A few months ago I proposed the idea of a survey that might help to track causes and remedies for AF interventions. It was a bit out of naivete as my AF depth and exposure weren't that great at the time and still aren't but my knowledge now deep enough to know there is a logical path within the bell curve for those afflicted with AF.
The first issue is the multi-causal nature of AF and the multi-interventional approaches used to remedy AF. I don't believe at this time that any additional knowledge would be gained by a survey due to the variations and multitudes of factors for AF as well as the interventions used which are always numerous and concurrent.
Take my own case as an example - right now (and very early on) this ECV appears to be sticking better than my first ECV. I've changed multiple factors since April 1. (thanks to everyone here) but which one is making the difference? No way of knowing and like most things in life -
'It's never one thing and always the tide".
The tide is the reason most people get AF and it takes a tide solution to get out of it. That's pretty clear to me now.
It also takes a group like this one that's full of experienced people like Carey, Steve Carr, George, Shannon, Susan - so many others that have tried all of the mystical combinations as well as the straight solid path of proven interventions that creates a personal solution for one (or some) but evades success for many others. Randomness defined.
I (we all) want to believe that ginger, a certain D-level, x amount of taurine, ribose or cranberry extract can and will make NSR the reality or assist the standard treatment path in success or long term avoidance of AF but the reality is most solutions will be found inside the standard solution set but maybe with a little harmless help of a 'proven' placebo.
I don't know why it isn't a sticky or front and center on this forum but Han's 12 step PDF (I just found it about 10 days ago) is solid advice that would save people a lot of time and heartache in chasing down their AF.
What would probably help way more than a survey would be turning that 12 step into a set of guidelines that could be used to help educate a primary MD or cardi in where to look for root cause to one's AF. Which labs and tests to take, what major changes to enact and when to proceed to the next step if AF continues to be an issue.
Maybe someone has already done this but I am going to do it for myself and my first drafts could be used as a template for others to expand upon in a group effort.
This will be done this week as I intend to get all of my tests redone and a fresh set of eyes on my health and AF.
My apologies for the change of heart about the survey but the more I learned about AF and also saw the randomness and specificity of other personal solutions I realized that there was little to be gained from reinventing the wheel. Good surveys have already been conducted. Good data has already been scrubbed and analyzed and there aren't enough pure scientific case studies (although the efforts that some have used for their own AF solution are impressive and worthy) to isolate one intervention out of the multitudes to then provide that solution as a cure-all to others.
