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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?

Lung Health | Last Active: 6 days ago | Replies (3422)
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@tonyagregg

@catmom777 it sounds like you bounce in and out of rapid Afib. Your cardiologist should be able to help you titrate you medicine to help with theses spells. A lot of people live in Afib but not rapid afib and are put on blood thinners and the correct medicine and live normal lives. Afib alone can cause you to be short of breath and when its happening i bet you feel as though you have had a good cardio workout. It may help sometimes when you feel you are having AFib to bear down like you are having a bowel movement, this will sometimes convert you back to a sinus rhythm (maybe) . Maybe your doctor will suggest a heart monitor for you to wear so they can see exactly whats going on. Just stay positive and know its treatable and hopefully you will feel be
Better soon.

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Replies to "@catmom777 it sounds like you bounce in and out of rapid Afib. Your cardiologist should be..."
catmom777 | @catmom777 | Apr 3, 2019

Yes, I have had a few tachycardia incidents since that first one on 3/8, but not since I went on this Diltziem last Thursday. Now my heart goes out of rhythm, like it did the night before last, which lasts a long time, hours, but I've had no racing/pounding heart since last Thursday (even though the Diltziem isn't supposed to act that fast). So, last night someone on one of these posts mentioned they drink V8 juice to balance the electrolytes when they feel an afib attack coming on. I went out and bought some, had a glass of it with my dinner, and NO afib incidents all night long. I still haven't had any, so I'm going on Day 2 of no incidents. I wonder if an electrolyte imbalance was the culprit all along? I did say earlier that I would up in the hospital a couple weeks ago because I felt so sick I thought I was dying and my sodium level was only 127 when it's supposed to be 136. Once they got my sodium level up to 132 I felt a lot better.
After my diagnosis they said hydrate, so I did, but I overdid it apparently and washed the sodium out of my body.

What a journey. And yes, I do feel short of breath and tired after an afib episode. I have tried the vagal maneuver but it didn't seem to help. Splashing my face several times with very cold water helped slow my heart down though.

Less than two weeks now until my cardiologist appointment. I hope he can help me. I feel a lot better today for whatever reason (the V8 juice or no afib episodes for over 48 hours?) so I feel like I'm going to live through this now.

Thanks for the comments. They are all helping me along, to figure out what might be going on, to help me cope, and for my sanity.

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