Hello Cece! Sorry to hear about your episodes of AFib. Some years ago I suffered from constant AFib. The cardiologist had never seen a case as bad as mine apparently. I didn't have 3 steady beats in a row. I couldn't get enough air and I felt dizzy. I was put on a beta blocker. Unfortunately, the highest dose was required which the cardiologist said could stop my heart! He told me to try to get it down even just to 3 1/2 pills a day instead of 4. My heart would go haywire with any reduction in the dose. I had to remain at the high dose and the side effects made me feel 90 years old...at age 46! This went on for almost 2 years. I felt like an invalid and let my husband do any physical work. It was depressing!

I did some research and I learned a lot about arrhythmias. I learned to take responsibility for my condition and have some power over it myself instead of relying on medication alone. I never drank coffee, tea, alcohol or ate chocolate and I kept carbs to a minimum; all things that got my heart racing and going arrhythmic. I tried to keep stress to a minimum. Dental anaesthetics were a non stimulating kind. No cold meds for me. I was highly motivated to get off the beta blockers and followed the regimen religiously.

Doing my research I learned that exercise helps so I decided to join a gym and I went on the treadmill for 35 minutes 6 mornings a week for 4 months then tapered off a bit. Of course, on beta blockers my heart rate stayed at 80 bpm. After a week I reduced the beta blocker dose a bit. (One has to do it very gradually.) My heart rate stayed stable! At the end of a month, I was completely OFF the beta blockers.
I went to see the cardiologist and he said that my case was so extreme that the AFib would come back. Well, it is 24 years later and I have had blips when I had some coffee or chocolate which reminds me to stay away from those stimulants...and last year I had 1 day of unstable heart beats when I was under a lot of stress. Otherwise, my heart is stable.

I feel in control of my condition. And I hope that you can also gain similar control by taking charge of your Afib. Good luck!