Hi,
A lot of people in the forum have a monitoring device, but quite a few say they they don't need to use it because they can tell when they are having an episode of AFib.
This may sound like a daft question, but how can you tell?
Is it as simple as noticing a change in your heartbeat, or do you have other symptoms that flag it up?
Symptoms are different for everyone and some don’t have any.
There’s a bit about symptoms in the following fact file link (page 9)
api.heartrhythmalliance.org...
Best wishes
Edit: Another link to the symptoms page on AFA heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Thanks for the links 😊.
I can feel my heart racing and also get a little breathless, it doesn't occur very often now and only happens when I exert myself and soon stops once I sit down. It sometimes reminds my that my Metoprolol beta blocker is over due.
Jean
It seems that when ive been on a med for sometime the body becomes totaly reliant on it so comes like withdrawal symptoms even if the med is only 2 hours overdue. I went cold turkey off rivaroxaban anticoagulant !! What a mess . Now im off it and no more dreadfull side effects. I see my gp on monday. Guess what the subject will be !!!
It certainly varies between individuals and, I have concluded, does so because of a mix of two things. One is the individual's sensitivity and fear related to noticing their heartbeat. I've read this called "cardiac anxiety". The second owes itself to the variable but temporary effect the AF causes in reducing the heart's output. This can cause chest discomfort, shortness of breath and, for a few who write in here, other symptoms severe enough to require a hospital visit.
In my case, I get regular palpitations which can feel disturbing as they increase anxiety levels. When AF itself starts, as it did on Tuesday, it doesn’t feel a great deal different to those, except then, my heart feels like it's racing (on Tuesday it peaked at 140bpm). I always sit it out (literally) as I don’t - so far and fingers crossed - feel in any special danger (and I am an anxious sort).
My elderly friend has had permanent AF for many years and rarely even knows about it, but his pulse is near normal.
Steve
It feels like a chicken inside my chest fluttering and trying to get out. I am very aware of weird heart beats, but oddly a little muffled now I have had an ablation.
Hiya,
Further to my earlier post .............. once I had ACTUALLY lurched into AF and was 'there', I knew it because in my chest I felt it was like a bag of earthworms wriggling away vicously in a bag of soft moist earth. OR ....... several squadrons of butterflies having dogfights in my chest. 😱😱
John
What a better world we might have if its many squadrons were made up of butterflies instead of F15s, Migs or whatever! ☹️
Steve
Maybe so Steve, just maybe ..... but at least we had R.J. Mitchell, and later the young guys who flew his design. Right man, right place, right time and of course the right aircraft ... Vickers Supermarine Spitfire.
However, at the start of my AF journey when I was a greenhorn to all this ...... as far as I cared ... I might as well have had the MIG's and F15's going at it head to head 😂😂
John
Very evocatively put, John! And what a plane that was. We still occasionally have one fly over as we live close to East Midlands Airport - that and the Hurricane fly over now and again on their way to an air display!
Steve
Would love to see them Steve, unfortunately the crowded airspace 😱😱down here at the pointy end of Cornwall seems to prohibit such splendour. Mind you I still have a 'thing' about airshows having witnessed a DH110 at the 1958 Farnborough Airshow disintegrate in front of me as it went through the sound barrier.
Weird now .......... I'm married to a lady whose Dad flew in 111 Squadron, R.A.F. ( Black Arrows ) way back in the mid 1950's, sadly I never knew him. Unlike todays Red Arrows back in the day they flew combat ready Hawker Hunters.
Weird again, my Dad worked at Vickers at Weybridge when they were building the Valiant, Viscount, Vanguard and VC 10 ( and the nose section of Concorde ).
John
Wow - life is full of coincidences. Goodness me - seeing a plane crash has been one of my nightmares in years past (I used to fly a lot - maybe that was why). Seeing one disintegrate, oh dear.
Steve
Yeah, know what you mean ... it always haunts me when I fly back to Sydney. But then I console myself with the thought WW2 had only been over 12 years and here ration books had only just ended. Aviation as we now know it was in its infancy ... those daring young men in their flying machines. 🙂
For me its the Rat is back. Its like the earthworms you have. Anyway its happening to me all day off and on every day. Its no fun and combined with nausea i experience at night life becomes miserable. I have an appointment with my gp about it on monday but i need a specialist. Here in NZ specialists cant be contacted by patients directly unless of course if i go private. It seems the specialists are protected from us. I get copies of papers sent to my gp and there is no contact numbers etc.
