Hello

Hi everyone. I thought it was about time I introduced myself to the phorum. I've been looking in for a while now and found a lot of interesting stuff. I have had a diagnosis of paroxysmal afib for just over a year but in reality I'm aware of arrhythmias long before that. Sometimes I'd feel my pulse and think that's odd but those times I would not have noticed if I hadn't felt my pulse. The first time I got it in a very noticable was when I was doing the Atkins diet. I have had weight problems for about 15 years and started Atkins. After about 6 weeks into the diet I woke up one morning and took a swig of sparkling Pelegrino and boom my heart went haywire. It was scary because up until then I was just used to coffee palps (ectopics?). I lasted about 6 hours and just went. I continued with the diet and the afib was regular and scary. Fizz was a trigger and so was lying down flat. I stopped the diet after a few days and my heart returned to normal. The same happened again on a diet involving fasting and returned to normal on restarting my regular diet. The third time it happened I persisted with my diet for a month because I really do need to lose some weight but when I inevitably returned to normal eating the afib stayed.

I have an episode of some sort on most days. It seems to be influenced by my diet often when my blood sugar got low - I'm not diabetic. Early on I found that certain foods would often get rid of it, especially fried and potatoes but these have not been good for my weight. Usually when it kicks in it's here 6 to twelve hours sometimes longer sometimes shorter. My theory is that I have some kind of Mag/potassium deficiency and for me my diet is very influential. I am currently trying a plant based diet and it's helping but I have to lose weight and the weight and afib are often in conflict. I would prefer to be on a low carb diet but am not sure whether that would make things worse. When I was doing low carb last time I didn't know as much about supplementing mag a potassium even though I had heard they were important - also perhaps I got the fat/protein balance wrong..

I am currently trying to build up my mag reserves with mag chloride spray/footbaths, mag glycinate/malate tablets and mag water (including drinking it concentrated). I take some potassium chloride/bicarb/gluconate - about a gram a day. And I'm eating steamed potatoes. I take some Taurine as well. I sometimes drink coconut water (how bioavailable is the potassium in that?)

What I really like about this forum apart from the broad spectrum of knowledge is that people are willing to try/discuss alternative solutions. If I don't get to the bottom of my problem I will get an ablation but I would at least like to try some other things first. I am based in the uk and will be able to get an ablation here but a part of me thinks that if I have to have one then I would like to go somewhere with a top drawer record. I think US prices my be beyond me but I have seen that quite a few people go to Bordeaux (don't know how I would go about that?). Hopefully I will find a solution before I have to ablate. One other worry is that if I don't get a solution soon I will slip into persistent afib (reducing my chances of a successful ablation?).
Kevin

Hello Kevin, and welcome. Thanks for sharing your story.

I have several questions which I'll ask later, but wanted to share with you my experience from long ago when the Atkins diet was newly popular here in the US. I and several others thought it sounded healthy and decided to follow that eating plan. There were three of us and one reaction we all experienced was driven by hypoglycemia. Two, had what was similar to a panic attack and I had arrhythmia. We all stopped the diet and two normalized quickly. Many months later that year, I had a second arrhythmia attack and that was the beginning of my saga. Coincidentally, I had changed to a holistic MD who was new to our locale and 'holistic' was virtually unheard of.... so he checked many things that our traditional MDs did not.

Also, coincidentally, he had personal experience with stress-driven hypoglycemia and coached me how to stabilize and maintain glucose levels while treating and normalizing the fluctuations in cortisol surges caused by my stress levels. All of us worked in high-stress jobs, so that began a new approach for all of us to work on adrenal function issues.

I'm just relating this because my first question to you relates to your stress level... or perhaps a pre-diabetic situation where you have big swings in glucose levels. High carb (sugar and starchy) foods... such as potatoes, bread, cake ...as well as alcoholic drinks are typical triggers in those who tend to be hypoglycemic.

It's important not only to have generous servings of protein for each meal, but also to have healthy fat at every meal to help avoid a dip in blood glucose levels.

Most afibbers need to push up the dosing of magnesium to bowel tolerance and maintain just below that level consistently. It can also be useful to supplement with potassium if your daily intake is low. But, also important to reduce sodium intake at the same time...so the potassium can function. It's suggested that the ratio of potassium to sodium be at least 4:1. When a log or diary is kept, most people are shocked to learn how high their sodium intake actually is when every food is calculated for content. Coconut water is excellent for potassium, but the problem is...again... some brands are high in sugar. I found one that had only 3 grams of natural sugar and 440 mg of potassium in 8 oz.

There are precautions you should consider about helping to prevent your blood from being 'thick and sticky' which elevates the risk of adverse clotting when the heart is in arrhythmia for hours at a time. If you haven't read here on that topic, you can start here: [www.afibbers.org]

Be aware that "biochemical individuality" plays a big role in variability of how people respond to suggestions on natural treatment since none of us are identical in age, health status, dietary habits, stress, exercise, genetics and so on...so our personal testimonies just serve as guidelines for you to consider when sleuthing out your associative triggers.

We are all here to try to help so continue to share and ask questions.

