Help!

Hello All!
I am a brand new member so please be patient with me as I am learning to navigate this Forum.
I am a 65 year old male with good overall health except I was diagnosed with one blocked artery 3 years ago followed by occasional AFIB episodes like every 3 to 4 weeks however the AFIB episodes went away after they placed a stent in my clogged Artery but I continued having palpitations. Now after 3 years all of a sudden I started experiencing AFIB a couple of months ago that were few weeks apart but for the past week I am having them every night and it is debilitating! I have tried double dosing on Bisoprolol (5m) before bedtime which somewhat helps shorten the episodes to 1.5 to 2 hours but for the past couple of nights my episodes take longer like 3 to 4 hours. The attacks start a while after I start laying in bed to go to sleep and I start feeling palpitations followed by sudden bloating and belching and irregular heart beat..... I try the maneuvers of different types but no help until it subsides on its own. My pulse rate fluctuates from 60 to 120 during this time. I was just put on Eliquis 5m twice a day to prevent strokes. This has caught me by surprise as I am very active and this seems to limit me significantly.

I do not drink often however my first spout a couple of months ago was caused by drinking a couple of nice Martini. I have read stress, Alcohol and Salt can trigger AFIB and I am sure several others that I do not know yet.

Oh, I forgot to mention that before the start of my recent AFIB episodes my regular doctor put me on a couple of strong Antibiotics for a stomach bug. Could the Antibiotics have started or triggered my AFIB attacks?

Am I correct to assume that AFIB may be triggered chemically by eating or drinking something?
Any correlation between clogged arteries and AFIB?

Please share your thoughts and experience especially do's and dont's with me to help me manage this delima!

Thank you very much



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2022 12:51AM by MartyM.

Our bodies react at least a little to any discernible and undetected stressors. This could be indigestion, over-eating and having a distended stomach, swallowing air while you sleep, constipation and/or slow motility and infrequent BMs, caffeine, histamines, nicotine, illegal drugs,over-the-counter cold medications with ephedrine and other stimulants, anxiety, ruminating (thinking over and over the same thoughts or worries), insomnia, vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies or imbalance (electrolytes, for example)....I could fill a page easily. Oh, even comorbidities that flare up can set one's heart off.

However, it is incumbent upon each of us to attempt to learn what makes our hearts react with palpitations and outright arrhythmias. (Note that a palpitation is a sensation, maybe even followed by alarm or dread, that the heart is not beating properly. It is NOT necessarily an arrhythmia.) Trial and error are the best way to figure it out. Keep comprehensive and reliable records and notes that you can use to guide further experimentation.

If it helps, I was active all my adult life. I was in the combat arms in the Canadian Armed Forces, but also a competitive runner. Latterly, I took up paddle-boarding, cycling, and snow-shoeing. I didn't do any of it lightly. My cardiologist simply opined that I have an 'irritable' heart. It got tired. And cranky.

AF is a progressive disorder. For everyone who has it. The sooner you deal with it positively and constructively, the better the outcomes over time. For example, you describe your AF in terms that would have us and cardiologists label it as 'paroxysmal'. It comes and then you revert yourself to sinus rhythm. For many of us, we can keep that up for years. Eventually, though, things will slip just like tectonic plates do, and the your living experience is likely to change suddenly for the worse. People such as yourself with paroxysmal AF have a much better result with rate control at first, and then by getting an ablation to isolate the pulmonary vein ostia, where the veins return oxygenated blood from the lungs and empty into the rear wall of the left atrium. Atrial muscle tissue migrates into the ostia in many cases and becomes responsive to the electrical signals that come from that location. The result is extra contractions, unwanted ones. The ablation will scarify the tissue around that area using radio frequency or other methods. The 'stockade' of burn marks, lesions, will not permit the spurious signals to get past them, so the atrium continue only to beat with the correct signal that is left to it.

Others will chip in with their comments. You'll get a lot of help and some hand-holding. It's a sobering thing to learn that your body is time-limited in one way or another. This is just one of the ways.

After a single ablation, my minimum heart rate is in the 80s. My max is in the 120s. Just able to function and not much more.

At age 77 and after two successful ablations, my resting heart rate is upper 50s and maxes out around 125. In the beginning, I was on meds for six years that helped control the afib, but finally decided that it was having too much impact on my lifestyle (wanted to plan extended hiking trips in Europe) and had an ablation.

Now, I am as fit as ever, with 2 one-mile swims a week, two rounds of golf per week and two one-hour weight workouts per week, plus plenty of walking. I snow ski, hike, windsurf, scuba dive and enjoy life to its fullest.

Hi Marty,

Welcome to the club that no one wants to join. I lurk around here once and a while but I'm not around much anymore. First had afib in 2009 and it got progressively worse (daily) until I was put on propafenone for a year. Once I started to get breakthrough episodes and have some drug toxicity, I scheduled an ablation in 2015. Aside from a few periods of PACs here and there, I've been good ever since (knock on wood). I didn't have a lot of faith in my local EP so I went to Bordeaux and had it done there.

