Welcome to the New Bulletin Board

Welcome to the new LAF Bulletin Board. The old one has accumulated almost 20,000 postings over the past year. Lately it has become unstable and difficult to administer so I thought that I had better archive it before it collapses.

Please use this new board for any new postings and for continuations of old threads. The old bulletin board will continue to be available in the archives (www.afibbers.org/bbarchives.htm) and can be searched as before.

Hope you all like the color scheme :~)

Hans

Ooops just posted on the old one. Its vivid.

Fran

Hello Hans and Fran,

I like the new colors, and found it interesting to go back into the archives and read Fran's first post. Boy, Fran, you've come a long way. I'm impressed.

In regards to copper, I have high levels, with low levels of zinc, based on a hair analysis. Low tryptophan and B6 causes malabsortion of zinc, but hopefully that will turn around, with my visit to Dr. Gersten on Oct. 14.

In reading a question on your International Health News about excess B12 and folate, I found the answer for you, Hans. It's from the book "The Healing Nutrients Within", by Dr. Braverman. Here's the quote from pg. 90.

Methionine is Key to Healthy Folate Levels

The relationship between methionine and folic acid deficiency has been a subject of controversy for years. When the body is deficient in methionine, the liver will only metabolize histidine to form inoglutamate, an incomplete form of folic acid. From this information, researchers have concluded that methionine is a key factor in regulating the availability of folate--the natural form of folic acid found in food--and is not utilized properly when methionine is lacking. Dark green leafy vegetables and whole-grain products are good sources that are abundantly available.

When methionine levels are low, folate becomes trapped in the liver. This also occurs in cyanocobalamin (B12) deficiency. Spector and colleagues have further identified the metabolic relationship of methionine, cyanocobalamin, and folate in the brain. Thus, a deficiency in methionine can cause temporary folic acid deficiency because the folic acid can't be used.

It appears that dietary protein restriction of methionine and other amino acids results in alterations in the acitivity of folate methionine pathway enzymes. Tissues in kidney and spleen are affected first. The liver and brain are spared, however, demonstrating that an origin hierarchy is formed during nutritional deficiencies so that the body's "more important" organs are often saved from damage.

In my own urine test, as you may remember, I was the very lowest in methionine, but I also had very low homocysteine levels, as well. I truly believe that many of us are lacking in sulfur. I don't know what my B12 and folic acid levels were, but that would be interesting to know.

Thank you for an enlightening AFib report, as usual. I especially like the dietary survery. That was very interesting, esp. in regards to potassium and the ratios of Ca/Mg.

Richard

I just wanted to try the new board....Checking....1......2......checking....1....2......I do believe it`s working...And VERY nice colors to boot....Lime green and aqua....ahh.....Thanks Hans.....PS, I`M OFF OF FLEC.....(The crowd roars.)But seriously,it`s been 3 days...Goodbye Flec..goodbye.You served me well but your services are no longer needed...Your cousin Toprol is next...Beware..

Well done...very readable.

Like the new look Hans. Fashionable colours. I'll be glad when i've had my Cataract done less than 2 weeks. Then i wont have any problems trying to read messages, i did on the other board as well, but i normally copy and paste them and enlarge so can read later. Now printer is working again after mmmm 4 months can print things off at last.

Another 20,000 messages on its way :0)

Babs

Good morning Hans, and thank you for continuing to host this wonderful and valued forum. A small query however. Because some of the links posted have such long and complicated addresses, I wonder if it would be possible to highlight them so they can be opened with a simple click. This would make things a lot easier for computer illiterates like me.

Regards , Nick

Thanks Richard

You made me go back and re-read. I wrote then I had had AF for 15 years -but it was 20. I hadn't tied the heart beat issues prior to having seizures at this point as I was still a diagnosed epileptic (disproved later) and although I suspected/knew the two were connected was told emphatically that they were not. In fact they used to get quite pissed off with me when I kept saying that I knew they were connected as they felt the same.

I'm so glad I found this board as it was this board that gave me the courage to go out on what seemed like a limb at the time. A big round of applause for Hans!! Prior to this I followed what my Dr's said to a T and was wondering why I was getting worse instead of better.

