Hi, although I have had heart palpitations most of my life, checked a few times over the years with Holter monitors and diagnosed as benign, I was diagnosed with AFib in January this year (2022). Beginning in December, I had 3 AFib events that lasted 1, 5 and 7 hours, respectively, then one that lasted 2 hours while on the Holter monitor that diagnosed the condition, and recently one event that lasted 55 minutes while on 50mg Flecainide twice daily and 25 mg metoprolol once daily. While that so far is the extent of my longer-lasting AFib events, this diagnosis has kind of shifted me from being a very aerobically active, outdoorsy man of 75 years young on no meds to a confused, fearful, incapacitated old man. Of course, i am enormously grateful for my good health into my senior years, and I realize that this new challenge in my life is a shock that will take getting used to. But I do find myself in constant fear that my next heartbeat will turn into the wildly irregular and racing heart of an AFib event. Nights are the worst as I wake up several times at night with a too-fast pulse that turns out, I think, to be from anxiety rather than AFib. The biggest problem for me so far with trying to get a grip on this is total confusion, uncertainty, and doubt because there is so much information and there are so many different opinions out there about the wide variety of medications and other treatments for AFib. That’s why I am truly pleased to have found this Mayo Clinic Connect. I am looking forward to learning more from all of you about this condition by reading about your experiences and asking any questions I come up with as time goes on. Thank you!

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