Afib and fainting

Red wine is known to have histamines which can in some cases cause, or encourage, arrhythmias. I doubt a single glass, with food, would bring on a paroxysmal AF attack, but we are all individuals with a wide variance in tolerance to many things. Pretty much every one of us can do without alcohol, and maybe this is what you must forego.

The rate you claim is merely an electrical discharge rate of the SA node compounded by the extra focus or re-entrant, including through the AV node. It does not reflect the effort of the myocardium in pumping blood. In fact, when in an arrhythmia, the heart becomes de facto inefficient due to an inability to move blood quickly in response to demand. That is why some feel faint and wobbly when experiencing fibrillation; their heart in that state cannot keep up with demand. If the output is weak and diminished, then so must the workload be diminished.

Anyone reading: if you are in arrhythmia, and KNOW it is only fibrillation or flutter (and not ventricular tachycardia, which is exceedingly dangerous!), you can live for days and weeks in fibrillation or flutter. That state IS associated with early morbidity, so you do want to have it controlled....particularly if the rate exceeds 100 BPM for more than about 24 hours. Also note that, even if you are not highly symptomatic, and feel quite well thanks very much, you should not allow your heart to beat faster than 100 BPM at rest for more than a day. Seek help if it won't correct because you'll want a longer life than a permanently rapidly beating heart will allow you.

Note that cardiologists will prescribe beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers that limit cardiac output if there is hypertension involved. That is why it is important for triage nurses to determine a fibrillating patient's BP, and to look at non-fibrillating BP as well. If the pressure is too high, those drugs like metoprolol reduce cardiac effort, and slow the heart rate some (depending on dose). If it's just the rate that is too high, then you'll find the blockers do a reasonably good job as well.

Hard alcohol triggered my 3
2- of 4 longer 2 hr episodes .
I’m ok w/ wine 🍷 sometimes but I rarely try to drink hard stuff anymore. Too scary . I get enough pvcs daily , that A fib is so much worse . Well unless pvcs are close together. I don’t eat a lot because food abd digestion triggers mine too . It’s a nightmare.

I never passed out but even before my afib started I had a very low heart rate while resting. It was in the 30’s. This was picked while on a heart monitor while I was in the ER. I didn’t have any symptoms so nothing was done or said to me. After my afib diagnosis I needed to be cardioverted 4 times in 7 months. After the first cardioversion I was put on an anti arrhythmic medication. This wasn’t helping so it was decided that I needed an ablation. After that I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I told my ep and they put me on a heart monitor. I sent the monitor in and was waiting to hear back from them. During that time as part of ablation after care I was sending weekly EKG’s to my EP. It captured pauses in my heart rate. The office called to check on me. They contacted the heart monitor company to expedite the results. The following day the EP office called to set up me getting a pacemaker. My heart had 1400 pauses in 10 days. The longest one lasted 8 seconds. Since the pacemaker has been implanted I feel great! No more a fib or feeling like I am going to pass out.
Have you worn a heart monitor? Doctors can only help using information they have. I hope you get some answers. Good luck.

Never for the last 40 plus years. No caffeine. Not even a little piece of chocolate 🍫. None. .

Yes, I have worn a monitor twice in the last 10 years. The first one showed nothing; the 2nd one last December (2023) showed pauses, one of which lasted almost 4 seconds as my heart was returning to sinus rhythm. I was never aware of any pausing, just the rapid heartbeat during Afib. I am wondering if I had a big pause which led to fainting. My EP has been on leave and his office has yet to get back to me about whether I need to be seen before an already scheduled January 2025 appointment.

Interesting you would bring up fainting upon a new event of Afib. I just woke up from my 2nd Afib ablation just yesterday. (5 1/5 years since 1st one). Anyhow I was talking to my doc and I always mention that so far I always feel when I go into Afib and I always feel it when self convert. He said some of his patients faint when they go into Afib. So I just heard that yesterday for the first time. I self convert most of the time. I have noticed that it is not unusual for me to feel real bad shortly before I convert. This past weekend I was in Afib for 22 hours and shortly before I converted to sinus I was up trying to make dinner. I had to sit down as I felt awful. Yet my BP was good and heart rate only 85. Then and shortly after that I converted. I would not automatically jump to the idea you have a new arrhythmia just because the symptoms changed. I would want ECG proof of that. Let the EPs do what they do best which is diagnose and treat. I do not drive when in Afib because I do not like the way I feel.

Giving up alcohol is not a problem. But chocolate....that's going to be hard. 😩

My husband has been in Afib almost constantly since having an ablation in 6-22. There are numerous types of Afib and my husband has an extra half beat every so many beats. He has a pacemaker/defibrillator for the ventricles, takes amiodarone, has had 6 aversions and takes several heart meds including magnesium for the atrial fibrillation . He gets up for breakfast and then watches tv until about 10am. Then he usually sleeps most of the day. I call him to dinner and within an hour after dinner he's asleep. When I go to bed about 10:30 he wakes up and watches movies until about 3am. When he rises too fast he gets light headed from drop in blood pressure. About 6 weeks ago, he passed out 4 times at home and once in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. In the ambulance his BP was 59/39. Needless to say, we have virtually no social life. He sees several docs with cardiology sub specialties. They can't seem to do anything for him. Our next door neighbor has similar problems. He's had 4 ablations with minimal improvement. Last week my hubby's heart spontaneously went back in rhythm for a day and a half, then went out, then went back in for a day and out again since. I wish there was more progress in treating heart issues. I guess it HAS come a long way in my lifetime in some areas--when I was a child heart attack meant death. Afib not only takes a toll on the patient but on their loved ones, as well.

You may want to reach out to them and explain your concern. Best they can do is move up your appointment. The worst they could do is say you don’t need to be seen. Either way you won’t be anxious about it.