LAA

How many have a "chicken wing" LAA?

The shape of the left atrial appendage may have something to do with the risk of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, researchers found.

Of the four shapes characterized by researchers, the one called Chicken Wing carried a 79% decreased risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), according to Andrea Natale, MD, from the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin, and colleagues.

[www.medpagetoday.com]

Liz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2018 03:30PM by Elizabeth.

That finding is from 2012. This is of concern for me because my cardiologist never asked for an image of my LAA . He just prescribed the cookie cutter usual.
BTW, an interesting Sauna study at the end of your link, Liz
Thanks for posting!

Natale just read my CAT scan from 2 years ago when I had my LAA isolated.
Guess what ...I have a chicken wing morphology but I suffered a TIA 7 years ago before my first ablation.
Thankfully it was a 5min episode where I couldn't speak, a micro-infraction that had no lasting damage.
Maybe if I had one of the other three i'd be paralyzed or dead but nontheless I suffered a stroke!

McHale

LAA morphology has been discussed here previously, here is a search and most of the hits are relevant <[www.afibbers.org]

Quote
Joe
BTW, an interesting Sauna study at the end of your link, Liz
Thanks for posting!

The sauna study is interesting, it rotated off the link, so here is what Joe was referring to: <[www.medpagetoday.com]

Dr. Rhonda Patrick has looked at this a lot. She interviews Dr. Jari Laukkanen, who has studied this a lot here <[www.foundmyfitness.com] and she has more in this search: <[www.google.com]

The development of heat shock proteins appears to be very beneficial.

I'm guessing an afibber with adrenergic triggers might need to be cautious with sauna use. As an afibber with vagal triggers, I like them. I converted a 2.5'x4' shower with a sliding glass door to a heat lamp sauna with 4 250-watt heat lamp bulbs. I insulated the sauna walls and ceiling with Reflectix brand aluminum foil insulation which sandwiches a thin layer of bubble wrap. I used this guy's ideas for the lamp board <[drlwilson.com] but I have four in a diamond pattern. The interior temp of my near infrared heat lamp sauna is far lower than the 100 deg C in the study. Mine is typically in the 105 deg F (40 C) range, can get has high as 115 F. However my oral temperature typically raises 2 deg F which is similar to what happens to my oral temp when I use a traditional sauna at the rec. center. Not sure what the air temp of that sauna is. In my sauna, it takes about 6 minutes for me to start sweating profusely. My sessions are usually 12 minutes facing front to the heat lamps, then I rotate 90 degrees for 6 minutes and continue to rotate 90 degrees every 6 minutes, finishing with 6 minutes again on the front.

Another possible way it may be useful is providing radiant energy to "structure" water. It appears that most of the water in our cells as well in our blood may be structured. Here is a lecture on structured water by Dr. Gerald Pollack <[www.youtube.com] In the second video on this page (8:31 min in duration): <[www.pollacklab.org] Dr. Pollack notes that blood cells are larger than capillaries. Hence how do they fit and move. Possibly the charge separation caused by the structuring of water?

Thanks for these very relevant links!
I'm thinking of installing (DIY) a sauna. Not quite sure what type. Infrared sounds good but the EMFs???

One of the take outs from listening to the Finnish Cardiologist's study is the frequency and temperatures (4 -7/week and 79 deg. C.) for maximum benefit. No lower cutoff for temperature benefit was mentioned? Also, the baseline was 1 sauna session per week.

Apart from all the cardiac benefits it's also said that it balances autonomic nervous system function which is of significance for afib.

Quote
Joe
Thanks for these very relevant links!
I'm thinking of installing (DIY) a sauna. Not quite sure what type. Infrared sounds good but the EMFs???

One of the take outs from listening to the Finnish Cardiologist's study is the frequency and temperatures (4 -7/week and 79 deg. C.) for maximum benefit. No lower cutoff for temperature benefit was mentioned? Also, the baseline was 1 sauna session per week.

Apart from all the cardiac benefits it's also said that it balances autonomic nervous system function which is of significance for afib.

Far infrared can have a lot of emf. My near infrared are just heat lamps. I have a emf meter that test for RF, magnetic fields as well as electrical fields. Mine tests very low on all three. I had a far infrared sauna and it was off the charts with emf. These are the bulbs I use: <[saunaspace.com]

As to temperature, the near infrared sauna works differently than a traditional sauna. In a traditional sauna, the air is heated, which heats you. In a near infrared sauna, most of the heat goes into your body in the form of near infrared radiation. I can't tell you that the results will be the same, all the studies have been done on traditional saunas. What I did was test my oral temperature response (with a mercury thermometer) to both a traditional and near infrared and they were essentially the same. In fact, I usually start sweating sooner and more profusely in the near IR sauna.

I wouldn't guarantee it is the same response, but it seems good enough for me.

Good to know, George!
Wonder if a hot bath makes for the same results? That's what i've been doing so far when i feel a cold coming on. I have the water as hot as i can stand it and my body temperature (mercury thermometer in mouth) goes up to 40 deg C. (normal body temp is about 36.6) for as long as i can bear it (not more than 5 min)
Did the same when i had permanent afib because i was desperate and didn't know what to do. Needless to say, it didn't fix it but didn't make it worse either.