Sunday afternoon (10/26/03) - I had been under a lot of stress looking for work. I get very compulsive about things like this and I should learn by now to put it aside and take a walk or bike ride. I have had a history of palpitations, panic attacks. I am 38 years old and a recovering alcoholic.

At the time I had been sick with a sinus headache/nasty cough and had not been sleeping right due to the job search and a few interviews. I drank my usual jolt of strong coffee and was feeling like I was going to explode working on the computer. I had just come off of effexor a week ago which was a total nightmare for several days. I was also on 50MG/day of toporal maininly for palps, but I do have slightly high blood pressure. I had a treadmill, and and echo about two years ago, all very good except for a tiny bit of mitral regurg.

My wife brought me a hamburger and fries home for lunch, along with and ICE COLD Slush from Sonic. I bold ice cold because I have since read that this is a trigger for some. I drank the slush and it was really good, I paid the price by some "brain freezes".

Then it happend, a fluttering feeling that I was familiar with, but this time worse than I could remember. I checked my pulse and it was flying, I mean 185 BPM - and jumping like a pinball. Of cousre I thought that finally my undiagnosed heart problem had caught up with me and that I was going to die. I said a few kind things to the wife to let her know how I loved her, because I thought this was "the big one" In the ER they called it atrial flutter/fibrulation and gave me a bunch of stuff to bring my rate down under 100 after 3 or so hours. My rate was very irradic ...thump...thump................thump, thump, thump................thump...thump,thump,thump. Very scary.

They upped my beta blocker and sent me home. Then I read about Vagal afib on this posting and thought "this is it". Moreover, I thought it might explain several other things in my life like the funny skipping rhythm when I lie on my left side (usually after food), PVC runs. I also believe that any kind of GI distress can cause my isolated palpitaitions. Sometimes its like I can feel the gas bubble rising in my esophogus an then I get a funny rhythm. Coffee, smoking, nicorette gum, large fatty meals all seem to make that worse. Does this sound like vagal afib to you all? Thank you and God bless for taking the time to help others with your experience, strength, and hope!

Tom

Tom - welcome to the group - sorry it's under the circumstances; but you've come to the right place for knowledge and support. We are a tireless group of compassionate afibbers all helping one another. Feel free to unburden yourself here.

I do suggest, though, that you go back into the wonderful archives that Hans has provided - subscribe - and begin learning everything you can about afib. Reading backin the old messages posted is tedious, but an excellent method to find symptoms similar to yours - or rule out things as well. I also suggest you purchase Hans book - you will learn more from it and this forum than you will ever be told by your doctor.

All the symptoms you describe sound very familiar since many afibbers have posted these conditions before and have come to the same conclusion that diet and lifestyle (habits) usually are considered contributory or triggers for afib.

A good thing to do if you are truly serious about preventing recurrences of palpitations or outright afib is to keep a daily log and record foods and your body's responses - which will allow you to see a pattern and will teach you to avoid trigger foods.

We've all been in your shoes....it's a learning process but one well worth the effort.

You ask question if "Coffee, smoking, nicorette gum, large fatty meals all seem to make that worse. Does this sound like vagal afib to you all? "

What it sounds like to me is your body rebelling against intake of many harmful and unhealthy foods - habits. This is going to be tough for you to eliminate caffeine, tobacco, fatty meals, sugar, fast food, etc.... but your lack of palpitations will be positive reinforcement for you to continue to clean up your lifestyle. You have everything to gain and only afib to lose.

Good luck with your research. Look forward to helping you along the way.

Healthy is wealthy. Jackie

Thank you so much for this response, I have cut out all caffine and am limiting nicotene to my nicorette gum (cut way down on this as well). In additon, I am trying to eat smaller, more healthy meals, but it is all a challange right now with the job stress and all.
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I will follow up by looking at previous posts and loging my foods, etc.

Thanks for you and everyone like you that remind me that it is these common bonds and experiences that allow us to help others instead of just living in fear.