That sounds very much akin to the (ailing and all-but on its knees...) British NHS system. It can be very comforting to see a specialist, so it might be worth paying for just one private consultation. Just the assurance that brings can remove a lot of symptoms that are, you will then discover, a result of anxiety as much as any physical aspect. You'll need to go armed with a 12-lead ECG trace and report (done at your GP's practice), though, and might then need an echo ultrasound scan, but that should be done freely via your GP. You might well then get the chance to email the specialist via their secretary and have a phone consultation follow up for "free" and, if any treatment is needed it could be done on your NHS equivalent.
I have had a lot of nausea in my time and would suffer, as I did this morning, three hours of AF rather than that any day. It is a most draining symptom to suffer with not much, I have found, that can be done to help it. I have had mine drag along for months and then, for no obvious reason lift and go away. What causes it, I just do not know. I have a small hiatus hernia, some divertulae, symptomless gall stones... maybe it's one of those. Have you been given any ideas about yours? You have my heartfelt sympathy. I hope, as mine does, that it alleviates in time.
Steve
The nausea and dizziness are the worst things for me. My heart is always thumping, I'm so used to it by this stage that I didn't mention it when I was listing my symptoms to the GP over the phone. She said, 'no palpitations or noticeable beats?' and I laughed. 'Oh yes,' I said, 'I forgot about those.' 😂
I say the Rat is back.
mine were .....
1 - feeling as if I were going down with flu
2 - Falling BP ( 136/80 down to 76/50 ) over 4 to 6 hours
3 - admitted to A & E - where diagnosis was made.
This was in Jan 2010 ( age 65), never heard of AF, didn't have a clue, had a BP monitor but no other tech back in those day ........... lamb to the slaughter. 😆
Up until that date I had led a fairly healthy life ( so I thought ) with no outstanding health issues other than high BP and a liking for booze. Still have.
John
I like your description 'feeling like I was going down with flu' because that's almost me to a T. Drained, dizzy, feeling faint and nauseous. It can last for days.
We love dogs too!
I have seen a few people talk about how much more attuned to their heart they become the longer they have had AF.
For me, the best way I can describe it is a feeling of 'unease' or feeling 'off'. It sometimes wakes me up feeling that way. But to be honest sometimes I think AF is kicking in and I look at my watch and all is goo.
I get this too especially if afib wakes me up. For a few seconds I just feel off then become aware of a slight construction in my upper chest and lower throat. Then I take my pulse . When I feel the irregular beat I dig out my Kardia to see what my rate is. If I am awake I get ectopics but they are not very strong unlike when my episodes first started. Towards the end of an attack I am less aware -the chest constriction has largly disappeared and I often don't notice going back into NSR.
Hi interesting to hear you say you have chest constriction in your upper chest and lower throat as |I have this too. I think it is also linked to anxiety as when I calm down it goes off. However when I get the chest tightness and feel my pulse I am often in AF.
I don't think it has anything to do with anxiety for me as I have it when I wake up in afib. It is a definite physical sensation that I never get when in NSR - even if I am anxious about something. When I go into afib awake it comes on after the ectopics and change in pulse. I think it's a signal that my body doesn't like the increased heartrate. I don't really get anxious about my afib anymore as my symptoms are not that severe. It's more of a nuisance!
Hi. I would like to get to the stage you're at where you don't get anxious about it. My symptoms aren't too severe but when I get them I tend to get anxious and it's a vicious circle. I tell myself to just stay calm, it's nothing unusual and that normally helps but I have to keep working on it and not let it stop me from doing things because I fear an attack coming on. I don't want to get to the stage where I am letting it rule my life!!
I have had it for nearly nine years now but it was only in 2020 that the frequency in episodes increased. I can do things when in afib like cooking and light housework as long as I proceed slowly. My burden is low less than 2% . If the frequency really increased I would probably get more worried - enough to go see my cardiologist! I take magnesium which I think helps with the anxiety
Yeah that's me. The anxiety after diagnosis has definitely made the symptoms far worse.🙈🙈
Me too! My cardiologist told me not to worry and the GP hasn't been at all bothered - just put me on the meds but I have suffered with anxiety all my life so this has rather made it worse. I am determined to get used to it and keep on living my life!! Hope it time your anxiety about the condition eases.
