My first Afib episode came on suddenly as I was sitting down having a cocktail. It was my first cocktail of the night and I had not been binge drinking. As a matter of fact, I hadnt had a drink in many days until that night. I had smoked two cigarettes that night as well. I will add that I was a smoker for 18 years and quit after that night because of the events that followed. The Afib lasted three hours before I decided to go the emergency room. I had no idea what was going on with me or what it was. I listened to my heart beat and it was completely erratic. I was diagnosed with Afib in the emergency room. They kept me for two nights pumping blood thinners through IV. It was a Saturday night so I had to stay there until Monday when they did an echo. I left there with a prescription for Metoprolol, baby aspirin, Enalapril for high blood pressure, and Tricor for high triglycerides. They didn't give me much info and told me I'd be on these drugs for the rest of my life. I left there feeling like everything would never be the same again. I was devastated.

I saw a Cardiologist the following week and he said everything looked fine and sent me home with a 24 hr monitor. When I returned a week later he said the monitor only showed about 12 skipped beats in that 24hr period. Everything was normal. I did a stress test and that was fine too. He said he would see how I was doing in 6 weeks and possibly take me off the meds if all was ok.

The 6 weeks that followed weren't great for my anxiety about the whole thing. I went through so many emotions. Of course there was the constant thinking that the Afib was about to happen again. The anxiety ruined a few moments in my life that should have been more enjoyable (a vacation and purchase of a property). I seemed to have snapped out of it for about a week and I was feeling better about everything when I had some palpitations weeks later that lasted 10 minutes. I hadn't felt my heart do anything since the initial Afib so I completely freaked out. I called my cardiologist that night and explained the palpitations. It wasn't like the Afib. My rate was below 100 and it was just skipping a beat every two or three beats. He said it wasn't Afib and not to worry. This episode happened a few days before I was going for my 6-week follow up appointment with the cardio. So, when I went to see him again, expecting I might come off the meds, he told me I had to stay on them because of the palpitations I had a few days before. Needless to say, I was devastated when I left there. Clearly he thought there was still a problem and I didn't want to hear that. He gave me another 24hr monitor that day.

That night, while wearing the 24hr monitor I had another episode of palpitations. I listened to the beats and new that it wasn't Afib. Again it was just skipped beat here and there for about 15 minutes. I was glad that it happened while wearing the monitor so he can see what was happening. Again, I was told not to worry about that as it wasn't Afib.

A few days later I had palpitations (skipped beats) for most of the day. Sometimes it was continuous for 5 minutes. Other times it just felt like it would skip a beat when I had a drink of cold water. Very strange. I called the cardiologist and they gave me an event monitor which I used for a week following those episodes and recorded just small episodes of palpitations.

Then one night I went out and had a couple of drinks and a few puffs of a cigarette. I came home and fell asleep early. I woke up about 3 hours later and something felt wrong. I felt palpitations but these were different and I knew immediately. I listened to my heart rate and it was very irregular. I was scared and it was late. So I recorded it in my event monitor and called in the reading. I had been told that if it was an emergency the person on the other line would tell me to go to the ER immediately. They didn't say anything so I assumed it wasn't critical and just tried to go to sleep. I barely slept that night. It lasted all night long for about 6-7 hours. It stopped in the early am.

I asked my cardiologist to get the reading from the event monitor and he said it was Afib and atrial flutter. So at this point he decided to prescribe a blood thinner, Pradaxa and suggested that I go to an EP. He seems to think that what I need is an ablation. He said that based on my condition and my age that the ablation will probably take care of it but I needed to discuss that with the EP.

That was a few days ago and the soonest appointment I could get with the EP is 3 weeks from now. So that's where I am right now. So the next step is to meet with the EP and discuss ablation. The cardiologist says it's either the ablation or take the meds forever.

I should add that in the last 3 months my lifestyle has completely changed. I will admit I was pretty unhealthy before. Since then I've lost about 20 pounds and I eat mostly vegetarian, chicken, or fish (salmon mainly), whole grains, low fat, etc. I've had beef and pork about 2 times each in the last 3 months. Water has become my comfort food. I drink alot of water. Alcohol consumption is about 2-4 drinks per week. I used to smoke nearly a pack per day and don't even think about it anymore. I will occasionally have a puff or two off someone else's cigarette only when I have a drink which is not very often these days. It hasn't made me want to start up again at all. So I'm very happy about that. The one thing I'm not doing very much of is exercising because I'm scared. My heart starts pounding hard and I'm always afraid it will jump into Afib.

That's it so far. Anything you guys would like to share after reading my story would be greatly appreciated! It has felt really good to share this with everyone and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.