Barry G. ECG printout

Thanks to Rocketritch advising me how to upload an image from Postimage I attach my latest ECG printout for any of our experts out there to hopefully interpret ate. I do so as the docs in the A&E at my local hospital declared that the ECG showed no Afib and no Atrial Flutter. Several posts from members of the BB have convinced me that I do have Atrial Flutter and will proceed along those lines. This does highlight that with these arrhythmias DO NOT accept everything you are told but to get a second opinion if possible.

Barry G.

Oh yeah, that's flutter. Look at leads II, III and aVF. See the waves between each QRS? That's typical flutter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2019 01:28AM by Carey.

Hi Carey. Thanks for the info and confirmation of Atrial Flutter. The graph would look just the same to me upside down.

Barry G.

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Barry G.
Hi Carey. Thanks for the info and confirmation of Atrial Flutter. The graph would look just the same to me upside down.

Barry G.

I'm with you. I just got the Kardia and have tried doing research on ECG readings.

I have learned there are P, QRS, and T waves.

I'm wondering why sometimes the "QRS" is shorter sometimes.

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katesshadow
I'm wondering why sometimes the "QRS" is shorter sometimes.

The width of the QRS measures how long it takes for the electrical signal to travel through the ventricles. It's usually measured as the distance between the Q wave and the T wave and is therefore called the QT interval. An abnormally wide QT interval is an indicator of heart disease, and can also be caused by some drugs.

Hi Carey, you definitely appear to be the man for these ECG printouts.

I find your point about the QT interval interesting, would a normal QT mean there is no occurrence of heart disease.

I ask because when I first started out on this Afib/AFL journey the doc said I had a heart calcification score of 105 (400 is very high) however that 105 was scattered around my heart so no big deal at all which probably meant I was a true Lone Afibber. I doubt they use that method of calcification scoring anymore as it was carried out in Macau China 2006.

On finding out I had some calcification in my heart arteries I went on a dramatic exercise to clear the arteries by very large daily doses of Vitamin C up to 10,000mg per day along with 4000mg of Lyscine and 1000mg of Proline as per the recommendation of the Linus Pauling protocol. I followed this protocol religiously for until I was freed of AFib in 2010 when I gradually dropped the Lysine and Proline but still take 3000 of Vit C Crystals daily purchased via this websites connection with the iHerb store. I have often wondered if the protocol cleared the arteries and for sure I seem to have a Rolls Royce RB211 mechanical heart with problematic notorious poor English Lucas Electrics.
So Carey how does my QT shape up in your opinion if you would care to check for me no matter good or bad result.

Cheers Barry G.

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Carey

I'm wondering why sometimes the "QRS" is shorter sometimes.

The width of the QRS measures how long it takes for the electrical signal to travel through the ventricles. It's usually measured as the distance between the Q wave and the T wave and is therefore called the QT interval. An abnormally wide QT interval is an indicator of heart disease, and can also be caused by some drugs.

I should have said the "height" of the QRS. Does your answer still apply?

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katesshadow
I should have said the "height" of the QRS. Does your answer still apply?

No, it does not. Height of the QRS and QT interval are two completely different and unrelated things. Explaining the difference would almost require a course in EKG interpretation. Suffice it to say that the height of a wave on an EKG is a measure of voltage, either positive (up direction) or negative (downward). What the voltage level means depends on many, many things and there's no simple answer.

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Barry G.
would a normal QT mean there is no occurrence of heart disease.

No, sorry. There are plenty of other ways heart disease can manifest itself on an ECG, including no signs whatsoever. You can be in the midst of a major heart attack and have a perfectly normal ECG. Your ECG, including your QT, looked perfectly normal to me. I saw nothing I would be concerned about.

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katesshadow
I should have said the "height" of the QRS. Does your answer still apply?

Height (Y-axis) is voltage and that’s going to depend heavily on the individual. It really doesn’t mean much. Realize that a surface EKG is measuring the electricity flowing over the heart from the outside of your body. Through muscle and skin. That’s going to be lossy. The timing (X-axis) of things is way more important.

I’ve loaned my Kardia to several folks and seen some who are high voltage and others who barely move the needle at all. They’re all doing fine.

Hi Carey, that must be the best reply I have ever had on this forum since 2006 ;-)

Cheers,
Barry G.

