 to keep their airway open at night. But it's eminently treatable by simple lifestyle changes, says Dr Lowe – such as losing weight, giving up smoking and cutting down on alcohol. 'The patients I see with AF often have a very intense lifestyle from a work point of view with lots of work stresses, combined with less exercise than they would have taken 20 years ago, and all the things that go with stress that may include alcohol excess etc,' says Dr Lowe. 'There's an association between sleep apnoea, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart conditions, particularly AF. It's a perfect storm with all those risk factors, which can unfortunately result in stroke at a relatively young age.' The longer people have AF, the more the heart gets used to it and the worse it becomes. 'Usually when AF starts it's intermittent, what we call paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and then over time it becomes more dominant until it becomes persistent atrial fibrillation all the time. And once that happens it's very difficult to reverse,' warns Dr Lowe. The aim is to break that spiral by getting people to spend as much time as possible in a normal rhythm. 'The good news is it's not too late. If you present with atrial fibrillation and you have sleep apnea, there is good evidence that treating the sleep apnea will help prevent further attacks of AF,' says Dr Lowe. It may not even mean going on a Cpap machine; losing 4 to 5 kilos can have a significant impact on your heart rhythm issue. 'Often adopting these lifestyle modifications can lead to a significant improvement in the patient's symptoms and can lead to a better outcome from interventional treatments for patients with atrial fibrillation such as catheter ablation,' says Professor Rinaldi. 'We think that 80-90 per cent of strokes could be preventable because of different risk factors that we understand like AF, high bloo){kind=link}
We often dismiss laboured breathing as a joke, but the most severe form can put you at greater risk of a brain attack than smoking
Lee Pemberton, 31, had spent a wonderful weekend at a friend’s wedding. But the next day he felt terrible. He put it down to a mild hangover. But as time wore on: “I felt faint and light-headed. My heart began racing so my whole body shook with every heartbeat. It felt like I’d been running but I hadn’t done anything strenuous. I managed to call a friend who lives nearby to take me to my local urgent care centre. When I got to the end of the path my arms and legs seized up and I collapsed.”
He was transferred to the Leicester Royal Infirmary where it was discovered he had atrial fibrillation (AF), a potentially dangerous heart rhythm disorder where blood doesn’t flow normally through the heart.
Atrial fibrillation affects around 1.5 million people in the UK and is a major cause of stroke (when a blood vessel that supplies blood and oxygen to your brain becomes either blocked or ruptured). Signs include palpitations, breathlessness, fatigue, dizzy spells.
After arriving at hospital, Lee’s heart rate had raced to 236 beats per minute (the normal rate is between 60 and 100 bpm) – and he lost consciousness. I think I did ‘go’ for a few minutes but they used the defibrillators to bring me back.” He remained in hospital for two days but just as he was about to be discharged, he felt awful. “At around 11pm, my whole body went heavy, I felt like bricks were attached to my arms and legs. I felt the muscles in the left side of my face being pulled down tightly.”