Out of the blue, diagnosed with Atrial fibrillation

[wickitowi]

How can I go from an investigation of shortness of breath, a clear chest X-ray, a normal ECG and blood test, 2 weeks later a stint in resus, an overnight stay, to now being diagnosed with Atrial fibrillation, how does that happen? Was very fit, exercised regularly, but have a history of hypotension. And I keep hearing of others out of the blue being diagnosed with the same or similar raised heart rate, and AF?

[Manhattan1]

hi.. for the past few months on numerous occasions i’ve felt out of breath, dizzy and heavy feeling in my chest.. apple watch has recorded a raised HR of up to 180-200 beats for a few seconds.. holter monitor worn for 3 days apparently said everything was ok.. i know apple watch readings can’t be guaranteed but i’ve also been able to record same HR on bp monitor at the same time on a few occasions.. but as the holter monitor didn’t seem to catch anything.. looks as though i’ll just need to get on with it lolol

[Dolphin14]

Afib can just seemingly appear out of no where. Sometimes it comes and goes and can't be captured on one single EKG. It can be triggered by certain things and it is pretty common.

It doesn't necessarily mean your heart pump is unhealthy. It's an electrical disturbance that sometimes goes away on its own.

You need to get specific information from your Dr, if this hasn't been explained to you please reach out to a Dr

That's just a bit of knowledge I have about it.

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[jeanjeannie50]

AF doesn't show on an x-ray or in a blood test. Most people have what's called paroxysmal AF (written as PAF) which means it comes and goes. So if you have an ECG when not in AF your heart rate shows as normal. The knack/luck is having an ECG when you actually have an attack, then your abnormal beat will be revealed. This is what it appears has happened to you

Most of us on this forum were diagnosed just as you were. At first we feel scared, I know I went into headless chicken mode and when they told me it would be 6 weeks before I could have an ultra sound scan of my heart, I paid to have one, thinking I could be dead before the 6 weeks were up.

Once we calm down and learn all we can about AF, we realise it's just an irregular heartbeat, that may or may not make us feel ill at times. It's highly unlikely to kill us, but no one tells us that - so here I am telling you here.

The first thing to ask for is an ultrasound of your heart to see that all the valves etc are working properly. I was told I had a slightly leaky mitral valve, that was of no concern, I know others on this forum have been told the same.

Here I am 16 years after my first attack of PAF. I'm now in AF all the time, but my life is pretty good, I can walk our hilly coastline and tend to forget what my heart is doing. I find the more attention you pay to what the beat is, the worse it can become, anxiety appears to feed it.

Have you been prescribed any pills to help the condition?

Feel free to ask any questions and we will do our best to answer them.

Jean

[Dolphin14 in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Great information

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