Hi Ted! With an outlook like yours life is great! At age 70 ('98) I was in the 3rd year of struggles with 'highly symptomatic' paroxysmal AF. The timing was my good fortune because, quite literally, my only recourse was to glean knowledge about the condition at the medical school library: there was zero help from the Board Certified Cardiologist or EP, no substantial AF antiarrhyby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
(Correction to the above quote from p. 228 The Magnesium Factor - it should read: "Just as extra calcium can worsen a low magnesium state, if your calcium intake is very low, taking large amounts of supplemental magnesium can intensify a calcium deficiency.") In his review of the book George Eby stresses the graph on p. 17, which pretty much explains the relationship between calcium aby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tom, also see 'Magnesium Deficiency in The Pathogenesis of Disease', specifically 6.2.1.2., Arterial Damage of Magnesium Deficiency, Intensified by High Calcium and Vitamin D Intakes: <;by Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Tom - your good question has me bragging about The Magnesium Factor by Dr.s Mildred Seelig, MD, and Andrea Rosanoff, PhD, (2003)* which explains the essential relationship between magnesium and calcium - much like that of potassium and sodium in that both are critically essential but must be balanced. p. 14: Magnesium and Calcium: A Delicate Balance "Magnesium and calcium are very similby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
ExaTest is 'bogus'? Because of its utility in space flight medicine NASA was a sponsor in development of this non-invasive technology (EXA = "energy-dispersive X-ray analysis" - see ) The methodology is apparently in use on the International Space Station for tracking intracellular mineral status of long duration crew members. A few studies from Exatest's website: (liby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gregg, He became convinced by the wisdom in the scientific literature that high dose magnesium was perfectly safe for him (healthy kidneys) and might help eliminate his AF, contrary to his EP's caution. Specific writings were Dr. Mildred Seelig's 1980 Magnesium deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease,* and The Magnesium Factor** by Dr.s Seelig and Rosanoff (2003). We communicated frby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Charlotte, Your reluctance to be involved with pharmaceutical drugs before exploring all natural, nutritional aspects of AF and its possible natural resolution is wise and exactly correct. A bit earlier today I was reminiscing about how AF came into my life 10 years after moving to a region where the tap water was very low in magnesium and high in calcium, a Ca:Mg ratio of 4:1, a perfect reby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gregg, A largely vegetarian Denver Colorado* friend of mine in otherwise perfect health converted from full-time AF by using high dose magnesium, many grams daily from pills plus magnesium-rich drinking water. He didn't know how long he might have been in AF -- he was asymptomatic and it was only discovered during a routine physical exam/ECG. His EP said magnesium was dangerous and not to tby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes, Jackie, well said - - This '09 article supports The Strategy: What Metabolic Cardiology Means and CR 72, which are the bare bones of what this article is about, and which in fact go beyond this article by tying in nutritional aspects of cellular energetics, and facts about the essential dietary relationship between potassium and sodium in generating the cells' voltage, and theirby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
============================== Circulation 2009;2:327-335. The American Heart Association Cardiac Metabolism and Arrhythmias Andreas S. Barth, MD; Gordon F. Tomaselli, M Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Excerpts: A growing body of evidence suggests that altered ion channel function is closely linked to changes in metabolic activityby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Just how hazardous to health is high salt? From pp. 45 - 49, The Salt Solution:* "... clearly, salt is a risk factor for stroke even when blood pressure is normal. Louis Tobian and colleagues demonstrated this last point dramatically (see: L. Tobian and S. Hanlon, High Sodium-Chloride Diets Injure Arteries and Raise Mortality Without Changing Blood Pressure ). Still more evidence of the stroke-sby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tom B, thanks for asking - it's a good opportunity to highlight magnesium again. I hope your setback will be brief! From sketchy memory and a few recorded details: Throughout late summer and fall of '01 AF events gradually became less frequent and intense until stopping completely by the end of January '02, then another month or so before ectopics stopped completely. Reversingby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi again, Maria, Apparently ACE inhibitors "strengthen" cardiac output - i.e. increase the ejection fraction - in the same way as digoxin, which is by inhibiting the muscle cells' sodium/potassium pumps, thus raising intracellular calcium which increases the force of ventricular contraction. -- Digoxin's direct inhibition of the Na/K pumps also lowers the cells' voltageby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for your reply, Justine! The more we can learn about the hazards of high sodium/salt intake the easier it is to lower it. Awareness (facts) is the key, as always. For me it didn't take long at all for the salt taste-sense to adapt, and now at about 500 mg sodium/day a little salt goes a long way - I'm sure the K:Na must be at least 7:1. A good measure for me is that the increasinby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
