At the risk of driving myself round the bend looking at occurrences and triggers of my AF, I have been noticing a trend. All my attacks happen at rest, either on the sofa or in bed, at home - and weirdly the majority are on a Friday night or a Saturday day/night. I have never had one at work so far or say out and about or exercising. I’m sure ultimately it just has a mind of its own but I wondered if anyone else has noticed similar and with this in mind if I can do anything to reduce/eliminate the attacks. It’s a minefield! 🤯 I also wanted to mention that my first ever attack was when I had to hold an urgent bowel movement in to find a toilet in public (sorry!) and after ‘release’ (where I felt faint) the palps started (didn’t know it was AF then!).
Timings of AF attacks /triggers - Atrial Fibrillati...
Timings of AF attacks /triggers
I suffered from episodes exactly like you do….at rest ( an hour or so after eating on sofa) or during the night and like you, it was usually a Friday or Saturday night 😳 It’s not unusual to have Afib after eating, or during the night at all…during the nights can be caused by digestion too ( always make sure 3 hours after food before bed) ….but I have no idea why a Fri or Saturday….perhaps it’s because the body is more in a relaxed state on those days as coming towards the weekend?
I used to have alcohol on a Friday or Saturday night before I was diagnosed too, so that may have played a part? or perhaps a bigger meal is eaten on those nights?
You will indeed drive yourself mad trying to work it out!
I did have an episode which totally threw me, after a brisk power walking episode, ( only half hour walk) when I bent down to take off my trainers, as I came in the door….so that action triggered it 😳 watch out for that sort of thing…
Sounds similar to me and others have said it points to vagally-mediated AF. My triggers are rest, heavy meals, alcohol - but I can also do all those things another day and be fine!!
Hi Joey. If only we knew the answer, it would be like winning the lottery, don’t you think? Anxiety and large meals are my main triggers. Everyone has their own. Your first attack must have been an anxiety trigger, to say the least! I tend to hold my breath when l am anxious because l am so tense. Breathing properly is essential to controlling the anxiety, so l have to work very hard at that. Why your attacks happen while you are at rest is a mystery, as all AF is. It is such an individual and complex condition. You have to find answers from your own body mannerisms and listen to what it is telling you. Bad reactions to things such as food, drink, sleep and excercise etc. It took me three years to get into a routine and adapting my life to accommodate this monster. Don’t let it drive you mad by trying to reason with it. It won’t let you. Take care.
It really is a strange beast! I am trying to think that I have it in my life bit it is not my life bit sometimes are harder than others! Seems I may have vagal AF but who knows! Avoiding heavy meals, sugar and alcohol for now. I’ve never had one when really anxious so the bowel episode may have indeed been the gut/heart connection (again, vagal nerve). Thanks.
Could be Vagally Mediated PAF - triggered by rest rather than exercise. Have you tried exercising hard for a few moments? Works to stop an episode for some.
The bowel incident could have upset the Sympathetic/ Parasympathetic balance ??
This does seem to fit what I experience. A fast walk up a hill has stopped an episode in its tracks. Bowel issues, heavy meals, relaxing, alcohol…all triggered episodes in the past. Thanks.
It just goes to show how divisive AF is. If l excercise during an episode my already high heart rate goes through the roof. I just have to sit and curl up in a ball, doing breathing excercises to lower my pulse. An episode makes me quite ill.
My triggers are when I’m rushing about or when I drink coffee so I now drink decaffeinated coffee instead and I make sure I’m up and ready on time. I was once rushing to get my 6 year old daughter to school and ended up in hospital with an event.
Interesting - mine is the opposite and I rush about a lot!! This beast is so different for all of us!
It could be coffee not caffeine. Before I wet into persistent, now permanent, though asymptomatic, AF, coffee always appeared to be a trigger, but caffeinated tea wasn't. Decaf coffee also gave me AF. I've not had coffee now for 16 years.
hi Joey. Over the last 14 years I’ve getting to know my monster I have noticed the same pattern as you. 90% of the time I get attack when I’m asleep which wake me up.. I think this is triggered by changes in the heart rate during the normal stages of sleep. The other triggers are alcohol and caffeine and anxiety. Reading the replies there seem to be a lot of commonality and I wonder if there’s been any research on this. I agree with the connection to vagal nerve disturbance. I have been suffering from long Covid which also affects the vagal nerve and my last AF attack was after a Covid vaccine. I do a lot of breathing exercises And yoga. Fortunately, I haven’t had an attack for many months since being on amiodarone and now dronedarone. I’m interested that some people stop and attack by indulging in vigourous exercise. If an attack is caused by changes in the heart rate then forcing a change in the heart rate might well reverse it.. worth bearing in mind. Good luck
My AF started the same way. Then gradually got worse over 6 months. Happening at work lasting longer etc. Increase in drugs was no use.
