Just got out of the hospital,been diagnosed with afib

Well I was fed up of several nights of waking up from 2-3 hours of sleep feeling like I was gasping for air and feeling generally tired.So last Sunday morning I told the wife enough is enough and went in.I knew I had a heart problem with enlargement that toprol was being taken for.After blood work and all the test I have a fib(irregular heartbeat)but nothing else found with blood work.I have been changed to a fast acting toprol,a blood thinner to reduce clots because of the heartbeat,fluid pill when needed for conjestion
and blouting.Have to keep check on blood pressure and pulse and all else NO STRESS.Hope the meds works or they are going to shock me to see if normal rhythm will return!Keep me in your thoughts and have a good holiday.

You might get tested for sleep apnea if the rest doesn't help.

Thomas,

Welcome to the A-Fibbers group. :) I have been in A-Fib for three years now. After two failed attempts at cardioversion where they did succeed in separating some of my ribs from my sternum, yea really nice, my doctor and I figured the heck with it and I just use blood thinners and beta blockers and keep on trucking. Do give the cardioversion a try for sure, my sister-in-law had it done and her heart kicked back in like it was supposed to. You just never know. A fishing buddy of mine has been in A-Fib for around 18 years now. You get used to it. I don't climb hills nor take stairs, at least not fast. Just keep on fishing and enjoying life.

Larry ---sagefisher---

Best of luck Thomas. As far as the stress goes, there can be no better remedy than standing in a river waving a stick.

best wishes, take care of your self.

I joined the club back in the late '80's. I woke up one morning with my heart doing its best imitation of the rhythm section in a Cuban band.

It is scary at first, but not as scary as you may now think. Chances are they will find a combination of medicines that keeps it at bay most days. In recent years, I've only had it happen if I forgot my meds or did an unusual amount of exercise at 8,000 feet or higher. The latter would increase my blood pressure and heart rate and that would kick it off. Life's normal stress has not triggered an event for me, even in some very stressful situations.

The docs have been able to convert my pulse back to normal most times just using meds. I've had the "shock therapy" twice with good results and no negative side effects.

It is better not to be in this club, but you can probably take your current anxiety down several notches. Hope this message helps.

PS: You may not want to share your condition with your fly fishing buddies. I did, and then noticed that my invitations for shared fly fishing outings dropped a ton. I think the prospect of having to drag my body back to the road may have put them off, even though they really did not need to worry.

Thanks everyone,just took my blood pressure,it was 90 over 78 with a 92 pulse.Wife said no toprol tonight pressure too low.I guess I should be keeping a record for my report doc visit Wednesday.Have had a little discomfort in my sternum area with a little conjestion,but the wife is now got a sore throat so it may be some of that going around.I know in NC it was 68 degrees this morning and now at 8:00 pm it is 40,that doesn't help you get any better.

Prayers and good wishes, Thomas. I hope you get this under control quickly and get out on the water. No better way to control stress than harassing a few brookies!

Thomas-
There are two basic types of AF: The kind that occurs randomly, maybe once a week, maybe once a year, and feels pretty much as Oldfrat described, like runaway heart; and the kind that's occurring all the time but you don't feel it. The second type is treated very successfully with shock (cardioversion) once you're stabilized. For the first you're pretty much stuck with Warfarin, Cumadin, etc to slow coagulation and prevent stroke. You may even get by with an aspirin a day instead, altho most cardio docs would pale to hear that.
Neither should have a major effect on your lifestyle. What CAN slow you down a lot, and what CAN trigger the AF, is sleep apnea, as someone mentioned. Sounds like that's what you have, and probably what caused your AF.
Have your doc get you lined up with a Sleep Clinic and get tested. The CPAP machines are just an abomination to use, but very effective if you're losing sleep and tiring easily.
(A FF board probably isn't the best place to get reliable medical advice, but you brought it up and we're all wannabe Dr Rosens.)

Well I went last week for a followup and he heard conjestion in my lungs but since that time the whole crowd has come down with bad colds,me with conjestion in my chest that musinex is working on.I am going in for my stress test after the holidays but this time instead of running tread mill they will shoot me up with nuclear,not happy or thrilled about that,would rather run the mill.

Nuclear testing isn't so bad. Just like the other kinds ... but ... you get to glow in the dark afterwards!
Testing for sleep apnea isn't bad either. Do it. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel afterwards (that is if they find you have sa ... which it sounds like you may.)
There's LOTS worse things than AF or SA. Be thankful.

Back in '98 I got my first episode of A Fib. Back then my doctors told me to expect them to come on more frequently. I didn't like the news so I set out to make a liar of them. It worked and am happy to say that my last episode was 6 years ago. I'm now labeled as lone fibrillation. The secret for me is to keep my thyroid levels in check through regular check-ups and not to let stress get the better of me. When my heart begins to race for no apparent reason I have to make myself relax. I find thinking about fly tying of all things helps me to redirect my focus off of the racing heart to something more pleasurable which in turn keeps my heart from adding a beat. This added beat is a precursor of an oncoming A Fib episode.