I'm 22 years old and have just been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation!?

I checked into the hospital monday morning after 3-4 days of my heart racing. Monday came around and all the symptoms culminated. Am I the youngest recorded case (being slightly sarcastic)? What is the quality of life like after being diagnosed? I know I'm not supposed to drink or smoke or any of those fun things young people like to do. I'm just a little scared as I know this is a very serious condition plus my age being 22 it adds fear.

My son was born with afib, so you're not the youngest! :-)

Atrial fibrillation is a condition where the top chambers of the heart do not contract fully, they "quiver" or "fibrillate" and then the ventricles (bottom chambers) try to keep up and the heart beats very quickly. When you are in this rhythm, you lose about 20% of your cardiac output, so some people feel very tired, others don't even notice at all. The risk associated with this condition is stroke, because blood can pool up in the upper chambers and since it's not contracting completely this can form little clots, which can break lose causing a stroke. (The risk for stroke is higher in older people.)

I'm curious what treatment they have offered you. There are several things that can be done to put you back into a normal sinus rhythm.

Some people are not symptomatic while in this rhythm, so on occassion "rate control" is opted for, and the patient is placed on Coumadin/Warfarin as a blood thinner to prevent blood clots from forming in the upper chambers of the heart.

Hope this helps!

No, you are not the youngest. I knew someone who was 14! I've had for about 10 years. Once the fibrillation stops, you should be OK on medicine. Depending what type you are on, it may start not being as effective in about 5 years, but that's not necessarily firm. You may eventually need a pacemaker or a cardiac catheter ablation (they go through the groin and carotid, no open heart). Mine was fairly successful, although I still take meds.

You need to be careful of stress--that's what made mine go haywire (may be something else at your age). I HAVE found that magnesium (powdered by Natural Calm) really helps, as AF may be partly a lack of magnesium. I didn't find this until 2 years ago, and I'm much better. Get some and give it a month or so. It's very good overall and most people are deficient.

Just take it easy for awhile--it takes a bit for the meds to kick in. Don't stress out too much, once you are on the meds and stable (may take awhile to get the meds right), you should be fine. Don't smoke or drink as you noted, DON'T stay up all night, that set mine off, and watch the stress levels. Good luck to you.

This is not a very severe situation, but possibly the most common electrical problem in the heart. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the atria quiver instead of beating, this lowers blood output which is why the symptoms you were having occurred. The major risk with this problem is the possibility of a thrombus (clot) forming as the blood pools in the atria. The quality of life is not adversely affected, as medications can be given to reduce the chance of this rhythm occurring again. About 2.2 million people in the world suffer with the same problem, and no, you are not the youngest recorded case, some young teenagers are seen to have this rhythm too, although it is usually seen in older adults, around 40 - 60 years of age. You should not be smoking in any case, not only does it increase the probability of bringing this rhythm back, it also increases other risks which include having even greater risks of having clots form. Drinking is not too much of an issue, although, you should not drink in excess. There is nothing to be afraid about, it is not going to cause sudden death or anything like that, just take an aspirin everyday to lower the risks of any clots forming if this recurs.

The quality of life is excellent. You can take the medication to keep the A-fib under control or have a pace maker put in or last but not least laser ablation. Any of the three will help you have a happy life.