stop overthinking

[Blissygirl]

Every time I have issues with AF I ring my daughter first (paramedic/nurse). She always says it’s worse if you get anxious. Try meditating. then ring for cardiology appointment. Stay calm. It feels worse than it actually is.

[Bagrat]

Your daughter is quite right, anxiety does make things worse. It's all the "what ifs" we need to calm. I find meditation, mindfulness such a help.

[Tux18 in reply to Bagrat]

Yes, mindfulness and daily meditations (even short meditations), body scan meditations have helped me tremendously.

[wilsond]

I'm not sure I agree. I recognise that anxiety can make an AF or Flutter episode worse,but in my case heart rate wildly fluctuating between 180+ down to mid 40s,erratically,was pretty hard to put to one side!Especially when it hit from nowhere in particular.

Meditation would be pretty useless at the worst of it, although IF I felt an attack was brewing I might have tried it.

One size does not fit all.

Does your daughter have AF?

[fcmdl in reply to wilsond]

A-fib 180+ down to mid 40's every 20 minutes is indeed exhausting.

[Blissygirl in reply to wilsond]

No but I do. And having an episode atm unfortunately. Wish I knew the trigger. Guess I’ll be up for another cardioversion or ablation 😪

[Singwell]

That's all very well, but only those of us who get it know what it actually feels like! When mine starts, it activates my sympathetic nervous system because the heart had its own neural system - similar to the 'gut brain' - which sends messages of distress to the brain. So, controlling our natural response to AF isn't that easy. It's taken me almost 5 years to be able to go - OK - I know what this is - let's sit down, breathe slowly, stay calm. And even so, for me AF cannot be ignored. The sensations are too uncomfortable. It's great you have your daughter - a supportive listening ear from someone you feel you can trust makes all the difference.

[Cookie24 in reply to Singwell]

Same here. Quite symptomatic and AF hard to ignore.

[Blissygirl in reply to Singwell]

She never said ignore it. You can’t. But getting worked up and anxious makes everything so much worse. If I get anxious I’m liable to faint and hurt myself. I know from experience so I do try deep breathing and mindfulness to try and distress.

[Singwell in reply to Blissygirl]

Yes! It's challenging for many of us and I think we each find our best way through.

[Abbyroza]

Your daughter is absolutely right. Staying calm makes ALL the difference. It even shortens my episodes and reduces the symptomatic effects to a point that I do not feel it anymore. Relaxing is key, also to avoid new episodes of AF. The saying: ‘AF begets AF’ is only true because of the reaction of the sympathic nervous system.

[secondtry]

It may seem impractical to stay calm but at least try to reduce the anxiety step by step. There are various ways meditation yes, gaining more knowledge here, keeping an AF diary and writing down what happened, when and for how long, consider Magnesium supplement, prayer and my cardiologist even suggested seeing a therapist (I had 6 sessions).

I continue even after 11 years to continue to reduce stress/simplify my life elsewhere, which I find helps when AF comes a long.

[opal11uk]

And of course she is quite right, we have to learn to live with our condition, research it, understand it as far as possible and lead a good life, calm down and try to relax, occupy your mind with something else, difficult I know but its the only way to go. Most of us on this forum have lived with our conditions for years, you learn how to cope and what to do to help yourself and of course if it goes on for too long seek medical help.

[Ppiman]

I don't find meditating works, but I do agree that it feels worse than it is. A very few people do get severe symptoms with it, however, and need hospital care (owing to overly low BP, for example).

Steve