yes, blow into a 10ml syringe sitting up fo 15s, then lay on your back and have someone lift your legs. if necessary repeat a few times (~3). seen great results with this method.
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For those here with A-fib, would you have any words of wisdom for one who does not have A-fib currently?
I am a 45 year old male.
I got into endurance sports a little over 2 years ago.
Prior to this I was generally active and fit, casual sports, mostly gym type exercise, circuit training, ā¦
A little over 2 years ago I got into swim, bike and run, but mostly biking right now as the pools are closed and I am the most interested in cycling.
I started with pretty low volume, just 3 hours a week, progressed to around 5, then 7/8 hours a week.
I could see myself staying around this level 7-8 hours a week.
I am curious if those with A-fib, in general:
-Have spent many years (5 or more, 10 or more, ā¦) doing predominantly endurance training?
-Spend on average, 3, 5, 7, 10+ hours per week doing endurance training
-Do long (2, 3 , 4+ hours), hard training sessions on a regular basis or do more frequent (e.g. daily) shorter (60 minutes or less) training sessions?
-etc.
I understand a well designed study that @mattscardiostuff is looking at may answer some of these questions.
Just curious of the background here of those with A-fib and if you had any insights and wisdom to pass on in general.
Take care and be safe.
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Hi Matt,
Cooay for an EKG cost over $100. You mentioned participants would get an ECG. How much would an echo cardiogram likely cost?
Thanks!
It really depends on the place. In Vancouver, the province pays about $30 per ECG. An echocardiogram is about $200.
Matt
There are many non-cycling things that can be done. Minimize high blood pressure, donāt drink too much alcohol, change your parents:)
As far as cycling goes there is a lot of grey due to the heterogeneity in duration, type of training (HIIT vs longer intervals), and years of training. I donāt want to be too vague but there is definitely a goldie locks ādoseā where too much increases your risk as does no exercise.
Matt
My afib story started long before I took up cycling. In fact, I went from a fit 20-something to an overweight 34 year old out of fear. I feared that exercise would induce an episode of afib, so I pretty much quit.
At 34 with 2 kids I decided I had had enough and started exercising again. I took up cycling by accident. Since then Iāve lost 45 pounds and my mind (if you ask my wife). Do I still struggle with afib? No, but afib struggles with me.
I feel your exercise or activity level in relation to afib specifically is a bell curve. Sedentary folks seem to have a higher occurrence of afib as do those with a very high activity level. Those in the middle who are moderately active seem to have a lower rate of occurrence. I could be way off on that since Iām no scientist and i went from one side of the curve to the other, but itās just my observation.
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Matt, maybe you should have a chat with Mark Dayer (also a cardiologist & athlete) who operates the (free) Crickles site, which attempts analysis of HR data from your Strava activities to gauge cardiac stress and look for anomalies:
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Am 65, had first afib episode at 40. have had two ablations, have been on antiarhythmic Rythmol (pretty ineffective). Am currently in afib approx 50% of the time, considering new antiarhythmic Tikosyn. Afib a huge pain in the neck/heart for folks who enjoy training and competing. Happy to help.
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I have Afib. Iām always in Afib. My Dr. says that I shouldnāt raise up my HR above 160. This means that interval training is mostly out for me. Most of the threshold workouts and for sure VO2 max workouts cause my HR to go up, way up, over 220 bbm. Dr. said I shouldnāt do that! So trying to do intervals means as soon as I hit 160 I stop the interval. So far nothing has worked for me to be able to do VO2 max or threshold workouts and even Sweetspot workout will cause me to go over 160. I donāt know what to do as I feel Iām not getting more fit.
I would be happy to help!
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Thanks! I had not heard of that one.
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Matt,
I will help.
Dan
Matt,
Iām very curious as well. After 25+ years racing competitively I developed aFib last September after a particularly intense training block along with other contributing factors, risk/triggers.
I was advised by a conservative cardiologist to curtail just about all the things I am, do, and love (intense physical exercise/training, alcohol, beer, & stress)
Iāve backed way off on training volume and intensity but havenāt stopped although I have cut out caffeine and donāt drink beer on the days I ride.
Iām less interested in ablation that I am with managing the triggers that cause aFib but if I were to get a consensus that continued activity could be high risk Iād seek surgical solutions to continue my active lifestyle.
Count me in on whatever I can offer to help.
-SD
Dave Koesel
46y/o cycling hack
Hey glad I tried again. Did the manoeuvre 3 times. Definitely felt the heart beating hard on the first two but not on the third one. Then did 15 air squat. Tested 30 min later with Kardia. Episode gone!
Iād buy you a beer if I could! Not sure why I thought that didnāt work!!!
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nice! great to hear it worked 
Although itās not AFib, I had a PSVT ablation in January this year and been feeling great (in particular mentally, as those that have had successful arrhythmia ablations can imagine). Happy to give any feedback.
Paroxysmal Afib here. I agree with the Op, it seems to improve as I get fitter.
That said, it is a real barrier for me to hard training. One hard ride takes two-three days to recover, if I follow that up with another, I am sure to fall off the afib wagon again.
Ablation booked however, so here is hoping that works.
In answer to the gentleman talking about triggers, that can work, I cut out caffeine (for a while) and a lot of the booze, dropped weight, blood pressure improved with it. Still suffer when pushing it. Dangerously so at times on rides,where you can nearly black out trying to hold a wheel instead of aknowledging my heart is playing up.
Any how, great thread, new to TR, week one of base completed interested to see if I can recover enough between rides to complete the course.
So youāre a doctor, yet you apparently put more faith in anonymous reports gathered via the internet than formal scientific research? I find that scary.
Anyway, you made me curious, so I typed āafib exercise trainingā into PubMed, filtered on meta-analyses, and found this to be interesting.
Isnāt he conducting a survey? If he based an entire paper on responses here, Iād see your point, but for the purposes of general information gathering (provided the data is acknowledged as self-reported) - ājust testing the watersā, as he puts it - I really donāt see the problem, nor that he is guilty of āput[ting] more faith in anonymous reportsā¦than formal scientific researchā.
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Whatās the point? Would you trust your health to a doctor who thinks that the results of ājust a surveyā will reliably answer questions not yet solved by formal research? I certainly wouldnāt.
If I, as an active, athletic person, developed afib, I might be interested in seeing a cardiologist who has an active interest in the topic and has conducted their own research, some part of which might be conducted in this way.