cold weather

[Luludean]

sudden cold weather and persistent AF normally well controlled is back with a vengeance.Horrid 3 hours of it last night, couldn’t face 10 or more hours in A and E and no one locally to call. Took extra Propanalol . Still erratic now . Any one rlse react to cold like this? L

[jeanjeannie50]

Sorry to hear that you had this problem. I can only suggest you do what I have said to other members and that is to buy an electric throw to keep you warm. I have one and love it and it's cheap to run. I researched which one was the best two years ago and the Dreamland Relaxwell was voted best. I don't know if they still make it. I started out last night with it at the top heat 6, but soon turned it down to 1 and I was lovely and warm, soon had to turn it off altogether.

I recently started taking propranolol, not sure how I feel about it yet.

Jean

[Luludean in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Thank you Jeanjeanie ! I succombed and put the heating on . L

[BobD Volunteer]

Cold??? Not here in Devon.

[bantam12 in reply to BobD]

Flippin cold in Somerset 🥶

[BobD Volunteer in reply to bantam12]

Still in short sleeve shirt and outside temp around 14C. 22C in the bungalow.

[KelliEAnniE in reply to BobD]

same here not had any heating on sinse spring I live north of England Lancashire

[Luludean in reply to KelliEAnniE]

Well Cambridge had the hottest days in uk recently but not now . It is a damp cold.

[JaneFinn]

Yes, sudden cold has often made my heartbeat more erratic - whether it’s going from a warm house out into the cold air, or getting in a cold bed, or just a dramatic change of temperature in the seasons like we’re getting now. (I don’t know if it’s due to other conditions but I do find my body finds it hard to adjust with equilibrium to changes of temperature either cold or hot.)

I do wonder if the heartbeat reaction to the cold for me is at least in part due to my muscles and nerves tightening up in response to the cold - which in turn has an effect on my heartbeat? When I take a gulp of cold drink it has a similar effect. (So I always try to take my tablets with room temperature water and don’t drink icy drinks in summer like I used to love!) So now when I’m inside I try to keep as warm and consistent in temperature as I can, and when I go out for a walk in the cold, I make sure I’m breathing through a closed mouth and sometimes a scarf too, and that I keep my breathing slow and relaxed. I consciously try to relax my shoulders and chest muscles too. I feel like it helps a lot

I’m so sorry to hear you’re having such a bad spell of the AF … how is it now? Jx

[Luludean in reply to JaneFinn]

Hi Jane finn , I haven’t had a nasty AF episode fir 3 years . I used to have them regularily, 12 years ago I was in and out of A and E . It was not an accepted conditiin then ( like ME) I used to feel like a lunatic , patronised !! Middle aged woman and!!!!! Divorcée! Immediately put in «  neurotic «  box . Horrible , then came a sea change and, lo and behold A F is now a real thing . No longer ignored. 🤗

[JaneFinn in reply to Luludean]

Argh yes, that frustratingly patronising “It’s all in the mind, my dear” attitude 😡 It’s responsible for so much harm - both emotional and physical, and in some areas of diagnosis and treatment it still prevails 😕

I think with arrhythmia, until we have evidence of AF, our palpitations are often dismissed as hysterical/anxious female syndrome. Certainly I’ve lost count of the amount of times I was dismissed and ‘reassured’ it was nothing and just to ignore it, before a holter showed up AF and VT and they suddenly switched me to the ‘genuine condition, not hysterical’ category!!

That’s one reason I’m so pleased we have so many more accessible ways of recording our heart rhythm these days, to diagnose arrhythmia more easily.

It’s good you’ve had no nasty AF events in the last 3 years - what helped, was it treatment, or other measures, or just luck?! Jx

[Ppiman]

Bad luck. I suspect cold air can affect the muscles and even the breathing a little and this can pull and push at the heart physically, setting off ectopic beats. I can make this happen sometimes just by leaning forward at the table. These can then spark AF since they are often essentially the same root cause.

What symptoms are you having that make you feel the need for an A&E visit?

Steve

[Luludean in reply to Ppiman]

Hi PPIman, sudden return of AF in change of temperature is quite common apparently. Veins open up , heart races and BP goes up too. You tense up too . My AF symptoms are sudden shaking , weak legs , heart racing and seeming to miss beats. Then comes fear . But I used to go a scary shade of blue in the cold when I was a child. Not sure about that now. I don’t have pain or get breathless. L

[Ppiman in reply to Luludean]

You get worse symptoms than I do, but that’s only been this last year. Fear certainly confuses the whole sense of how bad it really is.

Steve

[Rosemaryb1349]

This was us yesterday and I've had my heating on for a couple of hours booster most evenings this last week. I had an AF episode this week, the first for about 2 months so could be down to the sudden onset of Autumn.

Temp/weather report from yesterday for Cromarty Firth.

[Luludean in reply to Rosemaryb1349]

Hi Rosemary , I am glad I am not the only one to go into AF. It is quite alarming , tou are a lot further North than me, do you hibernate? L

[Rosemaryb1349 in reply to Luludean]

No I wish I could hibernate but instead I wear several layers of woollen jumpers and spend a fortune on heating. 😏

[Luludean in reply to Rosemaryb1349]

Well I hope the autimnnis kind to you Rosemary , how long have you hzd AF? L

[Rosemaryb1349 in reply to Luludean]

Approx 11 years have had 3 ablations but the beast is back since 2021 but much reduced and I can live with it as it is. Am needing a new pacemaker in next year or so though. How about you?

[Luludean in reply to Rosemaryb1349]

Hi Rosemary, mitral valve tepair in 2000. AF started after nasty virus, about 12 years ago. 2,failed ablations . Persistent AG.

Also RA or Osteo or both. Painful . But , usually optimistic , sometimes bit low.