Just reaching out to the lovely forum people!
I recall someone helpfully posting a number of useful things to try when in AFib (Jeanjeanie?). I would be so grateful if that helpful person could repost the ideas as I could use them.
Also I recall someone mentioning licking some salt, which stopped their AFib episode? Can anyone advise me about best amount of salt to have in the diet..some or none? Do we need some sodium for heart health or is it bad?
Just my ponderings today. Thanks.
Here it is:
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This works like magic, and works every time.
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.
Hope this is of use to someone.
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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.
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Coughing or sneezing has helped revert some people back into normal sinus rhythm too.
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Please let me know if any of these procedures work.
Jean
Jean, thank you so much! I was hoping you may see my post and you did. I will make sure I don’t lose the info now. I had been searching for it, to no avail. I hope you are well by the way?
This reply is bot to be taken seriously and I don’t recommend it but I reverted after a week of AF after eating a too hot curry with explosive results 🥵🤯
Interesting! I love curry so I may try that also!
The best one I ever read - not on this forum I hasten to add - was from a NZ sheep farmer who every time he went into AF did a self DC conversion by going to a nearby electrified fence and shocking himself 🤷. NOT a recommendation.
My best experience was driving over an unseen pothole - hitting it SO hard it damaged the axle on a brand new car - but terminated the longest AF episode I ever suffered.
More sensibly - my routine - hydration - electrolytes - legs at 90degrees to body for about 20 mins doesn’t work immediately but often reverts within an hour or so then I just go to sleep and hope I wake up in NSR, which is what happened a few nights ago.
I will give the electric fence and pothole solutions a miss but. Try the others! Many thanks
I once asked my EP if I could use my stun gun on myself!
I’m relieved to know you didn’t use it!😀
😁
There is a great book I recommend you read called " The AFIB Cure" by Dr D Day and Dr Jared Bunch, both cardiologists. I figured out a way to sopt AFIB on my own . There are several factors that helped cause AFIB . STRESS, Hydration, electrolyte balance, caffeine, lack of sleep, were all big triggers for me. I figured out a way to stop my AFIB by getting on my stationary bike and riding for minimum of 10 minutes @ 10 beats/minute higher than my given AFIB rate. I would get AFIB always at 2,3,4 am and just get up and start riding. Once I got my heart rate up I would monitor to make sure it was 10 beats higher with my apple watch.. real time .. usually my AFIB was 130/140 bpm and I would raise to 140/150 then get off my bike. 31 out 31 times I stopped my AFIB. Basically I figured out how to reset my heart beat.. no surgeon I talked to had ever heard of this. .In the end after 1 year of having AFIB I decided to get it fixed once and for all and ended up getting 2 ablation procedures within 12 months of each other. I have no AFI B and living a normal life again since jul y2024.
The cycling info is remarkable and I may try that. I can quite believe it works as you are telling it what to do rather than the other way round.
I tried the indoor cycling a few months back and it worked after a 5km ride then 5 x 15 sec bursts with 15 sec rest between. In Af at the moment and have tried this again but to no avail…. great to hear your in Sinus now!
I have found eating a snack has resolved mine several times. And it serves as a distraction too.
Thanks for this.
hi weeds, Iv put myself back into normal rhythm by drinking freezing cold water. It hasn’t worked on every occasion though but still worth a try.👍
I will try that next time. I am still learning what works and doesn’t work. The freezing water trick may work for me…hopefully!
Thank you
You’re welcome. Let us know how you get on.👍
What's your heart rate during an AFib episode ?
What treatment do you currently follow ? Do you have a pip ?
I am paroxysmal still, so not many episodes to be able to correlate as they have all been a bit different. But the last one was I think around 170. I took a flec 100mg and it calmed down an hour later.
I am on Apixaban with a flec as Pip. I also had an ablation 18 months ago which helped a bit but did not cure it.
The breathing exercise, in for count of 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4 sometimes works for me. Also, when i first go to bed mine is bad. My cardiologist told me to move my legs vigorously for a couple of minutes to make the heart pump faster. That also works sometimes.
That’s very interesting as well, especially about moving the legs. Will certainly try that thank you.
I found all suggesting maneuvers can help to ease Afib one way or another to different people. .Some of them (vagal maneuvers. cold pads.,water) I use , but do not avoid the medication.
Bisoprolol and Flecainide 50-100 mg as PRN helps to lower HR and stops paroxysmal Afib
By the way the emptier stomach it’s easier with sympathetic or parasympathetic nerve functions.The bowl movement while vague maneuvers helps.
I agree with you, it’s so important to use the meds as well. And I agree about not having a too full stomach. I had a bad episode once after a huge meal!
One suggestion I recall from another site said to drink very cold low sodium V8 juice. I’ve tried it and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Thanks for the tip!
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