Success At Last

A while back I reported success in eliminating my AFIB episodes here (Update on My Story (All Good)) over a years ago. However, I was still experiencing PAC’s in a bigeminy pattern – mostly at rest. Although these were not causing me any discomfort & my cardiologist was not that concerned I still believed there was something amiss.

So having success in eliminating my AFIB through lifestyle changes I’ve decided to keep it up. After tweaking a few more things targeting visceral fat and glucose spikes to my surprise the PAC’s subsided!

I cannot attribute this to a single change but it was a couple weeks ago that I eliminated oatmeal and D3 from my diet. I always thought oatmeal was a healthy choice but not really. Besides spiking my blood sugar oats are processed using herbicides & in some cases hexane (note: I believe this to be true even for organic steel cut oats). Although WikipediA does not mentioned it hexane is used extensively in food processing. And that is why I ditched the standard D3 and found a plant based liquid form free of hexane.

So I replaced my oatmeal with a smoothie consisting of almond milk, a little almond butter, avocado, blueberries, black berries & spinach – no glucose spike. Be careful sourcing the berries and spinach because these are on the EWG “Dirty Dozen” list.

Yeah I spend a lot more time in the kitchen but I keep pinching myself repeating no more AFIB and now no more PAC’s. It was back in Mar of 2022 I was filling out the forms to visit Dr Natale for an ablation procedure that I’m thankful never had to happen.

Just to be clear, I think AFIB has many root causes and not everyone may be as lucky as myself. My journey has been over 8 years in the making involving serious lifestyle changes. Although I no longer take any medications I consider myself in remission and must be vigilant with the changes I’ve made.

Attached are my new “Normal” EKG and previous “Bigeminy” EKG.

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Rob626
So I replaced my oatmeal with a smoothie consisting of almond milk, a little almond butter, avocado, blueberries, black berries & spinach – no glucose spike.

Rob, congratulations & great sleuthing!!!!

I first got a glucometer in 2006, as a non-diabetic. One of the first things I tested was oatmeal I'd processed myself with a manual roller from organic whole oat groats. As I recall, it spiked my blood sugar to 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L). That was the last bowl of oatmeal I ate.

I look at the process of going into or staying in remission as a wholistic one - looking at the whole body and potential unlikely sources of triggers. Wonderful for you and thanks for reporting on your success & describing your process!!!

I thought I was crazy with the D3 but confirmed it a few times for me too. I am seriously thinking of plopping down the hundreds of dollars for those sunlight lamps (was that you that talked about them on here?). In any event.. that is great. I am going to try and get my GP to let me have one of those continuous monitors for a month- I guess they can do that if you are not diabetic. (I have over 100 but not by much). I would love to see if things correlate for me with PACs etc.. My hubby is more vegan and I am more paleo- it seems to work well for each of us. But our common denominator is veggies so it works for us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2024 04:24AM by bettylou4488.

Quote
bettylou4488
I thought I was crazy with the D3 but confirmed it a few times for me too. I am seriously thinking of plopping down the hundreds of dollars for those sunlight lamps (was that you that talked about them on here?). In any event.. that is great. I am going to try and get my GP to let me have one of those continuous monitors for a month- I guess they can do that if you are not diabetic. (I have over 100 but not by much). I would love to see if things correlate for me with PACs etc..

In my case, I had an advisor who advised my not to take any D supplements because of high calcium values on a hair mineral test analysis. So I quit taking D3. I ended up getting a skin rash & after 6 or 8 months, the dermatology PA biopsied it and said it was psoriasis. She wanted me to use a steroid cream that could be only used 2 weeks out of the month and another pharma cream the rest of the time. The steroid worked instantly, but I decided I didn't want to use it or the other med. A few months later (in March), I was in southern CA, staying on the beach. I was outside a lot with no shirt on wearing shorts. I saw a dramatic improvement in the skin. So I made an effort to be outside, shirtless as much as possible. The following winter (I live around latitude 40 degrees, at 5,500' elevation), I bought a Sperti vitamin D UV lamp (there are ways to cut the cost by constructing your own, but I did not do this). Their recommendation was to use it 5 minutes every other day and stay 12"??? away from the lamp. I got to where I was using it 10'/day and very close to the lamp. Still didn't do the trick, though the skin was better. As well, I was outside with as few clothes on as possible as much as possible. This last fall, I relented and went back to taking the D3 and my skin is clear. I'm fair skinned, but ever since I changed my diet years ago, I pretty much don't ever burn anymore. I haven't used any sunscreen in many years. I've read folks in some groups using the lamp lots of time/day and getting results for some interesting conditions. I don't know what to conclude from my experience, but here it is.

I'm deleting some of my 22K photos on my iPhone and came across a screen shot I took in a PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) group I am in- from several years ago. PANDAS can appear like autism and many people who suffer from this also have aggression and meltdowns. In any event, the discussion was on how D3 can cause aggression.. because it raises testosterone. That could be one vehicle of how it works in the body to potentially bring on afib. Just a thought

Just to clarify I’m not stopping D3 supplementation I’m just changing the type I use. Most D3 like the gel capsules people take are produced from the oil contained in sheep wool. This oil is extracted from the wool using a petroleum product called hexane. The sheep wool is literally soak in a vat of hexane to extract the oil from it. The hexane is then boiled off (it is recaptured to be used again) leaving the oil which is high in D3. This process is used thru out the food processing industry to extract oils producing things such as vegetable, olive, avocado, coconut and … oils. As with any process like this there will be some leftover hexane in the final product. Although this level is claimed to be insignificant when you’re eating multiple products produced this way, well, things add up!

Also, the FDA does not set a maximum residue level in foods AND does not require manufacturers to test for them in contrast to the EU.

Since I’m on a crusade to get hexane out of my life D3 was just another item I found to be on the list. Although I have increased my intake of foods high in D3 I’m still testing low hence the need to supplement. There are other forms of D3 that are hexane free so I have switched. Be careful of forms based on seed oils because these are most likely processed using hexane.

Also, it’s important to remember that the body needs Magnesium to process D3 and there’s a happy balance between D3, K2, Magnesium and Calcium. How you know if you’re in the zone is a complex subject.

Hexane
ATSDR – Hexane
Toxic Chemicals: Banned In Organics But Common in “Natural” Food Production

Of the Root Causes I think all toxins are suspect ---if not just for overall health they are!!!
We knew that MSG Mono-sodium glutamate was a Afib trigger but I never thought to try lowering GLUTAMATE and EXCITOTOXIN levels in diet UNTIL Aunt Sandra's Green Jello Desert caused a bout last Thanksgiving 2023! His diet was high in GLUTAMATES....

THIS IS IMPORTANT!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2024 06:07PM by Percyfaith.