Couple of questions

Hello everyone.
I've been trying to lose weight for some time and I am succeeding but it is slow. As I've said

in the past, potatoes help me keep daily episodes limited (most of the time) although I have an

episode daily for 99% of the time. I need to lose weight a bit more quickly. I don't have any

wheat or sugar at the moment (limited fructose as well). I am extremely limited in what I eat

but I could live with that as long as I was losing weight and my afib was limited to just part

of the day. I want to change my diet but here is my worry: If I change then I may increase my

afib frequency running the increased risk of persistent afib setting in. On the other hand

weight loss could help enormously. All the research I have done is shouting at me that I should

lower my carb input and increase fat/protein. This would not have to start as anything too

extreme. I've looked at Ludwig and Gundry (who I know you are linked with GeorgeN). So my

question is does the frequency of episodes increase my chances of becoming persistent. If I do

become persistent could I still possibly have a successful ablation?.

I did have one other thought. My EP has offered to put me on Amiodrone but says it destroys

lungs, kidneys over time. I have resisted because of that. But I have wondered whether I could

take it for 6 months while I get this weight shifted. It's just a thought at the moment.

The other thing I wanted to ask was about getting an ablation at bordeaux. I am increasingly

leaning towards getting an ablation when I get my weight down. Does anyone know what is the

procedure. I am going to France next week and could call in to speak to someone but have no clue

what the process is. Even if they couldn't help me just yet I could line things up for a few

months.

The information I get from the forum is a constant source of help and support - thank you.

Castaway,

From what I've learned, losing weight is a matter of getting insulin down. Drivers of insulin include refined carbohydrates, starches and, to a lessor extent, protein. In this talk, Barbara Corky (researcher) notes that food additives may also be a driver <[www.youtube.com] So the first order of business is to eat real, unprocessed food, while minimizing excess refined carbs. An additional approach is to fast, as suggested by Toronto nephrologist, Jason Fung. Jason's 25+ part series on fasting starts here <[intensivedietarymanagement.com] This is a listing of all the fasting posts <[intensivedietarymanagement.com] as well as his book <[www.amazon.com]

In the long run, a much lower insulin level is the healthy way to go. However, there can be electrolyte shifts while adapting. Specifically, high levels of insulin signal the kidney to conserve sodium in the body. Conversely low levels of insulin signal the kidney to excrete sodium. This signal can be so strong the body also excretes potassium to keep the sodium potassium balance. If you decide to try this, I'd suggest supplementing with sodium (3-5g/day salt), magnesium and potassium. You also might start slowly.

BBC science reporter and doctor, Michael Mosely talks about a 5:2 approach (fasting two non-consecutive days a week) in this report <[www.youtube.com] This might be a place to start, potentially going to more fasting days if the afib is not increasing.

No way to predict how your body will respond. We are all different!

When I first keto-adapted, 7 1/2 years ago, I did get one afib episode from the electrolyte shift. Being keto adapted has not caused me any afib issues subsequently. I've fasted 22 hours/day every day since June 2015. I've had several 2 and 3 day fasts. In late November and early December 2016, my wife and I fasted for 7 days, again with no issues.

Good luck!

Contact info for the Bordeaux team is posted in the archives here.

George

Welcome Castaway,

For any afibber with excess BMI and body fat, a dedicated permanent life-style adjustment, including a healthy diet, that as George so rightly noted is based as much as possible on non-processed high quality foods and regular exercise, can be a major first step toward lessening to a significant degree one's AFIB burden. Recent studies out of Adelaide Australia and replicated now in several other centers around the world, show that overweight Afibbers who not only lose just 10% of their excess weight most often experience a very welcome reduction in frequency and duration of AFIB episodes ... some experience dramatic reduction AFIB, but only if that weight loss is durably sustained without the all too typical 'yo-yo' weight effect when people just try to use a diet to achieve a specific weight goal. Too often, not long after the goal is reached the person slides back into habits that got them overweight to begin with and the vicious cycle repeats.

Yo-Yo weight loss and gain can actually be more pro-arrhythmic. Thus, our strong recommendation to discover stable long term good eating habits that you can stick too and the same for sensible regular exercise. Dr. Gundry does offer some effective tools and insights. Chris Kresser has an informative website was well with largely good common sense protocols.

Are you in the U.K.? If you go to Bordeaux for adding an expert ablation process to help quell your AFIB, ask for Pierre Jais, Michel Haissaguerre or Meleze Hocini as the three most experienced and excellent EPs there.

