Arythmic Heartbeats - My husband needs your help DL and so do I

Yes, I had this as well – still do now and then – and my doctors also said it was nothing to worry about. Used to drive me into a panic attack just like your husband, and got way worse as soon as I ate something loaded with a particular electrolyte, like bananas (potassium) or spinach (magnesium).

I made it better on my own with a calcium supplement. Just make sure you take vitamin D3 with it as well, so it won't get deposited into soft tissue (I got testicular cancer from all that calcium in my sack). But the very best thing that helps is exercise – elevated heart rate for at least half an hour a day, in a single chunk.

Good luck to you and your husband!

My dad has it. He was diagnosed with it last year. He’s 92. They were going to originally try shocking it back into sync, but now have opted not to. The chances of that working were like 50% and there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again. He’s been doing okay.

I’m in my forties (but look 23) and I have suffered from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome since childhood. It causes my heartbeat to increase (within one heartbeat) directly from normal to between 250 and 300 beats per minute, which occurs around once every 2 months in my case.

It is caused by an electrical pulse misfiring in my heart. It can be treated either by electrical ablation (to burn away a part of the heart called the Bundle of Kent (which emits the electrical pulse) or by taking beta-blockers. I’m not keen on surgery though, and the medication makes me both tired and breathless, so I use another technique (fully approved of by my doctor) to shock my heart rhythm back to normal. Basically, the use of ice cold water can shock my heart enough to regain its normal rhythm.

OP, I fully understand how scary this is for your partner. When my heart rhythm is going off, I feel incredibly weak and panicky. The symptoms mimic those of a heart attack for me - Unless I solve the problem immediately, I get breathless within a minute, and within a couple of minutes I have pain in my jaw. And after one incident, there is a constant worry that another will occur. I also frequently feel my heart flutter or miss a beat. Neither is a comfortable feeling, but I am somewhat used to it after 30+ years.

Has your partner seen a cardiologist? I rarely heed to bother (since I have the problem fairly well under control and do not wish for surgery) but I am sent every so often for an electrocardiogram to check that my heart rhythm is fundamentally sound. With my condition, one of the few main worries is that it can coexist alongside another heart rhythm defect. As I understand it, neither is a serious worry in isolation, but can be fatal in combination.

I’m happy to try to answer any other questions on this, as far as I can.

R3 I had an ablation for an electrical issue as well. It is a pretty simple procedure. I had no it more than 15 years ago and have had no issues since. Was very glad I did it.

Atrial fibrillation, which is what I think you're describing, is very common in people over the age of 65 - between 5 and 10%. Usually any one episode is not reason for concern. As someone mentioned above, it's electrical impulses misfiring. But proper circulation is important for the health of the body. The main concern for most cardiologists, is that, while the heart is not pumping correctly, blood can pool in the atria, and if the arrythmia goes on long enough, the blood that is there stagnating has the potential to clot. Then, when the heart returns to a normal rhythm, that clot can travel through the bloodstream to the brain, causing strokes. I in 7 strokes are caused by a fib. Having afib can increase your risk of stroke 5 Xs over people who don't have it. That's the reason that many people with afib are on blood thinner - to try to reduce the risk of clotting. Beta blockers slow the heart rate too, which might help if the heart is racing.

While blood thinners and beta blockers have risks too, most people would prefer not to have a high risk of strokes.

There's also an implantable device that can be put into the heart itself, called a "watchman". With that, which supposedly prevents clotting in that area, people can dispense with blood thinners and maybe with the beta blockers too.