First successful test of Steve Carr's protocol? (Outside of family members)

As some visitors to this site may have noticed, I have made a bit more serious effort in the last month or so, for the first time, to get a few people interested in my successful method for eliminating afib and ectopics by diet alone, without use of ablation or medication. (Previously, I had only tested my dietary protocol in my father, my son, and most extensively myself -- more details at my website and/or this Topic thread on this Forum ).

As far as I know, since I provided info on this Forum over the last month or so, a handful of others are on the way to giving it a try -- with varying degrees of thoroughness.

Well, I may be jumping the gun a bit here (but I'm understandably very encouraged by this report), but a US gentleman has emailed me of his (early days) considerable success. This is his (de-identified) latest email to me, with all relevant parts quoted in full (minus several emailed charts of blood test results -- he is an engineer and has been very thorough -- which I may also post if anyone can tell me how to do that). The blue bits I have inserted for clarity. The red section was his own colouration and bolding :

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Steve,

Latest chart. I overshot the 64 ng/ml serum VitD (~160nmol/L) target and went to 68 (~170nmol/L)! And did it rather quickly too! I took the test 2 days earlier then my projections would have indicated me achieving the target of 64. I have ceased taking D until it drops to 64. Not sure how fast that drop will take. Hoping you have some insight into that time line.

Saved the best news till now - 3 DAYS with no arrhythmias! NONE at least that I can feel. Seven months of increasingly stronger ectopic beats that by Nov were constant 24/7... are GONE.

I am still hesitant to call victory, but it sure is looking very positive.
Thank you Steve for all your assistance no matter how this turns out.

Latest serum tests show
Sodium 138
Potassium 3.7
Calcium 9.0
Vit D 68 (went from 61 to 68 in the last 5 days) Letting it drop now to 64 and then begin maintenance dose.
A few charts plotting my progress. I keep close watch on my critical indices when I am changing meds / vitamins / minerals / diet.

Even watching it very closely I overshot my Vitamin D target this week. I will retest in a few weeks and when down to 64 will begin a Vit D 5000IU daily regimen during the rest of the winter, then a little less come summer. The intent is to stay in the 62-64 range. [The approx natural blood plateau level reached by anyone with heavy sun exposure -- ie the natural "solar saturation" level enjoyed by almost all of the millions of ancestors that each living individual has.]

The arrhythmias began in early Aug 2019 and were quite steady and severe by Dec 2019.

Calcium intake is averaging just under 500mg daily. Never over 500mg. Sometimes as low as 200mg. [Actually, from the detailed daily chart he has supplied me, which I would like to have posted, I calculate his average daily Ca intake as 346mg/day for the last ten days, which would be by far the most relevant intake-days to his current outcome.] 9 - 9.5mg/dL is my Ca blood test target range. If I drop below 9 I will raise my calcium intake.

I put this chart in to show how my Co2 levels dropped to the mid 20's from the low 30's. I had been averaging 31-33 on a consistent basis... too high. O2 levels have increased from 93% - 95% to 98% - 99%.

Even with increased sodium intake levels, my serum levels have stabilized at 138

So this gentleman had suffered essentially continuous arrythmia for approx two months (mostly, but not all of it if I understand him correctly, classified from ECGs as afib by his MDs) when he started Ca-intake reduction and VitD dosing on Jan 8/9. He began with a serum VitD of approx 33ng/ml (tested Dec 12) and raised it to his current 68ng/ml (~170nmol/L) with daily loading doses of VitD -- nearly every day at 20,000iu and 4 days of lower doses (all 4 while he awaited blood test results), for a total of 788,000iu from Jan 8 until Feb 17. [This is considerably more dosing required to get to the natural solar-saturation blood levels than I had expected from my own family experiences, but he is apparently considerably heavier so that is presumably related.]

