Lon's Natale Catheter Ablation

Well it's been almost two years since my ablation with nary a hip, skip or jump that I was aware of, and after 20 years of afib and having taken a variety of different drugs during that time, it's been a pleasant 22 months.
Last night however I was awakened at 1:45 AM with a very rapid and irregular heart rate and that old nervous, anxious feeling. I have no idea what could have triggered it. Fortunately, after sitting in a recliner with my feet up for a little over an hour, I self converted. I walked nine holes of golf and played water volleyball for two hours during the day and felt fine, went to a Pot Luck dinner and ate some food of questionable origin. Might have been something I ate, or maybe it's just that I am 78 years old and what can I expect. At any rate, I hope it will be at least 22 months or never before the beast is back. I sure don't like that feeling.

Hi Lon - Congrats on two years... With your recent blip or glitch, and with your post, you have actually diagnosed yourself. When I read it, I see contributing factors to an imbalance of the critical electrolytes.. ie, potassium may have been marginal and probably hidden sodium in the Pot 'luck' food and the extra exercise using up electrolytes... it figures. You and I are nearly the same age although my ablation was in 2003. Still, from time to time when I have become a bit lax with mindful eating habits, I've had a glitch or several over the years and for that reason, I wrote The Strategy report which describes how I managed breakthroughs in years, 4, 5 and 6 post ablation. Those tips should be useful for you, too.

My functional medicine MD also observes that as we age, some times kidney function is slightly less efficient at holding on to potassium and getting rid of sodium and that persistent imbalance can be very influential for setting the stage for the perfect storm that results in AF. She suggested making sure that I either ate very conscientiously from the potassium-containing food list and kept a daily log or use the potassium supplements (or both) to help keep the levels optimal enough so minor infractions from the sodium/salt insult would not be as likely to facilitate either ectopy or AF. For me, that helps significantly... you may want to experiment as well. While magnesium inside heart cells must be kept at optimal levels at all times, it is the potassium/sodium cellular ratio in the functioning of those ion pumps that stabilize our hearts by maintaining the voltage it needs for normal rhythm. In a word... it's all about potassium... (once you have satisfied the IC requirement of magnesium)... that maintains the voltage which equates to normal sinus rhythm.

Here's clip by Erling from last year referencing a Conference Room discussion about what stimulates arrhythmia which dovetails nicely into this post and should be useful to you along with the Strategy link plus the most important reading reference on the potassium/sodium pump function... CR 72.

Armed with these tips, your heart should get back to 'calm mode' again quickly, Lon.
Best to you!
Jackie.

Read on


June 19, 2012

Dysautonomia [en.wikipedia.org]

Quotes from CR Session 59 (2007) Dysautonomia and LAF [www.afibbers.org]

Hans: The late Dr. Philippe Coumel of the Lariboisiere Hospital in Paris discovered in 1982 that a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system also plays a major role in lone atrial fibrillation. He concluded that lone atrial fibrillation only develops when three conditions are met:

1. The autonomic nervous system is dysfunctional (dysautonomia)
2. The heart tissue is abnormally sensitive and capable of being triggered into and sustaining an afib episode
3. A trigger or precipitating cause capable of initiating an afib episode is present.

It is clear that dysautonomia plays a major role in lone atrial fibrillation. What is not clear is what causes the majority of cases of LAF. Early surveys have established that it is not viral illness, exposure to chemicals or trauma. So what is it?

James D: The conundrum I've always had is that, whilst I agree with Coumel's 3 points, I believe AF can also occur when only points 2 and 3 are true. (i.e. if points 2 and 3 are met you can go into AF with a perfectly normal autonomic system.)

Patrick Chambers, MD: With all due respect to Prof Coumel, I agree with James in that points 2 and 3 seem sufficient to initiate AF.

====================

Erling says: The answer is: None of the above are needed for the development of LAF (unless Coumel's point 2 "abnormally-sensitive heart tissue" is interpreted to include foreshortened refractory periods).

In 1982 Dr. Coumel would probably not have had knowledge of the early / developing science of the sodium/potassium pumps in the cardiomyocytes' plasma membrane, or know the implications for cardiology.

In 1986, the fully-developed science was published, but was effectively "disappeared" by morally corrupt powers of Salt, Food, Pharma, and Publishing. See "Why Haven't You Heard of These Developments?" [www.afibbers.net]

By 2001 the cellular/ Na/K pump science had been republished in books (1993, 2001) and brought out in journals.

In 2003 (CR 2), Jerry explained some highly relevant and important cardiac energy/ voltage/ pH details from published Na/K pump science, unfortunately without attributing the source. The science was obviously from Dr. Moore's 1993 or 2001 The High Blood Pressure Solution See CR 2, pp 20 - 21 [www.afibbers.org]

From 2003 to 2011 there is not a word about energetics/ voltage in the CRs.

By 2007 (CR 59) Na/K pump/ cardiac energetics/ voltage science per Dr. Moore (et al's) biophysics research had been published and readily available for 14 years -- clearly it should have been in the dysautonomia/ LAF causation discussion.

In 2011 (CR 72) Na/K pump science was finally applied to cardiac energetics and dysrhythmia, showing that inhibition of Na/K pump activity lowers atrial muscle cells' membrane potential (voltage), shortens their refractory period duration, while increasing intracellular sodium and excitatory calcium, and lowering pH, and by extension accounting for LAF initiation and perpetuation.

Better late than never...

Erling.


The Strategy - What Metabolic Cardiology Means to Afibbers
[www.afibbers.org]

Conference Room Session 72
Potassium/Sodium Ratio in Atrial Fibrillation (February 7 - June 11, 2011)
[www.afibbers.org]

Lon, you and I have similar issues. I had my ablation with Dr. Natale 29 months ago, and I am 77 years of age. Things were going quite well until January. I went to bed for the night, turned onto my right side and went into AF. It lasted a little over an hour and then converted without any assistance from me. Then, in February, during the night, another afib episode that lasted about 90 minutes before converting. I could not think of anything that might have triggered either of these events but it is disappointing--I hate having that feeling of anxiety that always accompanies the afib. I have not been on any medication for afib since the ablation and I've been very conscientious about keeping up with my potassium and magnesium supplementation. Hopefully, these episodes will just be a little blip and not a sign that afib is back for good. I wish you the best.

Laura