Individualized Studies of Triggers of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

[www.stopafib.org]

Thanks for the link!
I'm envious of patients able to identify their sure triggers. I still don't know, for me. Nearly 6 years since my first paroxysmal afib episode, all kinds of diets, supplements, meds; various exams saying I'm fine; four ablations...
I've had my 418th episode last friday.
Between those self-ending (meds free) episodes, I may live a couple quiet days... as well as awful hours haunted with ectopics (various PVCs or PACs mostly in bigeminal pattern).
I still don't have a clue about what causes this chaos.
It seems something (in fact, most likely lots of things) is poisening my ANS, and the only way my body has found to get rid of that is triggering an afib episode. After that, I'm usually quiet for a day or two. It's as if my body had performed some kind of "clean and reset".
We're all different, aren't we? I'm used to see my doctors scratching their head...

For me, I've had times when I can't identify triggers and when I can. When I have my electrolytes optimized, triggers are few and the primary one is overdoing exercise meaning too long a duration at too high an intensity (creating a delayed vagal trigger). When electrolytes are out of sync, then I have episodes with no trigger and also many other things become triggers like ice cold drinks, laying on my left side, the time immediately after orgasm. These triggers are immediate.

I've observed all you've just described, George. You're likely right about electrolytes. But the main issue for me would be to identify the imbalances.
I'm more likely having afib in the night if I exercise or drink a little alcohol in the evening. Exercise in the morning or a glass of beer in the afternoon have very little chances triggering anything.
So, maybe there's some toxicity to get rid of before the night... But it might be coincidental too. I don't know.
Another frequent trigger for me is food. Just after meal (or sometimes already while eating), I may have PACs, then afib. The usual lenght of the self ending Afib episode is 30min. The kind of food or the quantity don't seem related. Some days, I eat as any other day and nothing happens.
Obviously, digestion and resting are times when I'm more prone to afib. Ectopics at rest disappear as soon as I move a little, coming back after about 1min standing, sitting or lying still. It's a vagal tone issue.

Salty foods, lack of sleep, outside when it’s real hot (>110), bending over swatting, and msg are my afib triggers.
Msg I did a 9 day experiment to rule out it was a not fluke. Lack of sleep was commented as a trigger by the ER in 2004. Swatting I immediately got afib/rapid hr two days in a row.

Tachycardia triggers:
Wearing galoshes and overheating my feet (Venice during a canal flood in the summer) and loud music at weddings etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2021 06:19PM by susan.d.

Have y'all read Dr. John D Day's book, "The Afib Cure"? He knows so much about it, I could swear he has Afib, but he doesn't. He goes into a lot of detail about the various reasons why we have it, so we can work on that, as well as triggers. There are so many considerations, like A1C, blood sugar, blood pressure, as well as exercise ( daily, but not too much) and many more. I've never had a doctor before him, say not to eat sugar. He explains how a spike in blood sugar, maybe from white bread will lead to fibrosis of the heart. I've been scarring my heart that way all my life!!! Now when I see a dessert, I see a scarred heart! My tastebuds have changed so much from avoiding carbs, I can taste the sweetness of a carrot or onion, and apples taste BEYOND sweet! He doesn't talk about electrolytes as much as I'd like, based on other books I've read, but I think it's well worth the price and the time. Best wishes to everyone to figure out your own specific protocols to stay in NSR forever!!!!

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LaniB
Have y'all read Dr. John D Day's book, "The Afib Cure"? !

just ordered myself a bday present LOL! good times...

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LaniB
I've never had a doctor before him, say not to eat sugar. He explains how a spike in blood sugar,!!

Sugar is a big trigger. Just give me something with >18g sugar and I will bum a ride with you to the Er. I was once admitted for my GI and was on a liquid diet. They gave me two jellos, icee, and two sweet cranberry juices. I told them to watch the monitor…they actually humored me by hooking me up to a monitor so I would drink the sugar meal. Afib reared it’s head. Now I won’t follow their orders when it comes to sweet sugar intake. I ask for saline IV instead.

The glucose test is a test I passed because the sugar content is high.

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LaniB
Have y'all read Dr. John D Day's book, "The Afib Cure"? He knows so much about it, I could swear he has Afib, but he doesn't. He goes into a lot of detail about the various reasons why we have it, so we can work on that, as well as triggers. There are so many considerations, like A1C, blood sugar, blood pressure, as well as exercise ( daily, but not too much) and many more. I've never had a doctor before him, say not to eat sugar.

I've not read his book, but I've paid attention to all of that for years. I started testing my blood sugar (for biohacking purposes) in 2006. I've been keto adapted since 2009, but I do eat unprocessed carbs. I don't eat any processed foods. I aim for fasting blood sugars of 80 mg/dL (4.44 mmol/L) or less. A1C < 5.0% I pay attention to my blood sugar and consider a systolic reading >116 as high. I'm very fit, but titrate my exercise very carefully, as I've posted. I weigh what I did in Grade 10 with very little abdominal fat.

I've read all the books. Done all the research. My triggers really don't exist.

I've blamed coffee, alcohol, eating too fast, sleeping on my left side or my right side, not enough sleep, too much sleep, running too hard, lifting heavy weights, being tired, hungry thirsty, too much sugar, too much salt, etc etc.