I will ask him if he will post directly to this Forum and provide more info re his particular circumstances, but perhaps he will prefer to wait a little until he is more certain of his success. However, I wanted to share this news asap with others who may currently be considering their options. [On the other hand, I am not saying this is suitable for everyone, and if they do experiment with it, they should be as thorough and careful as he has been -- documenting their Ca and VitD intakes each day (until they know their outcomes) and getting at least sufficient serum VitD tests to know how that marker is varying and so as not to exceed the natural 64ng/ml (~160nmol/L).]

He had already been reporting reduced arrythmia over the last few days prior, so this does look very promising. So I am also reporting it in case it is relevant to anyone else currently experimenting. Obviously it is still early days, but if this does fall flat I hope people won't pile on to me re me having posted this! As I say, it could be very relevant to others currently considering their options or currently experimenting. I will report further if the gentleman won't do that himself, and my apologies in advance if this proves a false dawn for him.

Postscript: I have now asked him to post directly to this forum. He is (understandably) wanting to get a holter monitor to verify his result, so it is unclear when that might be.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2020 10:13AM by SteveCarr.

Good Info, we need to find out (estimate) how much of this time he was actually in AFIB vs Ectopics.
3 days is not very long in the AFIB success world.

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SteveCarr
As far as I know, since I provided info on this Forum over the last month or so, a handful of others are on the way to giving it a try -- with varying degrees of thoroughness.

Your posts are very interesting. I have been doing something similar, though for other reasons. I see the target for vitamin D is 64–do you know of any potential problems if it is higher? Mine is around 80. My calcium is about 9. As far as whether or how this has affected heart rhythms, I don’t know as I take a low dose of flecainide daily—but I haven’t had any breakthroughs in over a year and the last one was associated with a flu-like illness and/or a severely leaking mitral valve, which has now been fixed.

That said, my calcium and vit D levels were probably about the same before flecainide got me into steady NSR.

At my last appointment, I asked my EP about lowering my flecaide dose but she wasn’t keen, feeling that once you start getting breakthroughs it is harder to re-establish steady NSR. Comments?

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Daisy

At my last appointment, I asked my EP about lowering my flecaide dose but she wasn’t keen, feeling that once you start getting breakthroughs it is harder to re-establish steady NSR. Comments?

I would agree,UNLESS you’ve changed something. I had a period with flec daily to stop breakthroughs. Then I added in ginger spice and weaned off the flec. Five months after that, I reduced my calcium intake and stopped the ginger. Not saying anybody should do this, but my 25OHD in Nov was > 150ng/mL and my doc was happy with it. This is controversial.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2020 10:52PM by GeorgeN.

Steve:

Great, hopefully more success stories coming. For me my Sodium is 140, Pot. 4.2, CA 9.3 the only bad part is my D3 which tested at 33 this past Jan. For the last 2 weeks I have increased my Vit. D but not to the extent that has been posted, so I see my Holistic Doc next month and see what I test then. I am in persistent AF, probably need more than Vit D to get me out of it.

Liz

Hi Steve,

just wondering if your protocol is more suited for afibbers who get ectopic? I don't.

I found that shortly after taking 5000 iu of vitamin D once a day I got an unusual short bout of afib, like 10 minutes, and that was at 6 am in the morning. In 10 years I have never had afib at that time of the day before. My vit.D blood test were low 24 ng/dl (60 nmol/L), which is considered in normal range??
I avoided calcium the best I could but still eat 50gms of Natto every 2nd day.

I have just checked the calcium content of Natto, there is 110 mgs of calcium per 50gs of Natto.
Maybe that is the reason for the afib event. Perhaps I should take Vit.D every 2nd non Natto day?

Anyway for now I have stopped the Vit.D supplements and try to get more sun exposure at midday for 20 minutes.

No diet etc would bring me out of AFIB. I was in Persistent AFIB and only a ECV Would put me back in NSR. It was always temporary but I totally believe that Anxiety,Stress etc would push me back into AFIB.
Good Luck to everyone experimenting. Personally, that is not me. Specialist in the medical field spend years learning at the greatest Universities in the world. Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Please be smart. 🙂

Firstly, let me be very clear again that I totally recognise that this is a very, very early-days report (and in the afib world we all know how things can vary!), so I thank everyone for their indulgence and lack of criticism of it being posted.

