Alcohol in the Blanking period redux

Sorry, I couldn't find a way to make my addition to the original topic very visible..

I have the same question. If the PVI cut off the electricity why would alcohol be a trigger unless there is some other point generating the stimulus? I've read that it can be anything from a week to 3 months for the scars to heal or thicken enough (in the case of 3 mths). So, in my case, the EP said he'd be very surprised if AF returned based on some outcome testing I'll find more about when I have a follow-up visit. Meanwhile, I was back to red wine for a couple weeks and finally, after being blissfully in NSR as I reported yesterday, I got a bout of my pre-ablation ectopics followed by 60 bpm AF. Got rid of it with Flec and Diltiazem. This about 3 weeks out from the PVI ablation. So I guess I should've followed this thread earlier, but while I hear what Natale said, and realize he's the best in the business. I don't get the underlying logic.

However after last night I'm going to follow it. My own EP said nothing about it, but then I haven't spoken to him for more than a minute or so since the procedure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2012 09:41AM by afhound99.

I found a recent (Oct 2012) article on use of Colchicine to reduce inflammation and early reoccurrence after ablation.
Perhaps alcohol is just acting as an inflammatory.

[www.theheart.org]

Alcohol is cardiotoxic ... its an irritant to myocytes including pacing cells. Go there at your own risks.

PVs are not the only source of AFIB triggers so even with a perfectly sealed PVI of all four PVs ( which is not at all always achieved even with what looks to be a non-conducting PVs while still in the ablation), drinking alcohol can and apparently often does stimulate problems with either inadequately ablated original trigger points or areas, and/or contributes to on-going degeneration of previously quiet areas to the point they now become electrically active as trigger points in the mischief sort of way.

As you noted, Dr. Natale has a whole lot of experience and thus is a reliable Doc to listen too in this area. He told me that alcohol is the single biggest thing to avoid either before ablation if you have AFIB and after ablation as well to help insure you are doing everything you can to support your ablation and not possibly undermine the efforts.

Nevertheless, I notice that most people need to learn this one the hard way. I know its easy to get complacent as the days in NSR continue to accumulate. That is why I just suggest abstinence on the alcohol issue. Just start to view it as an unfortunate poison for your heart and leave it at that and find other substitutes for the pleasures and enjoyment it used to bring you.

If it helps in the effort to abstain, then know too that just two glasses of wine a day will reduce your anabolic hormone production/cellular assimilation by up to 40%!! That includes endogenous testosterone, growth hormone, DHEA, estradiol in women and Melatonin, and it also negatively impacts cortisol production as well as conversion of thyroid T4 into T3.

Not really worth the buzz, especially for us Afibbers.

Shannon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2012 12:04PM by Shannon.

afhound,

Alcohol unbalances the autonomic nervous system [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Hans

My AFib episodes started soon after I took up the habit of 1 to 2 weekly drinks of champagne (my reasoning at the time was that champagne was something to consume to keep me out of more dessert and candy, so it served as a dessert substitute). Fortunately champagne is the only alcohol I really like (I don't like the other, more common forms of alcohol).

But it is interesting that, in reading all this information about the possible connection of alcohol consumption to afib, I realized that my AFib episodes started after my weekly champagne habit. Prior to that, I only drank champagne at special occasions (at holiday parties or on my birthday or wedding anniversary). However I haven't noticed that drinking alcohol causes AFib soon afterwards (it did on one occasion about a year ago, but I'd been eating a lot of cookies with my champagne).

In recent months I have stopped the champagne habit. And, the more I read about the possible effects of alcohol and AFib, it makes me think maybe I should give it up completely. Maybe alcohol is something I just shouldn't have.