"what to do"

My medical coverage is under the Veteran's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, FL. It is a very in & out mentality there. No quality time to spend discussing options with doctors due to overwhelming patient care needs and understaffed, especially in cardiology. When I do attempt to try and approach any of my doctors there, like my primary care, my gastroenterologist, or cardiologist about my many health issues, they all take attitude like there the doctor and I need to stop looking up info to try and gain more insight to my health issues, like they're put off by my researching. I found the Lone A-fib info online while looking to try and find my own answers to what I should do. I am tired of having to go to the ER at the VA hospital anytime my A-fib kicks in to a certain level, and when I read some info on this site on how it could be set off by nutritional difficiencies, my eyes opened. I tend to have interrelated bouts of what feels like allergy related Irritable Bowel onsets, A-fib, joint/muscle pains, etc. I only received a very basic RASTS blood test for food allergies, not the extensive ones that I know exist because I work for LabCorp and have seen just how extensive RASTS allergy blood test can get. The attitude with the doctors is like, well just experiment with different foods and keep tract on how they affect you. That is easier said then done. My cardiologist, when and if I can even get an appointment with her, acts like I'm fine and just keep on the Soltalol and Coumadin and now & then we may just have to adjust the dosage of Soltalol. I feel when I lay in bed at times a funny kind of electrical pattern which I think may be attributed to the Soltalol. I have thought about drafting a letter to Veteran's Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi who was mentioned saying he promised steps to improve cardiac care at VA hospitals. The article was given to me by my Dad in the AARP Bulletin vol 44 #5 5/2003 entitled Vet's Heart Care Not Up To Par; VA Vows Change. I've considered self healing with things such as Cocoon GH growth hormone and have fallen for many products out there being sold for health needs, expensive natural products. I'm even strongly now considering finally going for a Colonic for the benefits I hear it has for overall health and cleansing. Obviously I take my health seriously and do not feel doctors have the answers or care about exploring options to obtain a patient's optimal health in the purest way possible. Could that be because the "Drug" Industry governs the medical industry just as "OPEC" governs the energy industry? Some insight on what to do next and/or how to approach my VA doctors would be a great help.

Hi Jack

Your story is familiar to lots of us here. Lots of us have been there. I don't know if it is worth getting very expensive allergy testing done (although it would be interesting) - the main reason is that you may be having a food intolerance.

[www.niaid.nih.gov]

You may like to try the paleolithic diet for a couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks you can start introducing one thing at a time back into your diet. MAke sure you give yourself 24 hours a least before introducing something else and record any reaction - eg stomach cramps, headache, increased heart rate, or even foggy or thick thinking. These are all signs that you are intolerant to what you have introduced. I did this to find out if I was intolerant to anything else after I discovered my body could not handle free glutamate and gave me AF. I have stuck with the basic paleo diet as I was intolerant to them all.

The paleo diet eliminates all food additives including preservatives and flavour enhancers such as MSG, as well as grains (includes rice millet quinoa etc), beans (includes cocoa, coffee as well as string beans) dairy, sugar and potatoes. You can eat all the FRESH meat, fish, and veggies (that don't need to be cooked to be made edible), nuts and eggs (unless you know you are allergic) and fruit you like. You can also use olive oil, coconut oil, lards and drippings etc, and have raw honey maple syrup in moderation - but keep away from vegetable and sunflower type oils, heat treated or pasteurised honey as they are far too processed.

Quite a few on this board are now following this diet as it seems to help them too.

Fran