blood sugar and afib

So obviously afib is more than just blood sugar being off but I was just talking to a friend who has 3 kids with rhythm issues and she said to me, "have you ever thought maybe it is blood sugar related?" I was thinking some of my weird beats were more because of "food sensitivities". But now I wonder. Anyone else? I don't have diabetes (although my glucose number is a bit above 100).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2022 03:23PM by bettylou4488.

Excessive sugar grams has been known to some to cause afib. Have you ever seen the effect of sugar in kids? Makes them wilder. Is it cardiac arrhythmia friendly to afibbers? I don’t know.

Metabolic dysfunction is a continuum. The late Joseph Kraft MD wrote a paper around 1975 using data from oral glucose tolerance tests with insulin assays. [www.antiagemedical.com] He ultimately had around 15000 of these tests. The issue is actually elevated insulin. What Kraft said is he could predict frank diabetes in the future based on results from this test years earlier.

There are data that suggest that afibbers who have metabolic syndrome who correct it can improve their afib. A fasting glucose of 100 doesn't guarantee you have this, but it indicates you certainly may and more investigation is warranted.

A friend, Catherine Crofts in NZ used Kraft's data for her PhD research. She was analyzing it to see if a simpler test would answer the question that Kraft was asking with his test. She determined that a insulin test exactly two hours after a glucose bolus or a very carby meal gave a pretty good answer. < 30 on the insulin and you were good. Between 30 and 50 and you needed more detailed testing and >50 was bad. I can find a link to her thesis if anyone cares.

There was a paper out of Mayo Clinic around 2005 looking at afibbers over 30 years. The "lone afibbers" got metabolically worse over time. It prompted me to get a glucometer in 2006 and also testing insulin to make sure my metabolic system remained as pristine as I could over time, so I would not fall into that category. It remains a top priority for me today.

Diabetes has a strong association with afib, but that's because of the damage diabetes does to heart and nerve tissue. I don't believe diabetes or blood sugar is a direct cause or trigger of afib. I encountered hundreds of diabetics as an EMT, and although some of them had a history of afib, I never encountered a single one who was in afib at the time of the encounter, and I've seen people with blood sugars ranging from less than 20 to over 800.

I wrote Conference Room Session 73 about my friend eleven years ago. She's not an afibber, but a Wolff Parkinson White (WPW) ablatee. They have AV nodes in their heart with multiple bidirectional pathways. She still is very carb sensitive and will get PAC storms such that it seriously impairs her ability to exercise if she eats too many carbs (this has been repeated zillions of times). She's consulted with Dr. Natale, but continues on without treatment, just lifestyle.

I would have to say that carb consumption is not likely to be a trigger, whereas any guilt/anxiety related to the consumption, consuming too much and having a distended stomach, and concurrent consumption of other triggering elements (caffeine, alcohol, histaminic food or drugs, etc) are most likely to be the culprits. Insulin, in and of itself, is harmless, but making more of it, forcing your pancreas to produce more of it, to overcome adipocele resistance to uptake, is going to be a problem. We're talking metabolic syndrome and ultimately diabetes. It's a nasty disorder that begets other nasty comorbidities. Inflammation is one of them, and that is where endothelial disruption comes into play.

By the way, I would be inclined to blame rancid plant and seed oils as much as carbs. They lead to the production of arachidonic acid, a precursor to the inflammatory response in the body. There is some recent research that questions this association, but it's not strong, and there's not a lot of it. The bulk of the last ten year's worth says to be careful consuming plant and seed oils.

Dr. John D Day, in his book, The Afib Cure states that spikes in blood sugar can cause areas of fibrosis of the heart. Part of the guidelines in the book are to keep A1c below 5.7 and fasting glucose below 99. My internist. suggested down around 85 is better. I tend to be in the high 90's even though I don't eat bread or anything with sugar added to it. My tastebuds have adjusted and even organic fruits taste as sweet as a candy bar used to! I have to say I feel better and have more energy when I stick to low carb eating. I wonder if some of us Afibbers have to "walk the line" more than others who have never had Afib.

Adding to my post above, about not eating. pasta, bread, desserts or anything with simple carbs yet my numbers are borderline. Other books I've read about this say to walk after each meal. This has helped a lot! Blood sugar numbers go down. Best wishes to all of you in finding your own way to STAY in NSR!

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LaniB
Adding to my post above, about not eating. pasta, bread, desserts or anything with simple carbs yet my numbers are borderline. Other books I've read about this say to walk after each meal. This has helped a lot! Blood sugar numbers go down.

What I've found is that walking at my Zone 2 intensity seems to be the "sweet spot" for blood sugar as it maximizes blood sugar drop without diverting too much blood from digestion and is not so intense that the liver with excrete glycogen, thereby increasing blood sugar. Exercise is a way to activate the GLUT4 transporters to get glucose into the muscle without insulin. In Peter Attia's first podcast on the Z2 topic with Iñigo San Millán, Attia mentions having a T1 diabetic patient who used hours of Z2 work per day to keep his injected insulin to around 9 units/day. I've found that I can do 20 minutes Z2 after dinner and my glucose after is typically around 80 mg/dL. This also sets me up for a fasting glucose in this range. I also found that I can wear KAATSU BFR bands where the pressure is cycled with a computerized compressor and I can get the same glucose drop with about 20 beats per minute lower exertion.

