Poor oral health—particularly severe gum disease (periodontitis)—is strongly linked to an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AFib) and experiencing a recurrence of irregular heart rhythms after cardiac procedures. Studies show that individuals with moderate-to-severe periodontitis have a 31% to 33% higher risk of developing AFib compared to those with healthy gums.

• Post-Ablation Recurrence: Patients who receive treatment for severe gum inflammation after heart rhythm ablation are 61% less likely to have their AFib return compared to those who leave gum disease untreated. Brushing teeth three or more times a day is associated with a 10% lower risk of developing AFib.

Hello everyone I’m a 30M had my first Afib episode back in January, went to the hospital and after 8 hours and IV medication my heart went back to normal. I had a pretty bad case of RSV and they determined that it is what triggered the Afib, I have COPD and I use oxygen I saw two Electrophysiology just see there opinions I’m on Diltiazem 240 MG and Metoprolol 50MG. After that my cardiologist had me wear a heart monitor for 2 weeks and everything came back normal, I’ve gone back to pulmonary therapy I’ve been losing some weight(trying my best) my life went back to normal, but my anxiety hasn’t gone away I know Afib will come back once it happens once it will happen again, does anyone have any tips of dealing with anxiety? Any advice will help thank you so much :)

Hey guys,
I bought an Apple Watch Ultra 3, but can't set it up because ECG is restricted in my region, here is how you can bypass and activate it:

I have an ablation scheduled the day before Thanksgiving. My first diagnosed AFIB event was December 2023. I ended up in the ICU for a week. I had a pulse yo-yoing up to 190 BPM and a BP of 170/130. My TSH was .015 which is what they said was the cause of the AFIB. I had been taking T3 on my own to shed the last bit of fat for a competition. My normal TSH levels for a decade were between 3.0 and 3.4. Obviously adding in T3 on my own suppressed my natural thyroid production and caused the TSH collapse. Was prescribed metoprolol, losartan and hydrochlorothiazide (hate all 3 especially the metoprolol as it made me lethargic and depressed). Over the next 2 years and 4 months had maybe 2-3 "possible" AFIB notifications on Kardiacare which went away within an hour or two. Those occurred on vacations where I tend not to sleep well, eat too much rich food and indulge in alcohol.

Cut to June of this year. My cardiologist had taken me off the metoprolol as I had no AFIB notifications for 12 months. I had a kickboxing competition coming up and my dumbass got reckless and used a prohormone called Superdrol (not classified as a steroid but it provides intense strength gains over a short period and is obviously not good for the heart. Even many bodybuilders avoid it because it can produce major side effects). Two weeks after starting it, I went into AFIB and was cardioverted. Doc also sent me for a sleep study and it showed sleep apnea (which certainly could have caused my AFIB too) with 28 interruptions per hour and I have had a CPAP for the last 2 months. Doc put me back on metoprolol and added amlodipine.

Saw an EP. Before I could explain my history, she suggested an ablation. I explained that my 2 major cases of AFIB were possibly self-induced by my stupidity of taking a large dose of T3 and effectively an intense prohormone. She still said I should get an ablation. Other than AFIB, my health markers for liver, kidneys, cholesterol, etc. are all excellent. Ejection fraction is 57%. I take very good care of myself. I'm 6' 6" 250ish lbs. and my bodyfat ranges between 9-11% depending on winter or summer. I lift weights six days a week and do 60-90 minutes of cardio a day. I've never smoked a cigarette. I drink maybe 4-5 times a year and eat very healthy. I even cut my one vice (diet sodas) down to 2 a day instead of 6 and have transitioned to Olipop from Diet Sundrop.

The EP seems to be hyper-focused on an ablation and dismisses my concerns over the procedure not working or causing complications. I don't intend to ever put a steroid or prohormone into my body again and have addressed my sleep apnea. The EP says by doing the ablation now it could be a preventative measure. Also, I have hit my insurance deductible and out of pocket for the year so the ablation should be almost totally covered. If I put it off, it would certainly come with a higher cost.