Thats all familiar to me. I hate it. Im currently off the blood thinner rivaroxaban after 6 years. No more nausea. That and all the other things added up to misery. Whats next. I feel im just a moaner.
Hi, I agree with the above comments too; symptoms vary amongst individuals, personal sensitivity and anxiety, both play a part.
My PAF episodes have been very distinct to date - high, irregular HR with RVR causing the familiar chest flutterings and trembling; no other symptoms. My normal RHR is between 50-60 bpm, so I am very aware of changes; there is no mistaking it. I’ve never felt particularly in danger during an episode, though it does cause some stress. Maybe if I had other symptoms, like breathlessness, I might feel differently.
That said, my introduction to PAF was a heart attack. After investigations and a lack of other causes, the conclusion was it was caused by a small thrombotic event due to undiagnosed and untreated Afib. Now, the only mystery is that I was totally oblivious to my Afib before this and now I’m totally tuned in to it. How was I so unaware before?
This is also interspersed with other ‘occurrences’, which are different.
Ecotopic beats - skip with a following thud/bang then back to normal beat.
Slight tachycardia- a sudden 1234 regular then back to normal beat.
The above I just learn to live with and they don’t really affect me.
I do use tools like a Kardiamobile and along with my self awareness, I just manage it.
My heartbeat is all over the shop so I don't notice much change there, I have bigeminy and occasional trigeminy which throws my Kardia into confusion and most readings are 'unclassified' with the some 'possible AFib' and 'bradycardia'. But I have regular episodes of light headedness, real fatigue and nausea, and I think these are symptoms for me.
Hi, I have noticed that behaviour in the Kardia too; a few PVCs on a 30s trace alters the determination. PVCs can usually be identified clearly on the other leads, so I usually conclude not Afib. I’ve also never detected Afib for me with low HR, it’s always very fast.
This works for me, as I then have to decide if I use my PiP. Thankfully, so far, haven’t had to.
Im new to this , what is a PiP ? Curious
Pill in the Pocket
There’s an information sheet on the following link and once in that site you can navigate other information from the Menu button.
heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Best wishes
I couldnt put up with nausea any longer so i stopped taking the beta blocker . Still had nausea, then i withdrew the anticoagulant. Now i have no nausea. I have been off the rivaroxaban now for 1 month . Decided to try asprin which seems to have no side effects. Ive been told the asprin is not good enough. Sometimes we just have to compromise. My gp wants to see me about this on monday.
My GP is thinking a change of meds might be a good idea, she is doing more tests this week before I see the cardiologist so he has everything up to date.I was told aspirin is no good too. Originally I was put on aspirin and given a spray for under my tongue when I got chest pain but the cardiologist said I shouldn't have them.
It's a bit of a minefield isn't it?
Have you found that blood thinners give intolerable side effects to ?. Mind you i had been on the rivaroxaban for 6 years. Also tried pradaxa. My body has decided to rebel i think. Im wondering about this new idea called Watchman
I'm on Verapamil, a calcium channel blocker, but I'm concerned that at least some of the symptoms I have might be caused by it.I've never had to take regular medication before and I don't like the idea, but if it's necessary I will have to get over it.
Ideally I'd like to go back to no meds but I don't know if it's possible - time will tell!
I had a Watchman implant in conjunction with an ablation on 2/6/24.
I chose a Watchman because LAAC ( left atrial appendage closure) closes off the area in my heart where somewhere around 95% of blood clots form. A Watchman reduces my risk of stroke to less than 2% according to recent studies. More studies are needed, of course. Always.
I chose to go to the physical source of my afib/flutter and try to correct it (ablation) and go to the physical source of blood clot formation (LAA) and fix it with a Watchman implant.
To me, drugs treat the symptoms and attempt to manage the problem, but they do not fix or change it at its source. And importantly, drugs have side effects that have to me at times been intolerable and badly compromised my quality of life.
I am anticipating being essentially drug free by August. No more metoprolol, amiodarone, ugh, etc. Blood thinners are still needed during the initial 6-month healing stage after the implant. Thereafter it’s nothing but baby aspirin. That’s a drug I can deal with. Compared to amiodarone?? There’s no comparison!
