<p>I’ve been suffering from this condition for roughly 10 years. At first the episodes were very short, barely noticeable and not detectable with holter monitoring because they were so infrequent. The last few years they’ve become more frequent and of longer duration. The first longer episode which lasted roughly half an hour sent me to the ER because I thought I was dying. I didn’t have an episode in over a year until yesterday which lasted 10 hours and went into the ER to either receive medication or an electric cardioversion. It stopped before this was needed. I take medications - metoprolol and diltiazem. I’d like to know how you are handling it. I know some people are totally unaware they have it until they get an echo. Some of us however have severe symptoms that make it impossible to function.</p>
<p>I suffered from afib for several years…
Caused by stress.
Sometimes very short episodes…sometimes several hours where I would have to lie down and rest. </p>
<p>Finally…I fainted. Went to the hospital. Couldn’t find anything. Put on metoprolol.</p>
<p>And this is going to sound weird. I decided I wasn’t going to have an afib attack anymore.
I knew it was stress related so I told myself to not get that stressed. I didn’t have an attack for months…started to wean myself off metoprolol. Still no attacks… And now it is 5 years later…no attacks.</p>
<p>And all my heart tests are excellent.</p>
<p>There is a procedure where a few heart cells where the problem is are frozen. </p>
<p>This procedure worked for my father in law and a friend of mine. They. Have suffered no attacks since the procedure as far as I know.</p>
<p>If you are interested…ask around for doctors that are well experienced with this procedure.</p>
<p>This procedure isn’t cheap…maybe 60,000 or so…that was a few years ago…</p>
<p>Make sure you are covered…</p>
<p>Example…</p>
<p>[Northwestern</a> Memorial News - Press Releases - Northwestern Memorial Hospital - Chicago](<a href=“http://www.nmh.org/nm/freezing-procedure-disables-heart-cells-causing-arrhythmia]Northwestern”>http://www.nmh.org/nm/freezing-procedure-disables-heart-cells-causing-arrhythmia)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I can’t remember having read about this before. I have a cardiologist and an electrophysiologist at Yale. It was recommended that in the future I will most likely need an ablation but first the usual steps are to medicate and if it doesn’t control it or stop it to go to ablation. These are the procedural steps that were recommended at the Atrial Fibrillation Conferences over the past few years. Most of these techniques come with risk including having to be performed mulitple times. Typically mine is random and not tied to any stress, foods or activities. Usually it starts with many pacs per minute over a number of days. This time it may be more stress related.</p>
<p>Doct…well …it sounds like you are getting good care.</p>
<p>It is rare for somebody to die because of an afib attack…so many people suffer from afib. I think Barry Bonds had an attack…so I would try to relax if there was an attack. I know afib attacks suck.</p>
<p>Wow, this is timely. H had his first episode Sunday night. He was on a bike ride and wears a monitor so he can download the data for his own personal interest. About 4 miles into the ride his heart rate dropped from 135 to 60 while still peddling intensively. (the skipped beats were skewing the data). He came home and fainted so I dragged him to the ER. Heart rate was all over the place and BP was 83 over something. They gave him some intervenious drug that started with a “d” - maybe diltaizem. His heart rate started dropping into the 30’s. They moved him to a room where he spent the night and the next day had an internal echo cardio gram to look for valve damage or clots (none found) and then a cardioconversion (sp). Everything is currently perfect. Doc said this fix could last 2 weeks or 20 years. </p>
<p>We are still digesting the news.</p>
<p>Yes! I have had episodes of rapid heartbeat since I was 17 years old. I used to call it tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) until I learned it was atrial fibrillation. When I was young it only happened if I did something suddenly without warming up… so I was careful to warm up and never had a problem with it while running cross country and track in high school and playing hs basketball. The episodes of rapid heartbeat would last maybe 5 minutes and would end very suddenly as my heart would revert to its normal steady rhythm.</p>
<p>Now as I age it is becoming more of a problem because the rapid heartbeat will occur after a run or if I stop suddenly or bend down and stand up suddenly after exercising, and it even hit me on the golf course as I bent down to pick up my tee on the 17th tee. Several years ago I had a whole bunch of heart tests… trachial sonogram, echo cardiagram mugascan… everything short of running a catheter up my vein, had a monitor on for a week… and I couldn’t trigger an episode! Clearly there is a psychological component. </p>