I asked both my GP and Cardiologist their opinions. They defer to the EP but do express a bit of hesitation knowing the fact of the highly likely possibility that my ingestion of substances could have caused my AFIB. They both stated that since I have had two bad occurrences of AFIB, the likelihood of AFIB in the future does increase. But my cardiologist pointed out that it was almost two and a half years between events. They basically gave me a 50/50 answer. I do have a resting heart rate of 80-85 BPM even on metoprolol so maybe this will help with my tachycardia (can it?).

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated especially from anyone else who may have used something like T3, clenbuterol, prohormones or steroids.

I had my fourth cardioversion back on June 5. I had my first one on January 22, 2021. So far my heart rate is excellent normal sinus rhythm and so far this one has the best results. I shaved my chest myself. I got every bit of hair off, so the electrodes could not only stick, but there was no hair interfering with anything. Not only did it work good for my heart, but when I got to cardio version the actual shock, I did not get the burn marks on my chest. There was a much better connection could be more effective.

This is not to say that my atrial fibrillation will not come back and my electrophysiologist says I should get an ablation sometime next year as soon as I lose the weight, but in the meantime, I’m feeling great. I highly suggest anybody getting a cardioversion to shave themselves and to shave themselves till you have nothing but skin, no hair at all.

Obviously, this is not going to be a 100% guarantee that it’s going to work for everyone but for some people the shock will definetly be more efficient.

So I basically have a both-sided family history of heart problems. Nobody in my family tends to live to see 80, most die in their 40s-60s and about 90% have died of heart issues, so obviously not the best diagnosis to get. But hey ho.

To give a perfect example - dad had two heart attacks at 43 and 45. He then had a triple (was meant to be quadruple but part of his heart was dead) bypass in his late 50s/early 60s. Then by his mid 70s he had a pacemaker as a last ditch effort to keep him alive and comfortable. His own sister died in her late 50s/early 60s from a heart attack, and their father died in his 40s from what I think was a stroke of some kind.

I first got diagnosed with Dysrhythmia (without any specifics or follow up for some reason), then an Ejection Systolic Heart Murmur (which I never had before 2020), and more recently Atrial Fibrillation. Weirdly, I don't have any kind of problematic blood pressure and I'm on no medication at all for it.

My biggest bug bear right now is the blood thinners. I'm still learning how to deal with the fact that I will now bruise and bleed more easily lol. I have to wrap my legs for other medical reasons and today I took my wrap off and it was purple! It's fine, doesn't hurt, clearly just surface-level bruising but it was quite shocking!

Anyway, just thought I'd say hello. Hope you're all doing okay with blessed double-digit heartbeats haha.

So, I had a period of dizziness on Friday, but I thought it was either POTS or the fact I hadn’t eaten. Then I get the Afib report and I’m unsure whether this warrants a closer look by a doctor.

Hi all - Much appreciate everyone's participation in this Reddit over the past six month you all have been unbelievably helpful. Had an ablation at UCSF on 9/29 and upon waking from anesthesia I had lower level tinnitus in both ears. Has anyone experienced this after ablation surgery? I am taking diltiazem, losartan and eliquis - and stopped multaq as of my ablation. Anyone else had this occur?

Hi for context I have a panic disorder (that’s really important for this) I’ve had afib ever since I was 19 years old and I’m 23 now and only ever had about 3 episodes in the meantime the most recent episode was in December I had to be electrically cardioverted my heart rate was 180-190 for many hours

They recommended an ablation a PFA ablation im wondering if I should do it I’ve done ultra sounds and CT scans and they say they don’t really know why I have AFIB they just know that I have it what do you guys think

I’ve been in a bad anxiety loop because in December I didn’t have any forms of healthy anxiety btw I had a panic attack about something unrelated and that’s what (at least in my mind) set my afib and now with that in mind I’ve kinda had severe trauma around it

I take meds and stuff now but I haven’t been able to mentally recover from that day

Should I get a PFA ablation

I recently did my 2nd biobeat to make sure that my afib was under control. Thank god for an entire year zero episodes of afib. The last biobeat is showing 74 episodes of SVT. This I believe is what I've been experiencing for several months which I thought was anxiety. the PA at my dr's office is like try this medicene and that medicene all with side effect I couldn't live with. I also have vein disease in my legs these meds were causing them to swell. Anyone else have symptoms like this and if so what did they do about it?