Even if my afib-flutter returns and I need another ablation, the Watchman remains as is, protecting me from blood clot formation that could result in a stroke.
Clots form in the LAA due to an irregular flow of blood (afib), allowing blood a place to pool. When the LAA is closed off, the clotting agents in our blood no longer have that particular place in our hearts to hang out and start sticking together, forming a clot. Again, the LAA is where give-or-take 95% of blood clots form. That’s what a Watchman prevents—or other LAAC procedures.
Those with afib have a 1 in 5 (20%) risk of a stroke. (I’m assuming that means untreated afib). With the Watchman, my risk is reduced to less than 2%, or even less in combination with a successful ablation. That is why I’ve chosen the path I’ve chosen in dealing with my afib.
I look forward to being drug-free after the six-month post-Watchman healing period. I am at present, post-ablation, afib free with an 80-90% chance of staying that way (given this last one was #2 and was aimed atypical aflutter arising in the left atrium; #1 was a pulmonary vein isolation aimed at afib). The statistics are on my side. I have a healthy, active lifestyle and no cormorbidities, even at 82. My CHAD score is 3 only because I’m old and a woman
Since you’re interested in a Watchman, I encourage you to read “The WATCHMAN Device Review: A New Era for Stroke Prophylaxis,” PubMed, 2023
To me, drugs treat the symptoms and attempt to manage the problem, but they do not fix or change it at its source. And importantly, drugs have side effects that have to me at times been intolerable and badly compromised my quality of life.
That's exactly what I think too. And once the side effects kick in you are given more drugs to manage those, and you are on the slippery slope.
Your reply is very detailed and informative, thank you.
I always had extreme shortness of breath and the feeling that someone had taken my lungs into their hands and were squeezing and squeezing - then suddenly letting go. The irregular heartbeat wasn't so much of a problem until diagnosis, when anxiety kicked in. Heart rate was around 160 during episodes.
My husband has had short runs of AF and notices only stomach upsets with a lot of burping. His average heart rate is around 78 during episodes.
It's so interesting, thank you.
If I am sitting or standing I often get a couple of very noticeable ectopics followed by a feeling of something wrong which makes me feel my pulse and go ‘Oh ****!’ If it starts in bed while I’m awake it’s a lot more dramatic, feels like a full heart tantrum, but if while asleep I wake up desperate to pee and then notice it banging about when I lie down. I think the ‘caged animal’ effect may be because my spine is deformed and a large part fitted with rods and screws and I think it puts pressure on my heart when lying down. Having said that I didn’t feel a thing while wearing a monitor for a week but the monitor picked up frequent AF. So it’s not easy 🙃
Some people start needing to pee a lot and frequently
Yes, increased micturition as medics like to label it. Definitely associated with episodes of AF in my experience.
However, I have never been able to figure out conclusively whether this is down to the AF itself or the fact that it has invariably caused me to reach for the flecainide in my pocket.
My cardio, a distinguished fellow indeed, pooh-poohed the idea that flecainide might induce more frequent urination.
Then again, he also dismissed the idea that mitochondrial dysfunction, and particularly problems in conversion of T4 to T3, might contribute to my AF 'substrate'.
That is, until I vindicated a deduction, arising from my own longstanding investigations, that I have a common DI02 snp with a categorical result from Regeneron. Which has led me to a very fruitful investigation of the thyroid-adrenal link to AF (accepting that so much is joined up in lone paroxysmal AF - digestion and (mal)absorption play an enormous part too).
And, leaving aside the fact that any ailment more pronounced in men must always lead to a heightened suspicion that mitochondrial problems are at the bottom of it (men are a mitochondrial dead-end, so there is no Darwinian eradication of mito dysfunction), here the role of aldosterone is also very relevant.
As this mediates the balance between potassium and sodium by conserving the latter via reabsorption in the kidneys (and wasting of potassium through urination), in a manner exactly opposite to ANP in the heart.
Not coincidentally, flecainide, a class IC antiarrhythmic and sodium-channel blocker, also works by inhibiting the entry of sodium into heart cells, which gives our heart a longer spell to get the message about the right rhythm from our natural pace-maker(s) - what is called 'prolongation of the action potential' - as well as doing so more actively the higher our heart rate gets, 'use-dependent'. Which is handy, of course, except that it can be pro-arrhythmic too.