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Barry G.
Hi Carey, that must be the best reply I have ever had on this forum since 2006 ;-)

LOL... Reading it again it I see it didn't quite come out the way I meant it. Glad I could add something to your day.

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Barry G.
Hi Carey, you definitely appear to be the man for these ECG printouts.

I find your point about the QT interval interesting, would a normal QT mean there is no occurrence of heart disease.

I ask because when I first started out on this Afib/AFL journey the doc said I had a heart calcification score of 105 (400 is very high) however that 105 was scattered around my heart so no big deal at all which probably meant I was a true Lone Afibber. I doubt they use that method of calcification scoring anymore as it was carried out in Macau China 2006.

On finding out I had some calcification in my heart arteries I went on a dramatic exercise to clear the arteries by very large daily doses of Vitamin C up to 10,000mg per day along with 4000mg of Lyscine and 1000mg of Proline as per the recommendation of the Linus Pauling protocol. I followed this protocol religiously for until I was freed of AFib in 2010 when I gradually dropped the Lysine and Proline but still take 3000 of Vit C Crystals daily purchased via this websites connection with the iHerb store. I have often wondered if the protocol cleared the arteries and for sure I seem to have a Rolls Royce RB211 mechanical heart with problematic notorious poor English Lucas Electrics.
So Carey how does my QT shape up in your opinion if you would care to check for me no matter good or bad result.

Cheers Barry G.

Hi Barry, i'm interested in this!
While my calcium score is a bit lower i'm not sure how to go about improving it and if that is even desirable?
A calcified plaque is not a problem for the average person but a soft ('hot') plaque is. In order to reverse a calcified one i assume it has to become soft again?
In any case a CIMT (carotid intima media thickness) investigation would be more helpful (but i can't find anybody in Melbourne who knows what i want - except a major hospital and they only do it for research )
Anyway, has your coronary calcium score returned to zero after what you've done???

Hi Joe. I have never heard of CIMT but have just googled it and it seems a bit too intricate for me to follow up on in detail. I try to keep things very simple so with regards to blocked or calcified arteries this is my take from extensive readings on the subject around 2006 and 2007 when I became a disciple of the Linus Pauling Vitamin C / Lysine/ Proline protocol which was claimed to clear calcification in arteries Warning I can sense a long story coming on but I will minimise as much as possible.

Firstly this forum previously titled the Bulletin Board was primarily set up by Hans Larsen for Lone Atrial Afibbers because these afibbers had no known reason for the Atrial Fibrillation whereas the vast majority of afibbers had some heart disease issues which was causing the AFib. The idea was for these Lone Afibbers with otherwise healthy hearts to share their ideas and ways they had found to stop an episode.

To move the story on, in my early visits to the local cardio doc he gave me a drawing of my heart just identifying the major artery routes around and through my heart muscle - looked just like a drawing of the roots of a tree, and where he had found any calcification he had marked it up on the drawing in pencil, there were no complete blockages anywhere. It was very clear that all the calcifications were sited at junctions between adjoining arteries and none along a smooth straight section of artery.

The cardio doc said he seriously did not think the calcifications were causing the Afib however I decided to totally clear my arteries if I possibly could though the doc said there was no way of clearing them.

In my none stop researching on AFib I came across the Linus Pauling Protocol which suggested that to reverse heart disease high dose Vitamin C was needed to repair the collegen that the arteries walls are made from, Lysine and Proline was added to the mix to dissolve the plaques as the arteries started to repair. I started full throttle with the protocol but to be honest it made no difference to my AF burden , a sign that maybe I was a true Lone Afibber with no known cause. So do I still believe that this protocol may well help clear block arteries that may be causing Afib in regular afibbers with some form of heart disease and the answer is a definite yes and I will give an example of that below.

If you are still reading this marathon then this is a quick story regarding an American guy I worked with in 2010/2011 on a large power station here in Hong Kong. At the time I would tell stories to mates about Vitamin C et, et, etc and all the benefits to be had and hopefully with a fair bit of humor thrown in to keep things interesting. I never hid the fact that I had had Afib and at this particular time I was preparing to return to Bordeaux yet again for ablation No 5 to eliminate once and for all the possibility of Left Atrial Flutter ever returning in my life. I had had a successful cardio version for the dreaded Left Atrial Flutter maybe 2 months previous and all was fine but after talking with Bordeaux it appeared there was a big chance that LAFL would break out again and there was no way I was going to risk that.