What you take? Pros and cons? Why one versus the other?

I’m a 36-year-old man with suspected AF episodes for around 10 years, usually after alcohol. I’ve had two recently confirmed episodes of AF, both following alcohol and sex.
During the latest episode, I felt a sudden fluttering/racing sensation in my chest. My heart rate briefly climbed to around 165 bpm for a few minutes before my Apple Watch recorded AF. During the documented AF, my average heart rate was around 92 bpm. During my previous episode, the ECG at the ER confirmed AF with an average heart rate of 84 bpm, and I spontaneously returned to sinus rhythm after approximately an hour.
I’ve had a normal echocardiogram and was told my heart is structurally healthy. I exercise regularly and lift weights.
My main fear is ventricular tachycardia (VT). Could the initial sudden racing and heart rate spike have been VT before transitioning into AF, or can AF itself begin with a rapid heart rate that subsequently settles?
How reassuring is a normal echocardiogram in this situation, and what would be the best way to distinguish these rhythms?
Thanks for any insight or similar experiences. I have high anxiety about this atm.

In my upper eighties and experienceing r//AFIB possibly‘due to age and treatment for myeloma. My hope is just to forestall stroke by continuing Eliquis. I don’t want to get a cardiologist involved because I‘m very hesitant to add more treatments on top of the ongoing myeloma stuff I’m already dealing with. I ‘m not anxiously waiting to die and enjoy many aspects of my life. I do fear having a stroke and losing the abilities I still have. Is it possible that a cardiologist would agree to just continue with Eliquis.

Has anyone ever had an ablation reverse itself after a few years? I had one when I was 17 for severe tachycardia, im 25 now and pregnant and it's seems to be back. I do have afib as well as PACs that the ablation couldn't fix. but I'm just curious if this can happen

Today, I thought I was going to die. While on a solo (7 mile, 3,100 ft) hike, I experienced my first AFIB episode.

While climbing a relatively steep section, I noticed something was off - my chest felt like it was convulsing. My HR was ~170 according to my Garmin. I immediately sat down and focused on my breathing. My heart continued to flutter and spazz out uncontrollably. I’ve never experienced this before and thought I was having a heart attack. I tried calling 911 but was in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, so I laid down and accepted I was going to die. After maybe 5 minutes of focusing on my breathing, everything normalized.

I stayed in that spot for maybe 15 more minutes, eating energy blocks and hydrating. I now had the daunting task of getting off this mountain and back to my car. While hiking back, I oddly experienced a “second wind” of energy. I felt great but still didn’t want to overexert myself due to fear of another episode. I made it back to my car & safely home. I’m now writing this post, hammering down Liquid IV and resting…

I’m praying this was a one-time event & connected to my recent nicotine relapse. I was nicotine-free for 3 years prior to this and relapsed a couple months ago. I’ve been consuming a can of 3 mg Zyn a day… this shit is so evil. I will follow up with my physician for next steps forward. I’m very fit & healthy otherwise. But after today, convinced I was going to die alone in the mountains, I must treat my body better. The Zyn’s have since been flushed down the toilet. I may need to eliminate caffeine if this occurs again.

Other lessons learned - get an emergency satellite phone & life flight insurance.