However, by the time I'm trotting back and forth to the bathroom, even as someone characterised as relatively asymptomatic in face of AF, I know very well when I'm in it. I just feel like my mainspring has gone, that there is just a sort of fruitless whirring where there should be a discrete beat, and there are those feelings of vague nausea, lack of energy and postural hypotension too of course. If I am out walking I will have to stop on hills I otherwise surmount without a thought. Oh, and my heart rate will be doing 220+ without me breaking a sweat or noticing it over-much.
Just out of now where I feel my heart jump and then it's jumping all the over the place. A bit like when a car is running but not smoothly. I've had for 5 years now but still can't function properly until it's done.
I could always feel when my heart started bumping about but found the Kardia very useful in checking the progress of an episode after taking Flecainide as a “pill in the pocket” but now that I take it regularly, I haven’t had an episode for well over a year but would certainly recognise the feeling if my heart did go into AF as it did that last time about 15 months ago around the time I must have been infected with covid with no other symptoms but a positive test,
I self diagnosed AF last Nov. My heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest, banging around and my heart rate was fluctuating between 40s and 200 bpm. I had a pulse oximeter and watched it bounce up and down.I bought a scan watch ( Withings) to capture an episode which I shared with a GP. I was given anticoagulants.
Ever since that, if I feel an episode, I take a recording. But if the AF is whilst my HR is low it won't record it. Sometimes it states in SR but the ecg trace looks weird. But most times I feel the symptoms the watch captures it (but I have to record it as the watch doesn't detect AF or raise an alert , you have to feel the symptoms to be able to initiate an ecg .)
The recordings were seen by a cardiologist who agreed it was AF. Now that I am on betablockers, albeit a small dose of 1.25mgs daily, my AF feels different, the onset feels more like an uncomfortable uneasy feeling in my chest more like something is moving around in my chest like a little bird fluttering around, much less severe then pre bb but still scary and yet the episodes stop quicker than before bbs.
I had a 2 week Zio patch monitor in place whilst on bbs and if I felt anything at all I had to press a button. I felt my heart have palpitations that lasted seconds only, they turned out to be SVTs and no AF shown and there were SVTs even when I didn't feel anything ( my guess is I was distracted). But since the monitoring, I have had 3 episodes of AF and I have used my watch to capture them just in case any one needs to know.
I had AF and now get periods of arrythmia, usually early or late beats, can last for hours but doesn't bother me much. I can tell when there happening, slight palpitations every so often. I do usually take a reading (kardia or HRM device) to confirm what it is. If the AF comes back I'll start taking bisoprolol again, for now it's just a blood thinner.
Clear enough when there is an army of frogs battling each other in your chest. 😬 And wearing a device like an Apple Watch will create stress and stress triggers … AF.
As for me, I definitely know somethings up, but wouldnt it be great to know what and when so we could work out what triggers were involved. I have a pacemaker that can be monitored at home but even though i offered to pay for it my pm technician didnt want me to have it. I figure it might give them at the hospital more to do and they already gave to much work load. Im interested in this so let us know what you find.
According to my wife, higher than normal irritability, then tightness in throat, face turns a bit pale, shortness of breath if any exertion e.g. going upstairs, with dizziness. Only notice racing heart when lying in bed. BP cuff monitor states irregular heartbeat (so inaccurate readings) and pulse oximeter has heartbeat monitor with a crude ECG type line showing what's happening.
I have also noticed a tightness in my throat and the shortness of breath going upstairs. Also the dizziness, sometimes the room swims.
Me too!!
Hi I know the second when I'm in Afib. I check on a monitor to see how fast. Normally 120 to 148 bpm. Lasts up to 16 hours and I know the very second when it's back to normal. So don't really need a monitor. It's such a relief once it's over.
Hi
If you have persistent AF you probably won't notice. This is what I have.
I own a Microlife BP Monitor. It's all I need and may use it twice each month now.
Other folks may have their gadgets to see if and when in AF.
Trouble is one can get anxious, or rely on these gadgets. Our clinic has an ECG.
