Anxiety and Afib

Is there any consensus on anxiety and how it affects afib. If a person has anxiety is he/she wasting time try to ablate afib a 1st, 2nd, or third time?

Anxiety is a well known trigger for afib, but you have to have the substrate to sustain afib. In other words, anxiety doesn't cause afib in people who don't have afib to begin with. So ablating it as necessary isn't a waste of time. Once you get the monkey into a cage all the anxiety in the world won't release him.

I had zero anxiety about AFIB until I had my first few attacks. Then very anxious about it. After having an ablation, I have anxiety about having an AFIB attack and having to have another procedure. Anxiety seems inevitable once one is affected.

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Carey
Anxiety is a well known trigger for afib, but you have to have the substrate to sustain afib. In other words, anxiety doesn't cause afib in people who don't have afib to begin with. So ablating it as necessary isn't a waste of time. Once you get the monkey into a cage all the anxiety in the world won't release him.

That monkey cage will be secure for the current hotspots, but new hotspots popping up due to aging, genetic disposition, etc etc could trigger afib in new areas not previously abated and future ablation(s) may potentially be necessary.…all based on each individual of course.

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KingFizzy
I had zero anxiety about AFIB until I had my first few attacks. Then very anxious about it. After having an ablation, I have anxiety about having an AFIB attack and having to have another procedure. Anxiety seems inevitable once one is affected.

In 2004, after dinner, I would be sitting on the couch nightly in speculation and my concerns that I would get my afib...just tensely waiting for it to happen. And as soon as I got worked up worrying, I got my afib. When it became nightly routine of worrying, my 187hr returned, I started 100mg Flecainide BiD and I went 5 years straight in nsr until I was getting chemotherapy. I had a good 15 year successful success with flecainide until it stopped working. My mistake was increasing the dosage to 300mg in desperation via EP advice and got my dangerous overdose. So flecainide gave me a long breather from afib and I stopped worrying. It’s a vicious cycle of stress and afib for me. But everyone is different.

Contrary to Susan's experience, bed was the one place where I could be assured of respite. It seems incredible in view of so many others who report that their worst experiences come at bedtime.

When I was still in AF, and this was 100% reliable every single night (still find it hard to believe, but it's true...), as soon as I got that first fog out, and then you rally again, maybe turn on your side, I would know that my heart had settled into no PACs and no AF. It allowed me to sleep, thank the Good Lord.

During the day, it was a different story. I would break into AF laughing at a sitcom. And was very unfun as the months wore on. I did get worn down, and it showed on my face.

So, I can sympathize fully.