Hello, 50 yr old fit healthy male. I’ve recently been told I’m suffering from AF. Basically went out on my MTB on Friday 14/02/25. One of my usual routes that I do, started to struggle on some of the hills that I normally get up. No energy then slight chest pain which increased the steeper the hill got until I had to eventually stop due to the pain. So back to the van and to A&E. Hooked up to an ECG which showed my heart rate was all over the place 135 then down to 105. Nurse asked if I suffer from AF, I said I had no idea what she was on about. Lasted maybe a few hrs then back to normal sinus rhythm. Admitted to cardiac care for the weekend, hooked up to monitor my heart rate. It was fine all weekend with the odd slight flutter for one beat. Had blood tests, chest xray and echocardiogram which all came back fine. Heart rate is between 55-60 when resting and 70-90 generally during the day. Blood pressure is normal. Discharged Monday morning with drugs and a letter saying I have PAF and angina. I was prescribed Ranexa, atorvastatin and bisoprolol and told to take until I see the cardio specialist. It’s all come as a bit of a shock. Any help would be appreciated.
new to AF: Hello, 50 yr old fit healthy... - Atrial Fibrillati...
new to AF
- Blood tests
- Electrocardiogram
- Bisoprolol
- Atrial fibrillation
- Atorvastatin
- Cardiovascular disease
- Ranexa
- Echocardiogram
Your story regarding discovering that you had AF is very similar to all of the members here. I know at A&E I was offered tablets to take every day, but I said that I may never have another attack so why should I do that? It was agreed that I could take them just when I had an AF attack. This is called a 'pill in the pocket' (PIP) for short.
I have a friend whose heart rate can go over 200bpm when she has an AF attack and she drifts in and out of consciousness. So your max beat of 135bpm, though unpleasant, could have been worse. I've had AF for 20 years and had lots of procedures to help in that time.
If you are on a PC and look to the right of this page you will see a link to the AF association website. Lots of good advice on there and I suggest you read the bits that interest you. Will put the link below in a minute.
Jean
Welcome to the forum. Plenty of us here have been in exactly the same boat!
Aside from reading up on afib as much as poss, the one piece of advice I would give is to really cut back on your MTBing and exercising generally until you find out what is triggering/stressing your heart and putting it into AF. There are many known triggers including alcohol, drugs, smoking, hypertension, sleep apnoea, obesity, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle. Also coronary artery disease and over-exercising.
I'd have thought, as you have angina they will want to do an angiogram to check how much of an arterial blockage you may have. Personally, I'd tone down as much stress as you can and stick to fairly gentle exercise until you get the result and talk to a cardiologist. Good luck with everything.
Hi MJC - your post feels like deja vu. I’m a very keen MTB rider that after too many hill climbs triggered AFib 15 months ago. Had a hard ride one day then warming up on my Wattbike the next I noticed HR at 205. Yikes.
Trip to A&E and the usual meds to calm things down. Ultimately I went through an ablation and have been fine since. I’d agree with Barny to take things very easy until your cardiology appointment.
I’m sure you’ll go through an emotional roller coaster but with so many treatment options available, try to stay positive
Very best
Guy
I was a very competitive road cyclist even in my 50s and beyond but now in 80s i can look back to your age and wonder why i was now and again not always successfull. I started to norice from my hr monitoring gear back then that i was getting unusually high rates at times. Others have been known as not being reliable. Anyway i it was when i was 75 and having a go at the world masters during training days i startef to have hr up to 204. I did manage to do ok in 2 cycling events then bang the next weekend bombed oit again in AF.Now im 80 and have only just been given pace and ablate. Whew what a journey. Colin
hello - I had exactly same experience. Am a Surrey hills mtb’er. Had four episodes of AF all bike induced. Excellent EP did ablation June last year and said I had caught it early. All good since then and plenty of biking. It was a big worry for me but is very common. If you have a chance to catch it early then I would do so - very limited impact on me so far and am off all meds. You can see from here that there is a range of impacts on quality of life but ‘getting on with it’ as my cardiologist says helps stop the worrying. Hope this helps.