It is wise to have an ECG before you change a med and after by say 2 weeks.
You can become a phobic person.
If you don't feel it like me but at 186 and 156 I was sweating and couldn't exert myself, I only relied on BP monitor.
It's like a toy to some. Don't waste your money.
cheri JOY
Heart jumping out of chest, HR of 150-195, can't breathe, can barely walk! I definitely don't need a monitor 🤣🤣🤣
Same here, and add to that I can't even think straight.
hi
In my case no warning just straight into it and suddenly I feel the irregularity. Increased urination for the first 2 hours. Slightly out of breath. The longer it goes on the easier the irregular heart beat feeling gets. Lower blood pressure. Then after about 16 hours goes normal again. I can’t feel that happen & I think “oh I think it’s gone” ! That’s until the next time
Regards
Jane
What meds has your Cardio got you on, when i get AF, i have t take 2 bisoprolol and it usually takes around 3 hours before back to normal rhythm, mine is the PAF type. but the most important pills are the thinners for anyone with AF my Cardio tells me. for any clots the heart may throw out during AF attack, heart attack or stroke can be caused.
I am on anti coagulants. Can’t take flecinade as it was changing the T waves in my heart. Cant take anything else because of my very naturally slow heart rate !
Jane
Yes i have low h.rate too of around 52 - 54 ish, so i take just half of bisoprolol tablet this take the rate down to around 47, but as long as no lower i can cope with this. if i dont take just this half, i get episodes of AF more regularly, so this little half = 1.25 grm, works for me it seems. but hte most important pill is the blood thinner for everyone with AF. and many people have no symptoms of AF my GP told me, so more important to keep taking blood thinners.
Hi,
I wasn’t aware of AFib occurring.
I was diagnosed because I went to my doctor, he checked my pulse and asked me to do an ECG. This confirmed his concern I had AFib.
I bought a FitBit and until it was treated, it showed many AFib episodes each night ( when it is designed to work because you are relatively still and relaxed).
Some people feel palpitations that are strongly linked to AFib when monitored intensively. For them, they probably don’t need a device, but if they are like my mum, they may well find the episodes distressing.
I continue monitoring fir AFib, but I an concerned there is no good way of supplying that info to the health service in a simple and cost effective way.
I hope this helps a bit.
If diagnosed i assume your cardio has you on the necessary medications, lots dont feel AF i understand, but i would steer clear of fit bits, as long as the meds are being taken that is the best thing you could be doing, my advice to anyone is not to get over obsessed with AF, I used to be a bit likethis, but now realise we cant change what is and as long as Cardiologist is keeping up with us, and we are on the meds, i try and just live for the day.
I know!! It's awful, fast, pounding feeling in my chest, racing heart, lightheaded. There is no way I can do much when having an episode
I find it absolutely amazing that some can't tell when they are in AF. I get a warning "sensation" in my chest immediately before, then my heart races and becomes very irregular and it feels as though there is a fish flapping around inside my chest. I can actually see my chest vibrating when it happens. My episodes last for anything up to 18 hours and always self revert but it is a very very unpleasant feeling and as the hours wear on I become exhausted. However - I had an ablation last Monday so here's hoping.....!
I hope your ablation is successful 😊
I feel one large warning thump then my heart is off running it's own marathon. Instantly get a tightness In the throat right up under my chin and sometimes a tightness across the base of the skull too. Heart feels like a wet fish flopping about in my chest which I can sometimes bring under control with box breathing but the high heart rate continues until it decides its done. I just sit it out, watch TV and crochet, no need for devices to check rate etc they can become addictive. Only real pain is the constant need to pee usually every 20 mins or so.
I also get the tightness in my throat.
Hi i have intermittent AF and on pills for such. but lately i get this tightness in my throat but lower down, they are not putting this down to AF, but now they want me on the lists which i am, for testing for Angina, apparantly the Cardio told me you dont always get the tightness across chest but it can be in the neck. I am on the eternal NHS waiting lists now for this test, but i have never put it down to AF, as i get no raised h.rate during these episodes, they think as i say it could be Angina on top of all else.
