A-Fib, Labyrinthitis?, and A lot of Question Marks... Please Help
Hi my name is Rob and I'm 26. A month ago, I was at the gym dehydrated and had my first attack of atrial fibrillation. A few days later I had 3 beers in 4 hours and my heart started to flutter (skipped beats) and the people at the ER told me that I had holiday heart-- my heart was more sensitive to things now because of the recent a-fib episode. Two weeks later, I was feeling great, but then went into my shower, was rinsing shampoo out of my hair...closed my eyes, put my head down, shook my head back and forth and then flung my head back. Next thing I know, my whole world was spinning, my heart started pounding cause I started to freak out, i barely made it out of the bathroom to lay down on my bed. Called the paramedics and went to the hospital. EKG, CAT Scan, MRI of Brain, Chest X-Ray, all GOOD. They said I had vertigo, either from Labyrithitis or from throwing my head back.
What do you guys think? Is this latest episode correlated to the a-fib attack 2 weeks ago? Is this current dizzy condition a result of labyrithitis, or because I merely threw my head back and shook it too hard in the shower? I've been dizzy/out of it for a week now.
Re: A-Fib, Labyrinthitis?, and A lot of Question Marks... Please Help
It sounds more like a separate thing to me, since your heart pounding was likely a reacton to the severe dizziness. Maybe a fight or flight repsonse to it? Why you got it? Myabe throwing your head back, could be one time it affected you when others haven't.
I agree that once the heart is "trained" to having an Afib attack, it is more prone to it, at least for a while. Holiday heart was what started mine. Actually more like alcoholic heart. For several years afterwards, I seemed to get flutters pretty often. They seem to be subsiding though, even though I had 2 brief ones this year.
The Following User Says Thank You to SOTM For This Useful Post: rfelicet3 (11-02-2011)
Re: A-Fib, Labyrinthitis?, and A lot of Question Marks... Please Help
I have heart rhythm issues and my husband has had viral labyrinthitis. and in my opinion
your heart episode and dizziness have nothing to do with one another. My feeling is that if you merely threw back your head in the shower, the dizziness should go away rather quickly. If you get scared and your heart revs up, that doesn't mean that it's going into A-fib.
When my husband had labyrinthitis his eyes moved back and forth (nystagmus, I think i is called) and he was so ill that if he opened his eyes he felt ready to throw up. It took him a full month to get well enough to go back to work.
My guess? You have vertigo, and the heart issue is unrelated.
I wish you the best! Sue
The Following User Says Thank You to slenderella For This Useful Post: rfelicet3 (11-02-2011)
Re: A-Fib, Labyrinthitis?, and A lot of Question Marks... Please Help
Thanks to both of you!
@SOTM- How long was it before you were able to drink any alcohol after your first a-fib episode? It's been about 1 month for me, so I'm trying to gauge when my heart will be strong enough to keep up with a few drinks socially.
@Sue- When your husband had viral labrynthitits, did he just feel sick in the head or was there a general malaise through his whole body? I've been pretty weak and fatigued after doing too much at once. It's weird, when laying down, like I am now, my whole body feels fine. It's just my head that feels real funny. But when i get up and start moving, then I get weak as if I have the flu.
Re: A-Fib, Labyrinthitis?, and A lot of Question Marks... Please Help
Quote:
Originally Posted by rfelicet3
@SOTM- How long was it before you were able to drink any alcohol after your first a-fib episode? It's been about 1 month for me, so I'm trying to gauge when my heart will be strong enough to keep up with a few drinks socially.
Well...ummm...I might have only waited one week after being released from the hospital to go right back to my heavy drinking and smoking . It took a few more landings in the hospital to make me go sober for 7 years. I also had the attacks during the sobriety, and I am much healthier food wise and more in tune with my body. I do not smoke anymore.
I do drink socially/minimally now. The alcohol IMO is not the problem really unless we are talking major binge drinking. I think it is the resulting dehydration or heavy eating aferwards. There is also the possibility of apnea like problems, which can stress your body into palpitations.
It is ultimately your call on if you want to risk drinking, each of our bodies is different. 3 beers in four hours is not exactly party drinking. I used to kill 14-18 in about 4-5 hours. But if you keep getting flutters whenever you drink, it may just be a trigger for you. There is a tiny forum called afibbers with a dot net, you may want to try checkig out peoples stories over there and how they deal with it. Keep an eye on your patassium and magnesium intake. Alot of diets are seriously lacking in both. They both have tremendous effects on your heart.
Wish I had more info to help you on the drinking. It could be a trigger, or it could just be you lacking in something else and the alcohols effects bringing it on if that makes sense.
. It took a few more landings in the hospital to make me go sober for 7 years. I also had the attacks during the sobriety, and I am much healthier food wise and more in tune with my body. I do not smoke anymore.