Tom

Thomas,

I'm sorry to hear of your scary ordeal, and that you were diagnosed with AF/flutter. It is a real eye-opener, to say the least. This is what I saw from your post.

Recovering alcoholic - does much damage to the liver.
Caffeine - a definite culprit and stimulant, but it also has a lot of pesticides in it that have to be processed through an already ailing liver. It also dehydrates the body, causing the electrical currents to not reach the next cell, due to shrinkage.
Stress - takes a lot more nutrients from the body to overcome its diastrous effects. It also causes the adrenal glands to become insufficient, due to the lack of nutrients.
Beta-blockers further reduce the adrenal function by blocking its actions.
Sonic hamburger - could be loaded with free glutatmate or MSG which causes excited neurotoxicty. Read the below posts on "Glutamate Again".
Smoking - goes unsaid.

Alcohol, smoking, stress, MSG, and caffeine. A perfect combination for disaster. Why do we all think that our bodies will continue to run at optimum levels, when we keep dousing it with poisons? I thought I was invincible, as well. It all depends on how committed you want to become, in order to save your life. You have made an enormous leap, by quitting alcohol and I commend you for that, but as I see it, you must nourish your body back to health, or you can stay status quo, and continue to have life long health problems. The choice is yours, Thomas.

I changed my diet, had a multitude of molecular testings done by a "nutrient-friendly" doctor to see what the status of my body was, quit caffeine, never smoked, and am now trying to avoid MSG and its various guises. I don't stress too much, unless I'm put in those situations, by no choice of mine.

Anyway, Thomas, you might want to take a harder look at what you're eating, if you so choose. A hamburger from Sonic drive-in isn't going to give you much nutrition, and your body is crying for it. It's in an exhaustive state. If you have questions, pls. ask.

Richard

I concur with Jackie and Richard - especially Richard on the MSG (excitotoxic foods). I noticed one other thing in your list that I would advise you to stop. Your nicorrette chewing gum is full of ASPARTAME. This too will trigger arrhythmia. Can you get the nicorette inhalers - the plastic tube you inhale nicotine from. My sister is using one of these at the moment plus the lozenges - the lozenges are full of aspartame too. For the first time in her life she is complaining of elevated heart rate and palps. I told her it was the aspartame and am hoping she takes it on board.

Fran

All very good advise. No more afib yet, but still the palps. One thing I did not mention is that I had taken some psedophed for a head cold, and I had very little sleep for a few nights in a row.

The trigger (of course not the cause) seemed to be when I took a few large sips of an ICE cold slush. I have since read on these posts that some fibs seemed to be triggered by ice cold drinks. I got two brain freezes, then the palps when out of control into the afib.

Thanks everyone for you support. If you want to see the lite side of my ordeal, look at my stomach acid post under Arnold S. I am not kidding when I say that I think the pepcid ac was what brought me to NSR.

Tom

Tom,

What are the ingredients of Pepcid AC, and how long did it take?

Thank you,
Richard

Pepcid® Complete combines an acid reducer (famotidine) with antacids (calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide) to relieve heartburn in two different ways: acid reducers decrease the production of new stomach acid, while antacids neutralize acid already present in the stomach. Heartburn is caused by acid moving from the stomach into the esophagus through a valve-like muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). This occurs when the LES is relaxed and in an open position, and can result in burning pain and discomfort that interferes with everyday activities. Pepcid® Complete is available in a chewable tablet form, and is approved for adults and children twelve years of age and older.

Congratulations on your sobriety. Unfortunately, some of the research I've done states that a-fib may be one the side effects of drinking too much. My hubby just got out of detox and is experiencing what I think may be A-fib. My doctor put me on a prescription of Pepcid it's 30 mg prescription strength and it didn't work for me, so she switched me to Prevacid. Since my last hospital stay on Oct 6th, she switch me Protonix.

FYI. Best of Health.