First Post - Just had first cardioversion

Basically 5 AF events a month apart from June 2019 - Oct 2019.

In October went into persistent AF, had first cardioversion this AM.

Currently in NSR for first time in months.

Taking MulTaq 400mg 1X daily and Met Suc 50mg 1X daily and Eliquis 5mg 2X daily.

Goal now is to stay in NSR as long as possible and avoid having to have an ablation.

Steven has worked with me offline with his Omega 3/calcium/Vitamin D protocol and I am continuing with that while I take MulTaq.

Avoiding: stress, alcohol, caffeine, high levels of exercise.

Near normal hsCRP, weight loss is a focus, staying hydrated.

Any tips to help me stay in NSR would be welcome. Do's/Don'ts etc.

Thank you.

Welcome NotLyingAboutMyAfib!

Could you provide some background like age, whether you exercised a lot (or not at all), hypertension, T2 diabetes or any other comorbidities.

{edit} This is a summary of what I suggested to my 34 year old son in law and it is working well. I've been basically following this, with success (though my magnesium tolerance and intake is much higher than my SIL's), for 15 1/2 years.

Steve has a good program and I'm glad you are in contact with him!

George



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2020 02:26PM by GeorgeN.

Age 57 - first AF event at 56.

High level (Olympic class athlete) for 8+ years.

I believe my AF has multiple contributors: pericardial fat, OSA, (now on CPAP and declining hsCRP levels for last 8 months) and possibly some one-off use of an energy drink in May 2019 - a few weeks before 1st (noticed) event or use of an appetite suppressant previously tolerated and loosely managed hypertension and T2 diabetes. All of that reversed with a low carb paleo whole foods diet.

Nothing I tried was able to bring me back into NSR until getting shocked today. I would have done it much earlier but a series of bad cardiologists, insurance change, and scheduled travel delayed me getting the referral and appt.

I'll check out your guide. Thank you.

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NotLyingAboutMyAfib
Nothing I tried was able to bring me back into NSR until getting shocked today. I would have done it much earlier but a series of bad cardiologists, insurance change, and scheduled travel delayed me getting the referral and appt.

If you could get a script for on-demand (PIP or pill in pocket) metoprolol and flecainide, it might be very useful if it works for you.

I chatted with my SIL this weekend. Things are still going well. Another trigger for him may have been getting over full when eating. He says now, he gets the feeling (after overeating) that used to precede some afib episodes. It may last for 3 minutes, but no afib now. He takes this as a good sign - the gut still reacts to the overeating, causing a vagal response, but no afib results. Energy drink use may have also contributed (also now completely stopped using).

If you maintained significant activity throughout adulthood, that is very likely a contributor. While I never exercised at your level, chronic fitness was certainly my main path to afib ~16 years ago at age 49. In my case, the product of duration and intensity were the trigger. I can do long duration relatively low intensity exercise or short duration (like Tabatas) high intensity, but can't combine intensity and duration. I have had a subjective sense of how much is too much. When I started coaching my SIL, I tried to quantify what I was doing. The Zone 2, MAF & nasal breathing are the result.

My SIL now feels really good. He's been training at the MAF protocol level for some time now and making progress (i.e. he can do more at that heart rate).

Good luck!

George

I will be taking MulTaq on a regular basis and try to wean off of it in a few months. Right now my primary concern is not going back into AF until heart is 'trained' to NSR again.

AFAIK there's no taking PIP flecainide if I am on MulTaq. I have a high CAC score so Flecainide isn't the best drug even though I tried and tolerated it for a month.

Good to hear these methods are working for your SIL.

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NotLyingAboutMyAfib
AFAIK there's no taking PIP flecainide if I am on MulTaq.

Yes, correct - can't double dip.

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I have a high CAC score so Flecainide isn't the best drug even though I tried and tolerated it for a month.
.

Not sure if the CAC score would preclude it. In any case, not appropriate to consider till off the MulTaq.

George thank you. Now back in AF and I have flec and met suc. I did try this for a month with no luck. The problem is making the transition from multaq to flec after NSR ends. There is always a lag. Carey identified that my cardi wrongly told me to take metsuc with multaq so that might have been a factor. Half life of Multaq is 13-19 hours so I might try one PIP dose today and see if it hits. Thinking it over.

You would need 4 days to fully wash the Multaq out of your system. Might get away with 3.

That's where I am at right now. But still just considering. Thanks for the input.

I did go ahead and take 1 50mg metsuc and 2 150 flecs are sitting on the counter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2020 12:12PM by NotLyingAboutMyAfib.