Atrial fibrillation

[footylad]

I'm a 35 year old male in reasonably good health. Last week I woke up from sleep with pounding, irregular heartbeat.

I went to ER and was admitted with atrial fibrillation and was kept in overnight so my heart could be restored to sinus rhythm.

I'm now taking Slozem and waiting to see a cardiologist in a few week's time.

I'm terrified it will return and very anxious to find out what might have caused it.

If anyone can post advice or suggestions it would be massively appreciated.

Will

[gypsylvia]

35 year old female here.  I have had two separate episodes of AFIB, almost exactly one year apart.  Both triggered from vomiting due to hangover (will not be drinking again!)

My question is this:  Am I at risk for stroke once I am back in sinus rhythm?  Or only while IN actual AFIB?

In the hospital they gave me cardezam (to stop the AFIB) and heparin (anti-coag).

[seaweib]

I've never heard of the 'scarring of the heart' either.  I've heard of electrical and structural remodeling, but I've never heard of that referred to as scarring.

[DeltaDawn23]

I am curious about the "scarring of the heart" from afib.  Could you elaborate, as this is the first time I have heard of this.  Also would like to know how you have been since the ablation.

[tenjh]

There is really no specific reason for irregular heart beat. My was caused from the slamming of a door in a hotel hallway, alcohol, a emergency phone call or just lack of sleep.  I have had 6 episodes that required hospitalization and I never realized it was scarring my heart each time. Ask about having an ablation.

[tenjh]

I started having atrial fib when I was 40. I am now 52 and had an ablation in November.  I hated the medicines they had me on. The lady being Multaq. I felt horrible with it. I wish I had the ablation long ago.

[alexvazquez]

Hi, I'm 35 years also and I have had two lone atrial fibrillation episodes in my life. The last was 2 days ago.

My first episode occurred almost 1 year ago, I was in Miami sleeping I woke up at 5:00am to go to bathroom, and exactly when I seat, my heart start beating very hard and fast for about 5 minutes, after that it slowdown but stayed in arrhythmia mode for about 12 hours. I didn't go to any physician because I thought It was something that I could control. I took a flight to home and exactly when we land and they opened the plane door, in that moment my heart rhythm was stabilized to normal. I didn't go to the doctor because I thought It was not going to happen again.

Almost one year later, this last Sunday I was sleeping and exactly at 5:30am I woke up to go to bathroom, but this time occurred when I return to bed, at the moment I lay down on bed I felt my heart start beating a little bit fast and with arrhythmia but nothing like 1 year ago, that was about 5 minutes of extremely hard beating. My wife decided to take me to the hospital and my arrhythmia episode last about 25 hours until it return to normal. Today I feel perfect, and my heart is beating like Swiss clock.

At hospital I got all kind of lab studies and heart studies and I don't have any heart problem or high sugar or thyroid problems. So I'm a healthy man. :)

I was reading on internet that "lone atrial fibrillation" could also be caused because catecholamine surge that is what makes you wake up. Sorry I'm making my own conclusions.

The cardiologist prescribed me two drugs:

REGIVAS / dronedarona (from sanofi aventis lab): this is the anti-arrhythmic drug

and

Xarelto / Rivaroxaban (from bayer lab): this is the anticoagulant drug.

The cardiologist also recommend me to do cardio workout at a normal rate, avoiding extreme exercises like spinning, etc.

Is weird that the two episodes I have had occurred almost at the same time and when I wake up to bathroom.

I know how terrified is this and how it feels, but I think the best way is to keep calm, breath normal and go to a doctor.

I will see my cardiologist in 2 weeks to see if I keep taking those drugs or stop them, how ever I have read that avoiding caffeine, chocolates, red wine, sugar, and drink lots of water will help to avoid any future episode.

Hope you and me wont have anything again.

[footylad]

Thank you CFS56, that's very reassuring. Can you tell me more about your experience, if you prefer you could private message me? Thank you all once again.

[CFS56]

Sometimes Afib  happens in perfectly healthy hearts for no apparent reason.  I know how scary it is when it happens, it has happened to me twice.  Once you see the cardiologist I would imagine he will do some non-invasive, painless tests to rule out any problems.  I had to do an echocardiogram, which is basically an ultrasound of your heart and a stress test...just walking on the treadmill.   Good luck to you.

[footylad]

Thank you both for your detailed replies and for taking the time to respond so fully and comprehensively. I very much appreciate your input.

[itdood]

There are many possibilities that will have to be evaluated.  Your diagnoses will be a process of elimination. You will be taken through some non-invasive testing in a progressive process to rule out the possibilities.  If all possibilities are ruled out it will be diagnosed as idiopathic, which means of unknown origin (we don't know).  Another possibility is lone afib.

I think there are so many different possibilities that it wouldn't be productive for us to speculate.

Some of the tests you may receive at a minimum will be complete blood work, EKG, stress test, and an echo cardiogram.

The medication you've been given is a calcium channel blocker (CCB).  You may want to research that too.

[Jerry_NJ]

I don't know what Slozem is but assume it is a beta blocker, to help control you HR.  Assuming you are not also on an aspirin I suggest you check with your primary care doctor about taking an aspirin a day until you are able to see the cardiologist.  At your age, and given you description of your general health, my experience suggest you clot (stroke) risk due to AFib is not particularly high, an aspirin may be sufficient "protection".  Now, that scary stuff said, I believe AFib is not life threatening if you can control your HR (the ventricle rate, the rate that produces the pulse you can feel) .  The other risk, as noted, is clot formation, still a small risk but worth taking preventive measures I think.

I am an older person with Permanent AFib and as my symptoms are manageable I take medication to keep my HR below 100 at rest (usually in the 80s) and warfarin to lower my blood's ability to coagulate.  I also take a low dose aspirin. Because of my age and the full-time AFib, I can not get by with just an aspirin, I have to also take an anti-coagulant.