Re: help!!!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/3/2001 2:56:27 PM Pacific Standard Time,

jeanbeer@... writes:

<< My cardiologist has put me onto an ace inhibitor to lower my

BP - which seems to have been successful - ( i bought a monitor from

Boots ) - though he hasnt yet given me any medication to control the

actual AF yet . >>

Welcome to the group. You will find many helpful ideas as well as

encouragement and support here. As an experienced afibber of eighteen years,

I have benefited by the good advice of fellow afibbers here and have also

been able to give some advice, based on my experience and that of my older

brother who has been in afib for at least twenty to thirty years.

You didn't mention that you have the symptoms that afib often produces but

just that you discovered the afib by noticing an irregular pulse. If you are

symptomless, you are very fortunate, and perhaps that is why your doctor

hasn't prescribed afib medication for you yet. However, as Jack mentioned,

you should ask your doctor about Coumadin to prevent stroke, a possible side

effect of afib. My older brother has never taken Coumadin in all of his

years of afib, but maybe he has just been lucky to avoid a stroke. (He takes

aspirin now.) I don't think you should start worrying about stroke because

it's probably unlikely in your situation, but it wouldn't hurt to ask about

the anticoagulant. In my eighteen years of afib, I have only taken Coumadin

for the past two and a half years, and I haven't had a stroke. It's just

better to be safe than sorry, I think.

Undoubtedly stress can cause or have an effect on afib. It would be a good

idea for you to try to minimize the stress in your life, or to learn some

strategies for dealing with it. Some members of our group have had good luck

with relaxation tapes. You might want to look into that approach, too.

Best wishes!

in Seattle

[Guest guest]

Hi, welcome.

Are you in afib all the time, or occasionally? I think stress can

certainly bring it on - I was first diagnosed after an over the top

stressful time. So one of the things I am working on is learning

relaxation techniques.

I also hope losing weight will help. When I cart around 20 pounds of

kitty litter, I can start throwing extra beats, so I figure the extra

30 pounds of me I'm carrying around has to be contributing. I am

experimenting with eating much less sugar, and may try 's

suggestion of no dairy, so I am starting to actually lose some weight.

I don't know anything about ace inhibitors. I thought people were

generally initially put on a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker,

but that's just my dim idea. What has your doc said about trying to

return you to sinus, if you are constantly in afib?

Trudy

[Guest guest]

My cardiologist has put me onto an ace inhibitor to lower my

> BP - which seems to have been successful - ( i bought a monitor

from

> Boots ) - though he hasnt yet given me any medication to control

the

> actual AF yet .

if you are in any extended episodes of AF, or in chronic AF,

you should be on some kind of blood thinner. In most cases, but not

all, the AF itself is not dangerous, but the threat of a stroke

could be. If you can tolerate aspirin I would take it until you can

discus this with your doctor.

Best wishes and prayers.

[Guest guest]

- how interesting! I also found out about my AFib after I started

working out to lose weight and regain some physical fitness (with my doctor's

approval, of course). I checked my pulse one morning and there it was back in

1997. Since that time I have taken only coumadin for the AFib. I have

numerous test results (my husband claims I have more pictures of the inside

of my body than most people have of their outsides) that support the medical

conclusions that I do not have heart disease and I probably had been having

AFib on and off for years but never noticed it. I had a three month episode

of AFlutter in 2000 and had an ablation for that condition. I have AFib

almost every day but I never notice it unless I take my pulse. So I just

stopped taking my pulse! (at least most of the time). You will find that

everyone of us in the group is different and have different reactions to the

AFib and to the medications and different doctors who prefer different

approaches to AFib. I read and jot down ideas and am waiting for the magic

moment when they find a permanent noninvasive, nonmedication cure. Meanwhile,

I recommend sleeping on your right side - it really works for me, keeping the

AFib to a minimum!

Sharon in El Paso

[Guest guest]

Here is a natural way to lower your blood pressure you may find interesting.

http://www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/2001-No2-Hypertension.cfm#High

Blood

Pressure Protocol

help!!!

Hello everyone

I was so pleased to find this support group - i found out that i had

AF by chance - when i noticed my pulse was irregular at the gym - ( i

had already decided to try to lose weight and get fit ) - it was

diagnosed as AF - and i am at present seeing a cardiologist - my

doctor thinks it was caused by prolonged stress - i had previously

separated from my husband - and i am a teacher in an inner city

school . My cardiologist has put me onto an ace inhibitor to lower my

BP - which seems to have been successful - ( i bought a monitor from

Boots ) - though he hasnt yet given me any medication to control the

actual AF yet . I would love to hear from anyone in a similar

situation - does anyone else get my " head full of cotton wool "

feeling ? - is it the AF or the medication? has anyone else helped

get over the problem by losing weight ? ( i have along way to go -

but am determined to get down to a healthy weight now) - hoping to

hear from you !! Jean

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[Guest guest]

HI

I am not sure what MVP is so this may be a factor.

It may help if you give us some idea of medication regime you have been put

on.

Your Dr is right that its just a nuisance but it can make you feel pretty

unwell.

when first got this condition I found an tense ness in the back of the head

and pins and needles this was put down to stress. I still do not know what

caused this .

