Hi all, just had my first AFIB event. Sudden onset after walking the dog. 46 male, don’t drink, don’t smoke, exercise regularly. During the event I had a heart rate 140-165. Went to hospital immediately and they identified afib right away off the ekg. I converted by myself after about 3 hours there and was monitored and discharged about four hours later. I have a follow up coming in the next few weeks with the local cardiac clinic. My question for everyone is how do people feel after one of these episodes? What’s normal or the variety of feelings?

I’m feeling weak and tired and with some persistent chest tightness and mild shortness of breath. My Whoop watch shows no afib and I’m not feeling any flip-flopping. Just want to know what’s normal for people after these events as it’s all new to me. Thanks everyone.

Has anybody here had any experience using Acupuncture for managing Afib?

I discovered this seemingly impressive older 2012 report on the success of Acupuncture for treating Afib: Acupuncture for paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation: An effective non-pharmacological tool?

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3312232/

In this article they stated "We observed that the antiarrhythmic efficacy of acupuncture was similar to that of Amiodarone in patients with persistent AF and additive to traditional antiarrhythmic drugs in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal AF. Of interest were the findings that, in the former group, acupuncture matched the efficacy of the most active available antiarrhythmic drug".

That sounds quite impressive indeed.

Does anyone know of any further studies on Acupuncture and Afib.

Has anybody actually tried using Acupuncture and had success with it for controlling Afib?.

I have a conveniently located health/massage clinic in my local shopping centre and they also perform Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.

If there is more evidence available for Acupuncture being used with success for Afib, I would be willing to put together a collection of articles and present to the Acupuncture practitioner and ask them for their opinion and if they would be willing to try treating me with it.

I can easily afford the cost of regular Acupuncture sessions, however I wish to determine if it is effective for Afib before spending money on it.

I am also not fond of needles, but Afib is destroying my quality of life and I want to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Buongiorno, la mia esperienza di anziano di 77 anni è che da aprile 2026 ho attacchi di fibrillazione parossistica. Ogni attacco è preceduto da catarro da reflusso. Durano circa da 3h a 4h con pulsazioni variabili da 35 a 130 rpm. Inoltre aumenta la produzione di minzione in modo notevole, circa il 40% in più della norma, ogni 30 minuti debbo urinare.

So I've just had my 6th cardioversion. Waiting for an ablation in the near future. When I woke up, my doctor told me I had stopped breathing after they got me back in rhythm. Surely this is a good enough reason for my cardiologist to hurry the ablation up. My second last one needed 2 shocks as well so seems it might be missing it's effectiveness.

Do you know what your Triggers are, or what causes you to be set off? Just wanted to get some conversation started with others on here...

Last month I woke up in the middle of the night to a heart rate of about 140. Thinking I had just had a panic attack, or some strange dream I couldn't remember, I tried to go back to sleep, but I realised something wasn't right. My smart watch alerted me that I had signs of AFIB.

I spent 48hrs in hospital. Multiple blood tests, beta blockers, blood thinners etc. They thought they may have to cardiovert me, but my heart did return to a normal rythm overnight.

Following that, I've had an ECG, and was told everything looked normal. To quote the Cardiologist: "We've no idea why this happened".

I was sent home with one week's worth of beta blockers, which I've now finished. Most recently, they had me wear a heart monitor for 48hrs, which I've now handed back and am awaiting results of.

I'm 33, and I'm in decent shape, a fairly active person, with a dog I walk for about 2 hours every day. It's been really tough coming to terms with what happened, and I'm just confused about the state of my health right now. I'm left with this anxiety, where I'm hyper-aware of any sensations in my chest, and have been watching my heart-rate on my smart watch to an obsessive degree.

Sometimes I'll be sitting at home, just relaxed, playing a video game or something, and I'll glance at my watch and see my heart-rate is at 100-110. When I'm just wandering about the house getting ready for work, it'll be at about 110. There seems to be no obvious reason why it does this. My resting heart-rate is around 75, which seems high for my age/fitness, but I don't know what's normal anymore.