Hi i have intermittent AF and on pills for such. but lately i get this tightness in my throat but lower down, they are not putting this down to AF, but now they want me on the lists which i am, for testing for Angina, apparantly the Cardio told me you dont always get the tightness across chest but it can be in the neck. I am on the eternal NHS waiting lists now for this test, but i have never put it down to AF, as i get no raised h.rate during these episodes, they think as i say it could be Angina on top of all else.
In my case, I notice my heart racing and I become a bit breathless, losing the power that I would normally have eg to cycle uphill. My PAF episodes generally occur when I relax after a workout at the gym, where I always wear a chest heart rate monitor, so although I’d be able to tell I’m in AF I can also immediately check my bpm. I’m lucky to convert to normal sinus after 30-40 mins. Hope that helps, but I know from reading other comments that you can have AF without realising.
Prior to my first ablation, I would be woken up between 3.00 and 4.00am all sweaty around my neck and I knew the banging in my chest was about to start. Since then, the only time I know I have AF is when I check one of my monitoring devices as there are no physical symptoms.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply, it makes interesting reading.
I don't notice much change in my heartbeat because it is always thumping in my chest and isn't regular, but I start with a tightness in my throat and slight breathlessness. Sometimes that's it, but I can also feel disorientated, nauseous, have a headache, be unable to think straight and feel as if I'm about to faint. I fall asleep most of the time.
I hate the loss of time that I spend unable to do anything.
I'm hoping the cardiologist will be able to sort me out when I see him in two weeks time.
My heart starts to race and if I feel my pulse I can feel if its not a normal rhythm, it might be all over the place e. g.,slow , fast, and pauses,
Hi, i dont think then that you have AF or think maybe these questions would have been covered by your cardiologist, I have the non persistent type, occurs now and then, but i know when it does heart rate right up and beating throughout body, but my Cardio says many have silent AF and dont have any idea, i always have an Oxymeter here, this lets me know how my h.rate is doing, as on Bisoprolol which i tke half a pill a day only, keeps mine at bay but as i have a very low h.rate anyway this takes my h.rate down to around 47 - 48 which i can tolerate. Remember there are silent AF too, this is why poeple diagnosed are always put onto a blood thinner, my Cardio says its the most important pill people with AF can take.
I haven't had a face to face appointment with the cardiologist yet, I'm seeing him in two weeks, but I have had loads of ECGs and two 24hour ECGs, chest xray, bloods etc, at my GP practice, who have been in touch with cardiology all along and taken their advice re medication etc. One problem is having bigeminy, my heart rate is abnormal to begin with.
I'm having more blood tests, 7 day BP monitoring and another ECG and seeing my GP again next week.🙁
Yes, know how it is, the good thing with myself is i was taken by ambo into A & E with first AF as they thought it was a heart attack, it was then i was fitted with 7 days monitor which showed up an AF attack, so like yourself my GP was dealing with it, i.e. Apixaban, and bisoprolol. mine is PAF so i just take two bisoprolol when i hve an attack and it gets it back to normal within around 3 - 4 hours. I did get to see ea Cardio though within around 12 weeks from beginning, I now take just half of a bisoprolol each morning aswell, i cant take the whole 2.5 mg size as my natural h.rate is around 53 ish, so this takes it around 48 bpm, but just this half seems to control the AF a lot better, i stopped this half tablet over xmas and that week i had two attacks, so know the bisoprol works for me, for now anyway, as this AF tends toget worse over the time. but good luck with your Cardio
Thank you 😊
Best way I can describe is that I get a thump then a feeling that someone is doing the dishes in my chest! Then there is a feeling of racing heart, tiredness and breathless.
It's very individual, as others have said already. In my case I can feel it in my throat and chest, a sudden speeding up of my heartbeat and thumping around in my chest like a tennis shoe in the dryer.
I still do use an Apple watch and Kardia though. The sensations decrease over time and although I can feel that it's stopped usually it still makes me feel better when I can confirm that with a gadget.
Hello, as many have said we all seem to experience different symptoms. I get massive 'missed beats' sometimes one after the other followed by higher heart rate - lowest being 91 and highest 180 which, in turn, pushes my BP high. They are getting more and more uncomfortable and the last one couple weeks ago made me feel really ill along with chest/back/ arm pain. Left me totally drained for 2 days. I feel as though I am 'hovering' now every day so am assuming that maybe my Amiodarone needs increased. Cardiology in May so will see what they are saying but just continuing to live my life and enjoy my daily walks.