I posted it for the reasons I previously gave, plus the fact that T's apparently positive result emerged so much exactly "on schedule" once his serum VitD reached (or began to reach) the desired range, while being simultaneously combined with very well controlled Ca intake. [I will call this gentleman "T" until or unless he posts here directly and uses his own choice of name. That seems more polite than T having to read endless "he", "him", and "his"]. From the charts T has emailed me, he appears to have been meticulous in his Ca-intake records and Ca-intake control, so his Ca intake for the last ten days, which I provided in the first post, can be calculated very well.

The Anti-Fib : I totally understand that more detail could be sought. If T will post directly here, that can be ascertained. I understand that he does have very good ECG info and repeated blood test results.

Daisy : the only problem I know of re serum VitD above ~64ng/ml (160nmol/L) is that it definitely worsens afib control and/or ectopic control in myself, compared to the 64/160 level, at least unless I further reduce my Ca intake (which is a bit onerous), presumably by the elevated serum VitD further increasing net Ca absorption (retention). Since the 64/160 level is very much the serum VitD level at which even blood levels arising from maximum solar exposure naturally plateau (ie can't be increased further without supplements), and is therefore the level that essentially all of our ancestors enjoyed, that is the serum level at which I choose to base my own treatment. But the accepted reference range in the US extends up to 80ng/ml (200nmol/L).

George : possibly your reference to ng/dL (versus ng/ml) is a rare and minor typo by you, because this would indicate a very low serum level -- which I think isn't your intent?

Elizabeth : It may be that you "need more than Vit D (and reduced Ca intake) to get me out of it", and that may possibly be more likely at (I think you said) 80 years of age. So I am definitely not saying that this approach is necessarily for you. On the other hand, you have previously clearly indicated a significant seasonal (likely VitD?) component in your afib. Also, at least in terms of afib itself, once a person is in persistent AF they would appear not to have a lot to lose (in terms of afib burden alone) from experimenting with things which, after all, lie well within the normal accepted US reference ranges (in this case serum VitD of 64ng/ml, 160nmol/L; and any daily Ca intake which still yields a serum Ca level within the normal US reference range of 8.5 to 10.5 mg/dl or 2.2 to 2.7 mmol/L). But at 80 years of age I would certainly be meticulous in my approach and would listen to doctors opinions very carefully.

Colindo : Serum VitD at 24 ng/dl (60 nmol/L) is just above the very bottom of the reference range.

Re your question "Perhaps I should take Vit.D every 2nd non-Natto day?", it is possible to be very clear : serum VitD levels change agonisingly slowly from the sort of doses that are being proposed (ie unless one takes, for example, 50,000iu/day, or those 500,000iu single doses for which I previously posted 10 published medical journal references re their use by MDs). So taking VitD every 2nd day, versus every day, will make zero difference to one's net resulting serum VitD -- what will make a difference is simply the total amount of VitD ingested over any given few days, and this turns out to be a very big number in "iu terms" to make a very small difference in "ng/ml or nmol/L blood serum terms"!

Finally, may I enquire what latitude you reside at? If the latitude is low enough (ie far enough from the poles), and depending upon the season, it is possible to saturate oneself naturally with VitD by sun exposure at midday of the whole upper body for 20 minutes per day as you mention. I have done it myself, and my serum VitD plateaued, as predicted, around 64ng/ml or 160nmol/L. It takes about as long (ie as many days) as dosing orally with 20,000iu per day takes, because that is about how much VitD is manufactured by the body each day if there is heavy solar exposure and the sun is high enough in the sky.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2020 10:59PM by SteveCarr.

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SteveCarr
George : possibly your reference to ng/dL (versus ng/ml) is a rare and minor typo by you, because this would indicate a very low serum level -- which I think isn't your intent?

