Hi can you get AF at a young age of 30? Reason I ask is my daughter is complaining of what sounds to me like af symptoms eg heart flutters and low energy and Apple Watch has went of a couple of times with Af warning but not with each episode. Also episodes are not everyday.
I worry it could be start of it as my mum had it too.
I have told her get checked out but I am curious as to wether it’s possible.
Yes, it is possible. The only way of truly knowing is to speak to a doctor and be tested.
Yes, AF has no age limit and athletes tend to be more susceptible. I would suggest that next time your daughter feels symptoms that she needs to get to a surgery or clinic or somewhere with an ECG. The problem is getting diagnosed if arrhythmia is paroxysmal as often by the time you get to a machine, you are back in sinus rhythm.
There is an ECG function on many smart watches these days and that can diagnose AF but no other arrhythmia and most doctors want a 12 lead ECG.
The youngest person we have had posting about AF was 18 there are quite a few in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.
Caught early, ablation is often a very good treatment for younger and fitter people.
Hi, Apple Watch will not capture all AF episodes in either alert mode or history mode.
support.apple.com/en-us/HT2...
History mode is for people diagnosed with AF and turns off alerts. Depending on the model you can do an ECG to check for AF. (Not on SE series model)
support.apple.com/en-gb/HT2...
I only got diagnosed when my watch captured an episode and my GP surgery had me in immediately for an ECG to confirm. That’s the only episode recorded officially in 3 years while on my watch I captured over 40 episodes.
Best wishes
My god daughter was diagnosed at age 3 so ,yes!Thankfully complete recovery after ablation at age 12.
Wow Dawn. That is very young for afib. Hey listen up. Treatments are improving all the time. Your God daughter will be just fine. Paul's Promise 
Paul
Yes, my daughter has had a few acute episodes of AF and she is only 21. My daughter has Chronic Dysautonomia and POTs like myself which causes a high swing in heart rate and tachycardia on changing positions. When these weren't being treated she suffered the aFib episodes.
Although. AF is possible in the young , there are more common heart conditions in the under 40's which can cause similar symptoms to aFib. Heart fluttering , high Tachycardic heart rate, palpitations , chest pain , dizziness , insomnia and fatigue especially during physical activity.
The most common finding is a health issue called , Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia which is a very high heart rate either all the time , or especially during stress or exercise, or sometimes it's experienced in long episodes , particularly if something stressful is happening.
Cardiologists have a habit of brushing this off , occasionally prescribing beta blockers or anti anxiety medication to control it , but the symptoms can be just as bad as experiencing aFib in severe cases.
Conditions like mine cause these symptoms much of the time . I have Sinus Node Reentrant Tachycardia and POTs ( Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) .
It's two types of Chronic Dysautonomia, one caused by a macro genetic fault in the electrical messaging in my sinus node, the other caused by the way my body and circulation reacts to orthostatic changes ( or changes in position like sitting to standing).
Both conditions became more obvious but occasional in my 30's and without medication I am usually Tachycardic and have rapid pulse rate swings up or down when I move.
The symptoms are similar to aFib , and were probably the eventual reason that I developed aFib in the last few years.
Has your daughter had a lot of stress or an illness or injury recently?
Some people can experience acute aFib or aFib like symptoms when under stress, either physical or mental , but the condition only occurs in those circumstances because the body's nervous system is coping with being in " fight or flight " mode for some time.
Even severe Anxiety can cause physical symptoms that can feel similar to aFib and even cause chest pain.
Whatever the reason it's a warning sign that your daughter needs to get a check up with the GP, and possibly needs to start keeping a diary of the times she suffers these episodes, particularly taking note of what she was doing or feeling in the hours/ days before it happened in case some specific is causing it.
It's also a not so friendly warning from her body that she may be doing too much , even if she's keeping up routines she has had for years and she might need to try slowing down her pace of life a little and spacing out her activities for more chance to rest during the day.
