afib [can you tell from SH?]

[jerry1967]

Does anybody know what afib looks like on the flow rate chart or any chart of a sleepyhead program?

[MyronH]

You will need some type of cardiac EKG or holter monitor to test for afib. Something like the Alivecor Kardia Mobile device. I have it and use it to test myself at least once a day. Last year I just got my APAP, using it for two weeks, and woke up with a crazy racing heart feeling in my chest. Went to the ER and was told I was in AFIB. It's a really weird sensation, hard to miss. Although apparently a lot of people don't feel it.

[PaulaO2]

An xPAP can't tell what is going on with the heart. You could perhaps look at the respiratory rate if it increases during an episode.

[mesenteria]

I agree with Paula above.  There may be a fairly tightly correlated breathing indicator when you are in full AFib, but maybe not, or it isn't a reliable and consistent indicator.  The only way to establish if a certain breathing pattern accompanies AFib too frequently to ignore would be to have a Holter Monitor or similar device taking measurements for every hour you are on PAP.  This would need to be done over several weeks to get enough data since I expect you don't go into AFib more than a few minutes at a time every other week or five...??

Fortunately, I don't seem to have had a recurrence of my own AFib after commencing a regimen of metoprolol.  I still go for a 45 minute run two or three times a week, getting my heart up to about 150 bpm.  It doesn't seem to bother my heart.  Are you taking a blocker of some kind to keep the fibrillations in check?  If so, it could be quite a lengthy period of monitoring before you can discern a pattern of breathing that accompanies the AFib. 

Even so, I don't believe you will find a strong correlation between the two.  During REM, yes, breathing most often changes, but I have no idea if REM and some types of dreams bring on AFib as well. Beta-adrenergic channel blockers, the beta blockers, are supposed to keep those under control in any event.