<p>We are in good company. Jerry West and Larry Bird both have atrial fibrillation. I can’t imagine trying to play basketball while my heart is going 200 bpm!</p>
<p>I found a good afib online forum if you want company. :)</p>
<p>My mother suffered from atrial fibrillation for as long as I can remember.</p>
<p>Her health is poor now for other reasons, but she’s 87, and still with us.</p>
<p>My mother had AFib for years. They had to adjust the medication a few times - tweaking it to work since it’s not one size fits all. She had a few cardioversion procedures when she ended up in the ER different times and they weren’t able to get it back into rhythm with meds. The cardioversions worked to get it back in sync. Eventually she got to where it was fairly manageable with meds. </p>
<p>Like most things I’m sure there are different causes, differences among people, different responses to meds, etc. The good news is that it can often be managed.</p>
<p>Hers wasn’t caused by stress. If you think yours may be caused by stress then in addition to directly taking care of it you need to address the stress issue since when stress starts causing noticeable physical symptoms it’s probably causing more harm than you realize.</p>
<p>You are right about the stress. I am very good on the stress now. I feel very good. I should stop reading some of the posts though… Lol</p>
<p>Stress has not been a factor in my afib. As a matter of fact, it is when I’m the least stressed - when my heart rate is at its lowest either going to bed or asleep that it comes on. This includes palpitations. There are different forms of afib - I have paroxysmal afib which comes on suddenly and lasts for about 8 hours and stops on its own.</p>
<p>My doctor has cautioned me against my self diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. It has never been witnessed/observed by a doctor, and he told me that there are all kinds of rapid irregular heartbeats that are not atrial fibrillation. So I would like to qualify my earlier post… from almost one year ago, to say that I have occasional episodes of rapid heartbeat that may or may not be atrial fibrillation. I also have a resting heartbeat that sometimes is clocked at less than 50 bpm which will disqualify me from donating blood unless I move around a bit first. :D</p>
<p>It took years for mine to be diagnosed. It wasn’t until, it was lasting for almost an hour and I had a monitor that it was determined. It has a very specific signature on a ekg.</p>
<p>8 hours is a long time. Happen often?</p>
<p>I (F, 62) have constant a-fib, although I am NEVER aware of it – showed up during a routine doc visit during an EKG. He was stunned as I was totally unaware. My cardiologist controls my heart rate with medication, but it remains uneven, while staying within range. He says as long as rate stays within range and I am on a blood thinner things are OK. Cardioversion did not work at all for me. Whenever I have an EKG the a-fib shows up. Did the Holter monitor thing too – almost constant a-fib. Doc said if meds did not work he might consider a pacemaker. But the meds seem to have my situation under control. Still worry about stroke risk though. Hoping for advances in treatment of this issue.</p>
<p>Would love to wean myself off (or at least lower) meds.</p>
<p>Fortunately only twice in the last year. The fact that it is so unpredictable has made me quite fearful. I think I wake up each day, figuring out what I’m going to do if it occurs. So far as I mentioned, it usually happens at night. My doctor has given me a presription for pradaxa which I haven’t filled. I’m nervous about this medication because of the potential for unstoppable bleeding unlike warfarin. Each medication has its issues. My father had persistent afib but he was totally unaware of it. I think most people who have it continuously are unaware of it - maybe because their heartrate isn’t super high.</p>
<p>I see Jem has it too. </p>
<p>I think mine was easier to control because I knew it was stress related. The stress could be minor though…like missing a stop light. </p>
<p>The unpredictability was a big issue for me too.
I don’t know why but it went away. I hope it doesn’t come back. I dont want to be on a drug like warfain. </p>
<p>It was very noticeable.</p>
<p>I thought I had it, but I went in for a work up and my episodes were apparently anxiety attacks, even though I didnt feel panicky.
So I drink less coffee, do more yoga, listen to relaxing music.</p>
<p>I’m paying $1600 travel insurance for a month trip to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti because of this condition.</p>
<p>Doct,that is a small suck.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity4, that is good that u don’t have it.</p>