Here is my story. I'm 42 years old and I went into afib at 21 weeks pregnant in July. I converted in the hosp about 12 hrs later. I've never had any heart problems, and no high bp. I had a 30 day event monitor which was fine no problems. They said my afib was probably do to my pregnancy because my electrolytes where out of me balance. I'm no longer on any meds. I'm just so scared it will happen again😞 how do you all deal with this?
I'm no expert but reading your story it sounds to me like it was a one off due to the pregnancy and electrolytes and hopefully you can look after yourself and stay that way because NOT being on the drugs is the winner here. If it does happen you can get attention right away in hospital - they are brilliant at dealing with AF incidents. It is frightening the first time but after my first time afterwards I found I was more calm when it happened again - for you hopefully this is temporary. Good Luck
Thank you, I hope your right it scared me so bad I thought I was going to die😧 my heart rate was so high. My anxiety makes me fear this happening again, and if I get a Palpitation I freak out that I'm going to go back into afib..
Laurie first of all don't panic you're ok, its not going to kill you, take that from someone who's had so many attacks, yes its horrible no terrible thing to
experience, I've had everything you could think of to do with AF but am still here 
if you need to chat pm me but please try not to worry x
Thank you for saying that. I've had health anxiety for almost my whole life, and my bigest fear has always been my heart. So when this happened i didn't know what it was, my heart rate was over 190 I thought I was going to die. Now if I even have a skipped beat I go into a panic. It sucks because I have 3 kids and I just want to not think about this every minute. I have my newborn and I'm not sleeping and that makes my anxiety worse😥
Laurie one thing you must not do is not sleep lack of sleep will make it worse I use to have 50 toaybe 70 ectopic beats a min, yes its very very scary, trying to stay calm when it happens I know its easy to say but I've been there 😄 so I know it works, you have alot to deal and maybe need help to off load some of the pressure, once I had a HP of 240 it was very scary, Laurie you're not going to die !! when these attacks happen, let hope its just a one off try get some sleep and not worry you will be fine
Thank you again for taking the time to reply, I feel better taking to people that know what I'm going through😉 I'll try to get more sleep but with a newborn it probably won't happen for a while..lol
Hi Laurie,
​Can't remember all the details now but my daughter, then aged 30 developed AF during her first pregnancy. It was treated at the time (sorry don't know details now) and went away. In her second pregnancy (2 years later) AF returned. That was now 4 years ago, she is now AF free, has had no more pregnancies and no more AF. She is very sports orientated and is involved in Thai kickboxing and other similar pursuits. Like you she is on nil meds.
Interestingly on my side of the family there is a high incidence of AF and/or strokes which may suggest some sort of genetic thingy going on. My other three kids (all boys) have so far had no signs of AF and they are all sporty inclined.
Hope that helps.
John
I don't get the clear cut anxiety you talk about but even when NOT having an AF event my body behaves like it is having some sort of panic attack. What I have found very very useful is learning a technique called EFT. It's very simple to learn the tapping points and follow the procedure from reading a book or looking on utube. I must admit it works best when I do it with a professional but its incredibly handy to use when you feel in a panic. I think its more effective than CBT which is what NHS offer and so simple. There may be classes near where you live too. Worth a try.
That's sounds like what happened to me, it's crazy. Does your daughter every get scared it will happen again?
How to deal with it when you are pregnant? - Eat several small meals ending with lots of water....no large meals.The bigger your stmach gets from your in utero baby, the more pressure you'll put on the vagus nerve which then willl cause rythm issues. Its very common.
Frank
Hi Laurie,
​No she doesn't, well at least not that she admits to me. Maybe she thinks there is no point as she is in Sydney, Australia and I am in Cornwall, UK.
​My AF is vagal nerve in origin and mine is controlled by meds and diet - worth noting frank61666 post which is on here.
​Mind you she has made one or two comments about her health that make me wonder if at some point in later life her AF may revisit her. She concentrates on her sporty interests and staying 'super slim' but as she ages she'll find she can't do Thai kicking boxing any more ! Thats when her problems are likely to start. No good me advising her - I'm only her Dad - she'll just do her own thing anyway ! Ha! Ha!
When i was pregnant many many years ago my heart would beat crazy. The doctors said it was due to the extra blood and stress of the pregnancy. I would think you should be fine. Keep your caffein and blood pressure under control. Keep your stress level down. Do not abuse alcohol and you should be fine.
Thank you. I guess once you have had afib its just is so scary you pray it doesn't happen again, at least that's how I feel..
John5006 - Just interested you mention that the vagus nerve is the origin of your AF - I have a feeling mine is too however when I mentioned it to consultant he just rolled his eyes - was yours diagnosed as vagus nerve?
Hi Kate,
Yeah well if you saw a Cardiac Consultant thats about what I'd expect from him/her ! If you had seen a Gastroenterologist that result would have been the opposite !!
​Short answer .... no it was never diagnosed my a GP or Cardiac consultant, it is not mentioned anywhere on my papers.