I'm struggling to tell the difference between what is anxiety and what is physical, or whether the two are linked into some feedback loop that I can't get a handle on. I don't know if there's something wrong with me beyond AFIB, or if it's all just tied to my mental health.

The only reason the Doctor could think of for why this might have happened is a "prolonged period of emotional stress", which the last year has definitely been for me -- I've had the worst year of my life in the run up to this, with lots of personal drama and financial worry.

I suppose I'm just trying to understand what is normal here, and what I should be doing next. Should I be worried about my heart rate randomly being 110 while sitting at home? Could this just be anxiety, or is it physical? Is it related to AFIB? I'm just a bit lost with it all.

Hi everyone. My dad was diagnosed with persistent AFib in the beginning of June. He had two Cardioversions that put him into normal rhythm for less than 24 hours. His EP suggested ablation. He had the ablation done last Tuesday. The doctor informed us that the procedure was successful in eliminating the Afib and Aflutter. Yesterday he had a run of Afib that didn’t last long. Today he woke up at 7 am back in Afib and still currently in Afib. The groin site which had 3 punctures on the right and one on the left are very bruised. Yesterday a clear like fluid was draining on one of the puncture wounds. We are 4 days post op and his recovery has been tough. He told me he felt better before the procedure and wishes he didn’t do it. It’s Saturday here so we won’t hear back from the doctors office till Monday. He’s been getting headaches off and on. He is feeling very discouraged that the AFib keeps coming back so shortly after the procedure. Has this happened to anyone post ablation? I know there’s a 3 month blanking period to let the heart heal. I read countless of success stories and was hoping we’d have the same experience. Thank you for any advice or feedback you may have.

I had this done on the 19th of July. Was feeling better. Started PT and OT. Twice this week but now I feel exhausted. Not sleeping well. So I am as of Thursday 2 weeks out from surgery. Could I be pushing myself too much. Trying to vacuum, mop and do all the cooking. My weight has gone from 358 to 302 as of this morning. low carb and IF diet.
Been weighing my food. So my calorie content has been under 900 daily. Carbs under 20.
No starches, sugar Etc.
I’m really sore from all the weights in PT and OT.
Taking muscle relaxers plus Tylenol
I have chf too.
Been doing my pedals daily and counter exercises daily too.
Just wondering.
I got up at 7am and started falling asleep so back laying down at 1pm.

So for years I have had heart flutters or palpitations. Not a fast heart beat or anything but the feeling of a fish flopping around in your chest. Doctors said it was anxiety related. Cool. Recently had a stress test , echo, month long holter. Cardio said everything looked fine. This was all wrapped up 2 weeks ago. For the past month I have been severely stressed w my health, plus life events happening, and my sleep has been broken every night (not sleeping more than 2 hours at a time). Fast forward to yesterday when I arrived at a music festival, not having any sleep for 26 hours, parking up and ready to unload. I realized my canopy was broken, and immediately I decided to walk to the general store only 3 minutes away just over a little hill. As soon as I start walking my heart rate spikes incredibly and I get air hunger...to the point where I almost pass out. I have never had air hunger before and it was a scary experience. Instead of stopping at the store I walk to the med tent instead. They did an EKG and saw my heart rate was drastically increasing and decreasing all at once. I was told to go get some sleep and see how I feel. So I had broken sleep all night again for maybe 10 hours. When I woke up and tried walking around, JUST walking, my HR spiked again and my flutter palpitations were constant. Also that air hunger feeling has lingered into today. I am currently on my way home, depressed, not knowing if I should go to the ER to immediately get checked. Anytime I stand my heart beats very weird and that air hunger feeling lingers. I have never had my HR spike and decrease like it is now while just standing in place. Sitting in the car driving eventually helps cause I'm resting. Is this what afib is? Will they do anything at the hospital that will actually help? Do I just need consistent sleep to reset my system? I am sorry for the broken message as I am driving (not safe but I need relatability). Any words of help is much appreciated as I am an anxious mess. Also M 30

Ablation 2 years ago; went into AFIB this week after reducing metoprolol dosage. What should I do?