So the day before I set off to France again one of the top guys in the American company I was working for pulled me to one side and said " I hear you take some stuff for your heart and is it possible you could get me some as I had a triple heart bypass 12 years a go and the Doc says I need another urgently but I am putting him off as I can't go thru all that again. I then realised why he always travelled around site in one of the 4 or 5 Golf Carts we had, mainly for visiters. I gave him new containers of Vit C and Lysine the same day and paid me the money, he could not wait the week that I would be away in France.

So the first day I got back from France I walk in the office reception and see the guy mentioned above jogging up the stairs to the first floor where we both worked, he gave me the thumbs up sign before disappearing up the stairs. This had me wondering so I made my way over to his office and said Hi Chuck - his name was Chuck for UK readers - I just saw you jogging up the stairs and he said yes things have totally changed the Doc has cancelled a further bypass indefinitely. He was a new man within 2 weeks a truly successful example of the Linus Pauling Protocol. I could tell a story of another guy working on that site, personal friend, who was diagnosed with Left Ventrical Hypertrophy and 8 months after taking a daily high dose combined mixture of Vit C, Lysine and Proline as advised by the Vitamin C Foundation webpage the Hypertrophy had gone, a story for another day.

Cheers
Barry G.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2019 04:08AM by Barry G..

Thank you Barry, like the anecdotes!
Would be nice to know if their improvement is due to better glucose control, inflammation reduction or whatever. Doubt that aterial plaques would clear up in a few weeks?

Hi again Joe. By keeping my posts as short as possible I miss out many other points that may well be highly relevant.

I must first clarify that the guy needing the heart bypass was 100% sure that the Vit C had made major inroads into clearing his arteries and his new found wellbeing and presumable his doctor believed as well to actually cancel an urgent case of an additional heart bypass operation. In my earlier post I did not make clear that I was away from work for TWO weeks ie.1 week in France and a further week off work as a resting period before I saw Chuck jogging up the starirs.

I do not have any idea if the heart bypass guy and the Left Ventricle Hypertrophy guy improved "due to better glucose control, inflammation reduction or whatever" but they obviously improved dramatically and that's probably all that matters and also that was the claim of the Vit C protocol.

I understand your doubts regarding plaques clearing up inside a few weeks however another point I can add is that I have spread the Vit C story far and wide and to date three guys not known to each other have told me they have to take great care these days when shaving as their newly renovated skin was so much softer. Following that line of thought, if your skin has become more smoother / softer would not the same be happening with all other collagen dependant tissues i.e. arteries.

There was one article in the Vitamin C Foundation webpage were Linus Pauling says that one of his friends started taking big doses of Vit C for some heart issue but was not getting any improvement. This was in the earlier days of the protocol and it seems only Vit C was being used. Pauling then suggested the guy include high doses of Lysine -3000mg ish - and the guy reported within a few weeks a great improvement of his condition. Vitamin C for artery Repair / Lysine for dissolving plaques??

Anyway Joe looking back to your earlier post I can advise that I have never found out whether my calcium score has gone down or up since that first result of 105 in 2006.

P.S. I would just like to add a little note here - for any interested newbie - regarding cholesterol which I believe forms the base material of a plague inside an artery. If my memory serves me correctly there is no such thing as bad cholesterol, just HDL and LDL both good. With your heart twisting and turning thousands of times a day over the years they start to crack, primarily where arteries branch off each other and also primarily the arteries on the outer surfaces of the heart which naturally will be doing the most twisting and turning out of shape. The LDL in the bloodstream comes along and patches up the cracked artery from the inside but at the same time blocks the artery somewhat and therefore gets a bad rap when really it is stopping you from bleeding to death. This crack point is obviously a weak spot so later a new crack next to the old plaque develops and LDL comes to the rescue again to plug the gap. This continues until the artery is fully blocked. It is the never ending job of HDL in the bloodstream to try to erase the plaques as the artery try's to repair itself so earning itself the title good cholesterol. It was Linus Paulings claim that Lysine, a natural component of eggs and beef, does the job of the HDL but faster.
P.S. I stand to be corrected as its years since I was into this stuff.

Cheers,
Barry G.

