Random A Fib

I too am young at 24 and at 23 I had my first known episode of Atrial fib, I had a work long work day but I have worked harder in the past. I thought my heart was beating abnormally fast when I went to bed but didn't think much about it. In the morning I could tell it was out of beat, after hours in the ER and numerous drugs, I vomited, which promptly returned my heart to normal rhythm. I have never done drugs, smoked a cigarette and only have alcohol on a rare occasion. I am healthy and very active otherwise and I have no family history of any heart problems whatsoever I had a second episode 5 months later when I woke I felt that it was out of beat, dreading going to the hospital again, I made myself vomit which again returned my heart to normal rhythm. I am meeting with Dr. Ohad Ziv in Cleveland tomorrow to talk about my episodes and the possibility of an ablation. Is this a more common occurrence than most people think? Why would it all of a sudden show up now at this time in my life if it is genetic?


This discussion is related to Atrial Fibrillation at age 20.

[cindy707]

Hi i read your post...thats the crazy thing about atrial fib is that it does just that...comes up out of no where without warning trust me been there done that.  Because it is electrical based it sort of has a mind of its own on when and where its going to happen however there are alot of other mitigating factors that def. can effect what sets it off,,,,,a long list to be sure including too much caffeine, stress, drinking red wine, drinking energy drinks, electrolyte imbalance, burning the candle at both ends...i swear its anything and everything.  I had a pretty severe case of it...heart rate zooming into the lower three hundreds and had a cath. ablation done a little over four years ago and that took care of it for me for the most part.  Got my life back...happy as a kid on a ferris wheel and now a thing of the past for me.....good luck at your appt. with the doc and i hope you power thru this as easily as i did......let us know what happens at the docs okay...we all learn from each other.

[CrohnieToo]

I'm surprised you are considering an ablation after only 2 episodes. Especially when you can convert on your own - altho upchucking is NOT a fun thing to do much less to have to force yourself to do to stop an event.

My episodes started last March, just about once a month until August when they put me on a 30 day event monitor. I had a "critical" and a "serious" event during the first 21 days. I've been started on coumadin and Diltiazem after Rythmol being suggested and my preferring to decline Rythmol. I'm on a 21 day event monitor now as the frequency of episodes has increased.

Ablation has not been suggested and my cardiologist is in practice w/an electrophysiologist cardiologist.