Tiredness and exhaustion were particularly common symptoms. His doctor and his cardiologist dismissed this as being unrelated to his AF. Paul reported just one symptom, a pain in his back, when he was experiencing an episode of AF. Dave, who was diagnosed with AF after feeling unwell while scuba diving, explained that he had never - as far as he was aware - ‘had palpitations, or pain or anything’. Yet while palpitations were part of the experience for many people we interviewed, this was not always the case. You can feel sweaty, very dizzy and you can get chest pain, which is why sometimes it presents like it’s a heart attack. If it’s a small palpitation attack it’ll just be, “Oop.” And it’ll just sort of beat for up to ten minutes quite hard and quite quick and it feels out of synch, your pulse will race and you might feel a bit dizzy and light headed but if you’re having a major attack, it really does feel like it’s coming out of your chest. I can imagine most people get quite scared because, to some people, that they’ll think, “Oh, I’m having a heart attack.” You can get breathless. It feels like your heart is going to jump out of your chest. And then it’s a question of how do you react to the fear? How do you control the fear? I’m a Christian and, therefore, I prayed about the situation and the fear was taken away, but the effect on what do I do next? How do I make a logical decision? How do I make any decision? And is the decision I make going to be effective? All these things are going around in this swirl of disembodiedness. One of the things is, what is happening to me and, therefore, the rise of fear, which is a natural reaction to any human being if they’re experiencing something that’s totally alien. Well, it’s obviously the brain reacting to what is going on. You’re completely disorientated and you have to fight for every sane action. Yes, that you’re floating off into some sort of outer space somewhere. It is totally consuming, the feeling that you get. It affects people differently, but as one person put it at a conference, you feel as if you are dying. I can only speak about how it affected me. Pauline suggested it was like running a marathon but where ‘you’ve stopped but your heart is still going, and no matter what you do, it’s not calming down.’ For some, symptoms prompted a comparison with a heart attack and fear of dying. Richard, Gail and George Y found their physical symptoms more noticeable when lying down. Some described a feeling that ‘your heart is too big for your chest’ and a bizarre, uncomfortable feeling ‘like your heart is going to jump out of your chest’. They described a fluttering in the chest ‘like butterflies’ ‘like you’ve got a ferret in your chest’ and ‘a bird in there jumping around’. They spoke of their heart ‘beating very fast’, and their pulse ‘running very fast or very irregular’, using vivid language to convey how palpitations feel. People described unpleasant, ‘alarming’ and sometimes very unexpected heart sensations. Palpitations (a noticeably rapid, strong or irregular heart beat) and a fast pulse rate are key symptoms associated with AF. We asked people to describe what having atrial fibrillation (AF) feels like. Messages for health professionals and decision-makers from people with atrial fibrillationĪtrial fibrillation What having atrial fibrillation feels like.Messages from people with atrial fibrillation to others.Increasing public awareness about atrial fibrillation.Sources of information and support for people with atrial fibrillation.Negative experiences of health care for atrial fibrillation.Positive experiences of health care for atrial fibrillation.Reducing stroke risk through other medication and lifestyle changes after diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.Alternatives to warfarin for atrial fibrillation: the new anticoagulants.What is it like being on warfarin for atrial fibrillation?.Atrial fibrillation, stroke risk and blood thinning medication.Medical procedures and interventions for atrial fibrillation.Heart rate and rhythm medication for atrial fibrillation.Psychological effects and facing the future with atrial fibrillation.Impact of atrial fibrillation on relationships and leisure time.What having atrial fibrillation feels like.Feelings about being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.First signs and symptoms of atrial fibrillation.
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