Fecal Impaction - atrial fibrillation link?

[Everett1933]

I had an extremely painful incident of fecal impaction and resultant painful urinary blockage that required ER attention and overnight hospital admission.  Two weeks later during a routine followup cardiology exam a-fib was found on the ECG trace.  A Holter monitor showed the a-fib persisted during the 24 hours testing interval.  Might there be a cause - effect relationship?  

My history is CHD with atrial and ventricular septal defects closed with surgery 34 years ago when I was age 43 y.o.  I've has several a-fib incidents in recent years, cardioversions and an ablation procedure two years ago.

Thanks!


This discussion is related to Vagus Nerve and Arrhythmia.

[cindy707]

Like Jerry i do not know of a coralation between impaction and a fib however...the only thing that i can think of that would remote even enter into the pic would be that if you did have a severe case of impaction then that would mean off and on during a prolonged period of time you would have been straining to release it...and there definately is a coralation between bearing down the heart.  That manuver is actually used to assist the body w. re setting our electrical activity of the heart but i doubt it would be cause and effect.  The second thing that pops into my mind would be if you suffered from some sort of septicemic episode due to the impaction which could cause an infection in your heart but i am sure that they would have caught that one as well.  Lower extremity strain really from what i know does not cause effect having to do w. a fib since it is electrical based....as Jerry says as we get older the episodes that may have been dormant for years rears its ugly head.  You may want to get pro active w. your intake and what you are putting into your body and the best thing you can do for yourself is to drink tons of water because dehydration will definately set a fib off as well as causing impactions....other rules of the game is no caffeine, iced tea, coffee, colored sodas, red wine, sugars, energy drinks, ginsing products and even quinine waters, chocolate....man o man am i ruining your day  or what?  Getting a good nite sleep and avoiding stress are also paramount is keeping your heart healthy.  So if you had an ablation two years ago you may be ready for a lite tune up to make sure that nothing else popped up or possibly talk to your doc about a low dose beta blocker if it is right for you.  Good luck Everett and we're here if you need us....

[Jerry_NJ]

I do not know any link between your situation other than age.  The likelihood of AFig goes up with age.  Mine started when I was in my late 50s, and had gotten progressive worse.  I did respond well to electrocardioversion in the first few years, but no longer.