Steve,

You are correct. My bad - I was posting on my phone from a ski lift without using reading glasses. I will correct.

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smackman
No diet etc would bring me out of AFIB. I was in Persistent AFIB and only a ECV Would put me back in NSR. It was always temporary but I totally believe that Anxiety,Stress etc would push me back into AFIB.
Good Luck to everyone experimenting. Personally, that is not me. Specialist in the medical field spend years learning at the greatest Universities in the world. Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Please be smart. 🙂

There is an element of luck to all of this. How early in the progression when you try experimenting is another factor. Different approaches may work for different people and nothing short of a Tier 1 ablation may work for others. If things aren't working, then waiting to get an ablation also doesn't make sense. You can experiment for a bit, but there is a point an ablation is warranted and waiting longer can exacerbate the problem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2020 10:57PM by GeorgeN.

No diet etc would bring me out of AFIB. I was in Persistent AFIB and only a ECV Would put me back in NSR. It was always temporary but I totally believe that Anxiety,Stress etc would push me back into AFIB.
Good Luck to everyone experimenting. Personally, that is not me. Specialist in the medical field spend years learning at the greatest Universities in the world. Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Please be smart. 🙂

There is an element of luck to all of this. How early in the progression when you try experimenting is another factor. Different approaches may work for different people and nothing short of a Tier 1 ablation may work for others. If things aren't working, then waiting to get an ablation also doesn't make sense. You can experiment for a bit, but there is a point an ablation is warranted and waiting longer can exacerbate the problem.[/quote]

When I was diagnosed with AFIB, I was in Persistent AFIB. IF I had AFIB for many years and just ignored it many Doctors missed it also. Unfortunately I had many issues due to a back injury where I was hooked up to a Heart Monitor and AFIB was never seen. A GP told me during a routine physical. He had also given me this same routine physical for many years. He immediately put me in the Hospital because my heart rate was peaking at 220 bpm. I did not even realize I had a issue. That was in December 2011.
Everyone is different.

Quote
smackman
No diet etc would bring me out of AFIB. I was in Persistent AFIB and only a ECV Would put me back in NSR. It was always temporary but I totally believe that Anxiety,Stress etc would push me back into AFIB.
Good Luck to everyone experimenting. Personally, that is not me. Specialist in the medical field spend years learning at the greatest Universities in the world. Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Please be smart. 🙂

There is an element of luck to all of this. How early in the progression when you try experimenting is another factor. Different as may work for different people and nothing short of a Tier 1 ablation may work for others. If things aren't working, then waiting to get an ablation also doesn't make sense. You can experiment for a bit, but there is a point an ablation is warranted and waiting longer can exacerbate the problem.

I mostly agree with you, except changing my diet to include Natto has made a big difference to my Afib burden. It hasn't stopped it but it sure has reduced it, from 2 events a month to 3 last year. I think Steve's protocol will work for some afibbers but not all and the same can be said about taking Natto.
I would suggest that Specialist in the medical field at the greatest Universities in the world may not find a solution, but someone like Steve may. He has Afib (they don't) and is looking at it from outside the medical cocoon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2020 01:13PM by colindo.

Steve Carr said to me:. But at 80 years of age I would certainly be meticulous in my approach and would listen to doctors opinions very carefully.

From your response it appears that age has something to do with a good outcome. There are some on this board that are in their 70s, so I guess they don't have too much time.

I don't have any palps, in fact, I almost never did in those 20 years except when in AF I felt the jumping around in my chest. Yes, the Medical Profession does have something for me, a drug and another Cardioversion, I just didn't want to keep taking the drug, I will find my way.

Liz

I am interested to know more about this test subject. Is he in the VMLAF category? (Vagally-Mediated Lone AFIBer). Hans made multiple references to this subcategory of AFIBers that are much more amenable to natural treatment.