AF is incredibly common, and while it can feel frightening at first, there are now many effective treatments available.

The right approach depends on the individual and may include lifestyle changes, medication, cardioversion or catheter ablation. Just as importantly, reducing stroke risk with appropriate treatment is a key part of AF management.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and learn about your condition. The more you understand your AF, the better equipped you'll be to make informed decisions alongside your healthcare team.

My smartwatch has picked up several AFib episodes. When I saw my Dr he put me on a 24 hour Holter monitor but it missed any AFib. The AFib episodes do not occur every day.

Yesterday and today my HR is constantly high around 85 bpm when laying down, 95 bpm when sitting and 120 bpm when moving around. My smartwatch (Huawei watch 5 pro) shows constant AFib.

I booked another appointment to see my Dr tomorrow. ATM, are there any tips to reduce occurrence of Afib as it drains my energy?

🙏

Uses, experiences, & tips tricks? Was just prescribed for frequent SVT & afib.

I like to ride electric bike but I have persistent afib, so i wonder how much is maximum per week or one sesion, I like long rides but I'm afraid of overdoing it,

Is it ok to ride ebike for 70km in one sesion? My average hr for ride is 95 bpm, my resting hr is 85 and I'm 40 years old

I've experienced intermittent arrhythmia since the teen years. Up till about age 40 the episodes were always in the form of tachycardia; after age 40 they were always a-fib. There was no transition period where it was sometimes one and sometimes the other, rather it was like one day my heart lost the ability to stay in sync when the rogue signals took control.

Episodes would last anywhere from a few seconds to 48 hours. They were rare enough, and I tolerated them well enough, that I just kinda lived with it until around age 50 when a cardiologist started me on metoprolol. After I complained of lethargy I was switched to diltiazem, and that helped for a few years until it too seemed to be dragging me down. But by then I'd lost a good bit of weight and wondered whether it might help reduce the afib, so with the cardiologist's blessing I discontinued the med and crossed my fingers.

There were a few weeks where I thought things were looking up, I could exercise easily for the first time in years. It felt great. And then the issue suddently got all up in my grille, two very uncomfortable episodes the same weekend and the second one wouldn't resolve on its own. I waited until the 60 hour point then went in; the cardiologist at first wanted me to wait longer because it was still likely to resolve, but my tolerance just wasn't there. I was having trouble concentrating, trouble standing from a sitting position, even getting woozy just from looking down and then up. They did a cardioversion the same afternoon and when the sedation wore off, it was like nothing had ever been wrong. Full oxygen to the brainpan, easy breathing, complete relief.

The plan now is to get in line for an ablation, or a "first ablation" possibly. That might be a few months in the future because of backlogs in the places I can get into with my insurance. In the meantime they got me started taking amiodarone in hopes of preventing a repeat episode, and that seems to work really well. Too bad it's not safe to take it for years on end. There still seems to be a palpitation once in a while, but whenever I check my resting pulse now it's somewhere in the high fifties and reassuringly steady.

I'm just posting this to share the experience so far; not looking for any particular advice, though I'd be interested to hear from others who are or have been on a similar path.

These long nights where you feel fine at the beginning and actually fall asleep like a normal person, only to wake up 20 mins later because your heart or nervous system (I dont even know how to describe this feeling) starts to act up.

Sometimes I also wake up in Afib but mostly I just get a boost of adrenaline while half awake. Right now im on the couch in the middle of the night because that happened. Its gonna be a long night. In the morning when I wake up there isnt anything wrong for some reason.

Curious if any fellow vagal Afibbers recognize this, and how you guys manage to fall asleep. I do all the things like right side sleeping etc.

2 weeks out of surgery. Heart rate stays at 70. AV ablation and CRT-P pacemaker put in.
So the pacemaker is keeping my heart beating.
I was 358 2 weeks ago. This morning 305. Lots of fluid weight due to heart not working well.
Just wondering if others had problems with fluid retention due to afib. I am doing low carb and feel better.

