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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IslandLuvr 05/30/2012

I've googled, and found nothing on this... . Is there a way to tell whether you're just having premature beats, or if you're in afib?

I'm on Bystolic, which seems to prevent tachycardia. Yesterday, my heart was skipping around for a couple of hours, but then it went away. I caught the "double heart" on my wrist blood pressure monitor.

pacyetep 05/30/2012

Portable ECG will tell.

BTW, Bystolic IS a rate control drug.

petey

IslandLuvr 05/30/2012

Interesting.. I didn't know it was a rate control drug. Well, it isn't doing it's job! Portable ECG.. that sounds expensive.

pacyetep 05/31/2012

omron portable ecg monitor hcg-801

http://www.healthchecksystems.com/product/?product_id=16701

About $300

petey

marikay234 05/31/2012

it may be very hard to tell without an EKG. An occasional premature beat will be like a skipped beat, or a blip in an otherwise regular beat. a run of premature beats wll be very difficult for you to tell. But if you have any runs of regular beats interspersed, it is more likely to be premature beats. A fib is often described as irregularily irregular.

IslandLuvr 05/31/2012

But then, Petey... you have to know how to read the results!

Great explanation, Marikay... so maybe they were premature beats. They were driving me crazy yesterday.. they went on for hours. I just can't imagine how awful it must be to have permanent afib with symptoms.

heart2222 05/31/2012

I still have my heart monitor on and am registering a ton of premature beats. LOts of them put together feels like a fib.

IslandLuvr 05/31/2012

Heart, how are you able to tell the difference?

IslandLuvr 05/31/2012

Heart, how are you able to tell the difference?

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