I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, nine months ago, originally just with a stethoscope and then an ECG. I was at a walk-in clinic and didn’t know the doctor, so I made sure to check with my own doctor when I got back home two months later. As soon as he put his stethoscope on me, he said “ You know you have afib “. He ordered me an ECG which also confirmed afib.
In the 9 Following months my afib persisted. I was baffled because I hadn’t done a single thing different in all the years prior to being diagnosed even during regular check-ups. It should be clarified that my heart rate remained normal ( 65-85 bpm ) throughout. My blood pressure was also normal, always around 120/80.
I also have spinal stenosis for which I had been prescribed gabapentin. I had begun taking gabapentin a few months prior to my original diagnosis of afib. I read online that gabapentin can affect heart arrhythmia. I was never sure if gabapentin was effective or not (for my nerve pain) so I weaned myself off of it. Lo and behold I had an ECG today and NO sign of Afib. Despite 4 doctors and many ECGs having consistently confirmed afib, suddenly it was gone.
There is much online confirming that gabapentin is often associated with an onset of heart arrhythmia but not a single doctor I saw ever made the association.
If I done what the first doctor told me to do while he wrote a prescription I would have now been on blood thinners for 9 months. Taking blood thinners should be a last resort.
The moral of my story is that if you are taking gabapentin for nerve pain or any other purpose, and you also get diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, You should consider going off of gabapentin to see if it brings your heart rate and rhythm back to normal. It certainly did for me.