From my perspective, the Medical profession isn't necessarily smarter than they were 20 years ago in that the competence of Nurses, Technicians and other supporting medical staff has gone downhill, this being coupled with increased Cannibis usage. Unfortunately for many of us, they sought to simplify the treatment of AFIB, eliminating the LAF subcategory, thus making treatment protocols easier for the Doctors and supporting staff to administer.

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The Anti-Fib
I am interested to know more about this test subject. Is he in the VMLAF category? (Vagally-Mediated Lone AFIBer). Hans made multiple references to this subcategory of AFIBers that are much more amenable to natural treatment.

From my perspective, the Medical profession isn't necessarily smarter than they were 20 years ago in that the competence of Nurses, Technicians and other supporting medical staff has gone downhill, this being coupled with increased Cannibis usage. Unfortunately for many of us, they sought to simplify the treatment of AFIB, eliminating the LAF subcategory, thus making treatment protocols easier for the Doctors and supporting staff to administer.

My 34 year old son-in-law has had afib for about 4 years. A little over two years ago, I became aware of it and gave him a Kardia in Dec 2017. I suggested a number of things that helped, but he didn't completely implement them either. One of those was extreme alcohol moderation. He's in the military and it is a drinking culture. In Nov 2019, he had an episode that didn't convert right away so he went to the ER. They converted him with a med. He then was required to go through a "med board" to determine his fitness for service. This got his attention. He started keeping a log of what he'd been doing before an episode. One of the things that stood out was that alcohol was a likely trigger. I sent him Hans' book and after reading it, thought he might be mixed. However I would also tend to tilt him toward VMLAF.

He is already very healthy. He eats a low glycemic, low inflammation diet, minimizes calcium intake (primarily by avoiding dairy). His metabolic markers are excellent. For example, his A1c is 4.9% and his blood pressure is around 100/60. I already had him on magnesium. His RBC mag was 5.5, so we upped his intake to 600 mg/day (aiming for an RBC target over 6 mg/dL or bowel tolerance) . We added potassium in the form of 2 tsp potassium citrate powder (about 4 g potassium) and 1/2 tsp salt (about 1 g sodium) in a liter of water to drink over the day {edit - serum potassium was low, around 3, in the ER}. 2 grams (1/2 tsp) taurine powder. As he is required to be fit, I suggested he do most of his training at Zone 2 (pure aerobic, as described by Iñigo San Millán in the linked podcast and this second podcast between the two), always breathing through nose or alternatively the MAF protocol of 180-age for heart rate {edit - he uses his Apple Watch to track exercise heart rate at the MAF level}. {edit Sep2022 another Iñigo San Millán podcast on Z2 & lactate} Also bodyweight training like TRX Military Fitness or Convict Conditioning for strength. Also mitigating excess alcohol consumption as well as excess calcium intake (dairy). His vitamin D (25OHD) is already optimal at 66 ng/dL.

He had to meet with a base cardiologist. I suggested seeing if he could get a PIP prescription for flec and metoprolol. Because my son-in-law and daughter were so educated when they went in and talked to the doc, he gave them exactly what they wanted {edit - his episodes are high rate and very symptomatic so "silent afib" isn't an issue}. Subsequent to meeting with the cardio, he's only had one episode and the flec converted him with one 100 mg tablet {edit, protocol is to immediately take 25 mg metoprolol wait an hour and then take 100 mg flec, if not converted, wait another hour and take another 100 mg if not converted} . He recently went back to meet with the cardio for the med board. The cardio was extremely pleased and he was cleared on the med board. He just can't get stationed at a base where there isn't sufficient resources to care for an afib patient.

My son-in-law was already fit and trim, but is now about 140 pounds (at about 5'9") and feels wonderful, dropping about 14 pounds. He was starting to have pretty frequent episodes before he went to the ER. Subsequent to implementing these changes, he's now only had one episode in several months. Additionally, some docs do know how to implement a reasonable protocol for someone with my son-in-law's presentation.

He's had a dramatic reduction in episodes, and of course our target is zero, but this is a reasonable outcome for now.