Hey all, I've been having pretty consistent runs of PACs/PVCs past few days. I have an appointment with a cardiologist mid-November. In the meantime, I've been trying to log them in ECGs as supplemental data for the cardiologist (I had a 14-day Holter monitor recently, but unfortunately, my ectopic episodes were few and far between and short duration for that entire period, so it came back as <1% burden. But the past week, after the patch I've had ectopic beats on average of 1-5 per minute, 24/7) Anyways, I was catching some runs today with my Apple Watch, and it was flagging the recordings as AFib. Now I'm no expert and not too familiar with ECGs, but these look more like just PACs/PVCs, right? Figured yall would have more expertise in reading these things. Thanks!

This condition has completely taken over my life, and I am incredibly frustrated. I was diagnosed with afib in my early twenties (though I think I'd had it for a few years by the time we caught it) and have spent the past three years dealing with failed cardioversions and attempted ablations all while trying to graduate college and hold down my first real jobs. My first cardiologist in my college town was so certain he would be able to "fix" things with an ablation, but the aftermath was a shit show and the procedure ultimately failed and caused more problems than solutions. The first three months after it were the worst; I got stuck in abnormal rhythms for days at a time and couldn't get them to convert no matter what I tried. I remember staying up at night staring at the ceiling as my heart pounded in my chest as though I was running a marathon. Eventually, the rhythms began to stabilize and became less frequent, but they never fully went away even with massive lifestyle changes. Pretty much all it took for me to enter afib was a small shock or a joke that caught me off guard or a single night of less than 8 hours of sleep. I spent most of my life trying to find new ways to manage symptoms, and it was exhausting. Two years out I found out I am lucky enough to have a TTN mutation which explains why the afib manifested so young, and I ended up deciding to pursue a second ablation to try to make the rhythms more manageable. That procedure happened about 10 days ago. When I woke up, I was told they had to cardiovert me 7 times during it because they could not get my heart to stay in sinus rhythm. The pain from the cardioversions made things difficult, but as it subsided I was able to function more normally and control my heart rate with meds for about a week afterwards. But a couple days ago I felt myself slip into an abnormal rhythm and my heart started racing so fast I had to leave work. It normalized after around two hours and I assumed this was normal blanking period stuff, but the next day my heart rate shot up to 175bpm and I got stuck in AFib with rvr for over twelve hours. I ended up going to the ER around 2 in the morning where they gave me diltiazem and cardioverted me twice. The cardioversions both failed but I randomly self-converted a couple hours later and was discharged only to end up re-entering afib about two hours after that. I recognize that I am still very early on in the healing, but I can't help but feel frustrated that I have to deal with this again. The aftermath of my last procedure was one of the hardest things I've had to go through physically, and this one is already feeling as though it's going to be the same if not worse. I've always been an incredibly active person and I've had to give up so many hobbies because of my heart, so I hate to think that I may have to give up more if this surgery also fails. This whole experience is extremely overwhelming and incredibly isolating and I am really struggling to sit with the uncertainty of the blanking period. This post was mostly a way for me to vent and to help others in my position know they aren't alone, but any words of advice for remaining hopeful at this time or managing symptoms would be greatly appreciated.

My (36M) ablation has been booked for 25th October and although I know logically I have nothing to worry about, I can't stop overthinking everything. Never had anxiety in the past but it's hitting hard.

Never been under general anesthetic before, so that's a worry. I have a wife and two young children so I'm even more worried about something going wrong.

Had AFib for quite a while only diagnosed a year ago, am slightly overweight, but quit drinking just over a year ago and try to eat healthier than before. Not been exercising since diagnosis due to illogical worrying about having an episode.

I know I shouldn't be worried, but any advice would be really appreciated!

Hey everyone,
I’ve had a history of AFib and I’m curious how others here deal with PACs (premature atrial contractions).
For me, it’s that occasional skipped beat or sudden thump that can be unsettling, especially when you’ve experienced AFib before. Even when you know it’s not necessarily anything serious, it’s hard not to pay attention to every little sensation.
I’m curious how everyone else handles them.
Do you just ignore them and go about your day?
Have you found anything that helps reduce their frequency?
Do they make you anxious about going back into AFib?
Have they improved over time?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, especially from those who have had an ablation or previous AFib episodes.
Thanks, everyone!