In this post I mention Marty Kendall's work using a glucometer as a guide as to when to eat (like a fuel gauge). In other words, don't eat until your glucose has dropped. A higher glucose level indicates you still have a lot of fuel circulating. If you do this consistently, your fasting glucose levels will drop.

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LaniB
Adding to my post above, about not eating. pasta, bread, desserts or anything with simple carbs yet my numbers are borderline. Other books I've read about this say to walk after each meal. This has helped a lot! Blood sugar numbers go down. Best wishes to all of you in finding your own way to STAY in NSR!

My husband was just saying how he had learned recently I some health podcast to walk after every meal. I have problems doing that. But he does it all the time. I will at least make myself get up and putter around cleaning or whatever.. interesting you mention that!

For those who can do it without the willies, take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar after a meal where you know you have ingested a fair whack of carbs (more than 70 grams). It has a demonstrated, if quite modest, ability to reduce the uptake of sugar and the resultant production of insulin.

It's tough stuff to swallow, both ways, but if you water it down and add some salt, it's better. I don't sip it, I gulp it. Like removing a bandage...

As for walking, there is also some scientific support for the act when done after a meal. It slows digestion and slows the absorption of sugars and starches thereby.

In my case it is Zone 2 as George says. Doing 5 minutes, level 8 on a semi reclining bike @60 RPM drops my blood glucose by 20/25 units. Walking does as well but I'd have to walk for about 30 minutes

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GeorgeN



What I've found is that walking at my Zone 2 intensity seems to be the "sweet spot" for blood sugar as it maximizes blood sugar drop without diverting too much blood from digestion and is not so intense that the liver with excrete glycogen, thereby increasing blood sugar. Exercise is a way to activate the GLUT4 transporters to get glucose into the muscle without insulin. In Peter Attia's first podcast on the Z2 topic with Iñigo San Millán, Attia mentions having a T1 diabetic patient who used hours of Z2 work per day to keep his injected insulin to around 9 units/day. I've found that I can do 20 minutes Z2 after dinner and my glucose after is typically around 80 mg/dL. This also sets me up for a fasting glucose in this range. I also found that I can wear KAATSU BFR bands where the pressure is cycled with a computerized compressor and I can get the same glucose drop with about 20 beats per minute lower exertion.

In this post I mention Marty Kendall's work using a glucometer as a guide as to when to eat (like a fuel gauge). In other words, don't eat until your glucose has dropped. A higher glucose level indicates you still have a lot of fuel circulating. If you do this consistently, your fasting glucose levels will drop.

I'm far from having this documented approach, but I've been puzzled more than often with the possible relation between blood sugar and AFib. I've asked my doctors and have had blood tests (I've used a glucometer too in some occasions), but everything has always been "in the rails". Normal numbers.
Nevertheless, as talked above, I've noticed quiet exercise (walking or bicycling) immediately after meal had positive effects.
In other words, if I sit down and rest after meal, chances increase having AFib and, conversely, quiet exercise after meal increases those of avoiding AFib.

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gloaming
By the way, I would be inclined to blame rancid plant and seed oils as much as carbs. .

Seed oils are garbage. [www.youtube.com]

Quick Question for the Walkers After Meals in this thread:

How much time are you walking after the meal?

/LarryG

At least 30 minutes, but even 10-15 moving around cleaning or doing laundry, walking the dog, they all help after a meal. My wife and I have a defined route or two, from which we almost never deviate, and it takes us 45 minutes. If we look at each other, indicate 'walkies' without alerting our Italian Greyhound using words (at which Lucy goes bananas), and bother to get on our shoes, it's out the door for at least 45 minutes.

If it does nothing much for us, it does wonders for Lucy.

Another quick question for the Walkers after Meals;

If a short walk within 60-90 minutes after eating (when it is known that blood sugar is most likely to spike) is beneficial,are you finding it most effective to walk right after eating, or just anytime within 60 to 90 minutes?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2022 10:52AM by Pixie.

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Pixie
Another quick question for the Walkers after Meals;

If a short walk within 60-90 minutes after eating (when it is known that blood sugar is most likely to spike) is beneficial,are you finding it most effective to walk right after eating, or just anytime within 60 to 90 minutes?

Probably somewhat individual. What you are doing is stimulating GLUT4 translocation to bring the glucose into the muscle. See [journals.physiology.org] My hypothesis is you'd want the glucose to start to rise a bit, so likely waiting 30 minutes to start might be optimal, but probably anytime after 60-90 minutes is fine. I have found personally that the drop in glucose happens very quickly, if I take a measurement immediately after stopping exercise. Continuous glucose monitors will show a delayed impact as they are sampling from the interstitial fluid. It will take longer to "see" the glucose changes than in the serum.

Thanks for your response, George, I always learn so much from reading your posts.

As Gloaming said. I think the most crucial thing for me is NOT RESTING after meal. Moving around, working quietly, being physically a little active is what I try to do.

Pompon and gloaming, I think not resting after a meal will be my plan. Whatever I do to make that happen will be better than doing nothing!