Morning. Somewhere I have filed all the tricks people have used to try and stop an Afib attack. They’re in that safe place….hmmm?
Can anyone remind me please what they have done. Suppose to be having tooth extracted tomorrow but won’t be done if I can’t nip this current attack by the early morning. Have had a mild tooth infection and been on amoxicillin, last tablet Wednesday morning. I know both of these things upsets arrhythmias. Just into 5th day of slow Afib. Have tried the usual, icy water, blowing cheeks, sneezing etc.
Thank you all. x
Written by
Frances123
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These are all the tips I’ve saved over the years, given by forum members, for stopping AF. None have been written by me, all from other members here (names have been removed for privacy):
I am a therapist in private practice for over 20yrs.One of my therapies is yoga based. Having quite an accurate knowledge of anatomy, neurology and physiology also having PAF I have found this technique helps me immensely when my heart is fluttering like crazy. Make yourself comfortable either on a bed or lying on the floor, position a pillow under you head, Raise your left arm in an extension position as if you are doing the backward crawl. Stretch as much as you can and imagine that it is stretching your heart muscle...I bend my arm and position my hand under my head palm upwards.. Stay in that position for as long as you can or until the fluttering subsides...At the same time I think of something pleasant. It does not matter what you think about as long as it is a pleasant thought for you. This stops my heart jumping about almost instantly....I also place my right hand over my heart area...Don't panic and just keep calm thinking pleasant thoughts....I do hope this helps you. Kind Regards. C
As someone else who finds yoga breathing and some positions helpful, I would love to try (xxxx) suggestion, but lying down flat tends to make things worse for me. My most helpful position, taught me by a lovely yoga teacher, is based on a yoga forward bend. I sit up with my legs outstretched in front of me and a pillow under my knees, and then bend forward from the hips not the waist, with my arms relaxed but outstretched towards my ankles, and breath deeply and slowly. It's not so good on a full stomach and is more comfortable with your knees slightly apart, and I guess you have to be a bit flexible to find it comfortable, but it has proved to be a great help.
I agree with (xxxx) that staying calm and focusing on something pleasant is a must, and I've even fallen asleep like this as most of my episodes occur at night.
Finally, like AV nodal re-entry, some people have recurrent rapid rhythms that are infrequent and easy to self-control by using various methods to increase neural slowing to the AV node (so-called, "vagal manoeuvres"). Using these manoeuvres, one can sometimes stop the arrhythmia. These manoeuvres include:
Bearing down forcefully like you're having a bowel movement for 5-10 seconds, then slowly exhaling in the neck while lying down for approximately 5 seconds
Placing very cold (soaked in ICE water) cloth on the face abruptly.
Coughing forcefully
Rubbing the carotid artery (only one side at a time, never both)
There's a yoga breathing exercise that has worked for me before. Lie on your back, bend your knees up so they are above your hips and your lower legs are at 90 degrees. Take a breath in for a count of 4 then breathe out for a count of at least 8. As you breathe out, bring your knees into your chest so you curl into a ball. When you think you've got all the air out of your lungs, try and breathe out more! Breathe in again for 4 and release your legs out to the starting position. Repeat several times. It helps to reset the diaphragm and focus should be on a good long out-breath.
So, after discovering that making myself sneeze stops Afib. I have discovered another novel way to stop an attack. It involves drinking a litre bottle of water while holding my nose. It's especially effective if I experience almost panic as I can't get a breath. I don't always finish the bottle but find that's not always necessary to gain the desired effect. Works especially well if I catch an attack early.
A quarter teaspoon of sea salt mixed with 10 ounces of warm water. drink that and then put a smaller amount on your hand and lick it off. Within a minute my afib stops.
This may sound like a "wind up" but believe me it works, for me anyway.
I found if I lay down on the floor and put my feet up against a wall, it seemed to stop my SVT after a few minutes, not sure why it worked, but it didn’t work for AFib though.
Thanks Cliff. Yes, I was going to ask for that but at present I’m still having an internal jamboree. Likelihood of me having it done now is getting less.
Last time i mentioned this to my dentist she asked why i would want non adrenaline, i told her about my afib , but she told me it wasnt as good and just carried on and extracted my tooth, does no one care anymore.
Why can’t they extract the tooth while you are in AF.? Providing you have a non-adrenaline injection you should be fine. I had an endoscopy in AF. They wasn’t going to do it, but the specialist said l could go ahead. I was fine. A tooth extraction shouldn’t take long but dentists differ in their approach. It takes longer for an AF episode to end when you are anxious and a looming extraction isn’t going to help. All the best and hope it goes through.
Thank you. I have to stop the anticoagulant in the morning but I won’t if I’m still in Afib for obvious reasons. I too have had a few colonoscopies and endoscopes but always stopped anticoagulant in case they find and need to remove a polyp. Saves having 2 procedures if I had to go back and have polyps removed.
I take warfarin and last time had a tooth extracted l didn’t have to stop taking it as long as my INR was in range, same for endoscopy. I had two polyps removed during my endoscopy (whilst in AF) It just goes to show how much diversity there is when you have AF. Hope you get it done tomorrow.
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