r/AFIB

Female 44, recently diagnosed 6/17 with A Fib and a CHADS score of 2. Since diagnosis I’ve had severe anxiety. Spoke with my Cardiologist office. Doctor will not prescribe anxiety meds. (Maybe for good reason)
Looking for other members who may be on anxiety meds and how it has impacted your A Fib, as well as those who have found ways to calm themselves down.
I’ve started taking Magnesium Glycinate to help reduce some anxiety and have been doing box breathing. However, as a catastrophizer whose biggest fear is death, I can’t keep myself from spiraling. I also know the stress on my heart from the anxiety is not good.
I’m doing my absolute best to stay on the brighter side of things, but I continue to fail.
Any insight, or just kind words are greatly appreciated.

I'm wondering if the successful cardiac ablation done a few years ago is amplifying my heart rate increase of 15bpm.. I have read that Wegovy affects the hearts natural pacemaker which is where the ablation was done.. I
Have had no recurrent of AFIB since the surgery....
My heart rate increase is well above the increase that the Wegovy literature informs of...

Thoughts.......

71 yo M here, history of AFib but very few episodes over many years, no meds except started amlodipine 2.5 mg for blood pressure 2 months ago. Have been experiencing my heartbeat going wild (FitBit shows zooming from 65 or 75 up to 150 or more, even 200) just from walking normal pace, every time I walk...when I stop walking, rate drops right back down in 30 seconds or so. Has anyone experienced something similar? I wore a holter monitor for 2 weeks, sent it in a week ago, waitihg for the VA doc, my PCP, to get back to me. I'm guessing Atrial flutter or reflex tachycardia but it's tough to see a cardiologist unless my primary refers me. Went to the ER, had an EKG, but I was rested so of course normal sinus. This is very frustrating as walking is pretty much my only exercise (10000 steps + daily). I'm a strict vegetarian, overweight but not obese, non smoker...also have chronic diverticulitis (prepping for a colonoscopy as I write this) and I read something about a heart/gut connection that has me wondering. Should I stop walking 'till I find out? The VA is very slow and byzantine, may have to go the Medicare HMO route...

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Hi everyone,

I'm a 38-year-old male and I had my first episode of atrial fibrillation last week. It completely blindsided me.

I was on vacation with my family when I suddenly went into AFib with a rapid heart rate that woke me from my sleep. I ended up spending two days in the ICU while they monitored me. The episode lasted about 12 hours before I converted back to normal sinus rhythm on my own without cardioversion.

The week leading up to it wasn't exactly ideal. I had several potential triggers all at once: extreme heat, dehydration, poor sleep, a few alcoholic drinks (beer and vodka), and I had taken methocarbamol for my back. I know no one can say exactly what caused it, but I can't help wondering if everything stacked together.

I've been started on metoprolol, which seems to be working, although it definitely makes me feel tired. My CHADS-VASc score is 0, so I'm not on a blood thinner.

Since getting home, I've been trying to be proactive instead of just worrying. My Galaxy Watch shows I'm back in normal sinus rhythm, but it also flagged me as having possible moderate to severe sleep apnea. I actually had a CPAP years ago but stopped using it, so I'm asking my primary care provider tomorrow for referrals to both an electrophysiologist/AFib clinic and a new sleep study. I'm also planning to talk about losing weight (I'm 264 pounds) since I know that can make a difference.

To be honest, this whole experience has been terrifying. A week ago I never really thought about my heart, and now I find myself wondering if every skipped beat means it's coming back. I'm trying to focus on the things I can control, but it's been an emotional roller coaster. I have a strong family history of Afib that I am recently discovering.

For those of you who've been through this, I'd really love to hear some encouraging stories. Have any of you had a first episode, made lifestyle changes, treated sleep apnea, lost weight, had an ablation, or otherwise gotten your life back? I'm looking for some hope that this diagnosis doesn't have to define the rest of my life.

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate this community already.

Spot was healing good but my jeans rubbed it so what do you recommend using so it doesn’t get infected? All thoughts welcome

Hi

I had an ablation on friday 03.07.2026 - my doctor said everything was fine, isolated 100%, and he think there will be no reccurence.

I was 48h free from PAC / Afib, and today morning I got afib for around 1 minute, 2 or 3 times, but the worst thing is that I got PAC, and it lasted I think for 7 hours, every 4-5 beat was PAC, and I took propafenone 150mg to deal with them.

Afraid that it will stay with me forever. I dont know what to do. Anyone experienced similar?

Was so happy for 48hours when I had nothing. insane.

Update 1: 72h after - 0, no PAC, no afib, jsut only weird feeling in throat - the same feeling as I had before any PAC / AFIB, but no afib, I think its healing somehow...

I'm not looking for direct medical advice, just some general input from folks who might've walked a similar path before, to help me think about an important decision. I'll try to keep it brief.

