Any one only gets episodes while sleeping? Any thing can do to it?

If your episodes only happened while sleeping and had never happened while you were awake, what could you do to avoid it? I'm tested for sleep apnea and found mild apnea, EP said it doesn't matter and that shouldn't trigger my afib. So I have no clue.

My episodes initially occurred at 3AM. While over 14 years, I've had other episodes at other times, most occurred in the early morning while asleep. This is a fairly common vagal presentation.

Several thoughts.

-Night time hypoglycemia. Waking up hot or sweaty,which used to happen to me, though not since I keto adapted in 2009. Hence a lower carb diet might be helpful.

-As I recall (and I think there are some articles about potassium in the Conference Room written by PC, who is a doc and used to be a frequent poster years ago) <[www.afibbers.org] I think this may coincide with a daily serum potassium low. Increasing potassium with either citrate or bicarb possibly might help. When I test serum potassium, I strive for a range between 4.3 & 4.8.

-Chronic cardio was my ticket to afib. An earlier long duration cardio session could also be a ticket to a 3 AM episode for me.

George

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GeorgeN
My episodes initially occurred at 3AM. While over 14 years, I've had other episodes at other times, most occurred in the early morning while asleep. This is a fairly common vagal presentation.

Several thoughts.

-Night time hypoglycemia. Waking up hot or sweaty,which used to happen to me, though not since I keto adapted in 2009. Hence a lower carb diet might be helpful.

-As I recall (and I think there are some articles about potassium in the Conference Room written by PC, who is a doc and used to be a frequent poster years ago) <[www.afibbers.org] I think this may coincide with a daily serum potassium low. Increasing potassium with either citrate or bicarb possibly might help. When I test serum potassium, I strive for a range between 4.3 & 4.8.

-Chronic cardio was my ticket to afib. An earlier long duration cardio session could also be a ticket to a 3 AM episode for me.

George

Hi George, so you don’t have episode any more? How often were they?

Hypoglycemia shouldn’t be a problem for me. Both time I went to ER because of afib my glucose were about 120. However potassium for both time were 3.5 and 3.6. In the blood test on the same day, my potassium was 4.2, then the same day at night when I had afib it downed to 3.5. I don’t know why so much difference.

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kong2018
Hi George, so you don’t have episode any more? How often were they?.

When afib first presented, 14 years ago, I got it every 10-14 days with 6-10 hour duration. They would come at ~3AM and I could convert them with exercise or on their own. Then, after about two months I had an episode that would not convert. It lasted 2.5 months. It was converted with 300 mg flecainide - flec is not supposed to work on an episode that has been acting that long - it did take 20 hours to convert, but after this episode and the next, conversion was much quicker, usually about an hour but some as much as 2 or 3 and maybe one 4 hour. It was during this time that my EP suggested staying out of rhythm and I proposed my "Plan B" which he accepted and I've been following since. In the 5 months after the initial conversion, I had three episodes, at one month, at 4 months and 5 months. Then I had a two year period with no episodes. I thought I was "cured" so I went off my magnesium potassium and taurine. I had afib within 48 hours - may have been 24. I've never repeated the "I'm cured" experiment! All episodes after the 2.5 month one have been converted with flec. My concept is to absolutely minimize time out of rhythm - hence I chew the flec the instant I realize I'm in afib. I will swallow it with water, if I have some, otherwise just saliva. I even did this in a snow cave with water from a half frozen water bottle.

As mentioned elsewhere, during my divorce I was consuming too much calcium. I had more frequent episodes then. One time I had 4 in one week. It was suggested by a doc to take flec daily to prevent the episodes. I did this, it worked, but I didn't like taking it so I a) started taking ginger spice before bed (written up here somewhere), and b) I titrated the flec down to zero over a month. The ginger wasn't as effective as the flec, if I recall i had approximately monthly episodes with the ginger & no flec. After I reduced my calcium intake, my control went back to excellent with an average of about one episode per year. Again these are converted by flec in about an hour.

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kong2018
Hypoglycemia shouldn’t be a problem for me. Both time I went to ER because of afib my glucose were about 120. However potassium for both time were 3.5 and 3.6. In the blood test on the same day, my potassium was 4.2, then the same day at night when I had afib it downed to 3.5. I don’t know why so much difference.

By the time you got to the ER, your glucose may have elevated. In fact, this is what happens during nighttime hypos. You go low, then there is a corresponding stress response followed by higher blood sugar.

At the ER on my first and only visit for afib, my serum potassium was 3.2. Potassium is very labile (changeable over short periods of time). Some people here have used an agricultural meter (Cardymeter) to test their saliva potassium - which can be correlated to serum (again, written up here elsewhere). They will tell you that potassium is highly variable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2018 08:36PM by GeorgeN.

Hi George, from the info you provided, I think you mean potassium really doesn’t matter, or at least it’s not an indicator of the onset of afib, right? How do I find out if I had hypoglycemia? The night and the few nights before my first afib, I did have lots of sweating while sleeping. Maybe I didn’t eat enough for those days? Have you ever had an episode while you were awake? Another information I read from your post is, afib is really not curable once started, no matter what you did. It’s kind of frustrated.

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kong2018
Hi George, from the info you provided, I think you mean potassium really doesn’t matter, or at least it’s not an indicator of the onset of afib, right? How do I find out if I had hypoglycemia? The night and the few nights before my first afib, I did have lots of sweating while sleeping. Maybe I didn’t eat enough for those days? Have you ever had an episode while you were awake? Another information I read from your post is, afib is really not curable once started, no matter what you did. It’s kind of frustrated.

As to potassium, I think it can be an issue and likelly was for me in the beginning. For the first few years of my remission program, I took 2-4 g of potassium as citrate or bicarbonate (I used powdered fomrs). My goal was to not have a low serum level and to keep my level between 4.2 and 4.8. As time wore on and I had been taking a lot of magnesium for a long time, I found I could decrease the potassium and still keep my serum levels where I wanted them.

Hypoglycemia is likely caused by hyperinsulinemia. See the second paragraph in my post <[www.afibbers.org] on Dr. Kraft's work and paper as well as Dr. Crofts'. You can also see an interview done with Dr. Kraft in 2015 [www.thefatemperor.com] He passed a year ago at age 96.

As to cure, you are correct. However I consder that I have a very high quality of life and a very tiny bit of afib. That isn't bad. I was skiing with a doc friend from Aus a couple of weeks ago. He was asking me about my afib and when I told him my stats, he said I was as good as cured. Now I know I'm not, but afib is generally a progressive disease and I've gone from a 2.5 month episode 14 years ago to the very few episodes I have now. Are there things I can't do? Yes, a lot of endurance activity is very contraindicated for me, even though I'm well conditioned enough to successfully do it. I find other ways to occupy my time that are fun.

Thanks George!

You can read how I cured my same problem. 3 month now afib free!!! [www.afibcure.info]

Cured your AF with Ribose that lowers blood sugar, sure wouldn't work for me, low blood sugar will trigger an AF episode for me.

Liz

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Malinovs
You can read how I cured my same problem. 3 month now afib free!!! [www.afibcure.info]

I do hope you have cured your afib by taking D-Ribose. But three months free of afib can’t proof it, not even three years. My first four episodes happened during the first three months after diagnosis, then I went three months without any episode. The only thing I did was stopping all prescription med, but I can’t say I cured my afib by stopping meds as I got hit again after that three months of freedom. Again I do hope your afib is cured. Please report back periodically of your continuous free of afib.

Thanks for the info on D-Ribose. I'm trying it