Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.

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ecofr 12/17/2013

Does your rest Heart Rate (HR) always noticeably increase in afib?
I am not asking whether you can have afib with a moderate HR (say 70), but whether it increases (say from 50 to 70) when going from NSR to afib.

nhnmnh 12/17/2013

I'm wondering the same thing...if normal for you is in the 60's, is it possible that a beta-blocker would keep the resting heart rate down (like in the 90's) when it would otherwise go higher than that?

Are you on meds, ecofr?

yogacat 12/17/2013

Mine has always increased. I have Bradycardia, 50's and low 60's.
My HR usually jumps to 140 when in afib. I have had times that it only went to 111 on onset.

deleted_user 12/17/2013

Mine always increases to 160 plus, even though I'm taking Sotalol which has a beta blocker component
My resting HR on Sotalol is in the mid 50's and I have never had an Afib episode starting with a HR lower than 160.
It's always off to the races for me, I'm highly symptomatic and I have a difficult time tolerating an episode.

ecofr 12/17/2013

Nhmnnh,
I had an ablation, successful so far.
Only med is 50mg/day of Metoprolol, that I took for 3 years. I am of course concerned about silent afib, so I often check my heart waves with a Omron ECG and my heart rate with an oxymeter. Also every 6 months I have a 2 weeks run with a zio-patch event monitor.
I can now easily evaluate my heart rate within few points just feeling my pulse.
Things would be simpler for me if I could get convinced that transition from NSR to afib is always associated with a noticeable increase of heart rate.

bergeram 12/17/2013

My HR increases..
With asymptomatic bradycardia,normal for me is a HR in the high 40's-50's. In an AF episode my HR goes between 65-95.
An irregular HB and some fatigue are my only symptoms.Episodes are between 6-24hours until I convert.
I'm on no medications other than Warfarin.

Annette

daisy0808 12/17/2013

For me heart rate goes to 140 plus when in afib, Normal is 55-65. Take Tikosyn, Cartia and Xaralto, just had an ablation last week, still having break thurs but m told that is very common for the first 3-4 months.

ecofr 12/19/2013

In all the afib episodes I had before ablation, my HR went from 50-70 in NSR to well above 100, for instance 140's, when in afib.
Petey, do you know of any article on the subject?
Thanks
Ecofr

marikay234 12/20/2013

I think it would be unusual for your heart rate not to increase when going from NSR to afib.
Afib is about more than a rapid heart rate though....If you check your pulse you will feel an irregular heart beat when in afib. It may feel so irregular that you have difficulty counting it.

pacyetep 12/20/2013

marikay is correct. Afib causes the ventricles to beat irregularly and faster (in most cases). petey

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