Post Ablation: tea ok?

I had a successful ablation (PVI) 5 months ago and want to go back to my tea habit. I love green tea and matcha and a stiff Irish tea to wake up with.

Are there any reasons to avoid caffeine? Will I be 'poking the bear'?

(I understand everyone's situation is different)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2025 11:41PM by hds.

It depends. Some people find that caffeine triggers their AF. Many, like me, didn't have such a problem, although I didn't work my way through two pots of coffee each day. I had two teabags worth of tea, a liter of it, each morning, and then a smallish cup of coffee in the afternoon. No colas.

Black tea (I can't speak knowledgeably about green tea) has at least two stimulants: theobromine and caffeine. Tea reportedly has more caffeine per gram weight than does coffee, but it isn't prepared normally in a way that releases all the available caffeine (a first year chemistry experiment to titrate the caffeine in a measured amount of tea requires boiling the tealeaves for ten full minutes).

So, you are you, and you know you best. If you think you're probably in the clear, and after 5 months, why not, try a single cup of black tea brewed for about three minutes. If that goes down well, try another. And another. If, after two hours, you seem to be free of AF, you're good...which a great many of us would agree with. Or, try green tea. Monitor your pulse rate and your rhythm ever 15 minutes and see how it goes. After two or three such days, free of AF and PACS, you should be fine.

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gloaming
It depends. Some people find that caffeine triggers their AF. Many, like me, didn't have such a problem, although I didn't work my way through two pots of coffee each day. I had two teabags worth of tea, a liter of it, each morning, and then a smallish cup of coffee in the afternoon. No colas.

Black tea (I can't speak knowledgeably about green tea) has at least two stimulants: theobromine and caffeine. Tea reportedly has more caffeine per gram weight than does coffee, but it isn't prepared normally in a way that releases all the available caffeine (a first year chemistry experiment to titrate the caffeine in a measured amount of tea requires boiling the tealeaves for ten full minutes).

So, you are you, and you know you best. If you think you're probably in the clear, and after 5 months, why not, try a single cup of black tea brewed for about three minutes. If that goes down well, try another. And another. If, after two hours, you seem to be free of AF, you're good...which a great many of us would agree with. Or, try green tea. Monitor your pulse rate and your rhythm ever 15 minutes and see how it goes. After two or three such days, free of AF and PACS, you should be fine.

Thank you - these are very helpful instructions! Slowly building it up seems a good way to gauge it.

For me, caffeine is a huge trigger, even so much as a sip of iced tea will set me off. (my first episode of AF 46 years ago was caffeine induced).

I've seen it over and over, so I quit even having a sip of my husband's ice tea no matter how delicious it looks. Within 5-10 minutes. Every single time.

lisa
__________________________

So much of medicine is looking solely down the wrong end of the gun barrel, and that is really a pity for all of us---Shannon

One and sometimes two cups of coffee every morning. Never afib after coffee and I had over 200 documented afib episodes. Usually later in the day or evening. Tea = less caffeine, so if I was drinking tea = no afib due to the caffeine.

I waited 6 months after my first ablation to take a small bite of a chocolate cookie. I went right into afib. It must had been the caffeine in the chocolate.

There is no shortage of people who find that they have one or more triggers. Caffeine and alcohol seem to be the two big no-nos in the various lists I see compiled here and there across the www. Personally, it doesn't seem to be for me, but those who are advocates for not consuming caffeine are often quite zealous in their choices of phraseology. IOW, they are adamant that any amount of caffeine seems to trip them over into AF, so they avoid it with as much zeal as a person diagnosed with Celiac avoids all ingestion of gluten.

This is an often mysterious and insidious disorder that defies any boundaries for a great many of us. It comes and goes, seemingly on a whim, sometimes when we wonder if it might happen today (just thinking about it raises an adrenergic response and...bam!). It is this capricious nature that makes it so dreadful for so many of us, and we naturally look for ANY way to keep it at bay. Triggers are one of those ways, and if it works, it works!!

I went back to drinking chamomile tea 6 weeks post ablation, 2 months later I started Earl Grey still no AFib.

A cup of coffee has about 95 mg of caffeine. A chocolate chip cookie has about 4 mg. I doubt a chocolate chip cookie and its caffeine would trigger afib. Of course, all of you do realize that afib can, and typically does start without any triggers from food or drink!

I have several cups of green tea and 1 cup of decaf coffee every day with no issues. The one episode of Afib I had after ablation was triggered by a strong cup of Ginseng tea. I threw away the whole box of Ginseng tea bags after that.

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Ken
A cup of coffee has about 95 mg of caffeine. A chocolate chip cookie has about 4 mg. I doubt a chocolate chip cookie and its caffeine would trigger afib. Of course, all of you do realize that afib can, and typically does start without any triggers from food or drink!

Probably the sugar in the cookie then. I miss chocolate. I used to drive to Starbucks just to smell hot chocolate lingering in the air.

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susan.d

A cup of coffee has about 95 mg of caffeine. A chocolate chip cookie has about 4 mg. I doubt a chocolate chip cookie and its caffeine would trigger afib. Of course, all of you do realize that afib can, and typically does start without any triggers from food or drink!

Probably the sugar in the cookie then. I miss chocolate. I used to drive to Starbucks just to smell hot chocolate lingering in the air.

I think you should have chocolate, cookies (sugar) and tea. I eat dark chocolate every evening and moderate sugar daily. My guess is that none of these are causing your afib. I do work out a lot and play golf, windsurfing, a ski trip per year and scuba. I am almost 80.

I do supplement with potassium, taurine and magnesium and stay well hydrated.

My triggers: Cafeine, Tea, Gluten, Soy, Chocolate, already 10 years without all of them ... It is very individual what triggers the monster

I guess the real measure of success is that there is no more afib if you eliminate all the triggers. However, I am a skeptic here and think that if one is to be sure, they would have to document all episodes, what the known circumstances were (food drink, hydration, etc.) that preceded the episode, document what may have been a trigger, accumulate the data over several months, then eliminate the suspected triggers and see if there is a decrease in the number of episodes compared to the pre trigger elimination.

I doubt that many do this.