Can Gbs cause Atrial Fibrillation (AF) ??

hi greg & welcome,

your heart irregularities may or may not be gbs associated. the treatment is usually the same. axonal damage or not no one knows how long nor to what degree any one gbser will recover. what we do know that recovery is high. rest lying down as often as possible.

gene

welcome to the family and sorry to hear you are fighting gbs.
you have found a great group of people here.
i’ve only been part of the forum since nov.
i was dx with cidp

In a word, yes, but always have things “checked out”. Your nervous system is the communication system for the entire body and we don’t really know how much “cross-over” there is between the peripheral and central systems. So often, years down-the-road, research will prove out what we, the patients, have already told them!! I had lots of “crazy” symptoms, including heart issues, that couldn’t be attributed to anything other than GBS.

I wish you well.

My daughter (sitting here at the breakfast table and who is an MD) thinks a connection between GBS and AF is very unlikely. The heart rhythm is controlled through impulses between the heart cells and not through the nervous system. You most likely received a beta blocker or perhaps a calcium channel blocker. AF can be caused by a number of factors including alcohol or damage to the heart.

I have had CIDP since 2001 and earlier this year atrial flutter was discovered. It was normal before that. The only option discussed was cardioversion, using shock. The cardiologist decided against it. It would require a bloodthinner before the procedure. He considered this too risky because I’ve had a large subdural hematoma caused by a fall. AF is still there, I think. Risk is a possible blood clot causing a stroke. Nothing like living dangerously. 😮

Hello, I wanted to chime in that there are “case reports” of atrial fibrillation and Guillain Barre syndrome meaning that if you search for the combination (by a medical search engine called PubMed or a public search engine like Google), you see reports of both together. One of the Google searches linked to a textbook of cardiology that stated that atrial fibrillation can occur in Guillain Barre syndrome and also listed almost every other kind of alteration in heart rhythm. Most of the changes are in rate not transfer of the electrical impulse through the heart, though, meaning that the heart rate is slow or rapid but regular. GBS can affect any type of nerve–motor (causing weakness), sensory (causing numbness or pain), or autonomic (that regulated the “vital” functions of the body such as heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature to extremities). There can also be alteration in the stability of these because of the nerve damage in GBS so that people can have wide fluctuations in these instead of the remarkable consistency usually present. This probaly means that if your brain says to the heart, I need a faster heart rate, instead of a slightl faster one you get a really fast one because the nerve communication and feedback is altered. How one adjusts and compensates using nerve conduction no longer works quite right. It sounds like you had a lot of “autonomic” effects at onset of the Guillain Barre and still have quite a bit. It is not clear if these resolve or if people relearn how to regulate in the face of an altered nerve system, but either way, they get a lot better. The temperature sensativity is likely one of the effects of this since the autonomic nerves regulate blood flow and this is used to keep temperature steady. In reading here, most people with GBS have trouble with feeling too hot in warm weather, but others of us seem to also have trouble keeping a feeling of being warm enough in cold weather.

WithHope for cure of these diseases and peace in living through them.

Greg,

When I first read your post, I looked to see if there was anything listed under Afterial Fibrillation in the new book by Ds. Parry and Steinberg. Index and Glossary showed nothing.

Today while looking through the book for something else, I came accross this on page 84/85.

[QUOTE]
Heartbeat Irregularities

The heart beats normally at a rate of 60 to 100 times each minute, and the beat occurs at regular intervals. In patients with GBS, the heart may beat too slowly, too rapidly, or it may beat irregularly. The most common abnormality of heartbeat in GBS is sustained resting tachycardia, or rapid heartbeat. This is not, in itself, dangerous, but it is an indication of autonomic nerve involvement that may precede a more dangerous abnormality of cardiac rate or rhythm. Rapid heart rates of a degree sufficient to compromise the output of blood from the heart are much less common, but they do occur occasionally. Rates that remain consistently above 130 to 140 beats/minute can be dangerous. Increased heart rate is not necessarily due to autonomic involvement, but may reflect other problems, such as infection, fever, inadequate fluids (dehydration), or blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). In fact, these are more common causes of tachycardia in the GBS patient, and a careful search for these conditions should be made before attributing tachycardia to autonomic involvement. Treatment of tachycardia in GBS is seldom necessary, and any medical treatment should be used with great caution as it may lead to an abruptly slow heart rate (bradycardia), which is much more dangerous. It may be necessary to insert a temporary pacemeker to prevent bradycardia and maintain adequate cardiac output before treating tachycardia medically in GBS. Although bradycardia is uncommon in GBS, it can develop. Rates that stay consistently below 40 and 50 beats/ minute are potentially dangerous. An excessively slow heartbeat may necessitate medical treatment with drugs.

