Anxiety

There are numerous posts archived here about the impact of stress, anxiety and related issues such as insomnia while dealing with Afib. Recently, I was helping a non-afibber and suggested research on calming, natural remedies such as L-theanine and GABA… and offered the link to the post (here) for afibbers…. Stress, Anxiety, Insomnia…Sympathetic Dominance and more…

Additionally, for many years, my own experience with both theanine and GABA along with an herbal (Bach Flower Rescue Remedy), has helped me quell episodes of anxiousness typically brought on by anticipation of a potentially-stressful situation. It helped me cope with Afib but didn’t ‘cure’ it …so don’t misinterpret that I’m saying it will. What I did find, though, is that when afib would start, I could lessen the severity of the accompanying anxiety and dismay… undoubtedly a highly-individualized effect.... but definitely worth trying.

So for those who are dealing with elevated anxiety or other stress that overshadows a peaceful and calm feeling,
it’s worth reading that post report.

Also, I have a pdf file of the small booklet by naturopathic physician Michael Murray, N.D. titled Stress, Anxiety and Insomnia… I can send you by email if you send me a PM with your email .

Best to all,
Jackie


The post [www.afibbers.org] - Three parts - so scroll down through that link to read all.

[www.drugs.com]

[doctormurray.com]

[www.bachflower.com]

Quote
Jackie
Also, I have a pdf file of the small booklet by naturopathic physician Michael Murray, N.D. titled Stress, Anxiety and Insomnia… I can send you by email if you send me a PM with your email .

Here is an online link to the PDF: [s3.images-iherb.com]

I definitely have. At least to a certain level. My dad in 1974 had panic attacks so bad he left for the NC mts for a month. Alone
My son soph yr of college had full blown panic attacks. Much better now although not perfect. He sought help thru therapy. So is there a hereditary link? I need to as well
Its worry. When ones heart beats at 125-200 yes that can cause anxiety. As i type this i just had 2 pvc s
My heart has calmed a bit over past 2 weeks especially after dropping all alcohol. Ive had no 65 to 92 clicks today. Yet!
Ive always said: id like to know how my heart would run with my brain gone? The mind effects BP. Heart rate. Pvc s to some degree
But a great and important topic for us
Dr Holshouser originally put me on 20/20 propananol cause it blocks adrenaline. I workout to burn off energy to make myself tired. I lifted weights 2 hrs yesterday then walked an hour

Thanks, George for providing that link.
Jackie

Tom - Glad you are noticing improvement and great that you have eliminated alcohol.
As I’ve often commented, my first AF event happened after playing a round of golf (about 4 hours)
on a hot summer day and then drinking wine afterwards at a party in the club house. I was undoubtedly
dehydrated as well. The afib occurred 4-5 hours later. While I stopped alcohol, the recurrence of Afib was
intermittent and gradual but eventually increased in incidence.


References
Alcohol May Have Immediate Effect on Atrial Fibrillation Risk, Events
[www.acc.org]

Does Alcohol Cause AFib?
[www.webmd.com]


On the anxiety issue, I often say, “I was born stressed”… as I have a history of lifetime-stress from childhood on.
What I learned eventually and thanks to those physicians who practice functional medicine, long-term stress
takes a toll on organ function and what helped me significantly was addressing adrenal function. Whatever creates
stress in the body can ultimately affect adrenal function and all that means to the body downstream as a result.
Adrenal fatigue or 'burnout' manifests in multiple ways and it takes knowledge, medical expertise and clinical experience to help guide the patient back to normal adrenal function. This would include appropriate dietary intake as well as supplemental intervention to restore and support adrenal function. Adrenal function lab test/evaluations guide the necessary steps toward normalcy.

Check here for relevant clips [duckduckgo.com]

One of the useful herbals for helping to manage stress is ashwagada. There’s a lot written about that.
It’s best to have the appropriate testing and then guided by a practitioner who is experienced in Functional Medicine
for stress management so that adrenal function progress can be monitored by specific labs for that purpose.

Hypoglycemia can also be a strong influencing factor. In a 2007 post, I offered this observation on this topic.

Several new readers posting here are trending to indicate alcohol as a major trigger for their afib.
We’ve discussed this in the past but perhaps it would serve to bring this forward again.

I battled hypoglycemia for years and also had adrenal burnout. My first bout of AF came after several glasses of red wine. It could have been other impurities in the wine, but most likely, it was a hypoglycemic effect after the alcohol consumption as it accompanied several pieces of high-carb pizza. I have since given up gluten-containing grains such as wheat and wheat products.

I also gave up all forms of alcohol. Now that I’ve had an ablation, I may occasionally have a glass of wine or beer but I have lost the desire or need to indulge in alcohol on a regular basis.

What I learned about hypoglycemia and afib is that one should always eat a complete meal or snack…not just simple carbs. By complete, I mean adequate lean protein and a healthy fat along with a minor amount of non-starchy carbohydrate – like non-starchy veggies (no French fries).

Never skip meals – especially breakfast. You’ve been without food for however long you were sleeping
and the body needs to begin with a balanced breakfast for proper energy. Breakfast doesn’t have to be breakfast food.

Most of us have learned to eat other foods for breakfast. The word breakfast – means literally – break the fast.
It’s the most important meal of the day. You can’t go all night, run on empty for much of the day and expect your
body to function well without adequate and proper fuel. If your day is stressful, it just magnifies the insult.

Eliminate all sugar, sugar-containing foods, sodas – no diet, either – and use fruit sparingly until the adrenals have been restored to proper function. This can take years to accomplish depending on the extent and duration of stress that brought about the adrenal fatigue.

Never go longer than 4 hours between a meal or a balanced snack.

If your evening meal is at 6 pm, then you are going to have to eat a small snack again 3 – 4 hours later
but enough time before bed so the food can be digested and at least some of it pass through the stomach.

Hydrate well and often.

Keep in mind that when sugar-like substances are taken in, the body must then call for insulin to metabolize.
Insulin uses potassium. Sugar depletes magnesium. Both electrolytes are essential to normal sinus rhythm (NSR).
Most people are deficient in magnesium; and probably most are also deficient in adequate potassium.

Small wonder when we drink a lot of alcohol or alcohol on an empty stomach, that the reactive hypoglycemia
sets in so quickly. This isn’t the case for every individual, but is a very typical scenario as anyone working in the
ER will tell you based on the recitations from those who rush to the ER with palpitations or outright afib after indulging to excess.

This is overly simplistic. There are many good books on hypoglycemia.

Jackie

We all know how connected the Vagus Nerve is to AF. This may help. She has other video's you can go through.

Vagus Nerve Exercises To Rewire Your Brain From Anxiety
[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2021 08:10PM by Todd.

I'm new, is there a way to save a post for later reading other than commenting?

Took three attempts to post, so tire and no glasses... but this interests me!

Quote
unangan
I'm new, is there a way to save a post for later reading other than commenting?

Took three attempts to post, so tire and no glasses... but this interests me!

Not from the site. Perhaps creating a folder in your browser's bookmarks and then bookmarking it there.

This is a non-profit site, run by two volunteers, as well as folks who have been around for a while who contribute their expertise. Changing to a different program and migrating our huge amount of excellent content would be an enormous undertaking.

If you click the "Follow Topic" link at the bottom of the page, the system will email you when anything new is posted to the thread.

Incidentally, we are planning to upgrade the forum software as the second phase of our modernization of the site, but as George pointed out, migrating the existing content is going to be a huge task. It is, after all, 22 years worth of data. It's also going to be a somewhat hazardous undertaking. We'll have to be very careful to make sure we don't lose any content.