My AFib Experience™ (www.myafibexperience.org) is an innovative and unique online community that can help people understand atrial fibrillation, learn how to better manage it, and connect with others who also experience it. A collaboration of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and StopAfib.org, with support from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., MyAFibExperience is designed to help people through all stages of afib, from newly diagnosed through various treatments and risk-reducing options with medications or procedures. Most importantly, it raises awareness about the seriousness of this condition.
To learn more, see: American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and StopAfib.org Launch MyAFibExperience.org
Had the first part my Hybrid Ablation procedure on Tuesday 9 December. Discharged today Thursday 11 December in Sinus Rhythm. More to follow.
My paternal grandmother had afib, my father had afib, my mother had afib. They were treated variously over a period of 25 years, until their deaths (my father had a stroke, also my grandmother). I’ve had afib for years. I tried everything I could think of but nothing worked. One day in desperation I begin to think of what afib felt like to me. It felt like having a nervous tic, or like a cramp in your leg/foot/toes. One of my daughter’s basketball coaches said to eat plain yellow mustard, alone, and it would help a cramp (usually caused by dehydration) and it did. I tried it for afib…and it WORKED. Not on and on…but immediately and for significant amounts of time. I decided to write this to someone tonight because my afib was so bad and I remembered mustard, squeezed a generous tablespoon or 2 into my palm and gulped it down. It worked immediately. I think it is the shock of it going down…kind of like scaring away hiccoughs, maybe. Anyway…I keep regular French’s Mustard with me all the time, in my car, by my bed. If your desperate, try it and please let me know if it works for anyone else.
Donna, thank you for sharing what’s worked for you to get your symptoms to subside. I’m also sorry to hear your grandmother and father both had a stroke. It’s likely that it was related to afib since afib increases your stroke risk greatly. Reducing the symptoms of afib is always good, but really be sure that you are protecting your brain and your self by managing your stroke risk with anticoagulation. You can calculate your own stroke risk with the CHA2DS2-VASc calculator.
…also I found some maneuvers on a UK atrial fib site that work better than the US ones I knew (ex. bend over and cough very hard, etc). One is to gently massage the sides of your neck, stroking firmly but gently down and forward over the carotid area. Another is to apply gently pressure to your eyes for a few moments, release and repeat. Another is to pinch your nostrils shut and blow against them. All these have helped me out, momentarily at least.