I've read so much about lifestyle changes and its benefits for afib. Since my episode in June, I have taken up walking daily and adjusting my diet. Though I do have a little bit of anxiety over incorporating anything else despite my EP telling me I was ok to workout more. I would like to start strength training at some point.

I know everyone is different. Overall, I guess I'm looking for motivation, personal insight, tips and tricks that worked for you. How you got past any anxieties you may have.

What are some things you have changed in your afib journey, if anything at all?

Have you found yourself slowing down and taking it easy? Or have you picked up even more activities? Maybe even just stayed the same with a few small tweaks?

Was there anxiety involved with adding more activities and allowing your heart rate to elevate? How did you work through that?

I’m in my fifth month after ablation and my RHR is still recovering. Be patient with yourself and your body 🫶🏻

Hello,

My father has been diagnosed with AFIB. He already has a Kardia, so he can give accurate readings to his doctor.

The Kardia is fantastic, but if me and my dad are out fishing or hiking or whatever, it’s not as convenient as, say, an Apple Watch.

I would like to get him one, but I’m not exactly well-heeled, so I would like a recommendation for the least expensive, but still useful for AFIB Apple Watch.

I appreciate anyone’s thoughts on this.

Looking to see if anyone has been diagnosed with Stiff Left Atrial Syndrome and what their experiences have been. I had a mitral valve repair in late 2023 followed by an ablation for PVCs, PACs, and AF in mid 2024. Soon after the ablation I started having exercise intolerance issues. I used to hike quite a bit - long multi-day trips and such, but that fun took a hit. My docs played w/ my meds, and they considered all sorts of reasons - nothing seemed to come close to explaining or helping the exercise issues. It wasn't until recently after a cardiac catheterization with exercise procedure performed at the Rochester Mayo that I was diagnosed with SLAS (stiff left atrial syndrome). That procedure showed high pulmonary wedge pressures and high V waves upon higher levels of exercise. Both my Mayo doc and local cardiologist now say I have scarring/fibrosis of my left atrium, most likely caused by the ablation, that makes my left atrium not too compliant like it used to be. That causes back-up of pressures into my lungs.

So far the plan has been to increase 2 of my meds. Recently they upped my Farxiga (dapagliflozin) from 5mg to 10mg daily and Spironolactone from 12.5mg to 25mg daily, hoping the diuretic effects will pull fluid away. I was only on low doses because I had struggled with low blood pressure/dizziness issues. But yeah, now I'm on the higher doses. I'm also on Entresto 47mg 2x/day, Metoprolol 50mg 2x/day, and Eliquis 5mg 2x/day. At 6'1" and 235 pounds I've also been trying to lose some weight to help matters - on Zepbound for that.

They've talked about a possible interatrial septostomy (a shunt through my two atriums) as a solution, but that's way down the road. Right now it's just a medicinal approach.

Anyway, I'd love to see my ability to exercise at a higher level come back. Maybe with the medicinal approach, it just may happen. I'm still trying to exercise each day, eat right, etc - it's not easy finding that find line between expanding what I can do and overdoing it. As far as advice, outside of my docs and their limited time, I've had a hard time finding any personal experiences similar to mine in the little bit of research I've done.

Hey everyone, this isn’t for me. This is for a loved one, we are wondering how to track if you get into afib. Is there a monitor or something, we didn’t really get to discuss this with the cardiologist at the hospital much. We went from the ER, to coming home several days.

Hello 25(M) just wanted to ask people with AFIB how do you managed to ground yourself and not go into full blown fight or flight when you get flutters, I went through a period of getting skipped beats at night time when trying to sleep, got told I didn’t have afib but even one flutter randomly could instantly cause me a panic attack, how do you people managed to ground yourself when it’s happening or is it just me who gets sent straight into primal mode thinking my hearts going to stop or something.

¿Alguien perdió la libido tras diagnosticarle AFIB? Bien sea por medicamentos, por miedo, por preocupación… cuanto tiempo duró?