I would not rush onto Amiodarone without knowing a lot more about your history, and from what you shared so far, if I were in your shoes I'd definitely partner up with the most experienced AFIB ablationist with a vast history of successful persistent/LSPAF AFIB ablation before going on a long term regimen of Amiodarone, especially if you are younger too (i.e. 50s and under). Amiodarone can be quite effective but, outside of a short period to address an extreme need, I would be very hesitant to go on that drug while other viable options remain as yet unexplored.

Regarding trying to predict when one might flip into persistent AFIB, you are not likely to have any more success at such a prediction than winning the Power Ball lottery. My best advice, if you have not yet embraced dedicated life style risk management as discussed on this web site, is to do so for a minimum of 6 months to a year maximum, including key heart calming electrolyte repletion as shown in:
The Strategy -Metabolic Cardiology protocol published in our AFIB Resources link by Jackie Burgess.

And if you do not experience dramatic reduction to your AFIB burden within the 6 mo to 1 year max time frame of dedicated devotion to following through with weight loss (if needed) and other life style risk reduction efforts a given Afibber might need to address, then by all means do not go on any more time avoiding starting that expert ablation process via excessive procrastination. Better at that point, to get thee to that most expericenced ablationist you possibly can arrange so that an expert ablation can give a real boost to your efforts at restoring durable NSR, while also staying consistent with all the improvements from the new healthier life style habits one has adopted as life-long changes, even if they were not enough to fully end your battle with AFIB alone.

Best wishes,
Shannon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2017 01:13PM by Shannon.

George - Can you direct Castaway to reports on reversing insulin resistance as that's a typical problem with stubborn weight gain? Until that pattern is reversed, nothing works. Ron Rosedale's report on Insulin Resistance is classic and his reference to the Leptin problem, but thought perhaps Dr. Gundry has some recent reports on the topic as well.

Also, Castaway... consider going gluten free and dairy free. Sensitivities to those produces a cycle of problems that include a high degree of systemic inflammation and that holds body fat and weight.

Everyone, and especially afibbers should work diligently to lower overall systemic inflammation as that significantly impacts heart health function.

Jackie

Jackie,

Ron Rosedale does have good info <[drrosedale.com] His book is a good resource <[www.amazon.com] This won't help now, but he has a new book coming out in October <[www.amazon.com] Gundry's first book is also good <[www.amazon.com] He also has a new book coming out in April <[www.amazon.com]

Fruit and fructose is also not your friend with insulin resistance. In this post <[www.afibbers.org] I reference the work done in Newcastle, UK. This has been referenced in Hans' International Health News a number of times. <[www.google.com] Essentially the Newcastle people put T2 diabetics on a very restrictive diet for 8 weeks. They were trying to mimic the effects of gastric bypass surgery. They did and determined that a very small amount of fat on the pancreas impairs its ability to produce enough insulin to control blood sugar. They were able to reverse this. As fructose is processed by the liver, fructose can add to this pancreatic fat issue.

However, in my opinion, blood sugar control is not the root goal - it is to have an ideal insulin response. At the risk of providing WAY too much information. Here is Catherine Crofts' PhD thesis <[aut.researchgateway.ac.nz] analyzing the Joseph Kraft data (linked in this post <[www.afibbers.org] ) Bottom line, exactly two hours after a normal meal, you'd like your insulin to be < 30 mIU/L (208 pmol/L).

And, since you think potatoes help you, Castaway, there is an effective approach to losing weight limiting your diet to only potatoes <[freetheanimal.com] (I've never done this and, for lectin and starch reasons, Gundry excludes potatoes from our diet).

George





George

Thanks, George. I agree that it is about insulin control and as mentioned, many people have plenty of insulin produced, they just can't get it working properly... ie, insulin resistance. Ron Rosedale talks about both insulin resistance and leptin resistance in this report: [drrosedale.com]
He says:

Leptin Resistance
Leptin resistance causes an increase in visceral fat. This smothers your liver
from receiving proper hormonal signals. Your liver is a very important
metabolic organ and when it cannot listen to signals properly -- for instance
from insulin -- it makes too much sugar contributing to insulin resistance and
diabetes.

Insulin and Leptin Resistance
Obesity is the price you pay to keep your blood sugars down. If you continue
making fat out of sugar, it takes sugar out of your bloodstream, keeping your
blood sugars low. You continue getting fat and having poor insulin sensitivity,
but are not yet diagnosed with diabetes.

However, your fat stores start leveling off. When you stop making fat and
finally stop becoming more and more obese, your blood sugars rise because
you have no place left to dump it into. A popular class of diabetic drug (the
PPAR gamma agonists) works by making more fat cells to dump sugar into.
They make you fatter but, once again, do not address the primary problem.

