AFib fainting in a.m. hours--my own answer

I recently went through the three-days hospital stay while acclimating to Tykosin (dofetilide) for my AFib symptoms. After two weeks on Tykosin and doing pretty well, except for feeling lethargic and kind of like a zombie, I began having a recurrence of AFib symptoms with sudden fainting feelings--but never actually passing out--but only in the morning hours after arising. Have any of you wonderful sharing people of this forum ever experienced this; that is, AFib kicking up after arising in the a.m. for most of the morning, but then calming down in the afternoon and evening and even through the night? This pattern has continued now for over several weeks. Thanks.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2018 10:58AM by dcadwallader.

I've been on Ticosyn now for a little over a week. Can't seem to get past 24 hours without going into affib. No other symptoms from Ticosyn so far.

I'll tell you what I think might be going on in answer to my own post. After doing some research and thinking about what my EP said a few days ago, I think hypoxia may be contributing to this problem. I will be getting CPAP in a few days to deal with sleep apnea, and then I'll let you know for sure. But I think I am not getting enough oxygen into my tissues during the night. Then when I get up in the morning and start trying to function, I get Afib, light headed, and fainting feeling. Then after a while, when I get going and breathing during the day, my afternoon and evening hours are much better because I'm moving around and breathing and oxygenating better. Then I go to bed, and I sleep OK, but I am not oxygenating well at all. Then when I get up in the a.m., the whole Afib cycle starts over again.

What do you think?

No question that sleep apnea causes/worsens afib. I predict the CPAP will help.

Also, Tikosyn becomes more effective over time. Many people, including myself, report that it takes well over a month to become fully effective.

Ah, thanks so much for this info on Tikosyn effectiveness. Docs never mentioned this.

Interesting discussion. My AFib "trigger" is simply getting up in the morning. I'm on Tikosyn (dofetilide) and Diltiazem. I feel like I can't wake up completely in the morning hours and I lapse into Afib with light-headedness. Then after lunch I feel great--no Afib symptoms period until the next morning. At lunch I always drink a Diet Coke. So today I decided to try drinking a 12 oz. Diet Coke (with a dash of lemon) along with breakfast. Voila. I almost immediately felt better, more awake, and the Afib symptoms/light-headedness dissipated. So the small amount of caffeine in the Diet Coke helped with my symptoms, yet I know from experience a cup of caffeinated coffee would be too much overboard. So yes, all of this symptom-managing is very much an individual thing depending on so many variables including, of course, all of the various meds we're taking. What seemed like "cheating" (drinking caffeinated Diet Coke at lunch) was actually something that was, in small doses, apparently helping. Go figure.