Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is a cardiac diagnosis that describes an irregular heart rhythm where the upper chambers of the heart quiver and shake instead of fully contracting and squeezing. When this happens, the blood pools in the atria, which can form a clot, which can travel to the brain, blocking blood flow to brain tissue and causing a stroke. This condition becomes more common with older age, but it can also occur in younger people who are exposed to factors like chronic stress, hypertension, or obesity.
Although this sounds alarming, medical procedures can be performed to control it, and some preventive steps can be taken to temporarily stop the episode. Now, in case you are wondering whether can you recover from AFib, then this article is for you. It presents the seven best ways to prevent an AFib episode.
Keep a Pill in the Pocket
The first thing is keeping an anti-rhythmic medication on hand for emergencies. You can also choose medications that slow down the heart or a blood thinner for an AFib attack.
Rehydrate
Dehydration is a significant trigger of AFib, and AFib patients have reported experiencing normal symptoms as they rehydrate. Therefore, we recommend traveling with clean water at an arm’s reach.
Optimize your Electrolytes
Keep your electrolytes up; low levels of magnesium and potassium are another common trigger for AFib. A quick boost through electrolytes, heavy foods, or drinks like tomato juice or low-sodium vegetable juices is always a good choice. If you don’t have access to these natural resources, you can always use supplements.
Exercise
Exercise may seem counterintuitive, but many AFib patients report that they overtake their AFib heart rate with an even faster exercise. When the heart rate returns to normal after exercise, the normal rhythm is restored. However, note that this isn’t a good idea if your heart is racing extremely fast.
Lie Down
If your heart is running faster than usual, the best idea would be to lie down, take a nap, or go to bed early. Once you get up, your heartbeat gets back to normal.
Vagus Maneuvers
Sometimes, the autonomic nervous system imbalances can trigger an AFib attack. One way to quickly correct this is through vegal maneuvers. These maneuvers stimulate the vagus nerve, such as slow, deep breathing, bearing down as if trying to have a bowel movement, tightening your abdominal muscles, inverting your body by raising your legs or standing on your head, coughing, taking a cold shower, or pressing on your eyeballs.
Cardioversion
If everything else fails, it’s time to visit a cardiologist’s emergency room or EP’s office. There, you can get a quick cardioversion to restore a normal sinus rhythm. However, make sure you are fasting beforehand. It does provide temporary relief until your AFib’s fixed.
Healthy Weight Loss
If you’re aiming for a natural cure of AFib, you can go for something natural and not a supplement, which is a healthy weight loss. If you are overweight with AFib and you lose 10% of your body weight, you can dramatically lower your risk for future episodes of AFib.
What is an AFib Attack?
Atrial Fibrillation is a heart rhythm problem where the top chambers of the heart, rather than contracting in a coordinated fashion, just quiver. The problem is caused by the blood getting stagnant in the crevices of the heart and forming blood clots, which can break off and cause a stroke and other problems.
Potential RIsk of AFib
If a blood clot goes to the heart, then it can increase the chances of,
- Stroke
- Heart failure
- Dementia
- Early death
However, the most common risk related to AFib is stroke.
Causes of Getting AFib
Atrial Fibrillation is caused by an issue with the electrical system in the heart or damage to the heart’s tissues. Factors that increase the risk of developing AFib include a family history of AFib, older age, hypertension, an underlying heart disorder, COPD, diabetes, and sleep apnea. In addition, obesity, heavy alcohol consumption, smoking, and stress further increase the risk of atrial fibrillation.
Symptoms of AFib
Individuals suffering from AFib don’t have any symptoms or may only notice them occasionally. Common symptoms include:
- Extreme Fatigue
- Tiredness
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Heart Palpitations – which is skipping a beat, fluttering, pounding, beating too hard or fast.
Final Thoughts
If you have been affected by AFib over time, then the good news is that you can still live with the condition by making slight lifestyle changes and a few DIY tips. Though medical support is necessary if none of the above-mentioned tips work, but we do recommend trying them out once.
Now, to the question of recovering from AFib, you can only do that in the early stages of the condition and by changing your lifestyle completely.