Only ablation corrected it 3 years ago.
My AF comes on, like with many other people, with alcohol, heavy meals, indigestion, anxiety and rest. It almost always happens in the evening, most commonly around 10pm. Also possibly it's triggered by the body overheating.I kept a record for many years with a note of the circumstances and the most common trigger was the upset stomach. When I reported this to doctors years ago, they rejected the idea.
AF is a strange condition - some years ago I was in the Soviet Union and had an attack which ended abruptly when I walked into a bathroom and the light bulb exploded.
hi joey, 99% of my AFIB episodes are when I’m resting too. either in the early hours or late evening !! I have had the odd episode at work but it’s extremely rare.!
Iv never been able to find a trigger and nearly sent myself insane trying to find it?🤪
All the best mate
Ron
My AF started 2 years ago and I could predict it like clockwork - every Saturday morning on a golf course. So I traced it back - so I thought - to the McD coffee, which I had been having for several years before playing without issue. I even spoke the manager and asked if the source of the coffee had changed, but he said no. I stopped the coffee, but the AF continued every Saturday, I was going crazy trying to work it out. Did tons of research on Dr Google, came across POTS via Dr Sanjay Gupta videos, made a lot of sense. I spoke to the GP about the hear fluttering (before I knew it was AF), and about the possible POTS trigger, she basically marched me out of her surgery and told me learn to stand up properly!!!
Then I had a trigger a few months later after bending down gardening and was convinced it was something to do with bending and possible pressure between the stomach/liver/heart but the episode was bad enough to warrant trip to A&E.
Tests followed, cardiologist said unlikely to be POTS blah blah, gave me bisoprolol as a PIP (my choice) but since then the occurrence is less predictable as I hardly get it following bending, but once every 2-3 months for about an hour. I take magnesium, zinc, vit D, etc that are heart healthy supplements and the episodes are infrequent thankfully.
But in answer to your question, mine was predictable like yours for a while but now the AF giant had been triggered it is with me less predictably and I hope I keep it at bay with AF friendly supplements.
Thank you for posting this issue and do keep trying to fathom it out.
I have had and still am having similar experiences and and I believe the main culprit (other issues also contribute in most cases) is the Vagus Nerve not working competently due to often a long historic period of too much stress/ poor lifestyle choices.
I resort to an old car engine analogy to try to explain. If you remember the choke, it's like a choke getting stuck out and not returning slowly and normally ie stress is OK if short term and the VN will adjust slowly back to normal. However, too much stress and for too long and the VN stays transmitting 'full alert' and then when resting suddenly drops too quickly triggering AF as the heart is affected. I don't think I explained that very clearly but hope you got it!!
The solution I am pursuing is long term normalising stress levels not eliminating them completely. I hope then the body will take over and the VN will return to competency. Patience will be required 😁.
hi
I’ve had AF for only 4 years now but mine is triggered by dehydration mainly and I have to drink at least 2-3 litres of water a day or bam it comes. Whether it’s because I have the added complication of when I get AF I get Left ventricular obstruction as well which gives me bad chest pain and I have to go into to hospital each time because of it
Most of the time I’m really good Atr remembering to hydrate but with the added hot weather it’s got me quite a few times this year
Would be interesting to know if the same for others
I have just decided one of my triggers is the coating flavour on crisps. Have always snacked on them but now changing snacks habit
There's not much evidence of "triggers" even though many seem set on finding them. However, the weekend is, I gather, well known for bringing health changes - or at least I was once told that by a doctor. After the stress of the working week, Friday night onwards brings a different emotional response and this can, I was told, lead to various health issues emerging. Your's seems to be AF.
The trigger might be that the working week tilts the central nervous system balance towards a more adrenergic / sympathetic response (i.e. more "flight and fight" prepared), while the end of the week brings the balance in favour of relaxed cholinergic / parasympathetic nervous system activity. Some doctors have theorised that there might be two "basic" types of AF, each triggered by the two different CNS states of balance.
Steve
Thanks for that. It ties in with what I’ve read. Interesting what you say about lack of evidence re triggers - my episodes always came on after red wine (never beer) and heavy/sugary meals. But then I could do all of that 100 times and not get an episode. So maybe they’re not triggers at all! Baffling!
hi there - I too was looking for some reason (mainly so I could avoid) and mine too are at rest on the sofa usually mid afternoon absolutely no idea why. When I asked the cardiologist this question his answer was not helpful ‘if I knew that I could retire and live in the Caribbean’! So it seems looking for answers is really difficult and can end up with you restricting your activities to try and avoid an episode. My first one was after a bath and so I only took showers for months afterwards but then ‘braved’ a bath with no ill effects. It is I think as others say, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t! You are not alone
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