A few days ago PeggyM got this going with the topic long QT syndrome and genetics and potassium ion channels, o my, having to do with mutations in a gene that codes for the potassium ion channel KCNQ1 that can cause 'long Q-T syndrome' and dangerous dysrhythmia (http://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?f=9&i=11342&t=11342). "Channelopathy: A disease involving dysfunction ofby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Peggy, Your insightful questions were inspired by the insightful article Heart Defect: Medicate or Wait? (http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/03/heart-defect-medicate-or-wait.html?ref=hp) Pithy excerpt: (not a lisp) "Biophysicist Coeli Lopes and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York wanted to find out what these mutations actually do. They focusedby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
From pp. 45 - 49, The Salt Solution (Herb Boynton, Mark F. McCarty, Richard D. Moore MD. PhD. 2001) (taken from an earlier topic): "... clearly, salt is a risk factor for stroke even when blood pressure is normal. Louis Tobian and colleagues demonstrated this last point dramatically (see: L. Tobian and S. Hanlon, "High Sodium-Chloride Diets Injure Arteries and Raise Mortality Without Changing Blby Erling - GENERAL HEALTH FORUM
Thanks for your success story! It was not a matter of "came to agree" with you -- learning all about such things has been the unavoidable story of my life, from teen years under the Nazi Occupation and on. Being of Balkan Croatia you probably see things clearly for similar reasons. The forum discourages going on, otherwise we'd spend hours and days on this, but about fluoride weby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Why it's invalid to declare Exatest "bogus" and a waste of time and money: There are two parts to the Exatest report -- careful evaluation and interpretation of both is key to the test's value, as together they provide important clues. Hair mineral values cannot provide intracellular ratios. 1). Intracellular concentration of 6 electrolytes and "normal" ranges:by Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
All by itself sodium is toxic, so for health its intake must be low. From pp. 45 - 49, The Salt Solution (Boynton, McCarty, Moore. 2001): "... clearly, salt is a risk factor for stroke even when blood pressure is normal. Louis Tobian and colleagues demonstrated this last point dramatically (see: L. Tobian and S. Hanlon, "High Sodium-Chloride Diets Injure Arteries and Raise Mortality Without Chanby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hans- Respectfully, one reason for going on and on belaboring the point is that even after six months discussing this subject you and Liz could still make the statements that caused my response. For months itÂ’s been like swimming upstream against a tide of outrageous disinformation spewed out by the powers of salt and drugs and their servile media. Two straightforward answers: 1. My recommendby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Tom - That's very sad to hear, but also good to know that you are advising her about the importance of maintaining a low sodium (salt)/ high potassium diet - I hope she listens and follows, because according to "the science" a high sodium/low potassium dietary intake, even without elevated BP, is somehow a major risk for stroke -- could be wrong, but as I recall this is by sloby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Lisa - Thank's for wanting this. Sorry to have been slow in replying -- got sidetracked by the good news in the WSJ article that Carol provided, which as you probably saw was followed immediately by mind-control from the Salt Institute, Scientific American, etc. Anyway, here's what I at least try to do, and not do, with some success actually. This might remind me to be more diligentby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Debbie wrote @ <;: "Mike has made several changes in the last 6 months. One of the changes has been to reduce sodium and increase potassium. I don't know if this is what has made the impact but he is doing so well. He rarely has PAC's and he was having them for hours at a time several times a week. He first noticed the change over two months ago. I will post about his other cby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Josiah, Low Na/K pump activity also underlies osteopenia/ osteoporosis. Bone is active, living tissue requiring energy from Na/K pumps (in osteoblast and osteoclast cells) for continues remodeling -- formation and resorption.by Erling - GENERAL HEALTH FORUM
Josiah, Do bear in mind that IC calcium is not regulated by diet, but rather by the sodium/calcium exchanger pumps, which are driven by energy derived from activity of the sodium/potassium pumps. CR Session 72 relates AF to many such interactions, for example the direct effect of the cellular potassium/sodium ratio on cell membrane voltage, thereby cardiac refractory period, intracellular calciuby Erling - GENERAL HEALTH FORUM
Carol. I'm sorry for your bad experience with a Daddy Long Legs and sincerely hope you'll soon be better! ('specially with Daddy's Day and all, and me being one of 'em!) My BP came tumbling down quickly (one week? two?) from ~160/90 to ~115/75. Logic sez (and 'it' can certainly be wrong) that your BP dropped along with your heart becoming calm as a consequenceby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Liz, In 2007-'09 when struggling with high BP my diet was good, I thought, but an Exatest showed intracellular potassium to be quite low, making all potassium ratios low. Low potassium/sodium was the likely cause of the high BP. IC magnesium was nicely high, so by radically lowering sodium (salt) and increasing potassium the BP was easily brought way down. Erling ==========================by Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Ian, (note again: this is only about me, I'm not at all strict about this, in fact pretty sloppy, so don't take this as recommendations). >"Do you take 1 caplet of the Multimineral per day, or 1 serve (2 caplets) per day?" I take 1 multi-mineral caplet per day. >"Depending upon this you are taking 500mg Ca + 250mg Mg Chelate, or, 1000mg Ca + 500mg Mg Chelate,by Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM
This forum being specific to the topic 'lone atrial fibrillation', it necessarily focuses heavily on some specific nutrients -- here's the Big Picture, from: Essential Nutrient An essential nutrient is a nutrient required for normal body functioning that either cannot be synthesized by the body at all, or cannot be synthesized in amounts adequate for good health (e.g. niacin, chby Erling - AFIBBERS FORUM