Post Ablation PAC's and Magnesium Intake

My name is Greg and I am new to this forum so Hi to everyone. I have been dealing with Afib for many years and just recently had a PVI Ablation. I am almost 3 weeks post and for the most part things are going ok. The next morning after the procedure I was in Afib all day and went back to NSR that night. I was good for the next several days but then I started to get pac's almost constantly and every second or third beat was a pac. I know pac's are very common after an ablation but I had also increased my magnesium intake from about 800mg to 1000mg. I feel I was maybe getting to much magnesium? I noticed my breathing was quite shallow and was able to stop the pac's after taking some deep breaths but they would come back quickly. I was wondering if anyone else have had pac's while taking larger amounts of magnesium. I have been taking lots of mg for years and never really had any problems. I am also taking Prevacid and I understand that blocks some of the mg absorption so I never thought I was taking too much. In the past couple days I cut back on the amount of mg and have noticed less pac's. I am also taking a 2.5mg bisoprolol and 3 x 150mg of propafenone but my EP wants me to stop both at 6 weeks post. Any thoughts or comments would be great.
Thanks
Greg

Hello Greg - Couple of questions for background with your afib history. Regarding your magnesium supplementation, and since there are many forms, what form are you using? ie, .. such as magnesium citrate, magnesium malate or gluconate or amino acid chelate? and Do you have healthy kidney function?

Typically, with magnesium dosing, it's fairly easy to determine if you are using too much as it usually results in bowel tolerance issues at the higher doses which vary by individual and according to current depletion status and factors that deplete magnesium rapidly such as stress, medications, high calcium intake and other chemicals, and alcohol ...just to mention a few. Your dose of 800-1,000 would cause bowel issues in many, but others can take considerably more with no problems. As you have noticed, your dosing levels produce varying symptom results so stick with what dosing level seems to work well for you as there is no set standard dose or 'one size fits all' dosing mandate. We often say here that "we are experiments of one" insofar as what works as well as what dosing works best.

Also keep in mind that the post-ablation Blanking Period is typically considered 3 months but can extend somewhat longer for some so symptoms can continue. When you are stopping the prescribed meds, sometimes it's helpful to
just wean off gradually rather than stopping abruptly and yet, others stop all at once without any problems.

There are nutritional protocols that can be useful and are offered in the report called The Strategy. When I wrote that a number of years ago, I neglected to include several items that had become so automatic for me that I forgot to mention. One is the importance of maintaining an alkaline tissue pH which can be easily achieved by making and using the homemade version of magnesium bicarbonate water concentrate which is then added to pure water (avoiding tap water chemicals.) Another can be the importance of optimizing Vitamin D depending on your test levels and if you are exposed to adequate sunshine daily as vitamin D has so many benefits in heart function.

You can find The Strategy, reports on magnesium, potassium, taurine and the magnesium bicarbonate water at this link along with many other important and useful relevant reports. [www.afibbers.org]

If you have questions on The Strategy, you can send me a Private Message or PM and I'll try to help clarify for you.

Be well,
Jackie

Hi Jackie, thanks for your comments. I have been taking 300mg of magnesium citrate in the morning and 400-600 mg of magnesium glycinate in the evening. I don't normally have any issues with this amount. No kidney problem either. After the ablation I took an extra 200 mg of glycinate and that was when I noticed the pac's more. Even in the past few days I have backed off and have been pretty much in NSR. I know there are so many variables and I am always hoping I can find something that will work to calm everything down. I believe my afib is vagal mostly and almost always have upset or bloated stomach when I have episodes. I also have been able to use stomach remedies to help me convert back. It's been 3 weeks post ablation so I want to start to exercise again soon and hope that will also help. I know I just have to be patient and wait it out.
Thanks you,
Greg

Hi Greg,

3 weeks post ablation is WAY too early to be drawing conclusions about anything. My heart did everything from PACs to PVCs, triple axels and backflips!

It's going to be a minimum of 3 months - maybe even 6 - before things settle enough to infer cause and effect with regards to supplementation. Take it easy on the exercise, too. Bull-headed me jumped on a treadmill 8 days after the ablation and was rewarded with 20 minutes of AF.

Your heart has been through a lot. I like to put it this way - if I branded your arm or leg with a cattle iron, how long do you think it would take before everything was back to where it felt like it never happened?