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AFIB and running
I was recently diagnosed with paroxysmal atial fibrillation. They put me on Eliquis and Metoprolol Succinate. I am 74 and I run 3 X a week 5-7 miles at a 12:30 pace. I asked my doctor if I should be running and I did not get an answer. I will ask again when I get to see the EP team September 3. In the mean time I am still running only 5 miles and trying to keep my heart rate below 135. my questions is should I be running with AFIB?
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I can only tell you about myself, not answer for others:
a. lifelong competitive runner;
b. developed AF near the end of a 10 km maintenance run when just turned 65 years of age;
c. ER doc said it was paroxysmal AF because I reverted to NSR on my own while hooked up in the ER;
d. had every imaginable diagnostic to prove I had ischemia or plaque deposits, bad valves...and none were true;
e. placed on metoprolol to help reduce heart rate and contractile force in case I went into AF again;
f. placed on apixaban (Eliquis, 5 mg BID) to reduce the risk of embolic stroke from clots, a risk with AF; and
g. last diagnostic was an overnight polysomnography in a sleep lab. Bingo! Severe sleep apnea.
My cardiologist looked at the report, looked up at me, and quipped, 'Well, I guess we now know why you have AF. Your heart is irritable because it has to ramp itself up multiple times each hour to keep you alive when you, and it, are supposed to be at rest.' I have used a CPAP machine ever since, and with great results. No, my AF didn't subside. In fact, as a progressive disorder, it began to get worse over time, meaning more and more metoprolol. Eventually, I was referred to an electrophysiologist (EP) who agreed to perform a catheter ablation using RF energy. It took two attempts, seven months apart, but he finally got me permanently in NSR, and that was 29 months ago now.
Should you be running with AF? Maybe, but probably not as long or as fast. Every AF patient must go through the process, sometimes over many months or years, learning what his/her 'triggers' are. For some, it's food, even eating too much of it at any one meal (so, stomach distension). Visceral fat accumulating around internal organs (so lose it!). Too much sugar, too much calcium in the diet, not enough magnesium in the diet....and so on. For some, walking, pacing, even light jogging or cycling calms them, or distracts them, helps to reduce anxiety, and that will calm a run of AF....sometimes. I know of one person, very savvy, and engineer, very structured in his daily life due to a bout of AF many years ago, who found out that when he eats (calcium-laden) ice cream or cheese, his heart acts up. He intakes at least 1000 mg of magnesium, usually in a drink concoction he makes for himself, each day. If he doesn't, as a self-described mg dumper, he breaks into AF.
This is just a narrative to help you to get oriented to your newly diagnosed condition. You must be observant, maybe keep records of novel or occasional events, and try to figure out what sets your own heart off.