What is the cause of atrial fibrillation in me?

i am 48 years old male. i had first episode of AF IN 1997. since then i had suffered several times. i have been taking antihypertensive treatment regularly since now almost 12 years.last episode of AF occurred just last night when after taking dinner i was watching TV. suddenly i felt some unusual THING has started in my chest. i knew it was the same old problem of AF.i took a tranquillizer and went to sleep. in the morning i felt better but not 100%. my ECG showed that my beat was still irregular. while i was waiting for my cardiologist i felt AF has stopped. a subsequent ECG showed sinus rhythm. my blood pressure was normal. in span of 8 days i had two episodes of AF. STRANGELY enough theses two episodes occured while i was awake. while previous all (may be10-12 since 1997) occured at night during sleep. my thyroid function is normal. echocardiography shows no structural problem in my heart.

I don't have enough information to tell for sure, but I suspect the afib is related to left atrial enlargement from years and years of hypertension. Talk to your physician about whether you might benefit from antiarrhythmic drugs or an ablation in the area of the pulmonary veins. Afib is bothersome because it tends to come back---through no fault of the patient or the physician caring for him. So don't blame yourself. This rhythm is a nuisance. Hang in there.

Hello,

I can understand your posting but to be totally honest with you I think it highly unlikley anyone on Yahoo answers could give you the kind of answer you are looking for. The answers you seek would have to come from a GP or a cardiologist the technical reasons or causes of AF are going to be beyond what most people here would be able to explain to you unless they have a degree in medicine or cardiology.

**The root causes of AF are technical & complex and beyond the capabilities of these forums I suspect??

IR

There are 2 reasons for AF.
One could be an underlying condition such as hyperthyroidism, hypertension or mitral valve disease that puts lots of strain on your heart.
Sounds like your doc has excluded the likes of the above.
In that case you just have LONE AF, which means that there is no particular reason for it, but broadly speaking degenerative changes of the electrical circuits within the heart. Just one of those things that some people get, some dont...

I have the same problem with my heart quivering instead of beating from time to time. My doctor put me on medications which didn't seem to help me much and still dont. Episodes can happen from time to time for no apparent reason. The heart is really complicated as we all know.

There shouldn't be a reason to worry if your doctor hasn't given you a reason to. In order to help stop my heart from doing the same thing my doctor had an internal cardioverter defibrillator implanted in my chest cavity to send shocks to my heart to correct it when it happens. If it gets worse over time you can ask your doctor about it and he will give you his advice on what you should do.