managed to find a trigger for some of the episodes they had.
In terms of diet and nutrition, what works for one may not work for the other. Very little evidence based research on this topic, but lots of opinions with some exposing plant-based and some going in the other direction.
Where there is evidence is excess alcohol consumption -- some say any alcohol consumption -- and being overweight. In fact, if you're overweight, getting down to a proper weight can be the single most useful thing you can do if you have a fib.
I'm a great believer in triggers, the following is a general idea of what can cause AF.
Having had AF for almost 19 years, three ablations and numerous cardioversions my advice to people who have just been diagnosed with AF is the following:
1. You are most unlikely to die from AF. I used to think that the way my heart bounced around in the middle of the night 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 and losing weight (if it's needed) will all have a beneficial effect on your AF. Artificial sweeteners were a sure trigger for my attacks. Wine and some other drinks contain sulphites and these are known to trigger an AF attack (some can get away with one glass). 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!
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 unwell 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!
4. When sitting watching tv make sure you don't slouch, or become so absorbed in what you're watching that you unwittingly do shallow breathing. If you do your heart will protest. Try not to wear anything tight around your waist as this could push the organs inside your stomach upwards against your heart. Also try not to have large meals as they bulge out the stomach and your heart wont be happy with it encroaching on its space, especially when you’re sitting.
5. Try supplementing with magnesium and taurine. I do and feel really well and there's nothing 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.
Well said Jean! All the things I used to do but don't anymore. In fact a paramedic said to me "Never used a home BP monitor or similar when in AF, they simply make you anxious and are often not accurate".
I'm the same age as you, first diagnosed approx 4 years ago. I've neither been able to pinpoint AF to anything I've eaten.
My biggest risks however is stress. Physical stress like overdoing things, working long hours, lack of hydration puts me in the danger zone. Also emotional stress is a big risk for me as well. Lack of a decent night sleep puts me in danger of AF.
Keep a dairy of the things you ate, drank, or got stressed about in the hours leading up to an AF episode.
Hi Andrew. In my situation getting stressed or feeling anxious about AF can cause me to go into AF. Then being in AF can cause stress and anxiety. For me it's a viscous circle that I had to break. What I'm saying, and this may sound like a hard thing to say, is try not to worry about AF.
I too am a fit an active person. Hopefully your cardiologist or GP can get your medication and dose levels right so that you can have some level of control over it. There are a number of options and different types of medications available, that your GP can talk to you about. I'm on daily 100mg Flecainide and bisoprolol, and my AF is under control. Once under control I was able to get my head around it all, and start to work out some of the danger signs and risk factors, and mitigate these as they come along (e.g stress). I now can go months without an AF episode.
I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but try and keep positive.
We're all different.Do you know when you're in AF? Some people don't.
Assuming you do, then when you are having an episode think about what you've been doing, what you've been eating, how you've been feeling etc. If important, keep a diary or make a note.
Be wary of any new over the counter medications or supplements. Need to check with doctor or pharmacist for interactions with your medications and impact on your AF.
The amount of effort you put into identifying triggers should be commensurate with the impact an AF episode has on you. You still need to enjoy life so don't go overboard.
Thank you Bean your information is vitally important and I'm very grateful for your reply. It's been a strange daunting few days,onwards and upwards with all the support.Thank you
To be honest drinking red wine every day its not good idea . Red wine was trigger number 1 for my AF i think if you start taking Flecainide you better stop drinking. Its very powerful drug , be careful !
Giving up alcohol was the single best thing I did, but a whole load of other lifestyle changes that have already been mentioned, plant based and no caffeine. No caffeine not because it was a trigger in. Itself but because abandoning it improved my sleep massively and good sleep is another thing to aim for. Exercise in moderation, whatever that means for you. Too much can trigger, but too little gives your heart no capacity to improve.
Thank you for taking the time to reply all your comments are very welcomed and have been absorbed.Just a bit daunting on the upside I needed to make changes, I'm walking around 4 mile every day and eating healthy,no alcohol I am sleeping well,i have defacf products for tea and coffee, i needed to lose weight too.Thank you
Not had much luck with triggers, a trigger today might not be a trigger tomorrow and I feel it’s more about combinations of things coming together and not necessarily the same combination every time. Nerves in a general way, not nervousness as such, seems to be the key in my mind but again what gets on your nerves today might not tomorrow and that might be food related or other external forces.
Thank you 100% agree it's all linked,feeling anxious definitely puts pressure on me and believe it sometimes triggers my Afib.In all fairness I need to make changes.I have good blood pressure and feel OK most days until i wear my watch(ups the stress),just trying to cut out anyway I don't know can bring Afib on.
Yes, looking too much at the numbers can be counterproductive, I even found coming on this forum difficult in the beginning and only looked when I was in an episode, but then the more you read, the more you understand the condition and where you are with it. The watch still winds me up sometimes but I’ve learned to identify some of the anomalies that can give false highs and lows at times, it’s just an indicator and not a medical grade device.
Go to the main site heartrhythmalliance.org/afa and use the Menu button to browse all the helpful information about conditions and treatments.