45yo male, 20years army. Highly active my whole life. Running, rucking, martial arts, ultra marathons. Started having what the army called “some extra beats” about 10 years ago. Along with the extra beats they said I was having panick attacks. I would go to civilian ERs once a year the episodes were so bad but by the time I got there, little could be seen but some PVCs.
This year got to where I couldn’t workout for more than 20 minutes without an attack. In the past month I’ve had an off post referral to a cardiologist that sent me directly to an EP. I have an ablation scheduled in 2 months. Afib, with RVR and possible Aflutter.
The problem is, I am terrified to move. I’m in danger of becoming agoraphobic here. How does one manage to just knock on not knowing when the next bout will come?

I (38M) have just got the call to say i’ll be having my ablation on the 27th, in 11days!!

I’m both excited about potentially getting relief but also terrified

Obviously any advise leading up to the ablation would be very much appreciated! Anything at all that may help

My big question is about smoking. Unfortunately I am a smoker and with the surprise phone call today obviously i need to try and quit, and fast (its an addiction ive struggled with my whole life and unfortunately the crutch for my stress) If i fail to quit or dont quite get there in time, will it have any serious negative effect on my ablation? The original cardiologist I saw said that the smoking seems to have nothing to do with my Afib and its likely random or stress related. He even said not to worry about quitting as the stress from it will likely be worse than the continuing to smoke. Even so im going to try.

Thanks in advance

I made a previous post about trying to control my trigger potentially being acid reflux as I was getting episodes after eating meals. Worked on slowing down eating and being mindful and episodes had stopped for a while.

Now I am getting afib episodes almost exclusively when I am laying down to go to sleep. This is extremely frustrating as the frequency is picking up quite quickly. And this is already post one ablation. Starting to get a little bummed out to be honest nothing I am doing is seeming to help this.

Has anyone else noticed they get episodes almost exclusively from laying down or night time

Vengo aquí para conocer opiniones y experiencias de otras personas que pasaron o están pasando por lo mismo a ver si me pueden ayudar. Hace casi 1 año de mi primer episodio de Afib (y hasta la fecha el único). Estuve en el hospital y me cardiovirtieron farmacológicamente y me dieron el alta con cita urgente en cardio. En menos de 1 mes me vio un cardiólogo que me dijo que todo estaba bien, que no me preocupara que siguiera tomando mi medicación (en urgencias me pusieron flecainida y betabloqueante para las palpitaciones de forma fija continua) pero que igual se repetía por lo que había que esperar a ver cómo seguía todo, cosa que me dejó con bastante preocupación. Desde aquellas dejé de lado todas las actividades que implicaban adrenalina: ejercicio físico intenso (seguí yendo al gimnasio, pero más pausado), sexo (tenía una relación con una chica, estábamos empezando y se fue al carajo por mi miedo a que me diera otra vez con ella en cama), viajes al extranjero (cancelé un par de ellos que tenía por motivos laborales) y empecé a llevar vida saludable: paseos por el río de mi casa con mis perras, mejorar mi alimentación, beber más agua, dormir más…
La cosa es que ya estoy bastante bien mentalmente. Al inicio tenía mucho miedo a que se repitiera, cosa que imagino que le pasará a todo el mundo, y más si el médico no te dice de forma clara cuál es tu futuro con la enfermedad. Poco a poco se fue desvaneciendo el miedo (ya hace casi 1 año) pero todavía a veces vienen lapsus del miedo a que vuelva, sobre todo si me agita un poco el corazón.
Además yo antes era una persona muy sexual, me encantada el sexo y todo ello y desde esto, perdí por completo el interés. Nosé si es por la medicación o por la condición en sí, pero se fue a la verga. ¿Alguien más que haya pasado por esto? ¿Alguien que esté en situación similar? ¿Como lo mitigaron? Extraño a veces mi vida anterior a esta condición.