Afib and hydration

Because everyone is different when it comes to AF, it could very well be that hydration levels become a trigger for you. For some it's caffeine, going the dentist, worrying about anything, getting too little sleep over a period, fighting a virus, even the common cold, obesity, stomach distention from eating too much at one time, food additives, and so on. The list is essentially as long as all the bodies placed feet-to-head in a long line. Even a sneeze sets some people off, if you can believe it.

The heart seems to want to remodel itself as it finds itself in AF, but there's an evolution going on even when not in AF. The heart has begun to grow rogue signalling cells that are in the atrial substrate, and they may not all be around the pulmonary vein ostia, where they empty into the rear wall of the left atrium. Some can be in the left atrial appendage, even the coronary sinus or the septum between the two atria. That is why a successful ablation, meaning it lasts a full year free of arrhythmia, will often fail within a couple of years or five. The new cells begin to emit signal, and your fibrillation starts all over again. This is a long description of the progressive nature of AF in pretty much all of us, some taking years, some happening inside of months. This is why electrophysiologists ask their patients to carefully consider having a catheter ablation procedure earlier rather than later when the EP must zap more and more walls of the atrium (six of them, not four). The saying is that 'AF begets AF', meaning you'll find yourself in more and more AF as you begin to have more and more episodes, even if they always seem to self-terminate. It is in the paroxysmal first stage that an EP will have less to do and have a better chance at forestalling the remodeling that happens when you go into AF persistently and beyond.

It took me a while to make the connection, but dehydration is my number 1 trigger. Usually if I'm away from home at church or an event, I need to deliberately drink beforehand and during to avoid an episode. Once known, easy to solve.

@gloaming Thank you for that very insightful answer. I’m just glad I’m starting to narrow it down to what may be my trigger, hydration.

@cm4713 ...at which we, every one of us, becomes a zealot to that end. 😀

I am convinced that my one and only real aFib event was caused or triggered by a cardiac monitoring device I was wearing on my chest. Nobody believes me but how else do I explain why I ripped off the device as soon as I felt the chest pain and there was a bright red patch of skin with a rash that felt burned? It’s logical that one electric source right next to another electric source (monitor right next to heart) might interact, that is the RF from the device might signal the heart rhythm regulator. People insist that this is not possible, but I don’t know why they think that.