Hi I had an episode of fa 4 years ago then nothing About 4 weeks ago started waking at night with my heart thumping..didn't register as I do get palpitations
Then I started feeling woozy...when to hospital on 24th October..in afib ..hr in 170s ..kept in for a few hours and sent home with bisoporol and blood thinner..2 days later started getting chest pain especially on exertion and no energy...back to hospital with pain taken off blood thinners and back on asprin
I get chest pain here and there and had to take asprin daily
Is chest pain and lack of energy normal with af ? I'm still in af since hospital visit...been reffered to af clinic
I'm 62 years old caring for a disabled son ..really can't afford to be unwell
Thank you
Maggi
My main concern atm is the chest pain which I get every day is this normal with af
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Maggi79
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Firstly welcome, AF is a club everyone had rather not had to join, but here we are. Newly diagnosed it is somewhat daunting and scary for us but we have a great bunch of people here with expert patient knowledge and experience, many of whom have lived with AF for many years - myself for 20 years.
Nothing is ‘normal’ with AF. Some people have angina (chest pain) with AF but that tends to be a minority.
What I find somewhat baffling is why they would have taken you off anticoagulants and put onto aspirin - which is an antiplatelet? You do need an explanation for that so please push for that and ensure you get copies of letters sent between hospital and the GP - you may have to go sign up for that at both hospital and GP surgery or you may be able to do it on line if your hospital uses a platform such as Patients Know Best or MyHealth where everything such as test results, letters etc will be posted and you will be notified by email when there is something to be able to access.
In your position I would be beating a path to the door of a good cardiologist with experience of AF for a consult asap. And if I had to travel to do that, I would. What is the waiting list for the AF clinic you are referred to? If longer than a few weeks and in some areas in UK it can be months/years, I would have no hesitation to book a private consult - cost varies but is circa £200-300 for the consult, obviously any tests cost more but you should be able to have those on the NHS. The sorts of tests you should expect are:- bloods, ECG, some sort of continuous 24/7 monitor, echocardiogram and possible a stress test ECG and a CT angiogram.
Another excellent source of info in UK is BartsAF website, also an excellent AF centre.
You will find massive amount of support and experience here so don’t hesitate to post any questions or concerns you have and I would encourage you to read the posts of others as you can learn so much. I know it’s all very daunting but what I have learned and wish I had known at the very start of my journey is that we cannot be passive on an AF journey, so many people with AF and so few NHS resources, such a lack of expert knowledge amongst the general medical profession that it really pays to be a patient with some knowledge so that you know the questions to ask.
PS - I understand about the carer bit as my husband now has dementia and needs a lot of help BUT - if you do not put yourself first at this point you may become very ill yourself so please get support and help for your son in place so that you can focus on your own health until you have a treatment plan for yourself. Hopefully you will already have some sort of plan in place if you would be unable to look after him? If not, maybe now is the time to think about this.
All chest pain needs checking by a doctor and, if it's from the heart, not muscular or gastric, then an echocardiogram is, I would say, called for along with blood tests to check for heart-related aspects.
I often do get chest discomfort with my arrhythmias, which include AF, but reading on here, it's not so common. There’s quite a lot if online information about it, though under AF symptoms. Mine can radiate into my back, too. I wouldn't call it "pain" as you have, but more an "ache" - but it might be the same as yours.
The heart and the stomach are closely connected, and AF can bring on stomach or other issues under the left rib. Also, AF can cause a mild form of angina which would be chest pain.
Your doctor is your friend on this one, and, given your family circumstances, tough as they are and you have my sympathy in what you cope with. Life can be hard.
Wish I'd seen your comment before I posted earlier.
My post was specifically regarding a persistent tight, heavy dull ache under my left breast/ left rib area & also sweating whilst resting, that may or may not be connected.
I was worried it was liver pain.
I was told I had arrhythmias, AF & HF & low blood pressure in A & E end of August.
Heart beat was 180 bpm, took Dr's a few days to bring it down.
I had an echocardiogram whilst in hospital that revealed both left & right valve & ventricle damage but haven't seen the full echo report yet because appointment with cardio that should have been this week was cancelled so I've only seen short version of report written by HF Nurse.
I'm also waiting for Papworth MRI results with stress test.
Was put on a waiting list for cardioversion weeks ago which I gather from posts & comments is usually unsuccessful.
Whilst in hospital I regularly had a tight squeezing ache under both left & right rib though. Told docs it felt like a noose was being tightened but they never gave me an explanation other than that my AF was persistent so I'm going to try to cut out decaff coffee to see if it improves.
Nurses in hospital advised me to cut back on or stop drinking caffeine but it's an addictive stimulant just like nicotine, & why coffee shop chains are raking it in & will probably never go out of business.
I'm going to try to limit myself to one morning decaf coffee & drink warm or cold water & occasionally warm milk for rest of the day because it's really getting me down.
Can't get into a comfortable sleeping position either..
Also had back pain with it but not often, only once or twice when really stressed, plus it was lower back pain so unsure if linked.
There’s no evidence that caffeine affects AF at all and quite a bit online about this.
Those pains are quite likely from your high heart rate. This reduces the efficiency of the heart and causes pain in the diaphragm area - at least that’s what I find.
Also, what you call “damage” might also be from the persistent racing. I had that in 2019 with something called atrial flutter. In my case everything returned to normal once the rate was controlled after an ablation.
Fingers crossed yours turns out similar. It likely will. I paid for a private consultation to speed things up.
My update...been prescribed Diltiazem and a blood thinner by cardiologist..recommended cardioversion in a couple of months and had an echo done waiting on results
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