Its interesting that you have high copper levels in your hair. Had you considered your water supply?

Here is a link about water supplies and copper pipes. I also wonder if when you wash your hair in water contaminated by copper pipes if that could affect levels. I know I don't drink out of my taps, but I do have to wash in it

[www.ianr.unl.edu]

Also Copper toxicity is usually due to:

[www.diagnose-me.com]

excessive supplementation
the increasingly common problem of low levels of zinc in the diet
contaminated food and drinking water due to contact with metallic copper
external exposures such as a copper IUD or accidental agricultural overspray
elevated levels of estrogens.

and

The best means of testing for copper toxicity are 24-hour urine copper or serum ceruloplasmin level tests. Red blood cell copper levels may be a good test to measure increased copper levels as well. Hair levels of copper are not very helpful in detecting increased body copper because of external contamination. If contamination is ruled out, hair copper is suggestive of body state.

Fran

In the old days, before atrial fibrillation, you new vibrant colors would have been hard on my eyes on an early Sunday morning -- I drank too much!! That is the ONLY positive aspect to having AF: I never have hangovers!

Fran,

Thank you for the info. You're right about the copper hair analysis, and I'm having a different test done to verify this. I should have those results when I meet with the doctor on 10/14. It'll be very interesting. My wife and I both tested with Zinc Tally, which is a drink you hold in your mouth. Neither of us tasted a metallic taste, which did indicate zinc deficiency. I have been drinking from the tap lately, as we are on a well, on a secluded peninsula, and I feel the water is pretty good, being next to salt water, but when I had my hair analysis, I was drinking reverse osmosis water. It could be from washing under hot water with copper pipes, though.

You're right about having this forum. Many thanks, Hans. Without it, I don't know where my life would be. It was success stories like yours and Erlings, that gave me hope, so my gratitude is to all of you, who have given me strength and shared your knowledge so unselfishly. I believe that strength comes in numbers, and we become stronger everyday, by way of knowledge.

Richard

Nick,

I have tried to see if I could make text links "clickable", but it just does not seem possible. The simplest way to get to a link is to highlight it in the posting with your mouse, copy it, paste it in your browser's address box and click on it there.

Hans

Thanks for the advice Hans - I guess that's the sort of thing I should have known already. I'll try it next time.

Regards, Nick

Hans,

Anyway to "sort" new items to the top of the board or "filter" out threads with no new items. Those options are pretty stand for databases - don't know anything about bulletin boards, though. It's not a big deal. Just thought I owuld ask.

Bill B

Bill,

As far as I know there is no way of accomplishing the sorting with this particular type of forum software.

Hans

Hans, the new look of your bulletin board is very beautiful, but the bright colors sure do murder my eyes...I must find a way to tone it down a bit. Peg

Richard:

You mentioned a ligh level of copper as measured in a hair analysis. In my first hair analysis several years ago my copper level measured extremely high which had me quite concerned, partly due to the dire diagnosis provided by the lab. Since then I have had hair analyses several times a year to monitor my copper and mercury levels. (Initially my mercury level was also very high.) I found that my copper level is low in the winter, and very high in the summer. The high levels are due to contamination from the copper sulfate algaecide used in our pool! This is in spite of the fact that I rinse my hair thorougly in the shower after each swim, and wash it thoroughly before taking a sample for the hair analysis.

This experience, together with the little research I've done, led me to the conclusion that because of the likelihood of contamination, hair analysis is essentially worthless except for heavy metals like mercury and arsenic.

Incidently, the lab I now use for hair analysis points out the possible sources of contamination for the elements that measure high. The lab I first used only pointed out the dangerous consequences and told me what expensive supplements I must order from them to correct the imbalance.

VPS

VPS,

I was told of possible contaminants, and we do have a pool, but my test was taken in the winter, and the levels were high. It could very well be from standing under the hot shower, and I do like to stand there a bit longer, so hopefully one of my other tests will indicate something different. Do you know if copper sulfate, in your pool, is absorbed into the body? Thank you for pointing this info out.

Richard

Richard:

No, I don't. But at the least it seems to attach to the hair very strongly.

VPS