Feeling before afib starts...

I have vagal afib and had an ablation about 10 days ago. All was going well until last night around 3am when I woke with a pre-afib feeling that I sometimes get. When this happens, I might feel one or two beats out of rhythm, though often it's just an unsteady feeling in my heart, with a slight variability in rhythm, though hear rate is normal, and with a slight feeling of being out of breath. Using a HRV monitor, I can see my heart rhythm is less sinusoidal and more jagged than normal. When this happens, I feel on the edge of afib since experience has shown that about 50% of the time it does turn into afib.

I think what might have triggered this is I've been eating semi-low carb this week and lost about 5 pounds. Often weight loss leads to this (and a prior 60 pound weight loss over a year was quite a rollercoaster ride). Yes, I do take magnesium, potassium, and taurine as suggested in the protocol to try to keep my electrolytes in balance.

Since last night, I've continued to feel it off & on today, and am feeling it again tonight. My heart monitor has a button to report symptoms, but I'm not even sure what to call it. Pre-afib feeling?

Does anyone else get this, where they can sense afib coming on before it actually does?

I'm tempted to take 50mg of Flecainide tonight to avoid full-blown afib, since "afib begets afib". i know patients are warned that during the blanking period, they may have some heart arrhythmias, but it obviously still concerns me somewhat.

Thanks for any feedback.

Mark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2018 10:52PM by MarkF786.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of the same response. 10 days is far too soon...give yourself some time to heal..

(Maybe your anxiety is not your friend....meditate or something vs looking at numbers)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2018 01:47AM by jpeters.

What Jpeters wrote...
And, for me, ectopics always precede afib. Sometimes a couple of PACs is enough, sometimes it takes longer, but most of the times it's just ectopics.
I've usually a bad feeling before afib.

At 10 days there’s swelling, inflammation and edema in your atria. Also c-reactive proteins in the blood. Diet isn’t going to matter much unless your eating poison.

Don’t draw any conclusions so early in the blanking period. It might not be a good time, either, to embark on a serious weight loss campaign as the low blood sugar will release adrenaline. That’s another monkey wrench in the works.

Just rest, relax, and get better!

Hi Mark!
I also get a premonition before a-fib. I had more ectopy the second week after my ablation, but it got better fast. I did occasionally have the premonition feeling, but my heart rhythm stayed pretty steady despite. It keeps getting better, I promise. Be kind to yourself: take time to relax, meditate, eat healthy.... whatever feels healing to you.

Yes, I was always able to predict my afib episodes a day or two in advance.

That said, I agree with the others. You need to relax and expect bumps in the road for the next couple of months. You might experience episodes of afib, flutter, and/or annoying PACs. Ignore them and don't fret about them. It's perfectly normal. Don't take flecainide without talking to your EP first. Your heart is angry, inflamed, and the ablation lines that will prevent the afib haven't formed yet and won't for several more weeks. Everything you're experiencing is absolutely normal and expected.

Hi, I know what you mean by the 'pre' feeling, I have had that a handful of times since my ablation last June. It's a very impossible job trying to explain what it feels like to somebody that has never experienced a fib.

I will say though, that I had a short episode of afib 10 days after my ablation. It lasted about 2 hours, and it settled down after peeing. Obviously, that was another activity that raised my HR, and it also sorted my afib. Haven't had another one since, although I HAVE experienced that feeling. I've had a lot of ectopics on occasion too but I can often identify a potential cause and try to eliminate it. It's hard but try not to stress.

I had 192 documented afib episodes over 6 years, plus an unknown number of episodes during the previous 5 years before diagnoses. Except for a few seconds of ectopics, I never experienced any warning or "pre-feeling" before an episode. All were surprises.