All of them have 'triggered' my AF at some time or other.

I've come to believe my heart and its electrics are somehow not as good as they should be. Also, I have had some deeply distressing events in my life and feel maybe my heart has been broken in some way.

Other than that I don't have a clue.

I know it's illogical, but strangely, since my ablation, I have become more anxious, and keep waiting for AF or Tachy to kick in again.

I've got the very best EP and so far so good, so why do I worry?

Joywin:


I know it's illogical, but strangely, since my ablation, I have become more anxious, and keep waiting for AF or Tachy to kick in again.

I've got the very best EP and so far so good, so why do I worry?


I am in permanent AF now, I was perioxomal for about 20 years, I used to worry when i felt my heart beat a little fast or if I was doing things that might put me into AF. But now I have no worries that way, i know no matter what I do or eat i am not going to into Af, i am already there so i am free of that worry and it is a good thing. But, there are other health worries, leaky valves etc. we are never free of that, so, your worries are minor.

There are people, being they doctors or not, believing they've found the remedy to anyone's problem. Then, they point an accusating finger towards something. Sugar, grease, processed food, cow milk, red meat...
I've heard or read about all that. It's not that simple.
I'm sure some people may feel better following the rules explained by those doctors-I-know, but thinking said rules are "a cure" for anyone is... well... pretentious?
There's not yet a "cure" for afib. There are various ways to deal with it, and for some people it might be what this Dr says. Or what another one says.
But, why not? It's now three weeks since I've begun my "nothing" diet. Since nothing (meds, supplements, diets) works, could "nothing" work?
After three weeks, I feel no change. I thought magnesium was useful. It may be. But I'm not any better with than without.
I once said my cardiologist I was taking magnesium. She smiled and replied "It can make you no harm". My EP said, when I talked about magnesium, that it would not change my afib.
So, let's try something else, next time. Very low sugar. Why not ? What have I to lose ? Not even weight, since I'm already low weight.

Unfortunately my AF is a big deal for me. After poor advice decades ago, I lived with very symptomatic AF for a long time. Disrupted my work, my social life and my family life. To have it come back would be awful, to put it mildly.
My mother died instantly from a stroke attributed to arrhythmia. My father had issues as well.
My other conditions I deal with, my heart is another matter.
My ablation, after all those long years, was a blessing, I just hope it holds.

I've bad genes too, but it's just a guessing. Both my parents were afibbers.

Different triggers for dif. people.....everyone is dif. + sometimes none of the above meaning all the triggers an ind. is used to causing are not in play then.....BOOM.....still get it out of nowhere after checking all their normal triggers off the list at that time.

Very little makes sense with this Malady + one can come close to driving themselves crazy trying to figure this out as an Ind.

My best advice as a HOPEFULLY former bigtime afibber (around 150 ep. a year for the last 3 years i had it) stop the figuring/head scratching + get to the EP Lab gurney ASAP.

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Pompon
I've bad genes too, but it's just a guessing. Both my parents were afibbers.

Deaths of my two immediate family members in 2004 and 2019 put me the worst af ever. In 2004 the sudden death of my brother put both my mom and I in the ER, one bed apart, with each of our first afib episodes— triggered at the funeral. My EP said I have a genetical disposition to get afib from my “triggers”, while if she personally duplicated wouldn’t cause afib for her.

Extreme stress (sudden death of loved ones) is my #1 trigger. I can’t do anything about it to prevent afib. Shock is a shock.

Susan, stress is likely the only said "bad thing" I've not yet tried getting rid of. The fact is I've never felt overly stressed, but it's insidious, isn't it? Sometimes, one may believe everything is fine, but the reality can be different.
In 2015, both my parents were sick; my father left some days before Xmas. My first encounter with afib happened that year, Nov22. Coincidental?
I'm dealing with afib since then. Despite having had "quiet times" and "bad times" (speaking about stress), neither the formers nor the latters had changed my afib.
Life is a mortal sickness. There are lots of things reminding us we're getting older. I'm 63 and I'm lean, with good arms and legs, a hairy head, no recurrent pain. I don't take meds. I'm fine. I've just ectopics and paroxysmal afib. The latters likely induce stress, and stress likely feeds them too...

Physical fatigue from exercise, salty fatty heavy meals, caffeine build up, emotional stress. Travel can combine most of these in one package for me and has triggered afib. Emotional stress induced adrenaline. I avoid emotionally stressful exchanges with people. It leads to uncomfortable palpitations and which on one occasion morphed into afib. I can tell I am due for an episode because of an increase in chest sensations during the day. (I'm jealous of my wife who never has awareness of what her heart is doing.)

All of my episodes originate during night time sleep and I have not figured out these triggers well enough to totally avoid having any episodes, added to the fact that cause and effect seem to be loosely linked anyway. After trying for many years, I don't think I'll find a silver bullet, yet I do think that being aware of potential triggers has helped me reduce the number of episodes I experience.

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GaryPNW

All of my episodes originate during night time sleep.

Have you been tested for sleep apnea?

Yes. About 2 1/2 years ago and have used a CPAP faithfully since testing positive. It has helped tremendously though it hasn't "cured" my afib. I suspect it could have been a contributing factor in developing afib, though.