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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Heart, Blood & Circulation
/ Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Hi I am new here - any help would be good

shirl13
shirl13
Hello everyone, I just joined this group. Diagnosed with AFib about 6 months ago and had a pretty bad attack a week ago and spent the night in hospital. I have been on medication for 6 months for it so don't know if working or not. I was very ill last year and still have on-going tests (nothing to do with my heart) but apart from that I live quite a healthy lifestyle, I have quite low blood pressure - can that bring it on? or will that me with AFib.
I live in England, have a very stressful job and don't know if that is a trigger for it. Not sure of triggers other than coffee - so switched to de-caf. I went to a wedding last weekend and did drink alcohol which didn't bring on an attack. Had a few little attacks since the big one last week and don't know why. Can anyone tell me their triggers and any other useful information. Any tips when you have an attack what is the best thing to do?
I live alone so can get a bit scary., thank you
- Shirl13
deleted_user
deleted_user
Welcome shirt13 - we are all here for the same reason and we all try and give each other support. Its a very scary experience & especially when it happens and you are alone. I was diagnosed in January and am not responding to the strongest of the heart medicines. My cardio doc sent me to an EP - he specializes in AFib - and I have an ablation scheduled for August in the hopes of getting some relief.....and yes he will 'burn' some of the places in my heart so that they can't misfire anymore.
My main trigger is stress and if its your too, we both will just have to figure out ways around it. That is a very hard thing to do but mostly I just go sit in my chair and try to sleep until it passes. Sometimes I'm down all afternoon and through the night but other times I can stay there an hour or so and then I'm OK again......I just never know. Coffee is not a trigger for me at all and only a couple of times have I thought wine was. Who knows?! Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Am also from uk and was diagnosed with afib in may of this year at the age of 41.
shirl13
shirl13
Hello Gary, another person from the UK under our our National Health Service, are you having any treatment for your afib. You have only been recently diagnosed like me so early days for you yet. Are you getting good support?
Shirley
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi Shirl, just want to add my welcome to this afib support group. I am from Canada, a similar health care system to yours so all the tests and the ablation and my 10 days in hospital were free, although you also don't get any choice on who your EP or cardiologist is. My triggers are coffee, tea, wine, chocolate, exercise, and stress. My ablation was not successful, some of the studies show that ablations have a lower success rate in women than men, but I would be the first one to say it is worth a try, not sure if I want a second one. The medical system looks at your quality of life (QOL) as an indicator of whether you get booked for an ablation, and my QOL has definitely gone down in the last year, but this group and StopAfib.org are great as you know you are not alone when coping with what is a scary health issue.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Yes iam under our national health service and have long waiting times for appointments.My first appointment should have been july this year when i first saw my gp at the end of april. But at that beginning of may i was taken in to a&e as i passed out and had a heart rate of 206 beats a minute.I now take 100 mg of flecainide twice a day.Was taking 50 mg but i felt it was breaking through on that so it was put up to 100 mg and so far it has been ok just every now and the i miss a heart beat or that is what it feels like.Been told if it flecainde do not work then it would be an ablation and failing that i think they said something about pacemaker,not sure what they mean by that.