Interesting stuff, Barry. Thanks for sharing!
Finding out why it worked is just my hobby but the fact it worked is all that matters - as you said.

Hi again Joe.

Yes I also could consider my interest in health issues, especially alternative information, as an hobby. I make my own Lugols Iodine15% for instance - can only buy 2% in the US - and have been taking one drop a day for the last 4 or 5 years. I once read that iodine deficiency is a cause of Afib hence my getting deeply into the subject.

Just remembered another thing about cholesterol and the heart bypass guy. In that first conversation with him I also expressed my belief, though I am no doctor, that cholesterol lowering medications were a con as your body decides just how much it needs i.e. if your intake of cholesterol via your diet is high then your body produces less, if your intake of cholesterol via diet is low your body produces more. Anyway the guy apparently took my 'advice' onboard and stopped cold turkey - not my suggestion - whilst I was away from work for two weeks. On my return he said all his leg pains had totally gone since he stopped his cholesterol meds, hence the jogging up the stairs. At some later stage I think his doc convinced him he should take the medications but instead try another brand of cholesterol lowering drug.

cheers, Barry G.

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Barry G.
I once read that iodine deficiency is a cause of Afib hence my getting deeply into the subject.
.

Yes, but over-supplementing it can also bring on AF in some. I was one. I’ve had two recorded episodes post ablation. The first was in April 2018 and lasted about 7 hours. I had recently increased potassium iodide (liquid) supplementation to 1g/day. After the episode converted I stopped the supplementation for a couple of months. I then decided to be scientific about it, as the episode was a cake walk and I’d lost my fear of AF anyway, so I reintroduced the same potassium iodide supplement at the same level. About a month later I had an AF episode that thankfully only lasted a few minutes. I dropped the supplement to 250ug/day and have not had a repeat since. My ablation was in August of 2015, so I believe I’m far enough away in time to safely say that wasn’t a reconnection of the PVI ablation but rather the iodine. I’d expect a vein reconnection to get worse, and it’s been over a year now.

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wolfpack

I had recently increased potassium iodide (liquid) supplementation to 1g/day. After the episode converted I stopped the supplementation for a couple of months. I then decided to be scientific about it, as the episode was a cake walk and I’d lost my fear of AF anyway, so I reintroduced the same potassium iodide supplement at the same level. About a month later I had an AF episode that thankfully only lasted a few minutes. I dropped the supplement to 250ug/day and have not had a repeat since.

1g to 250ug, wow, that's a factor of 4,000 (or did you mean 1mg).

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GeorgeN
1g to 250ug, wow, that's a factor of 4,000 (or did you mean 1mg).

Yes, 1 mg. A 4x increase. Thank you for the correction.

4000x would only be employed in the event of a radiological disaster! AF be damned in that case.

Hi wolfpack. I certainly agree that there is always a possibility of over dosing with iodine like anything else however I have been taking one drop a day for the last 4 or 5 years with absolutely no adverse reaction whatsoever. The one drop I take every day apparently provides a dose of 12mg iodine so well up on the Recommended Dietary Allowance, RDA, but well down on the relatively massive doses of iodine that used to be used in hospitals for everything years ago. It is worth mentioning here that the RDA for Vitamin C is something like 90mg a day whereas many believe we should have a Vit C dietary intake of say 3000mg minimum as per our closest relatives the great apes. I used to take 10,000mg vitamin C daily for months and though it did nothing for the AFIB my skin was as smooth as a babies bottom :-)

I hear what you are saying and will stop taking the iodine today, I had already considered this myself, as nothing ventured nothing gained though I really doubt that it will stop the Atrial Flutter which is still running along at 80BMP resting.

With regard to my own condition of recently going into Atrial Flutter I am totally convince that it was caused on the rowing machine by starting up too quickly and strongly after an uneventful first 45min weight training - so fully warmed up. Highly likely a gasket has blown and needs repair rather than too much iodine in the vicinity, if so any successful cardio version could well be only a temporary measure of respite from the AFL :-(

As George has mentioned in his post surely you were not taking 1gram of potassium iodide a day as if so that could likely be the cause of the two re-occurrences of your Afib. If the 1 gram was a typo and 1mg is correct then I would have thought 1mg to be so small as to be insignificant.
P.S. Lugols Iodine which is what I take is a combination of iodine and potassium iodide.

Cheers, Barry G.