It is important to note that, contrary to the belief of almost everyone, the
public and medical professionals alike, diabetes is not a disease of
blood sugar: It is a disease of insulin signaling.


Also, many people have benefited from the help with leptin resistance as offered by late Byron Richards, clinical nutritionist,
[www.wellnessresources.com]

And his books on The Leptin Diet and Mastering Leptin.
[www.amazon.com]

Jackie

Hi Castaway,

I travelled from Vancouver, Canada to Bordeaux in 2005 and can highly recommend going there. Professor Haissaguerre operated on me. He along with Professor Jais and Dr. Hocini are among the top Drs. in the world. The contact person at the time was Laurence Bayle, who was most helpful and replied very quickly. Here is her email.
laurence.bayle@chu-bordeauxfr. I am not sure if she is still working with the Bordeaux team but hopefully she is. You will receive a full information package very quickly. Hopefully they can set up an appointment for you while you are in France.

Best wishes,
Lou

Contact in Bordeaux is no longer Mme Bayle. It is now stephanie.bentz@chu-bordeaux.fr

Her phone number is +33-55-765-6471

Gill

Thanks for the Bordeaux contact info Gill. I wasn't sure if Laurence was still there or not. I will make a note of it.

Lou

Hi Shannon thanks for your reply. First let me apologize for the the delay in responding you your helpful reply. My life has been a bit all over the place in recent weeks.
I am in the process of trying to change my lifestyle. I felt that eating potato was helping me but only to an extent. I am going to try and be more low carb without being extreme to reduce my insulin levels in accordance with what others have suggested. I have been trying to change things for a while with some success but I need to do more - yes Chris Kresser's site looks interesting.

I have been investigating an ablation. If I am not successful with lifestyle changes then that will be my path. I have a bit of a dilemma regarding ablation. I am based in the UK and have been offered an ablation in Birmingham Queen Elizabeth hospital. The EP I saw seemed very knowledgeable and told me that he and his 4 colleagues were exceptional at what they do and some people I have spoken to said they were good. But when I asked who would be doing the ablation he said that because I would be on an operating theatre rota he couldn't be sure. Based on what I have studied mainly on this site this worried me a bit. He said he would isolate my pulmonary veins. I feel a bit uncomfortable with this. Alternatively I could go to Bordeaux and be much more aware of who was doing what. I would have to pay for this but it would probably be the best service available to me. I am temped to bear the expense and go for the second option. If my daughter was asking my advice I would say to her go to Bordeaux because as I have seen you write elsewhere, you only have one heart. I have been procrastinating over this for a while.
many thanks
Kevin

Thank you Gill for the information. Sorry for the late reply. I read some of you story in another post. I too hate taking this medication. I've been in touch and they've sent me a questionnaire.
many thanks
Kevin

Thanks for getting back to me Lou
Kevin

Thanks for your help Jackie. Sorry for the late reply. I have been mainly dairy and gluten free for a few months with only the occasional transgression. I think it has helped. I think the leptin stuff looks quite interesting and will take a closer look at that. At the moment I am trying to change to a lower carb intake which means leaving out potatoes but nothing too extreme.
many thanks
Kevin

If you go for an Ablation I would not choose the Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital. They only do PVI (Pulmonary Vein Isolation) and don't have the very latest equipment where all the heart is mapped and the catheters are inserted using giant magnets and computer.

Bordeaux has this equipment but so does Dr Sabine Ernst at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London & you should be able to get referred there under the N.S.H. I envy you because that's something I can't do!

Google Dr Ernst and on her website you can watch an excellent video of the operation.

Sam

Thank you Sam. That is really helpful for me as I have been so very indecisive about what to do. I could just go to Birmingham and get it done quickly and without cost but I would much rather get the best possible job done. As I have been referred to Birmingham and offered an ablation there I'm not sure how easy it would be to switch to Dr Ernst but I will definitely take a look - along with my Bordeaux inquiries.

Kevin

Hello George thank you for all the helpful information and apologies for the late response. I have now switched to a lower carb diet and have been surprised at the results. I have been event free for most of the days and then it starts at night but sometimes it will go and come back (well you how crazy unpredictable it all is). I'm hoping as I settle in to my new regime it will ease in the evenings as well. Have been looking at Dr Gundry as well (my daughter is a recent follower) and my try some of his ideas. I am mainly gluten and dairy free and using Magnesium, Taurine, Potassium vitamin B complex, vitamin C and a few other things.
Kevin