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Vagal Atrial Fibrillation
I was diagnosed with afib five years ago, and since then have had three ablations, taken numerous medications and still cannot keep it under control. I understand the triggers and avoid them.
I have been researching the effects of the vagus nerve on afib, as it seems that my afib commences after eating and may be connected to the digestive process.
I started taking Prilosec and it seems to be helping.
Interested in anyone who has a similar experience.
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Hi @jangel and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect.
Glad to hear you are doing research for yourself! You might like this site that talks about it: "What is vagal atrial fibrillation? The presence of both sympathetic activation-mediated triggers and parasympathetic activation-mediated substrates are required to initiate and maintain some forms of atrial fibrillation (AF). AF predominantly precipitated by parasympathetic stimulation is known as vagally-mediated AF (VM-AF)." -- Drug Therapy for Vagally-Mediated Atrial Fibrillation and Sympatho-Vagal Balance in the Genesis of Atrial Fibrillation: A Review of the Current Literature: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7533140/
I also saw this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1351842/ which talks about Deglutition (or swallowing) -Induced Atrial Fibrillation
Have you kept a food journal to account for what foods are a bigger trigger?
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7 ReactionsThank you for the information. I have kept a food journal for years and know what foods will trigger afib almost instantly. So, I have eliminated them. What became evident that within two hours of eating I could end up in afib for hours or days. The Prilosec seems to be holding me together. I will be tracking the number of days that I stay afib free in this experiment!
This consideration of the involvement of the vagal nerve is so helpful.