Bob is right. By the time AF occurs, the heart's electrical system has altered and is unlikely to be affected by "triggers", or, if it is, they are special cases specific to your condition that your doctor will have identified, such as thyroid issues. The biggest study I found on this showed that most people could not identify any cause of their AF. That said, it does seem from reports and studies that bloating from a large meal or constipation and perhaps certain physical positions (e.g. bending and lying down in bed) can start palpitations and some kinds of these (called "PAC"s) can, in some prone individuals, bring on AF.
In clinical studies, the following health aspects are frequently said to accompany and perhaps even cause the changes that can bring on AF. Whether reversing them will reduce AF, doesn't seem to be known, but all are worth keeping within healthy limits for general good health:
- blood pressure;
- sleep apnoea;
- body fat;
- tobacco or stimulants;
- alcohol
Coffee has been shown not to cause AF and alcohol, in careful moderation, seems fine for many.
Apparently it is the sulphites that are in alcohol which brings on the AF attacks. Causing an over acidic stomach.
I stopped alcohol altogether years ago but told by my ESSENTIAL TREMOR Specialist that either a BB Beta Blocker or glass of red wine would stop the tremors!
Sulphites are in my thyroxin tabs that take daily for Ca Thyrectomy 2019 out Feb 2020.
cheri JOY. 75. (NZ)
Dr Gupta talks about the Vagal Nerve running beside the stomach.
Blanc .. that is White Wine? Red Wine is better for you but you needs gallons of it to be a healthy option.
I know it’s different for everyone but without a doubt triggers for me are stress, alcohol, tonic water (both low sugar and ordinary), posture (slouching) and too much sugar. With all of those I can almost instantly feel my heart complaining. My natural heart rate is low (41 ish) which my electrophysiologist says gives the rouge signals opportunity to take over but thankfully an unrelated medication has increased it so that’s helpful. Oh and I lost 2 stone after initially being diagnosed in 2020 which I believe helped.
I would say the alcohol. I gave up completely when diagnosed. I don't miss it now.You may have other triggers but this would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If you have AF it will come and go as it pleases unfortunately
When I was diagnosed with Paroxysmal AF, my Cardio and EP said to cut out caffeine, I have since read conflicting studies.
I think the first episodes for me were being dehydrated in the heat (over 100deg) and then drinking soda and not enough water. I then overcompensated and was drinking 2-3 sugar free powerades a day.
I am now leaning to salt as being a contributor, but I am 100% sure that Parmesan ) cheese (in the quantity that I eat)(Tyramine raises HR) contributed to 3 of the 9 AF episodes that I have had. The salt in the powerades if way excessive.
I have been able to extend the interval between my AF to two months currently, that is better than every month. I also lost 17lbs and had surgery for a deviated septum to deal with mild sleep apnea.
Triggers i have identified for myself include, red wine ,a bad nights sleep leaving me heavy legged, carrying a weight from A to B, rushing to carry out tasks, especially 1 after another and stooping, these may well be signs of madness but identified nontheless.
I have had a number of episodes of P-AF after eating a big meal.
Also when angry/shocked/ stressed I have felt my heart 'leap' into AF my guess is I have become intolerant of adrenaline and now walk away from any situation that might affect me.
We are all different and we all have different triggers yet many of us have the same ones. Experimenting is the key to this mystery called AF. I fell victim to all the crazy stupid diets because I wanted to loose that last 5 pounds. We all know stress is a big factor with AF. What I didn’t know I think many on this forum haven’t realized either, some have, that we stress our bodies with our own way of eating. here is where it becomes hard, we need enough fuel to keep our bodies going. How much is that? It all depends. So for any reasons, there are many, that we don’t eat enough to fuel the body, we start producing stress hormones, there are 4 of them, cortisol, and adrenaline are two of them. We need enough fat, and carbs to fuel our bodies. I have long suspected that many of us have liver issues. Yes, these stress hormones come from the liver in harmony with the amegdela in the brain. So any little outside stressor, bam we go into AF, at least that was some of my issues.
My worst habit is I am not hungry in the morning I try not to go too long without eating something. When I do eat, after I am done I am hungry, still haven’t figured that out yet.
i just read another article saying stop with all the diets and eat intuitively, but don’t go overboard. Eat your vegetables for sure they are your good sources of carbs, but we need fruit as well, we need some fat and also protein. the protein ratio is about .6 to .8 grams per body weight. i am still trying to figure that all out myself however since I have added in more carbs. I still eat meat and use good fats. Stay away from seed oils of any kind. Like soy and canola and fried foods from restaurants. It has made a huge difference for me.
The only diet I am on is I avoid gluten from wheat, barley and rye. go easy on rice but I do eat that and corn only organic but in small amounts.
yes I gained a few pounds but I haven’t had any AF for awhile now, I make sure I get my minerals and electrolytes. I don’t drink as much water as that throws off the electrolytes. It is a delicate balance for sure.
Next time I see my Dr. I will tell her don’t put in my chart that I gained weight and am refusing to excercise. That is hogwash. I do excercise but not like i did when I was 40 or 50. I am now in my 70s. My doctor nor my cardiologist has ever asked about my diet and IMO diet is a huge part of our issues.
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