Glad to hear you are going well. Who did you have as your EP, and was it private or NHS job? Thanks
Thanks. Matthew Wright. I had it done privately at the Cleveland Clinic but he practices out of Guys and Thomas NHS. Lectures around the globe on AF. Super efficient and personable. He stopped me flapping when it started and if it comes back then I will be straight back to see him because I trust his judgment (and skill). Good luck. R
Sorry that happened to you . It always comes as a massive shock. AF is very common among cyclists . Personally I would sell the MTB. Hard giving things up I know . It is just possible that your heart couldn’t cope with the hill climb in fast AF and that caused the pain rather than advanced disease so try and stay optimistic until you have had the angiogram
Hi. A really important thing to know is that there are different types of cardiologist. The ones you need to talk to are called electrophysiologists or EPs. These ones are specialised in the electrical function of the heart and are the ones that perform any kind of procedures, should you decide to have one later in your journey. The others are more about the plumbing and often are not actually that helpful regarding AF. The simplest method to finding a good EP is to do some some research into experienced and respected EPs in your area. You can also ask on here for any recommendations in your area. Once you found one that works for a hopefully local hospital, you need to find where they have a private practice, I think they all have a private practice. You can then arrange a private consultation which can cost between £200 to £400. And then discuss with them becoming their patient within the NHS. I assume you are aware that you can choose where to go on the NHS. It’s early days for you and a lot to find out., one thing you will find out is that there are many variations of AF, Some very minor and infrequent and tolerated, others much more problematic. Good luck and well done for finding this forum it’s been invaluable for me and my continuing journey.
That is important to know. But also note that the poster was told they had angina. So they also need to probably go the cardiology route, and arguably that is of higher urgency right now.
Good point!
Good information!!
Hi, quite a few of us cyclists eventually get AF and have gradually migrated to an electric bike. Means you get help on the hills but can keep cycling. Has helped me manage my AF enormously.
Mjc74 welcome to the club, the one that nobody wanted to actually join but have found themselves in ! Don't be too disheartened right now. I'm now 60, and a keen road and off-road cyclist (except I'm not actually cycling right this instance, but different issue). Fit and healthy, or at least so I thought...
I think worth breaking this down. You've been told you had angina and AF. So first thing to say is to feel lucky that this has been caught before it became a more serious thing. So feel good, not bad.
I had a heart attack 13 months ago (to the day and almost the hour in fact...). This was sort of out of the blue. But in hindsight I had warning signs over a couple of months, which I put down first to indigestion (stupid, but common) and then side effects of what was then my first bout of covid (even more stupid, in hindsight). I was probably starting out with angina as the precursor.
Catching the angina now is really good news. This strikes me as probably the number one priority to get sorted as it is this which could be lead on eventually to a heart attack if not treated. I would have expected that you will have an angiogram and stent(s) fitted. This is routine stuff. [Note: I'm not a medic just now a reasonably well informed patient]. This would be a cardiologist route, not electrophysiologist.
Until this is sorted, yes I'd lay off the over exercising. Not particularly because of AF but because of the angina and HA risk. (but I'm not a medic). I'd certainly back off if you get symptoms.
As for the AF: depending how frequent this is, it is not necessarily going to be a big issue. Often it can be brought almost completely under control with drugs. My problem is that the common treatment (flecainide) is contra indicated for those who have had a heart attack. So is not an option for me, but is for very many so I understand. Unfortunately my AF has only occurred post HA. Irony. It is also quite possible that the cardiologist you see will initially put you on to something like flecainide without referring you on to an EP. I was only referred on to EP because they couldn't do that.
Just to note that this will not be the end of your cycling days. I was back on my road bike 8-10 weeks after my HA (and stent fitted), and made a point of tackling "b*****d hill" a few weeks after that. A relative had an HA induced cardiac arrest, had 3 stents and a pace maker fitted and 15 months later did Ride London.
The problem for me with my AF not being controlled is that I can't really plan for cycling trips. But my next EP call is only 10 days away and I suspect a decision then on treatment path.
Question: I note you haven't mentioned being put onto low dose aspirin. I find that surprising given the angina, but I'm not a medic (I think I've said that...). I'm also a little surprised that you haven't been given an 'for emergency use' GTN spray. Worth doing some research and then perhaps raising both of these with your GP while awaiting your cardiologist appointment.
You’re being treated for angina rather than AF. If your BP is normal, you might question cardiology about the need for bisoprolol to control your heart rate (as opposed to taking care not to over exercise). It will certainly slow you down.
Hello,
Thank you for your post and welcome to the forum. This is a safe space in which you can share your experiences so I hope you find it helpful.
It is completely understandable to feel in shock as it can be a lot of information to digest but I do hope that you are feeling better since being discharged.
We have lots of supportive information on our website about AF:
UK and International: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
US: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
I would also like to direct you to our AF and You booklet that I hope you find helpful:
UK and International: api.heartrhythmalliance.org...
US: api.heartrhythmalliance.org...
Alternatively, if you would like to contact a member of our Patient Services Team, please complete our contact form and a member of the team will be in touch:
UK and International: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
US: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Kind regards,
HollieAdmin
AF can be caused by dehydration and lack of electrolytes. There are many other triggers as well and we all learn to manage them. So keep up hydration and also get your bloods done in particular Magnesium, VitD3 and CoQ10 you will have to pay extra for some of them. I was deficient in all of them and so I take supplements and slowly getting my levels up. I find rushing around or eating in a hurry especially when I’m dehydrated can flip me into AF.
