Well, I just joined this club.

I have not really looked at the 50+ threads, as I have been busy arguing with folks on the Commuter thread about Vehicular Cycling, and I am 48.

This has been good reading so far.

My entrance into the AF club was quite a surprise as some of you have also expressed... I have been a biker and swimmer since high school, the last thing I expected were heart/lung problems.

I was just leaving the office the other night and my heart suddenly felt as if it was trying to jump out of my chest... (no pain, just big thumps) I could not get a good pulse... felt as if I was sending Morse code (sounded like it too later on a heart monitor). I went home and was about to eat dinner, but complained to my wife that I just did not feel right. She took me to ER right away. (insisted, actually). Was the fastest I ever saw a Doc in my life... I was on a table and hooked up to EKG before she could park the car. Glad I left Kaiser some 15 years ago... Jeeze those clowns sound downright scary. I am with Sharp San Diego.

I was all over the place on the EKG... from 120 to as high as 172. My BP was way low... down to 80/60 and that was a huge issue as I was quite dizzy from time to time. My normal resting heart rate is usually around 50 or so, but if I am very relaxed I get down to low 40s. This was cause for concern when I left the Navy in the '80s; they had a hard time believing that low pulse... at the time I was cycling 20 miles a day and swimming 1/2 mile a day. I hate running though.

I was in AF for about 12 hours... this was my first time as far as I know. I auto de-fibbed in the morning just as they were getting ready to hook me up to a recording EKG. The technician was quite disappointed, said it would have been real cool to record the event.

Sonogram of the heart was very good (years of exercise pay off I suppose).

Saw a Cardio Doc that day and am now on some drugs to lower my heart rate and of course the Coumadin (Warfarin) to prevent clots and strokes.

Reading this thread is something of a relief as my first thoughts were "crap, this changes everything." While indeed there will be changes... obviously many of you are just as active as before... if not simply more cautious and obviously more aware.

How some of you can be in Fib for days or even years is amazing... It would certainly slow me down. Especially that annoying thumping of the heart... it is if it was beat beat pause thump beat pause beat thump pause... very irregular.

At any rate... I am going to take the drugs, go to monitoring and keep riding...

Of course no more alcohol, but they told me not to change my diet... which is quite rich in veggies.

I'll keep watching here to see how we all do and what others do. Comments on the various surgeries are quite interesting, but since this was my first episode, I have to wait and see what is really going on.

Take care.