Chitta - Don't be embarrassed! Do what ever works for you.


I have paroxysmal AF but with minor symptoms. I do have faith that I will be OK.

Since being diagnosed in July 2010 I've actually done more traveling.
On a solo trip to Las Vegas in December of 2010 I had an episode prior an early flight. It started when I got up and continued thru the shuttle ride to the airport, check in and waiting to board. Once on the plane I was fine.
This was one of the few times I can say AF was due to Stress. I've always been a little stressed out before flying.
In 2011, Las Vegas, cruises to Hawaii from LA, Alaska from SF, and flew to London and the Orient Express London to Venice RT. (On the train I thought I was in AF but it turned out to be just the bumpy train tracks.)

In 2012 - Cuba, Las Vegas, and a cruise to Alaska.I have hesii

Traveling I had episodes that were triggered by my same triggers at home, Alcohol and heavy meals. They passed as they do at home.
I do let my traveling companion know about my AF condition. My SO is supportive.
I have hesitated in organizing and leading group travel which I have in the past. Friends are asking when is our next trip?
This year I haven't been traveling but because of a hip replacement mobility problem not AF.
I'm with Jan - "life is for living"

Annette

What Annette said :) She is my role model......

"Ditto" Annette!

All good advice. Everytime I see the subject of this post "traveling with afib, I keep thinking, don't travel with the afib, leave it at home.

You are not going to die of the afib and as long as you keep calm, hydrate, and keep your meds on you, being on the plane or somewhere on vacation is no different then being home.

If a person with afib lives in California and visits New York City and a person with afib that lives in New York City simultaneously travels to California, should they both be worried?

I know what you are thinking, only the person from Califonia should be worried... but seriously, you just need to check out where a good hospital is before you leave. Look for the little blue "H" signs too.

When I was in 8th grade, I used to be nervous about standing in the front of the class to give an oral report. The teacher told me it is no different than speaking in the back of the classroom, and that I should be no more afraid of speaking in the front than in the back. So I stopped speaking in the back of the class also. 2-3-4 Take my wife , anybody... :-)

Ha! I hope you got a laugh and got my point.

petey

thank you everyone for your wonderful advice..i have now gone and planned a trip away for later in the year...I will be flying there and away for 8 days..its all very exciting...
I will take all your great words on board..life is to short..and im sick of living as if im already dead...time to live now...tomorrow is never guaranteed is it...thanks again everyone..shany

I just go and deal with it. I have the pulse meter that fits on your finger and records O2 as well. However, I found I became obsessed with it which made my heart rate go even higher, so now I leave it at home and rarely use it. I know exactly when I go in and out. I do have some symptoms when I am in afib, but I can feel what I can do and what I can't do and adjust my activities. I can't take beta blockers due to a resting heart rate in the upper 40"s when not in afib which occors1 time per week for about 1-2 days. For example, I can walk when in afib and keep my heart rate under 120 most of the time. I was on Flecanide for almost a year before I started having break thru and periods of ventricular arrhythmia, so I'm not taking anything right now but supplements which probably do nothing.

Hi,
Have had a history of paroxysmal AF first diagnosed in 2003 until 2nd Ablation procedure rid me of it in November '12.
I missed one holiday and that was the one that I was due to fly out the day after AF 1st diagnosed.

I am retired and during that time was lucky enough to be able to take 2-3 holidays a year with flight times as long as 7-8 hrs and holiday duration of 5-6 weeks.

My initial AF profile was a duration time of 6-8 hrs every 15-17 days.
It gradually got longer and more frequent and I started to pass out on exit.(syncope, I think it is called). I was in a friends apartment on holiday when it happened first and simply logged it as worthy of discussion with my cardioligist when I got home - 3-4 wks later.
I just made sure that my wife was with me when I went anywhere in AF so she could pick me up!!!!
I had a pacemaker fitted to deal with passing out and that was successful.
As time went by the episodes got more frequent and lasted longer.
In the end episodes of 3-5 days were regular with one episode lasting 19 days. 2 days after that finished I had an episode lasting 11 days. I was in AF more often than I was out of it .
I tried many imaginative ways to get out of it. -eg. I threw buckets of cold water over myself, I went swimming, I went cycling as hard as I could. They all worked well in the early stages as it was a crude form of aversion.

