My first trip to see EP

Well went to see Dr Ernst at the Royal Brompton: what a lovely person. I am sitting here with a Holter on, I wondered why it had not been done before, and am due to go back next week for results and investigation. For the first time someone has made sense to me of my heart arrhythmia (I have very frequent ectopics). I was in a bot of a 'state' but I think she believes that in my case there is a very strong link between the ectopics and the development of AF and is keen go after the ectopics first (which is fine by me since they are a constant irritation and according to some that have looked at them also so frequent that the effect my heart function). I have always been reassured and told to ignore this 'benign' condition before last night. Well if it leads to my Afib it is certainly not benign and I have always felt there was a gap between what the practitioners felt about my extra beats and what I experienced.

All in all wix sh I had gone to see her many moons ago when the ectopics first became an issue but then that was in the very early days of ablation.

Good report! Glad you pursued the visit with Dr. Ernst.

George



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2015 09:56AM by GeorgeN.

Les

Glad you were happy with the consultation. When does the next step happen?

Gill

I am back in again next Tuesday TEE and then a bit later seeing Dr Ernst. One thing she noted was that I was in SR but there was no visible P wave (worry worry)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2015 03:28PM by Don Quixote.

Ectopics are benign, unless they progress into AFIB/Arrythmia. Ectopy, (Pac's) is one of the things that have to happen for the AFIB process to start. Sounds like she did a good job, of making sense out of what is going on with your condition, whereas your previous Dr.s had left you with a fragmented and incomplete understanding. I saw one of her presentations on YT, she is a Dr. that it easy to understand.

Les - Be aware that PACs - shortening of the refractory period or the time between heart beats - is promoted by low intracellular potassium levels. If your diet is low in potassium and high in sodium ... that prevents potassium from doing its job. If you are low in intracellular magnesium, that prevents potassium from working as it should. Also if you are high in intracellular calcium that is excitatory and blocks the calming, relaxing feature of magnesium. Typically, cardiologists and EPs do not look at the fundamental assessments of intracellular electrolytes, so the best you can do yourself is assess your daily dietary intake as an initial step in determining where your deficiencies or overabundance might lie as a consequence of dietary habits. Alcohol depletes magnesium and most prepared foods are loaded with sodium. Your drinking water may be high in calcium. Many afibbers find it is difficult to eat enough mineral-rich foods in a typical day so they need to supplement with both potassium and magnesium.

While you are awaiting your next steps with Dr. Ernst, you can read the very relevant and important report in Conference Room 72 about the role of potassium in Afib... and just do a general search of other posts on potassium, magnesium, electrolytes etc. That way, whatever Dr. Ernst has planned for you has the best chance of success when your intracellular electrolyte levels are optimal at the time.

Potassium/Sodium Ratio in the Role of AtrialFibrillation
[www.afibbers.org]

Jackie

Thanks Jackie, I had noted some of these and am taking Mg supplement at the moment. I do eat a lot of green leafy stuff, mostly from the shops at the moment but I also grow my own I have a little plot (allotment in the UK) which supplies a lot of our needs and I am in control of the soil nutrients. It seemed a good idea to build a solid base of Mg. My diet should be fairly K rich anyway so would have to think carefully about supplementing that. I parted company with alcohol more than a quarter of a century ago. At the moment I think that high Gi foods might not be helping...pure sugars in particular so I am working on reducing those and building Low Gi foods instead.

Hi Les - I'm glad you are aware of the electrolyte connection and influences on Afib and are eating healthy, fresh foods. Wonderful that you have your own garden... I love growing my own veggies when weather permits. You're smart to be aware of the GI influence as that definitely uses up magnesium and potassium just for the metabolizing of glucose so you want to spare that and put the nutrient into your heart cells instead.

Best to you,
Jackie