Longer answer ....I was diagnosed with paroxysmal AF in 9 hours from first onset, in an A & E unit. No mention of any cause. A & E carried out extensive tests over a 6 day period and developed my party bag of drugs. The doses haven't changed I might add over nearly 7 years. After about 4 months of AF I became aware of an AF event occurring after food. Symptoms were, massive, massive bloating accompanied by discomfort, sometimes low grade pain in the chest, burping, intestinal gurgling, very loud and audible to anyone in the same room, and diahorrea.
​My GP had basic blood tests done to check on liklhood of IBS and Coeliac Disease - all clear. Offered more tests and I declined.
​Instead I went to a Nutritionist end result - recommended I go Wheat free, Gluten Free, and consider aspects of the FODMAPS diet. Over the years following this advice my AF incidents calmed down. It has been a long and at times a frustrating journey experimenting with food constantly (one mans meat is another mans poison comes to mind). I refer to this as my diet but thats not a really accurate term - more appropriate to call it my Food Intake Plan (FIP). Now I can confidently say my last recorded AF event was in April 2015.
So, for me at least get the AF diagnosed early, quickly and accurately - something that rarely happens these days judging from posts on here and other websites - get treatment started and listen to your body.
​Calm the vagal nerve = calm the heart !
​Since visiting the Nutritionist I have had one additional health scare - excessive sugar levels and was tested for Diabetes. Yes blood sugar was almost "Prediabetes". So, I went cold turkey and have cut out all added sugar from my FIP and as a result it has not interacted with my party bag of drugs (nor has anything else in my FIP) and my blood sugars have dropped considerably.
​So thats it ....I have been fortunate, speedy and accurate diagnosis plus sound dietry advice from a Nutritionist.
Hope this helps,
John
thanks for reply - we are very similar in all aspects. I did see a gastro consultant too who also rolled his eyes but I have read a very useful book on the hiatal hernia syndrome and vagus nerve imbalance. Everything you say apart from audible gurgling is the same. The one other symptom I get is this cold and shaky flu like symptom which ebbs and flows daily at random but diet wise etc and symptom wise I am a carbon copy of you. Must read the book again.
hi Kate,
Am amazed that the gastro guy also rolled his eyes. From what I've discussed and read they are much more likely to take notice of vagal nerve issues than a Cardiac guy.
Certainly the Nutritionist I went to knew all about it and she also receives referrals from a Gastro consultant for diet related issues. In fact she discussed my case with this Gastro guy, and his reaction was ..... 'not in the least surprised'.
Anyway, amazing that your symptoms are a copy cat of mine.
​The day AF kicked in these flu like symptoms started - very similar to your description. In fact that was the first I knew that something was amiss .... I just thought I was going down with flu. I had no feeling of cardiac issues at all - absolutely none. Until I checked my blood pressure. Then I found my blood pressure (I have my own monitor because BP had been an issue for me for some time) erratic. Then it became wildly erratic /unstable and falling - my normal BP in those days was around 136/80 - when it got to 76/54 with a HR of 85, I rang my GP - he got me into hospital immediately. The rest is history. All from these flu like symptoms. Never had them since. during the first 4 months I had a struggle with Bisoprolol but even thats fine now. Warfarin, no sweat - even with my FIP.
May the force be with you.
John
Hi,Laurie ,
likely everthing is in OK. Pregnancy often results in bening arhithmias, without any consequecies. Although atrial fibriallation is rare in pregnency, but sometimes coold happen. Ilink here a paper here about this problem and copy here the here the summary of the paper:
"Pregnancy is accompanied by a variety of cardiovascular changes in normal women; all of these changes are thought to promote arrhythmogenesis. Atrial fibrillation is unusual during pregnancy and it can represent a benign, self-limited lone atrial fibrillation or can be hemodynamically significant in parturient with or without structural heart disease. Management of atrial fibrillation should be the same as in nonpregnant women, but requires faster intervention, even in patients with a normal heart function, and cautious use of medication to avoid harm to the fetus. We might remember that synchronized electrical cardioversion has been performed safely during all stages of pregnancy."
http://www.jafib.com/PMC/XML/Inprogress/295/295pdf_luca.pdf
"
Hi,
I would not say, that I'm carbon copy, but some aspects are similar. My flutter (this is let say a mild case of the fibrillation) regularly shows up after food and followes a blow up. I went to my my friend, who is excelllent cardiologist and his team made diagnoses that I have vagally mediated fibrillation that is characterised by low heart rate (betwen 50-60 bpm before sleeping). The aFib events typically follow the food intake and the HR remains low even during the aFib event (between 70-80). In contrast, the typical aFib is mediated by elevated sympathic tone and has very high heart rate. What we should keep in mind, that the strech of the stomach may stimulate the vagal activity. That is why Gastroesophageal reflux disease or obesity may promote atrial fibrillation. I'm just speculating, that pregnancy may simiraly can press the stomach and result in aFib.
Gyorgy 1950