Difficulty sleeping, do you mean your hearts keeps you awake? I found I

could not stop sleeping until my condition was controlled. I use to sleep on

my left side but I found that laying on my back was a great comforter. I

could not hear my heart and I found I went into AF when I awoke.

If your newly diagnosed then your meds do take some time for your body to

get use to.

Have a look at our pervious posts try and learn as much as you can about AF

and calm down .

Best regards

C

> Just recently diagnosed with afib. I hope someone could let me know

> if these are symptoms.

>

> 1.I'm having a difficult time sleeping. Just as I'm about to

> fall a sleep I get this strange sensation,it's difficult to

> describe,it's like a paralyzing feeling that starts at your feet

> and works it's way up. Has anyone experienced this?

>

> 2.I also get a numbing feeling by my cheekbone on the right side of

> my face.

>

> 3.Palpitations when I lay down.

>

> One more question.

> I have MVP is this the cause of all this? My Doctor tells me that my

> condition is not life threatening and is more of a nuisance .

>

> Thanks!

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Sounds like atype of sleep paralysis to me. I get this, but am

totally immobilised. Sleep paralysis happens either when falling

asleep or when waking up. Its often associated with a condition

called narcolepsy.

I am getting a sleep study to check some of my night time happenings

sorted out (of which this is only one). I also have terrible trouble

sleeping at night. Maybe you should get a sleep test too.

Fran

> Just recently diagnosed with afib. I hope someone could let me know

> if these are symptoms.

>

> 1.I'm having a difficult time sleeping. Just as I'm about to

> fall a sleep I get this strange sensation,it's difficult to

> describe,it's like a paralyzing feeling that starts at your feet

> and works it's way up. Has anyone experienced this?

>

> 2.I also get a numbing feeling by my cheekbone on the right side of

> my face.

>

> 3.Palpitations when I lay down.

>

> One more question.

> I have MVP is this the cause of all this? My Doctor tells me that

my

> condition is not life threatening and is more of a nuisance .

>

> Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Sounds very much like sleep paralysis to me.

I have it sometimes....and i hate it..

It's like the body falling asleep and the mind keeps on going.

The brain " cuts " the connection to the body as is usual

when falling asleep so you don't hurt yourself in reaction

to dreams.

Same with waking up...the mind wakes up but the body refuses

to wake up at the same time..

It's annoying and sometimes scary....cause it seems as if i'm

truely paralised or dead or something but i guess it's harmless...

and i'm having to mentally force my body to wake up...and it

does seem to start at the feet...in some strange way.

I've never managed to make a connection between my

Afib and sleep paralysis...for me they are totally unconnected.

I also get the occasional 'im not breathing' moments, if i have

it it's before falling asleep...and never when waking up..

Take care,

Willem

At 09:59 8-1-02 +0000, you wrote:

>Just recently diagnosed with afib. I hope someone could let know if

>these are symptoms.

>

>1.I'm having a difficult time sleeping. Just as I'm about to

>fall a sleep I get this strange sensation,it's difficult to

>describe,it's like a paralyzing feeling that starts at your feet

>and works it's way up. Has anyone experienced this?

>

>2.I also get a numbing feeling by my cheekbone on the right

>side of my face.

>

>Are these symptoms of afib?

_________________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Willem

I think I may have made a connection between sleep paralysis and my

type of AF (which is vagal). The only problem is that my theory is

not generally accepted yet. My theory is that AF stems from a

disorder with the hypthalamus in the brain. There are quite a few

Dr's coming around to this way of thinking. The hypothalamus sends

out signals to all the vital organs in the body (heart, brain, lungs,

stomach etc). So if this is impaired (a type of dysautonomia) then

our wiring goes awry. Also, last year I had a blood test which showed

that I have a susceptibility to Narcolepsy, of which sleep paralysis

is a common symptom. So I did a lot of reading and searching on it. I

came across a report on the autopsies of 6 people with narcolepsy. It

appeared that all had lost certain (can't remember their name off

hand)neurons in their brain. The death of these neurons had caused

scarring on the hypothalamus.

So my theory is that all these syptoms that we suffer from AF (for

all of us), and then various people with asthma, digestion, sleep

disorders, BP etc stem back to the hypothalamus. Which has led me to

think that the hypothalamus is damaged in all of us. I also believe

it has been damaged by environmental factors. I know a lot of us

were/are type A personality. But I know many who live near me who

aren't.

I just need to find a PHD student, or better still a fully fledged EP

so I can put my ideas to him and he can work on it.

By the way all the neurotoxins I have spoken about are known by

researchers in the field to target the hypothalamus. So............

Fran

> >Just recently diagnosed with afib. I hope someone could let know

if

> >these are symptoms.

> >

> >1.I'm having a difficult time sleeping. Just as I'm about to

> >fall a sleep I get this strange sensation,it's difficult to

> >describe,it's like a paralyzing feeling that starts at your feet

> >and works it's way up. Has anyone experienced this?

> >

> >2.I also get a numbing feeling by my cheekbone on the right

> >side of my face.

> >

> >Are these symptoms of afib?

>

>

>

> _________________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Andy,

#1 and #2 may be related to your meds - what are you taking?

I believe I have heard that MVP can cause afib.

As to the palpitations when lying down, I get them too. I prop

myself up with pillows to avoid them. I find lying on my back is

much better than lying on either side. If I lie on my side, palps

start with a minute or two.