Pacemaker Club: Atrial Fib

Atrial Fib

by dward
2008-09-03 10:09:43
General Posting
1171 views
3 comments

Can somebody describe what atrial fibrillation (sp?) feel like?
And how often does one get these? Do they come in waves (like PVCs can)?

3 Comments

a-fib

by mike thurston - 2008-09-03 02:09:28

I have had a-fib for 8 years that I know of. I now am pacemaker dependent with a defib. because the a-fib
put me in tachycardia induced cardiomyopathy. Now I am in permanent a-fib just like I was before the implant but it is no longer passed on to my ventricles therefore I have no sensation of it. Before I was very aware of it. The best description I ever came across was that it feels like 3 cats in a bag.

Mike

Afib

by maryanne - 2008-09-03 03:09:39

Those are pretty good descriptions the other two memebers have given you.....I have heard them discribed as butterflies....flittering......one can have controlled and uncontrolled Afib....it is often the uncontrolled Afib that people notice and become symptomatic with, those are ventricular rates of 100 or greater. Controlled Afib rates 60 or less (treated) means then individual is on medication to help control their rate and hence tend to not be as symptomatic. People can have bursts of Afib and then go into a sinus rhythm....but that is another issue.

Good health to you....

To me

by Angelie - 2008-09-03 10:09:27

It feels like exactly what they describe it as, a sort of quivering of the heart. The upper chambers are beating out of sync with the bottom chambers at a much faster, chaotic rhythm. To me, it feels just like that. Fast, and like incomplete beats. Instead of the lub-dub, in a regular heart beat, it feels more like lub,lub,lub,lub,and finally at some point the bottom chamber will pump out the "dub". It's uncomfortable to me, although I've read that some people don't even feel a-fib. I had my pacer placed almost three weeks ago, but now I get short runs of Atrial Flutter that end with periods of A-Fib. It's mostly positional as when I bend over, squat down, or now it occurs after a good bellowing laugh. It's concerning, but I feel a lot better knowing I have a pacer in case the rhythm turns into something else. Also, I'm hoping that these episodes are being recorded by pacer so that they can determine what we need to do next.