28/10/2025
Atrial Fibrillation 1
What is Atrial Fibrillation?
It is a type of heart rhythm problem where your heartbeat is not steady. The symptoms are:
• An irregular heartbeat, where your pulse is not steady
• Suddenly feeling like your heart is pounding, racing, fluttering, skipping a beat- this may last for a few seconds up to a few minutes
• A heartbeat faster than 100 beats per minute
• Feeling very tired
• Finding it harder to exercise
• Chest pain or tightness
• Feeling short of breath, lightheaded, dizzy or like you might faint
Sometimes there are no symptoms, and atrial fibrillation is found as part of a routine check-up or when you are having tests for something else. If you get symptoms, they may stop and start on their own (paroxysmal atrial fibrillation) or stop after treatment (persistent atrial fibrillation). Over time you may always have symptoms (permanent atrial fibrillation).
