Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

Hi, I’m David. I have 2 stents already and one day started having AFib when I walked. I was given pills and bought a monitor, checking 5 times per day. Apart from an episode a few weeks later, I have no signs of AFib showing up on my monitor. I do note that I get chest pain when my heart rate is up from walking up hills. However once I rest and then go in, it’s fine until another hill. I wonder if this is AFib or a small blockage.

Once again thank you. I still take Eliquis as a blood thinner. The Pace maker gave me more energy and is insurance against a stroke. Getting mine as a precaution against throwing a clot was the best decision for me. I am glad I did. A rep will need to be present to turn it off during surgery. . I have 8 yrs before my next battery and I have had none since my implant in 2005.. My pressure is 100-110 over 55-70 depending on activity. My demand pace maker is for 60.

I am on a beta blocker and ace inhi. For blood pressure and rate control for afib.

Your heart adapts to physical activity. It will do the same work at a lower energy with training. It happens in muscles also after recruitment. Heavier exercise damages muscle fibers. They heal to the new level, So you rose above the crowd. Good for you!

@ch665296f Did you know that there is a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy group here? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy-hcm/

Thank you Martin for detailed response. We both take a diuretic which increases need to expel urine from bladder. When I have a social family engagement I do not take diuretic that day. I urinate 100 ml once per hour. Use of mirabegron allows me to urinate once every 2 hours. With no diuretic
Interval increases to 2.5 hours. I have to use pampers. Let’s stay in touch to help each other with urinary urge incontinence . Best regards tom

Three quick points about training my brain to knock off its pressure to have me urinate. First, my problem may be different from yours. For example, I have an inherited kidney defect that causes me to rely on Amiloride, a specialized diuretic designed to preserve/reclaim potassium. The diuretic speeds removal of water (and wastes) from my body. As a result, my brain has been trained to respond earlier and more often to stimuli that suggest my bladder needs relief. Second, perhaps I made a mistake in using the word "exercising," suggesting a regimen that we haven't yet developed fully. Third, I was a victim of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) that stole a lot of the space in my bladder and encouraged my brain to take that into account; a golf-ball sized hunk of prostate flesh was removed by a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) several years ago. That said, here's the other advice from my nephrologist.

First and foremost, I am much more conscious about hydrating my system regularly and more often than in recent years. By over-consuming water somewhat, my brain is expected to learn that I need more water in my organs and that my bladder should tolerate more pressure than my urine has been developing there. This helped us understand why rolling over in bed at night -- in effect, simply irrigating bladder lining on one side that has been "drying out" from lying horizontal for a couple of hours -- wakes me up and sends me to the bathroom. The challenge here is to find a position in bed that I can maintain for longer periods.

I should try to drink each day at least 8 cups of water between arising in the morning and 3-4pm (we have dinner about 6pm and retire about 11pm). Routinizing the schedule here might train my brain to expect hydration at fixed times, so changing the schedule every day is being tested for effects. We're looking for a way to slowly increase water consumption over a couple of months in order to increase my capacity for maintaining better hydration without resorting to urination.

I also should try to consciously reject bladder signals to urinate when they are triggered by an environmental experience. So far that has meant "holding" my urine when thoughts of drinking water, washing hands, taking a shower, doing the dishes, or getting my feet wet triggered an impulse to urinate. It remains to be seen whether routinizing my daily exercise, conducting it longer, changing motions, and changing start times and duration might have an effect. Martin

Hi Martin. Please describe the brain exercises that have relieved bladder urgency. I am desperate Thanks. tdrohan

I was on high dose of Sotacor, 3x per day for almost 2 years. It stopped the a-fib completely. The cardiologist told me to lower the dose because he said that such a high dose could stop my heart!... But if I took slightly less, my heart would go into wild arrhythmia pounding and misfiring in my chest, feeling dizzy and air hungry. I started going to a gym every day except Sunday for 65 minutes; half hour on the treadmill and the rest strength and flexibility training. At the end of a month, bit by bit I was OFF the beta blockers. I kept up my exercise routine for 4 months and was cured! The cardiologist said it would come back but here I am 24 years later and I only have the very occasional blip if I have chocolate, coffee or alcohol...which I avoid like the plague.

Hi, @alanblackwell. Very timely question. As an A-fibber for five years, my own experience is that my beta-blocker (Carvedilol, COREG) has been effective it reducing the impact of the arrhythmia, but it hasn't stopped it. It shows up every time I take my blood pressure (usually once a day on average). The answer will be different from others, I suspect, because the A-fib symptoms differ across a wide range of rhythmic disturbances in the heart. In my case, I almost never feel the heart-beat errors. Others I know have talked of "pounding" in their chest (although that description is used more often in ventricular arrhythmia than in atrial misfires). I hope others will add to my experience for your benefit. How severe are your A-fib episodes? Martin