On the positive side I was diagnosed at 35 and went on to have an average of only one episode every 5 years that changed when I turned 65 and in the last 3 years I’ve had 4 or 5 episodes. I feel my AF is well controlled and so can live a normal life exercising, travelling etc… I’m now on low dose Flecanide and metoprolol to see if we can lengthen time of recurrance. I will have an ablation when the new technology gets FDA approval hopefully in the next few years
Mine are every 7-12 days or so 
Not sure how worried I should be about that, but its definitely mucking my life up somewhat.
how long do they last, are they high HR episodes?, could they be ectopics? I used to get lots of ectopics which felt like AF. I’ve had my bloods checked and was deficient in Vitd3, magnesium and CoQ10. May get yours done and see. Also do you get dehydrated you could be low in electrolytes which can cause heart irregularities
My kardia says it is AF, and the couple of Kardia ECGs I've sent to the EP he has confirmed as AF. Interestingly I was getting some episodes of 'this isn't right' which the Kardia was determining as normal sinus but high HR. I then took the Kardia subscription service specifically to see if I was having ectopics, but so far it hasn't told me that.
Length of episodes: shortest has been about an hour, but far more likely about 6-10 hours. Almost all start early hours of the morning (like 01:00 to 03:00).
I assume you went private to get your bloods checked? (Sorry, you may not be UK in which case everything might be private).
I'm now on GP annual blood tests because of the HA drugs, but that is primarily liver/kidney and lipid tests. I doubt that specifically looks at Vit D or CoQ10 ??
EDIT: just to note on HR. The Kardia is obviously the most reliable measure for HR during AFib I assume. That typically gives a reading of range of 90-135 (the latter being less frequent).
I’m in Australia and most of the blood tests are covered by Medicare, the CoQ10 was $70 extra. I’d still get them done as upping these might help but please do yr own research on them.
Interesting yours happen in the early hours. I had a couple like that so I raised my bed at behead by placing stackable castors under the feet. It raised about 4 inches and used a couple of pillows and now sleep on my right side. I’ve not had another episode during bedtime. I’ve since purchased a spilt king bed and can raise the head. My wife said the real benefit is I don’t snore anymore! Maybe try the castors for a while and see how you go. Furniture castors are available online or in hardwares stores
Hello james. This sounds exactly like what I’m having. When I was in the hospital my heart was going between 70-85. I’ve been having flutter type feelings for maybe 4 years but didn’t think much of it. Interesting about hydration, as I’m always getting told off by the mrs for not drinking enough. Maybe that could be a factor.
Most likely it is a factor so drink more water. Also look at your diet to make sure your eating food which includes good source of potassium, magnesium etc… I’ve spent time going through my AF episodes over the years looking for my triggers and noting them down. Yes we forget sometimes and bang it hits me again so stay vigilant and you will lessen your ectopics and possibly AF frequency
I was feeling dreadful for months. My Christmas present 2 years ago was an Apple smart watch. The following January my first sign of of AF showed up then again in March every couple of months until it started to get more frequent. Every time I did my sport I would go into an episode. Doc diagnosed SF and ectopic. Last year I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and now on the CPAP machine. Feel so much better and episodes are getting less. My highest HR at one point was 178 Hope your treatment works well. But maybe check for sleep apnea
You need to know first sure that it is the AF is causing the angina, although that seems surely to be the case given what you’ve written. It often doesn’t. In my case, if my AF causes fast tachycardia, say 160+, then I do get a kind of chest ache, which has never been called anything or even recognised. I used to get similar from taking bisoprolol, too, oddly.
Steve
hello all. Thank you very much for your replies. It made for some interesting reading. I’ve never had an AF episode before that I know of. I wear a garmin watch which would have hopefully picked up on the heart rate if I was having an episode. I’m going to make notes of some of the things you’ve mentioned and put it to my cardiologist next time I see them.
You might enjoy the Facebook page Cardiac Athletes. Lots of positive stories on there and very nonjudgmental too.🙏
hi 74, Iv read the replies to you and I’m not going to add anymore or even try to give any advice because these lovely folk have already done it. But I will wish you well and I’m sure you will be fine mate 👍
Hi there -
I joined only a few weeks ago and was like you overwhelmed by the response of the group.
I (still) run, and had concerns about where AF diagnosis left me.
Rather than regurgitate all the replies I thought Id just share you my original post and hence all the amazingly valuable replies. Some real nuggets of info and reference - one being The Haywire Heart which Id recommend. Anyhoo - here is the link, and welcome to the journey!
AF with asthma
New here, but not new to AF and ectopic beats.
confused about AF