Prior to the ablation, my big triggers were stress, alcohol, heartburn/reflux, and dental work. Though sometimes it happened for no discernible reason. I tried all the natural approaches and, while they helped little, nothing stopped it. Now, it doesn't flip into afib, but when I start getting palpitations I know I'm doing something wrong and need to work on it. They still scare the crap out of me when they happen because they used to be so debilitating and led to full blown afib.

My advice is to get an EP you trust and work with them to find the best solution for you. For me it was ablation and I'm fortunate to have only had one, though I'd get back on the table in a heartbeat if I need a touch up. Take it seriously and treat it aggressively, whatever you do, whether it be nutrition, drugs, or ablation because it generally gets worse if you do nothing and the longer you wait, the more difficult it can be to treat.

Take care

If you like to read, here are a some great books that will help you sort it out. The Afib Cure by Dr. John D Day, Magnificent Magnesium by Dr. Dennis Goodman, Mildred Seelig wrote a great book on Magnesium recommended on this site, and Breath by James Nestor. Stress is a trigger for me. (Stress also depletes magnesium) I had been afib free for almost 2 years after my ablation. The night after my dog of 15 years died, it grabbed me at about 4 in the morning, woke me out of a dead sleep. I took my "pill in a pocket" ( that I learned about on this forum and asked my doctor if I could try it) The 150 mg of Fleccanaide and 50 mg Metoprolol knocked it out in an hour (usually I'd go 12 to 20 hours before i'd self convert) It has not returned months later. No doctor offered me that "pill in a pocket". I asked for it and Eletrophysiologist said OK. I'm only 130 lbs, so a man might require a bigger does of flecc. I do everything Dr. Day's book says to avoid Afib and more. Exercise daily, but NOT TOO MUCH, if I sweat, I take extra Mg and Potassium, ( I test those electrolytes a few times a year and aim for 4 for Potassium and 6 for Mg) gave up alcohol since it's a big trigger, limit caffeine or any other stimulant, Try to meditate daily and keep calm, practice deep breathing. Not everyone is sensitive to MSG, but I have learned that it can trigger me, so I don't eat seaweed salad anymore and fried foods that are likely to have msg. Glutamate stimulates and GABA calms, so I keep GABA on hand if I feel myself getting anxious, take GABA ( totally safe, made in the body, same as glutamate, but want to keep it balanced). I know your fear. I dealt with it for a couple of years , tried and failed every drug for daily use, so finally got an ablation by a HIGHLY ranked Eletrophysiologist who does several hundred per year. Don't go to just any EP. Read as much as you can on this forum and learn from all of these seasoned experts. You will learn more here than in any doctors office. Get your RBC Magnesium level checked. you can order the test from requestatest.com or any other testing service. If it's below 5.5 mg/dl you are flirting with Afib and need to up your consumption to bowel tolerance, take epsom salt baths 2 or 3 times per week with USP grade Epsom Salt 3 or 4 cups in the tub. It will relax you, help you sleep and may just control the Afib. It's a vicious cycle. The more you have it , the more anxious you may get, and that causes more of it. I used to be afraid to go to sleep at night because that was always when it hit. Almost every other night then I'd have about 24 hours of freedom til it returned. I know a lot of people who do well on daily drugs, but they all have side effects, so if it keeps coming back, you may want to research and see who is the best EP near you. Make sure he's done bazillions of them. I wonder if Pulse Field ablations are available yet, anybody know? They are supposed to be safer.

LaniB I identify with all that you said and try to do the same; I would add one other which I believe you inferred is to make sure to stay hydrated. Drink lot’s of clean water everyday, no exception; this was a big one for me as I work outside a lot in the Florida heat. Pulse field is available in Europe where Farapulse (Boston Scientific) is CE approved; in the US PFA is available only through clinical trials. I had a PFA last June in Austin as part of the AdMire study (active but not recruiting); I believe Kardium is starting a trial next year of their PFA system called “Globe”.

I firmly believe that an antibiotic exacerbated my heart palpitations and afib many years ago.The culprit was Sufameth i took for a spider bite. It took months for my system to calm down. People will say that sounds crazy but I could taste the sulfa in my mouth for a long time too and am convinced it trigger a heart reaction. I never expected it to, so it wasn't psychological.

I also find that my system can go through periods where like you, I get palpitations at certain times of day, pretty much regardless of activity. Every couple months I'll have a bad week or so where I get palps every day around 3:00 pm, that last for a couple hours. Weird.

For the record, I've had an ablation for PVCs, and another for afib (about a year apart). Both are nicely under control save those weird weeks. Although I haven't had afib since the operation three years ago. I try and stay hydrated, don't eat a lot in one sitting, and don't drink much. Those are my triggers. Take note of yours and do what you can, but you may need an ablation if things continue to progress and you get more and more episoides. And they likely will. I was getting afib once a year for about ten years, then once a month for a few years, then got to twice a week for six months. I decided that was enough.