A bit more on the exercise here.

This continues to be successful for him in July 2020, meaning only one episode since starting what was suggested.



Edited 14 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2022 08:41PM by GeorgeN.

Great to read your post and your SILs experience Thank you!

Some do not have on and off episodes of AFIB. I am one of them. The first diagnosis I had was Persistent AFIB. To the best of my recollection, I never had a AFIB episode where I popped back into NSR without a ECV. I know I am not the only case like this. My Daddy never popped in and out of AFIB. Like me, Cardiologists tried to chemically to get him to convert but it never happened. He was 78 when he was first diagnosed with AFIB and he passed away at almost 86 years of age in Permanent AFIB.
His death was ruled Heart Attack.

I have also tried Steve's method and so far (a bit more than 1 month into it) and it has been a resounding success. My heart is quieter than it has been in years, with no noticeable ectopics (I never miss noticing a skipped beat and am very in tune with the ol' ticker). I've limited calcium intake to no more than 300-350mg, supplemented with Vit D and vit k27. My vit D levels were somewhat low when I began (below 30 ng/ml).

Ghost:

Are you in AF or are you in NSR?

Liz

NSR. I've had a few incidents of Afib, most recently being about a month and a half ago.

Just an update/heads-up on T's situation, in case anyone is wondering, and as an encouragement to any others trying or thinking of trying my protocol.

T has emailed me that he will be posting his own info here, so I don't wish to steal his thunder or get anything wrong. But I have to say that it sounds very, very promising and extremely interesting.

After his numerous months of persistent prior problems, he is now nine days with "Absolutely no arrhythmias or A-Fib. Heart rate is 58-60 at rest and now moves up while exercising... and drops accordingly when I stop.".

T's transition to this situation began a few days before he reached a serum VitD concentration of 64ng/ml (160nmol/L) from numerous "loading doses" of 20,000iu/day, and with total daily Ca intake carefully monitored in the range 300 to 400mg/day. He is now on a maintenance dose (provisionally) of 5,000iu/day of VitD until he gets another VitD test after a couple of weeks to see whether 5,000/day is completely the right amount to plateau his serum VitD at 64ng/ml in winter (the required daily dose will definitely be close to that amount).

But there are some other fascinating angles to T's story (I'm tempted to use a much stronger adjective than that; and I don't doubt that some will be sceptical; and, yes, it is true that it is still early days). I will let T tell his own story, but, just as a heads-up, one absolutely fascinating and potentially very important angle has to do with the following :

1) A diagnosed medical condition which Hans Larsen (founder of this website) wrote about extensively in relation to his afib, and which was once, therefore, extensively discussed on this website/Forum in terms of the extent of its relation to afib.

2) The following sentence which I previously posted to this forum in this January 2019 Topic thread, and other past similar comments by me : "However, in my case, I discovered that similarly low potassium levels, to Katesshadow's, at the time of afib and/or ectopics, also rectified (went to 4.1mmol/L) immediately that my (serum) Ca rectified, and without adding potassium to my diet." [Both references to "low" and "rectified" in that sentence refer merely to variations ENTIRELY within the normal blood-test reference ranges for those elements -- I never had a reading outside the normal reference range for either element, but my serum potassium was often undesirably below midrange before I finalised/optimised my VitD/Ca protocol.]. As I say, I have made brief references elsewhere to me repeatedly noticing this phenomenon, but I have never banged-on about it in detail for two reasons : (a) so as not to complicate my overall message that serum VitD around the natural solar-saturation level, plus low-enough daily Ca intake, are enough, alone, to do the trick (or at least 90% of the battle) -- a message which itself, although it is a very simple one, has proven difficult enough to be persuasive about, possibly partly because of the apparent (but illusory) paradox that one is raising Ca absorption, via VitD, while lowering Ca intake ; (b) because I do not know of a previously documented mechanism by which raised serum VitD or lowered Ca-intake improves serum potassium, so I thought this would (understandably) be viewed with scepticism and might reduce credibility of the main Ca/VitD message.

