@pearl72

My pacemaker indicated that I had AFib for 5.5 hours one night. I was asleep so I have no idea what it felt like. It only happened one time during a time that I was 1) getting very little sleep due to a very stressful situation, and also had a lot of pain during the day and at night that included unexpected sciatica. The pain at night could only be relieved by getting out of bed and walking. When my cardiologist's office called and told me about the AFib event and explained the possible reasons for it, none of those reasons applied to me and so I asked him if stress and pain could also cause AFib, especially if both are leading to lack of sleep. He said yes. I immediately started on a self-directed regime to improve my sleep by 1) going to bed earlier and at the same time each night (even if I laid there without sleeping for a while); 2) Taking a Tylenol before lying down (that's my choice for pain relief along with deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation which I also started practicing after I got into bed), and 3) started seeing a mental health therapist for help with stress management. I haven't had a repeat AFib event and now my new cardiologist is considering taking me off Eliquis, especially after I told him about the sleeplessness, stress and pain I was having at the time of the one event I've had. I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the three things I did helped me at least. Do you think that would help you too?