AFIB

[Guest guest]

BlankGreetings from the Garden State!

I have been " lurking " for about 2 weeks, trying to see where I fit in. I had a

24-hour A-Fib incident in January, overnight hospitalization, and discharge with

50 mg of Atenolol prescribed (25mg in am, and 25mg in pm). No more incidents

until about a month ago, when I started getting some kind of arrhythmia, but at

a slow heart rate (60-65 bpm). It’s either PAC, PVC, flutters, palpitations, or

whatever, but I get the problem almost entirely at night, most often after

dinner, and lasting for 1-4 hours.

I am a relatively active 73-year old male ... play golf twice a week (which is

enough to give a normal person palpitations), go to a gym 3 times a week, walk

every day for at least 1/2 hour, and am generally active around the house.

I started reading the messages posted here, and after hearing some of your

histories, I changed my " woe-is-me " attitude to one that is much more positive.

Judging from the posted messages that I have read, it would seem that I am

vagally-impaired ??? I have improved quite a bit since I have watched the amount

of food that I consume at night, and have given up a pre-meal martini (I’m not

sure it’s worth it, but I will try anything). Strangely enough, I was still

having some post-prandial " flutters " until I started having a little red wine

with my meals. Have not had any problems since starting the red wine regimen

(any comments on this ??).

Once during the last two weeks, I woke up at 1:00 am with flutters and a

" noticeable " heartbeat, which seemed to feed on itself, ie., the more I thought

about it, the worse it seemed, and the worse it got, the more I thought about

it. Here’s the cure that worked that night (thanks to someone’s post) ... I

chewed 3 Tums, and ran up and down the stairs 2 times, got back in bed, read a

while, and everything settled down (comments ??).

I read the excellent account of Vagally-Mediated Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation,

which led me to my self-diagnosis. I am concerned about the following

statements, however " ..if your AF is allowed to continue it may contribute to

re-modeling of the atrial tissues and make the AF become more likely to continue

and develop. " and " ..it is extremely important to avoid medications such as

beta-blockers .. which can make vagal AF worse. " I assume Atenolol qualifies

here, but does the amount that I am taking exacerbate the vagal condition? What

medications are better ? I am being doctored by my family doctor, an excellent

Internist (in my opinion). I have not seen a Cardiologist.

And finally, you speak of triggers. Is this something that you will immediately

see a cause-effect relationship, or will it accumulate over the day and then

whack you at night ? For example, if I have a piece of chocolate at noon (no

effect), and some ice cream at night (no effect), but I wake up at 1:00 am with

a problem, is the chocolate - ice cream demon the cause ?

I’ve rambled enough ... I have gotten many good hints from your postings and I

hope to continue with a positive attitude (after all, I have a lot of years to

live yet).

PQ in Pitman