Dew, I experienced atrial fib a little over a year ago one morning. It was very strange. My chest felt tight and I couldn't get a measurable pulse as my HR was too erratic. I put my Polar heartrate monitor on and found out that my HR was in the 150's range (pretty hard running pace, 85% of max HR). Then I checked into the hospital ER to get diagnoised. In my case, the Afib was not brought on due to my age or poor health (hypertension, heart problems, etc) but possibly by the fact that I have a low resting heartrate (mid-40's at rest -- as I'm an athlete, and possibly because I'm a type-1 diabetic and prone to low blood sugar events which could trigger an A-fib response).
So now I'm taking a cardizin (calcium channel blocker) pill each day for the rest of my life. First shots, now pills! Guess I'll do what I have to do. I am appreciative of medical science, that's for sure!
That article is right on in terms of the hidden dangers to elderly women and even men. My father also experienced A-fib but his was due to his age (in 70's) and somewhat elevated blood pressure.