It now turns out to be very good that I did make those (brief) mentions of the raised-serum-potassium mechanism (from optimising serum VitD around 64ng/ml, 160nmol/L, and lowering daily Ca-intake until ectopics disappear), at least a year ago, and that they are already documented in writing on this website, because if I simply said in a few days time that I too had noted this mechanism, once T posts his detailed and very fascinating observations (he has very detailed and frequent blood tests and Ca-intake records throughout the relevant period), that would not provide as much credibility for other people to work from and to make use of in their own experiments.

Personally, I think it is going to turn out that, like my father, my son and me, people do not need to add potassium (unless they have another significant underlying pathology) once they optimise their serum VitD around the natural solar-saturation level enjoyed by millions of their ancestors and optimise their daily Ca-intake around the levels similarly enjoyed by their millions of ancestors who lived prior to dairying becoming widespread in Europe only one or two thousand years ago. But we await T's post, which, although he is only one subject, should contain very interesting info.

Ghost : I'm greatly encouraged by your results, too, which appear to have in common with T and my family members the necessary careful approach re Ca intake. Good luck, and please keep us updated as your serum VitD increases.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2020 10:44PM by SteveCarr.

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SteveCarr
Personally, I think it is going to turn out that, like my father, my son and me, people do not need to add potassium (unless they have another significant underlying pathology) once they optimise their serum VitD around the natural solar-saturation level enjoyed by millions of their ancestors and optimise their daily Ca-intake around the levels similarly enjoyed by their millions of ancestors who lived prior to dairying becoming widespread in Europe only one or two thousand years ago.

What I observed, is that once my magnesium was reasonably optimized, I did not need supplemental potassium. My serum potassium would normally be in the low to mid 4's (mmol/L). My first afib related serum potassium was when I went to the ER for my very first episode and it was 3.1 mmol/L. Of course serum K can and does vary rapidly throughout the day (and consuming a high level of K at one time will quickly be urinated out of the body). Annual serum K tests prior to afib were always fine. An interesting note is that magnesium is considered "nature's calcium channel blocker." Hence its impact on Ca may be why the potassium normalizes.

More recently, in the last year or 18 months, I decided to add drinking 4 g of potassium as citrate in a liter of water (along with 1 g sodium as NaCl) to my mix, consuming it over the day. My episodes are very infrequent, but I hypothesized that a potassium dip could be the reason. I can and have tracked what I consume with meticulous detail - on a gram or milligram scale and entering all the data into a food tracking program like Cronometer.com. I will do this for experimental reasons, but don't find it enjoyable or how I normally wish to spend my time. Hence it is just easier to add in the "insurance" of consuming the 4:1 K:Na ratio drink. I assume that, on average, my serum K is alway OK, however, episodes may occur during anomalous times when it is low, for some reason. So far, the K/Na drink sipped over the day seems to have eliminated any stray episodes for me (and more recently, for my son-in-law). It isn't just with tracking food that I have these tendencies. When first starting out in life, I tracked all my expenditures in detail. Then I decided that from a Pareto principle (80/20 rule), it would be much more efficient to just track my objective. For example, my objective is to save X% of my income this month or year. So that is what I did, and as long as I was on target, I didn't track the details.

A long winded way of saying you may likely be correct, Steve, but I've approached it from a different angle.

"T" has been trying to register, and as I understand it from Shannon, Carey and him, should be able to post soon.

To all out there, I want to say that Steve is a genuine healer.

He patiently worked with me for over a month as I made adjustments and got labs done but at the end of the day my persistent AF was just too.... looking for the right word.... PERSISTENT!

Despite it not breaking my AF, I am using Steve's concepts to hopefully maintain my NSR and give my heart a chance to retrain itself in hopes that continued weight loss and avoidance of triggers will eventually get me off of both Eliquis, MulTaq and MetSuc.