A final cause can also be simple things like diet and hydration.
The weather is warming up and so dehydration is a common cause of these types of symptoms, even if you think you are drinking enough .
She may also be low in certain mineral salts if she's been perspiring while busy or exercising , especially if she keeps to a healthy low salt diet , which is great in general but can need a little adjustment in hot weather.
Anaemia , Very low Vitamin B12 or Folate levels , or deficiency in these can also cause cardiac symptoms.
Low Vitamin D can do this too.
So , it might be worth keeping a diary of her diet and when she sees the GP requesting blood tests to check these , especially if she is vegan or vegetarian.
If these are normal it can be good to have Thyroid tests to rule out that as an issue as well.
So. as you can see there are so many potential causes for these symptoms, some very simple to solve , some heart related but manageable with the right help and advice.
But with a family history of aFib , it's worth getting it properly checked by the GP.
Hope things go well for you and your daughter and please give us an update when you know what the answer is , take care , Bee
Great things to mention to her thankyou
My AF nurse told me a few years ago that they are getting lots more younger people with AF now. I do wonder if it's all down to the modern diet.
Jean
Or modern technology, I’ve no idea how long I had it before the watch.
Or even AF caused by modern technology.
Yeah you could be right.
Hi,
My personal take on AF is that if there are some genetic issues in the family ( one side or the other or both ) that leave footprints of strokes and heart attacks or sustained ( and improprerly treated ) blood pressure - then one is in the target zone.
My daughter was diagnosed with AF in her first pregnancy aged around 30, and it returned in her second, 2 years later. Now she has stopped breeding no more AF. So, the genetics is all on her fathers side ( meaning me ) , I have AF, my grandfather suffered and died from a series of strokes. My second cousin was also diagnosed with AF. His grandfather and mine were brothers ! My Dads brother and sister although living to 90 did so running the gauntlet of heart issues - the brother at one time had a triple bypass.
My own father did not have any known cardiac issues BUT he did acquire mature onset diabetes which eventually killed him.
Hope all this makes sense. You say its not every day. Do not ever loose sight of the fact that it is possible for a patient to be asymptomatic ....... that is have an AF event actually banging away inside - but not feel or show any symptoms - the risk here is that if a patient chucks away the meds prescribed because all is well ( or seems to be ) and this AF stuff is happening then the risk is enormous.
John
I took my first first episode around 30 that's 34 years ago
yes I first got it in my 30’s a result of lots of training and a few too many wines and coffees then it would trigger it. Get it checked out with referral to cardiologist. Having said that I’m going well at the moment age 66 having had episodes on average once every 5 years up until 2022 where I’ve had a few more
I got it in my 60's doing just that!!...I was a distance runner but was on the coffee and wine, glad I am not on my own!!...Back in NSR now following a cardioversion
I’ve chatted to many in the same boat. Go easy on coffee I switched to decaf and now only the occasional wine and zero beers. I checked by blood levels in 2022 and had low magnesium levels, low VitD and low CoQ10. Since I’ve started supplements I’ve found my ectopics have virtually disappeared. Check yours next time you do bloods, you’ll most likely have to pay for magnesium and coq10 levels
im in my 30’s and have been trying get some diagnosis for two years now. Very hard to get answers until you have evidence to show symptoms. Kardia mobile has been suggested as an accepted home device with readings. I have had many home ecg but only 24 hours and not managed to capture yet as its intermittent.
Have you tried Apple Watch it will notify you if you have irregular beats over a period of time. I then do immediate ecg Also it records your heart rate variability HRV. In my case when I reviewed my HRV I saw a correlation when I’d been in AF and had big spikes in HRV
The Apple Watch checks only for heartbeat irregularity, not AF, when used over the day. To check for actual AF, the 30-second ECG function and app need to be used and its two ECG electrodes need to be touched (one always is, of course, as its on the back of the watch against the wrist but the second is on the crown of the watch).
