matters of the heart- (part 2) cold drinks

On Thursday I had to stay late at work. I forgot that by the time I got home I'd be 5 hours past the time I usually take my beta-blocker. I didn't really think about it was because I thought it was a precautionary med and hoped I wasn't actually depending on it in my daily routine. Well, when I got home at 11pm, I took my medicine and while I swallowed it, I thought I'd get rehydrated. I guzzled 2 glasses of cold water and my heart started pounding. What the heck! Yep, I was in a-fib again.

I felt a bit discouraged when I realized that I might have to take the medicine religiously to prevent arrhythmia in the future. Sheesh, five hours without medicine and I'm back in the rapid heart rate scenario? So, that night I felt pretty sober and headed to bed with my heart thumping away. It wasn't the best night of sleep, but when I woke up my heart rate was back to normal.

Today, while I was eating lunch with the kids, I was drinking ice water and I felt my heart jump and crank out about 5-6 rapid beats and then it was back to normal. It made me wonder if the cold water could be a trigger for atrial fibrillation. So, this evening I searched the web, "atrial fibrillation cold drink" and found that it's a known trigger. I love taking my questions to the web. The more you know, the more you know, right?

So, I might not be as dependent on the medicine as I assumed. And, I'll take it easy on the cold water chugging...

I am glad it's ice water and not black tea that's giving me trouble.