I'm 62M, overweigh but very active, and was diagnosed with persistent AFIB in 2020, but didn't act promptly, so was in it for about 8-10 months before being cardioverted out, which dropped ejection to 30%. Without dragging out the story, I had two ablations, one in August of 2023, and, after a couple of returns to persistent AFIB, one in September of 2025.

After pushing myself WAY too hard playing hockey against college kids in March, and apparently not hydrating / taking in enough electrolytes, I went back into Afib. I immediately restarted Eliquis, Amiodarone and Metoprolol, then got cardioverted out 10 days later. I've been NSR since, with RHR of 50-55, and continued the meds, although went down to 25 mg Metoprolol. BP is 130-140 over 75-85. I no longer drink alcohol, and have a CPAP for apnea.

EP scheduled me for a 3rd ablation for July 7 (this Tuesday), and implied that things could get pretty serious if this one doesn't semi-permanently resolve the onsets of AFIB; seems like he's worried about how my ejection fraction declined so much the first time I had it.

Since I now feel like I'm well in control of potential triggers (no alcohol, MUCH more attention to hydration and electrolyte balance, CPAP, retired so no stress), I've proposed to the EP that we postpone the ablation, stop the Amiodarone, and see if I can stay NSR by continued attention to the trigger sources, and possibly start GLP-1 treatment as well. He has said OK to this plan, so I'm planning to cancel the procedure tomorrow and rebook for October (when I can hopefully cancel again).

So, the question after all that is: DO YOU THINK I'M MISSING SOMETHING? Will I expose myself to undue risk by either having the 'needless' 3rd ablation, or by NOT having it, and potentially going back into AFIB again (which would be about the 6th time I've gone in - had a few cardioverts along the way). My EP always seems to say 'Yes' to whatever I propose, so I'm concerned that I'm being too optimistic about being able to control via trigger management and he's not sharing risks with me, especially since communication is via his PA, while she's IM'ing with him through their system.

If you've made it this far, I thank and congratulate you, and hope that you'll share ANY thoughts you might have about this, to feed into my internal 'decision engine'.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 51-year-old active male with paroxysmal AFib. After several confirmed AFib episodes in May, I had a full work-up, including a cardiac MRI, which showed no significant structural heart disease.

I’m currently taking metoprolol 25 mg daily and Eliquis (my stroke risk is low, but I chose to take it).

I’m considering an ablation and wondering about the metoprolol. Ifor what O read is that the metropolol makes the heart less sensitive for adrenaline and stress, the heart uses less oxygen…but nowhere I read that it will prevent my AFib, and I feel a bit more tired and slower since starting it.

Has anyone stopped metoprolol before an ablation, or switched to using it only during an AFib episode? What can be the reasoning for continuing or stopping the metropolol?

just interested in hearing your experiences.

82yo male afib in Dec cardioversion. Afib turned to tachycardia in April amiodarone got me back in sinus. Now on metoprolol and have stayed in Rythm Dr has me scheduled for ablation this coming week and I wonder if I should. Other medical issues leukemia in remission.

hello all. i've made a post before in this community about an upcoming ablation, and small update, it's done and over with! everything went great and i'm doing well!! i'm taking pradaxa for the next three months and then the plan is to wean off of it.

that being said, today being the USA's 250th birthday, i've made plans to hangout with friends tonight and shoot off fireworks and planned on drinking. i know that drinking alcohol while being on a blood thinner is generally not advised, but i'm just curious if anyone else has done it and if everything was okay?

since starting the pradaxa, i haven't drank at all. i didn't really plan on indulging while i was on the med at all, honestly, since it's only three more months, but it's a holiday and i get fomo. i only drink socially anyway, but i tend to overindulge quite a bit on the occasions i do drink. for tonight, i really only planned on having 2-3 beers and maybe a few jello shots. is that considered an excessive amount?

based on what i know about blood thinners and after some googling, i know that one of the risks is potentially bleeding from your gi tract, and the obvious one of falling and sustaining internal bleeding.

i'm mostly just curious to know if i drink tonight, will i start bleeding internally? i'm pretty confident in my abilities to keep myself from falling, so i'm not worried about that.

**edited to add that i'm 22 years old, so once again, i'm not worried about falling lol. i'm generally pretty steady on my feet, and i hold my liquor like a tank haha.

Buen día. Ustedes creen que es normal que alguien (sin pareja estable) lleve 6-7 meses evitando el sexo solo porque sufrió un único y primer episodio de Afib? Es una respuesta normal o común? Entiendo que si no tienen pareja estable pueden tener más vergüenza si les repite con alguien con quien no hay confianza… pero me parece excesivo… ¿qué opinan?

¿Como os afectaron los betabloqueantes/antiarritmicos a vuestra libido/vida sexual? Dicen que es prácticamente imposible mantener una erección…
Con el tiempo este problema se pasa? O solo se pasa dejándolos de tomar? Soy nuevo en esto y estoy un poco perdido…
Agradezco cualquier ayuda!