Best to you,
Jackie

Hi Jackie
thanks for getting back to me. I've read quite a few of your posts over the last few months and found them very helpful. I'm just looking at "the strategy".
It's very interesting that you had the arrhythmia with Atkins as well and I've just noticed we both started at 59. I went to see the cardiologist for the first time in December and had a cat angiogram (?) which told me that I had some plaque. I thought I had better try to make sure I didn't make my heart any worse and went on the starch solution diet which is mainly starchy vegetables and no oil or animal/fish protein. My blood sugar is now swinging around a bit and I'm reconsidering whether I should change my diet again. The diet seems to have helped a lot of people. I think if I could lose some significant weight things would get better for me. I test my blood sugar regularly in the mornings and it is consistently low.

Yes I am trying to get my magnesium levels up. It's funny but when I saw the second in command cardiologist and asked if it was ok that I was taking magnesium she said "What does that do?". I was a bit taken aback.

I am taking Rivaroxoban to deal with clots.

thanks again
Kevin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2016 02:26PM by castaway66.

Kevin,

As to ablationists in your sphere, I'd rank Bordeaux first. However a reasonable second would be Sabine Ernst (and likely paid by the NHS?) <[www.rbht.nhs.uk] at Royal Brompton.

One note about low carb diets. They work by reducing insulin. When insulin is high, it signals the kidney to conserve sodium, when low to excrete it. The excretion can be extreme enough that the kidney will also excrete potassium to keep a balance. So a low carb diet should not be a low sodium diet. Supplementing with sodium, potassium and magnesium is in order. I've run my diet as ketogenic for seven years. During conversion to upregulate the ketone enzymes, I did experience an afib episode. This was before I knew about the sodium connection as I was supplementing with potassium and magnesium. I've not had that issue since, I continue to supplement with magnesium and a bit of potassium. I also liberally add sodium chloride to my food, though my sense is that my biggest problem was during the conversion period. My fasting insulin is now at 2, so fairly low.

George

Hi George
thanks for getting back to me and for the information on ablationists.

Yes I remember reading something by Volek and Phinney that said salt sometimes stopped palpitations but to be honest I was so ignorant about levels of Mag and Potassium supplementation that back then it didn't help. I was only taking one Magnesium malate tablet a day and agonised over whether to take a 99mg postassium supplement. Were things worse for you until you changed your diet? Sorry I'm a bit green in this area but do measure your own insulin levels?

Kevin

Kevin,

No, my wife and I consult remotely with a doctor in California. We have blood drawn and shipped to the two labs he uses a month or so prior to our consult. More details on our program in that link and the links that are in that post.

I know in the US it is possible to order lab tests through 3 party companies that you pay and they will send in an order to the lab. I have done this in the past. Not sure about the UK. I thought I remember somebody on another site posting about being able to do this in the UK.

George

Thanks for that information George. I read through the links a yes I can see you are very disciplined with your diet. I listened to a couple of podcasts from Dr Gundry and there is some interesting information there. I may try his diet in the future. Wow there is a lot of stuff to get to understand. I have skimmed over much thinking/information but I am starting to believe I should have a much firmer grasp of it all.

How can you tell if you're vagal? My two biggest triggers are food and posture related. If my blood sugar gets low (like you Jackie) then there is a good chance of an episode though in the past it has also started without low blood sugar as for example when I had say porridge and coconut oil. When i drink fizzy water it can start, instantly. However the main current triggers are from posture. If I lean back to far in a chair there is a good chance it will start. Similarly when I lay down at sleep time it will either start within 5 minutes or an hour or two into the sleep. I have an episode during sleep 95% of the time. I am going to be tested for sleep apnea but I think my weight plays a big part (5' 9" 260#) I've even considered sleeping upright. Recently I've been getting it after a walk. I do a local walk of about 2.5 miles and I'm fine when walking but when I sit down in the car to drive home it starts.

Kevin

Kevin - What you describe is typical of vagus nerve impingement in the area of the diaphragm. When that area becomes "scrunched" because of posture in combination with fat accumulation in that area the vagus nerve is affected. Often if it is already irritated, it will be virtually an instant trigger for AF. I learned this connection after receiving chiropractic manipulations for diaphragm displacement and vagus nerve "over-sensitivity." As a result of using beta blockers in the early stages of treating AF, I had gained abdominal adipose tissue (fat) at the waistline from becoming insulin resistant due to the beta blockers. I stopped those, lost weight and with the diaphragm correction and the nutritional approach from The Strategy, plus alkalizing with the WW and restoration of low levels of Vitamin D, I made good progress in reducing the frequency of the AF events. So much so, I nearly cancelled my first ablation procedure.

I'm re-telling this story to you as incentive to do all that you can to start losing abdominal adipose tissue which is undoubtedly putting great postural pressure on your diaphragm (and thus the vagus nerve impingement) and keep your focus on optimizing your stores of magnesium, potassium and taurine to help stabilize.

The report was posted 12 years ago... on the connection to Hiatal Hernia and Vagus nerve, here's the link. [www.afibbers.org] Not saying you have a hiatal hernia, but the report serves to help understand how and why an irritated vagus can trigger AF, especially as you describe your experience with your posture triggers.

Read this link and follow the others in the post and and read the responses as well.

Steve Rochlitz, PhD is the author of the initial report and he now has a website and a really good report published in 2012 [castlehighkingdom.proboards.com]
And a book on on the topic published in 2013. [www.amazon.co.uk]

Also, along with the weight loss diet, take steps to manage the sleep apnea as that can be a trigger for AF all on its own.

Jackie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2016 01:15PM by Jackie.

Thanks Jackie that's a really helpful reply.
Kevin