Hi everyone,
I've really learned a lot reading everyone's posts and the papers on this site, and I'm very grateful for that, thank you.
As a newcomer, I've noticed two things here that I think might be worth mentioning in order to possibly be of help here. They come from my own research, which is obviously not professional grade.
First, as the researchers in Adelaide have discovered, lifestyle is a major component of the contributing factors to any kind of arrhythmia. While many of us run/bike/workout X number of minutes a week, have a BMI of ______ and don't or do eat certain things, what strikes me is how the lifestyle checkboxes here don't seem to be tested the same way serum electrolytes or physician's reputations are and the assumption is that if I have some positive lifestyle factors, it's necessarily good for me and my condition. Aside from a couple of posts I've read, the lifestyle choices seem much less examined than the supplementation or procedure choices (that's the best way I can put it.)
If it's too much, not enough, wrongly applied, or connected to something unhealthy, it's not good for us, no matter if it's magnesium or jogging. If having a certain weight is an emotional issue, losing weight over that amount could possibly overcome the lighter weight's benefit. Stopping smoking can produce so much internal short-term stress that the person could suffer consequences that make it very challenging or produce secondary, unanticipated problems that they need the bandwidth to survive. (As GeorgeN points out, his adoption of keto had some potentially triggering stress.) So like electrolytes, changing or having a certain lifestyle choice is complex, personal, and has a high degree of effect on our conditions.
Everyone here is so helpful, friendly, willing to share and educated. I wonder, could we share those stories, methods and results too?
Both related and secondly, it feels like to me (and apologies if I've missed it) that stress is at least as big a factor, and the methodology, resources and effects aren't a big part of the discussion here. Sincerely and with respect, I do not mean this as criticism, I mean that compared to what I have discovered on my own, through research and experimentation, leads me to believe that if a bad email, a loud but unharmful noise, or bad news can immediately change your heart beat or rhythm, then how we deal with the lifelong, difficult and personal issues of stress are at least as important as everything else.
I'm personally fascinated by the connection of stress and our physical condition - it relates to some of the work I do professionally - and I specifically note a lot of connection between my couple of bouts of a-fib and my own personal experience with stress. Maybe this is another thing to share and explore?
Thanks again to everyone for all the posts and information.