More likely your daughter has palpitations brought on by premature "ectopic" beats causing a slight rhythm irregularity, which the watch has picked up and suggested might be AF. These are common and almost always of no clinical consequence (i.e. called "benign"). She will need to carry out the ECG to be sure, but, even children can have AF. In people your daughter's age, the cause seems often to be excessive exercise. This happened to a friend's daughter who is an avid cyclist, for example.
Steve
Yes my grandson had it at 19
My son had it at 35, but he was an extreme athlete and they are common candidates for it. He had an ablation immediately it was diagnosed and he has never had any further symptoms or medication and he is 54 and still hikes, bikes , runs and canoes !
Unfortunately, yes. I had it as a jouvenile from 11 or 12 years of age. I can remember saying to my grandmother that my heart keeps going funny. She just said that it was unusual for someone of my age to get palpitations so I didn't worry about it thinking that's all it was - short violent bursts of it that quickly disappeared so it didn't impact my life. That was until I had just turned 40 when it didn't stop. It was then I knew this wasn't right so took myself off to A&E where I was diagnosed with PAF and LBBB and so the long journey began...
Good luck to your daughter.
Yes, it is possible. There was a study at least 20 years ago of Scandanavian Olympic standard cross country skiers, who had twice the population average of AF.
A cheap method of screening for AF is to use an oximeter with a waveform display (about £30 from Amazon). After years of nagging the local Primary Care practice, about a month a go, a GP put an oximeter on each hand (I have Rhydor's). I'm a stroke and AF lived-experience participant in a number of University studies. A couple of weeks ago during university Zoom session about AF, I held an oximeter to the camera after a five second sample - waveform all over the place. However, the Cambridge University SAFER study only has participants over the age of seventy. Nevertheless, Primary Care will say they won't screen for undiagnosed AF until the full SAFER study report is published.
yes you can
I had uneven heart beats and fast in my early 30s and after checks even at St George’s tooting by a professor, I was diagnosed with syndrome X. Basically i now know meaning don’t know and something that mimics heart problems. This was left snd I suffered for many msny years which of course left my poor old heart in a bit of a state
So in answer to your question in my opinion I think your daughter should see a good cardiologist or EP as soon as possible Not to panic but better to sort out now
All the best…..Pat
I developed it in my late 20s.
definitely possible but also other arrhythmias possible and a more common possibility - wolff parkinson white syndrome which often affects active young people and treatment to resolve is available so always get any symptoms like you’ve detailed looked at
yes.. I was first diagnosed early 30s ( now 39) low energy, flutters and rapid heart rate. I am now on blood thinners after 3 failed ablations and 1 failed cardio version
You can certainly get Afib in a young person. the only way to correctly diagnose this is by an ECG performed by a competent professional, certainly not a watch. Get checked out, as its treatable
I have had odd sensations regrading my heart starting in my 20s. I am now in my 70s. It wasn't until into my 30's sometime I experienced a skipped beat every minute or so. I was put on a medication for prolapsed valve at that point and took that medication for years until one day out in the agility ring with my dog, I had a full on attack of AF which I ended up in the ER. I almost went into surgery for a pacemaker but I eventually converted. I was too stupid at the time to really understand what was going on because I always had some sort of weird beats on occasion. I thought that was normal. I had an aunt that had issues with her heart, when I think back, she always complained of palpitations. However, our family always made fun of her as a hypochondriac. Therefore I never said anything, I didn't want to be made fun of. I realize now that was horrible.
Now I fully understand what is going on and for me I made many lifestyle changes.
hi Jane. Yes afib can affect the young too unfortunately.!! It was at one time thought of as an older persons problem .? Iv had flutters and missed beats from my 20s then at age of 45 I had the first of 3 ablations.
Mine started at age 18. I was hospitalized for about 4 days back then. It went away and didn’t reoccur for about 8 years. Then more and more often.
Yes. Have your daughter see a medical professional as soon as possible. What if it is something even more serious than AF?
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