I have an Apple Watch and have known I’m in AF before the notification. To start with my normal resting HR is around 60-65. So when in AF I can feel the beats are quicker and sometimes I can feel the irregular beats. I then simply check my pulse for irregular beat and my watch for HR. I’m lean so maybe that’s why I feel it.
Mine feels like a shoe in a tumble dryer!
I have permanent AF but only know if I stick my finger in a heart monitor or have and ecg I don't experience any symptoms, blood pressure is normal don't feel palpitations don't get out-of breath since having a TAVI last year. Don't get dizzy or feel faint. I only know because my Cardiologist tells me I have it.Everyone is different.
With AFIB, yes heart rate changes and I felt dizzy and tired! I have Afib permanent all the time!
Everyone's physiology is different as well as how a-fib presents itself. For me, it feels like a squirrel is running around inside my chest! My heart is out of beat and beats rapidly. It makes for a breathless feeling as oxygen isn't pumping correctly to my limbs. Because of such a fearful experience, it brings on feelings of anxiety. Some episodes are milder than others and not that noticeable so I can still get on with my regular chores.
Hi! Funny you should ask that because I’m always wondering how people can have AFib and be unaware!
I have fast AFib (heart rate can be 140-160)
I’m aware of every beat and gap, I feel really breathless and I can feel missed beats and (the worst bit for me!) a kind of juddering, really fast shaking feeling in my heart. Some describe this as a fluttering sensation.
Hope this is helpful?
Hi llovedogs12, When I had afib (I now don't after a successful ablation) I had a finger pulse monitor which would go mental when in afib which I recommend to get and a Xiaomi miband watch which is far cheaper than a fitbit and just as good or better. The band would show different readings as you checked your pulse and you would then know you were in af. I also had an Omron 3 blood pressure monitor which would indicate an irregular heartbeat. With all three I would know I was in af as on some occasions I didn't have a clue whereas on others I was very poorly.
You don't always know you are in af and my doctor and cardiologist liked my chart which I kept of episodes together with my blood pressure etc. The finger pulse monitor will Also tell you if your oxygen levels are low.
Not a great deal to spend out for peace of mind.
Hope this helps. Good luck
Flyer.
Thank you.
It's good to hear your ablation was successful, does this mean you are now drug free?
Hello again llovedogs12,I am not quite drug free. I am still on anticoagulants (riveroxaban) as a precaution I think, and statins which is only to lower my cholesterol. I have come off a very high dose of flechanide (100mg three times a day) and bisoprolol which I am relieved about.
Regards Flyer.
It sounds like you're doing well. Good news!
I could tell because I could feel my heart beating erratically. Some AF sufferers can feel it, but some have 'silent' AF that they cannot ferl.
hi I have the same concerns, I had a flutter ablation about 4 years ago and no fluctuations in heart rate, but recently I have started to get high heart rates 140 beats per min and take a Verpapamil 120 mil which were given to me at the same time as I had the flutter ablation so out of date now and taking up to three days to bring the rate down. My GP will only give me 40 mil.
My question is is the high heart rate AF or something else, not sure what to do about it.
GP had put me forward for a Cadiloligist on the N H S but may take weeks
Any help would be appreciated
Bob
My GP did my referral and I got an appointment two months later which I don't think is bad to be honest when the NHS waiting lists can be very long.
I am also on Verapamil, 240mg/day split into three 80mg doses. I don't know if the medication is causing more problems for me and I would like to reduce it if possible. It doesn't seem to reduce the thumping in my chest but my BP is borderline low now so my GP is checking everything before I see the cardiologist in two weeks.
You say your GP will only give you 40 mgs but you take 120, unless I have misread your reply.
Do you take three tablets a day when only one is prescribed?
The 120Mil is old and from my Flutter ablation, so running out of them, my GP will only give me 40mil as PIP, so I could take 3 of them when my heart rate goes up. I am not taking them daily only as pip. Thanks B
I'm sorry I misunderstood, I thought you were taking 120mg daily.I hope you won't have much of a wait to see the cardiologist.
Being in the dark is the worst thing and waiting doesn't help.
Symptoms with afib
AFib attack
Just diagnosed AFib 
New Afib...Need Help
OOPS... post ablation afib