I went nowhere near doctors or hospitals. I was on Asprin initially as an anticoagulant and as my condition deteriorated I was put on Pradaxa for a short while. But there were queries on this product so I switched to Xeralto(Rivaroxaban). For me being on an effective anti coagulant was the key and dealt with any reasonable fears that I had.
I had my mind set on dealing with it myself. I changed diet, lost weight, gave up red wine and particularly ruled out MSG which was a major factor in triggering my particular AF.

The only travelling issue for me was to allow myself plenty of time to get from A to B if I had to walk.

When I was diagnosed first I did some net research and I am sure that I came across a stat that said over 2 Million people in the USA have it and I am sure there are probably as many undiagnosed.

My point is that you cannot put your life on hold.
Take effective action to deal with the major worry - clotting/stroke
Take other sensible steps to try to identify and eliminate food triggers or any other triggers that may be pertinent to you.
Get yourself into as good a shape as you can manage - correct weight, adequate exercise - so that you can most effectively deal with the inevitable strain that an episode brings on.
Get on with your life and enjoy it; remember there is a fair chance that there are more people worse off than you, than there are better off than you.
Count yourself in the lucky half!!
Hope this has been some way useful and am happy to clarify/expand on any point if it helps
Good luck!!

Well said MaterPriv.

Shanny, I'm thrilled to read your latest reply. That's the spirit! Fighting back with the right attitude is the best defense. We're all able to defend our quality of life by doing everything within our power to cope both physically and emotionally.

There's someone in my life that reminds me of this every day, my wife of 24 years. Breast cancer turned her life upside down 14 years ago. It changed her physically and emotionally but in the process it made her even stronger than she already was. Last year she shattered her Femur and is still dealing with pain and has a limp and yet she continues to inspire and impress me and others. We all like to think that we possess courage and strength and wonder if we could find it in such dire situations. I believe we all do and that with every extreme challenge we "bank" a little bit more. While cancer in many cases is far more life threatening than Afib the fear and uncertainty that result are much the same. They take us places emotionally we're not familiar with and frankly scares the crap out of us. Serious and/or persistent illness forces us to live with a 5,000 pound elephant in the living room, we have to learn to ignore it to take back our lives. A very difficult task but also an opportunity to build a stronger "bank". When "what if" enters your mind think of it as mail sent to the wrong address. Essentially it was because we have absolutely no say in the matter. Worry not about that which we cannot control, you're doing everything you can the rest is up to God.

Whenever I see raw courage and inner strength it always makes me think of those in my personal life that through their courage and strength became my life heroes. My father and two of my older brothers were/are military veterans. My father and one of those brothers were decorated combat veterans. My father was terribly wounded two times in the World War II and yet managed to return home to marry, father 8 boys and raised 7 of them to adulthood. Obviously another personal hero has to be mentioned here, my mother - 8 boys - yikes! The tragedies and hardships the two of them faced together could have broken many strong people and marriages but yet they endured. I've asked myself many times, could I ever posses such courage and strength? My answer has long been, no way. As I get older I realize they also made deposits in my "bank" by their example, they gave in ways they likely never imagined.

Over the past nearly two decades I've battled Afib and it's been miserable most of that time but it pales in comparison to the suffering so many face daily. There's no doubt my struggle has made me stronger in many ways. My wife and I consider our lives blessed, not without challenge but blessed. Blessed with the strength to endure and the capacity to understand and accept.

Sorry if I rambled a bit but I find others life stories to be enlightening and I hope in some small way mine might help you. Wishing you growth, strength and peace.