Cardiac arrhythmia can also occur in GBS. As with a tachycardia, it is imporatnt to consider other causes before attributing arrhythmia to an effect on the ANS. Reduced oxygenation of the blood due to respiratory failure, pulmonary emboli, electrolyte imbalance, and infection can all cause cardiac arrhythmia. If a GBS patient has an irregular cardiac rhythm, inadequate oxygenation due to problems with breathing amy exacerbate the arrhythmia, potentially turning a benign arrhythmia into a life-threatening situation. Thus, meticulous management of ventilatory failure and early mechanical ventilation are doubly important in patients with cardiac arrhythmia.
[/QUOTE]

Not sure if this is of any help, thought I would just type it out as an FYI.

I have had atrial fibrillation form around 1992 till last May. To make a long story short, they final got it under control with a combination of medicine and a pacer [a pacer is different from a pacemaker or a defibrillator] I have CIDP so I’ve asked the same questions. The betting money says that atrial fibrillation is something separate from CIDP. Of course they are still practicing medicine so that may not be correct in all cases. I hope this helps

Jim C [the following comes from an Internet search]

[FONT=”Comic Sans MS”][COLOR=”Blue”]What is atrial fibrillation?

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a type of cardiac arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is when the heartbeat becomes irregular or changes its rate inappropriately. An arrhythmia can occur for a number of reasons, but in cases of AF it happens when another part of the heart (often located at the pulmonary veins) tries to take over as the pacemaker. Many parts of the right and left upper chambers (atria) try to signal the heart to beat with rapid, irregular impulses. These impulses cause the upper heart to contract very rapidly, often so fast that the chambers “quiver” instead of “really” pumping. This fibrillation, or rapid contracting, of the atria interrupts the heart’s normal efficient pumping.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[CENTER][IMG]http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8531/hearttv4.gif[/IMG][/CENTER]

Greg, progress like yours gives us hope. Glad you have recovered so well.
Keep improving
Shirley

Greg,
Welcome to our family. MIght I suggest that you do not sleep or lay down on your left side. I have had slight atrial fibrillation for 25 years. I am a blonde of northern European heritage and we are prone to this. Twenty percent of American women have Af – they call it Click syndrome -and call us Click chicks! I can sit at the beach and tell which women have it. Our chests have a natural cleavage – those who don’t look like their breasts are glued on. I think there are other Middle Eastern countries where it is prevalent also. I have read articles that said people should sleep on their RIght side because sleeping on the left is not healthy for the heart and possibly causes unnatural heart beats. I have found this to be true. When I got GBS in 86 and in 2006 my heart went crazy due to the messed up electrical signals. I have since weaned myself off of the blood pressure pills. Taking the right fish oils helps keep the blood slippery (instead of thin) to prevent clots. I like this idea better than thinning it with Coumadin/bllod thinner.
My theory for GBS is that it hits when you are stressed out or have pushed your body too much. Was this the situation before you got it? You said you had two jobs. This is the only thing we all have in common – as far as I can see…. Carolyn

Had a GBS moment…..sorta…..I meant to say 20% of American women have mitral valve prolapse……when I would bend over to put down a golf ball, my heart would start to flutter. That is how I discovered it. It just means the connective tissue makes the valve sorta floppy……most of us have a mild version of it…..so it is connected to A F. It is still healthier to sleep on your RIGHT side…for everyone…..see if it makes a difference.

[QUOTE=Carolyn]Had a GBS moment…..sorta…..I meant to say 20% of American women have mitral valve prolapse……when I would bend over to put down a golf ball, my heart would start to flutter. That is how I discovered it. It just means the connective tissue makes the valve sorta floppy……most of us have a mild version of it…..so it is connected to A F. It is still healthier to sleep on your RIGHT side…for everyone…..see if it makes a difference.[/QUOTE]
Interesting….I happen to have european grandparents…mothers father is from London, mothers mother is of scottish decent. Fathers father is irish decent, not sure about fathers mother. My flutters have been around for many many years, but have happened more often since GBS. Especially when I am anxious or stressed. Always scares me!

Dear Fairly Odd MOther,
JUst look in the mirror at your cleavage. If it looks like a natural indentation instead of flat, you have mitral valve prolapse. When I went to get an exam in the hospital using sonar, the doc looked at me standing there and said I had it, but let’se see if it is bad. It wasn’t. I found that when I strengthened by body with supplements, the fluttering went away for years. You might be deficient in something. It’s funny how one or two little chemicals that are off give us symptoms. I hope I have explained it clearly..if not, let me know. It will take one second to tell.