Hello, I am wondering if anyone has taken these drugs and if there is any preference? My father had a stroke and was put on Pradaxa by Kaiser. The recommendation is for life basically to prevent another clot. He’s been on it for nearly a year and really hasn’t felt right since. He feels very lethargic, terrible insomnia and has weak legs. He also had heart surgery and he is motivated to live a healthy life and wants to exercise and all that but if anyone knows what chronic insomnia is like, it really wipes you out. He barely has the energy for these things. I am reading Eliquis might have fewer side effects. Has anyone had this experience? Any advice is much appreciated.

hello everyone, I am a 27 year old male. around 4 weeks ago in the morning I drinked a cup of cold water and my heart started fluttering not sure what it was but I panicked since I have a lot of health anxiety. I went straight to the ER due to me being scared of what i was feeling once I arrived at the ER i panicked more and my heart starting racing they took me to the back and gave medecine to lower the heart rate and they did 4 EKGs and all of them had afib which was what the doctor said. once my heart rate was down I was let go from the hospital. the next day in the morning my heart fluttering went back to normal and to this day I have not felt the fluttering or racing again(it’s been 4 weeks). I did see a cardiologist who did an EKG and came out good also did an ultrasound of my heart which came out good. He refereed me to a electrophysiologist which did an EKG came out good and he recommended a Electrophysiology procedure to see what caused me to go into afib and if needed to do an abliation. I’m super scared and wondering if I should get this procedure done. this has been affecting my life I can’t stop thinking about if I will go into AFIB again or if maybe it was just a one time thing. I have stopped drinking very cold water. Any advice and help will be greatly appreciate. Thank you.

My dad (55M) works out very consistently, walks everyday, and eats healthfully. Recently, he was diagnosed with afib and is in the hospital because they don’t know how long he has been in afib.
His HR has consistently been in the 160s.
According to google, it is very treatable with high percentage of improvement, BUT we all know it’s wrong to rely on google. I am just in need of some reassurance that he can still have a long and healthy life.
Thanks in advance for your expertise!

I'm a soon to be 59 yr old women that was on Ozempic that had a very bad reaction to it which ended up putting me into A Fib cause by severe dehydration back in Oct. 2025. I thought it was a one and done thing. It took 3 months to see a Cardiologist, went through an Echo it came back normal with some mild thickening on the left wall due to High Blood Pressure, pumping to at 60-65%, but they are still saying I have A Fib. Oh by the way my score is 3%. I'm being put on the 14 day monitor on the 13th. I'm looking for advice with experience!

I have been reading some of the post and comments here. I didn't know about the smartwatch so I put it on at the beginning of the week and have already had 2 attacks brought on by stress/less sleep yesterday they lasted about 2 min each. After getting up this morning I had another one that lasted 1 min.

My question is.........Do I really have it? Do I really need an ablation, blood thinners, and heart rhythm meds.? I'm scared! I don't have any one to talk about it with. I have my Adult sons but they are worried and scared also. I hope someone can help me with this. I have already changed my diet which I was working on before all these appt. to heart doctors began.

Thank you for your time in reading and responding.

To start off, I'm 34 and I was in afib for a total of 36Ish hours straight before they cardioverted me. It's been almost a month and I haven't had any other instances (yet anyway)

But to get into that persistent afib state,

I was slightly low on potassium,

had a tall boy alcoholic seltzer(6%),

had a vibrating butt plug in for a couple of hours

and the thing that set it off, drinking a slushie.

Immediately after the first sip I stayed at 130bpmish for two hours until I tried to take a shit and strain myself to impact my vagus nerve which immediately took me out of tachycardia. HR dropped to 80-110 but I remained in afib.

(There's apparently one guy who exited afib after a doctor stuck a finger up his butt and was fine with no issues at the 3 month mark)

Apparently with animal models they stimulate the cervical vagus nerve in the neck.

Meanwhile I think I overstimulated mine with just a butt plug and slushie.

Is this... Possible?

There is something I don’t understand about my Afib. I was officially diagnosed with Afib last year when I was in ICU from heat stroke. I was put on 2 metoprolol but nothing else and the cardiologist said I didn’t have a high enough score to go on a blood thinner. They also referred me to a cardiologist to see. That cardiologist has kept me on the 2 metoprolol and is suggesting 50mg of flecinide 2 times a day since my heart monitor shows I’m in Afib 10 percent of the time. He also suggested I see an electrophysiologist. It’s been a year since I first saw him and I asked his nurse the other day if I needed a blood thinner and she said I wasnt high enough risk to be on one. I have read that 10 percent of time in Afib is moderate Afib. What I don’t understand is why am I not high enough risk to be on a blood thinner?