QuoteMeganMN On a similar note, I have done some reading and discovered that Isoproteronol can severely deplete Arginine and Taurine, which I found super interesting. I will take a look at that book and look into starting a regimine. I have the ginger, and taurine already. What type of potassium/magnesium do you use? My friend who increased his taurine to 4g/day had been taking around 250 mgby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMeganMN George, I would rather not NEED another ablation and would definitely be game for hearing your solutions. I have tried many things, but ultimately, even if I have another ablation, I need to sort out how to keep this from happening in the first place, so I would definitely welcome your experience!! Sorry for a tardy response. I'm traveling at the moment. Here are some thoby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
I've taken 2-4 g/day of taurine powder for over 19 years. One of my friends who was having PAC issues was taking 0.25 g/day. I suggested he increase it. He did to 2 or 4 grams/day, I don't recall and it really helped. Another person, a member here, sent me an email with the following recently: QuoteThe two things I haven’t stopped taking to this day is taurine and ginger extracby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteYuxi George, are you using fresh ginger or ginger supplement? At the time I was doing this, in 2012 & 2013, I was generally using organic powdered ginger spice.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMeganMNDoes anyone have any recommendations for sleep? One thing that works pretty well for me are listening to yoga nidra scripts. Don't know if your heart feelings would impact the efficacy. I have tiny mp3 player with earbuds that I use. "Yoga Nidra is a form of guided meditation also known as “yogic sleep” or “effortless relaxation”. It’s usually practiced lying down witby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quoteczk I have tried a few supplements during the last 3 months, but have not tried organic powdered ginger so I will have to give that a try. . Here are some links on ginger from our site (both positive and negative): For me, chronic fitness/endurance exercise was my path to afib at age 49 (now 67). Basically the product of intensity times duration. Long duration & high inby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
I've had afib for over 18 years, with a 2.5 month episode in the first 4 months. I've used PIP flec to convert (300 mg is my dose, at my weight. Susan.d would want me to emphasize the max dose for someone under 154 # (70kg) is 200 mg) since. I created a program that has worked pretty well for me, keeping episodes down to a few a year, for the most part. In 2012, my episodes increaseby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotecolindo I would like others to chime in and give an opinion? As I posted here, I had 15 episodes in 9 1/2 months in 2021. This was a very anomalously bad afib year for me. I did have a couple of episodes before by Vaxxes. A number of episodes were not long after Vaxxes. One was 11 days after Pfizer #1 (which I got in Feb). This was a strange one for me as it happened while I was takingby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotesusan.d Ginger interacts with some drugs and supplements and anti-coagulants. Sadly I miss my ginger ale. Ginger can have blood thinning properties, so be wary of combining it with a blood thinner.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
In 2012 I started taking flec daily, after starting afib in 2004 and nearly immediately having a 2 1/2 month episode. In 2012 my, up to then stellar afib control deteriorated coincident with a divorce. After reading a post by Hans, I started taking ginger and titrated off the flec over about a month. This is a PDF I wrote at the time: I ultimately realized that my worse control in 2012 and paby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quoteggheld George: Maybe you should repeat your study, this time with a partner. Bet you'd find lots of different outcomes with different emotions and hormones, (Oxytocin), involved. Do this all in the name of research, of course. Please publish your results, too. On the serious side, I'm blessed that this trigger vanished when I lowered my calcium intake. While I never worby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJackC I have not tried a lower dose than 100 mg once daily at 8:30pm. If I were to try a lower dose, would you recommend a split regimen or once a day? BTW, are there tablets available of less than 50 mg? Hi Jack, For almost all of my nearly 16 years using flec, it has been PIP. However, there was a time going through a divorce in 2012 that I've previously written about, whereby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
"1. Can I safely restart flec again at home after being off 3 weeks? I stopped it a day and a half before & got back on it on my own. I was able to get on sotalol on my own after stopping it without going the hospital/ekg route" I'm no doc, but if PIP is OK with flec, starting it with your old dose should be OK, in my opinion. There was a point in 2012 when I was unknby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteNotLyingAboutMyAfib George - ginger spice? TIA See also this recent post by Johan.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey You don't need to wean. I'm not sure where this notion came from that all drugs require a weaning process, but it's just not true. Some drugs, yes, but most others, no. You don't need to do anything other than just stop taking the flec and metoprolol. Just to be clear. In my post above, I was trying to find the minimum level of flec that would keep me in NSR,by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteNotLyingAboutMyAfib George thanks again. Everyone - let's say I get back in NSR - how do I wean off Flec and Metsuc safely? Just keep proportions same and reduce? I have 25mg and 50 metsuc and 150 flecs. I've gotten pretty good at cutting pills in half/ In 2012, calcium was negatively impacting my afib. Prior to that had only used flec PIP. A cardio suggested I use iby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Johan, Thanks! I'm glad this is working for you!! Quotemwcf Hi George, A question about ginger please. What does this look like to you? Hi Mike, When I tried this, I just used organic ginger spice that I got that the natural foods store. Because I'm a bit of a bull in a china shop when I do things, I recall putting a tablespoon in warm water to make a ginger "teby GeorgeN - GENERAL HEALTH FORUM
QuoteDaisy At my last appointment, I asked my EP about lowering my flecaide dose but she wasn’t keen, feeling that once you start getting breakthroughs it is harder to re-establish steady NSR. Comments? I would agree,UNLESS you’ve changed something. I had a period with flec daily to stop breakthroughs. Then I added in ginger spice and weaned off the flec. Five months after that, I reducedby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
1:1 conduction with flec is real - ask Shannon... That being said - and this is where I come down. i don't have any solid evidence that what I do is correct. I've used 300 mg Flec PIP for 14 years without issue and without consuming a BB with it (none has every been prescribed). There was a time, about 6 years ago where I was consuming too much calcium and afib became more frequenby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteAnneC You mentioned that your afib burden is low - how often do you go into afib so that you need to convert with the flec? Well the answer is a bit nuanced. When I converted the 2 1/2 month episode, it took 20 hours. So did the next one a month later. I think that atrial stunning was a factor in that episode. It took about 4 or so months till I got my protocol reasonably tweaked as Iby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Frank, I've had afib for 14 years. The first 4 months ended in a 2.5 month episode. I converted it with a 300 mg dose of flec. That took 20 hours. A month later had another episode that took 20 hours to convert. Subsequently, I've used 300 mg flec to convert every episode I've had. Generally I convert in a little over an hour but the range is 10 minutes (once), 25 minutesby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Karen, Training for a high altitude race (start at 6300' end at 14,100' over 13.3 miles) was what kicked off my afib career 14 years ago at age 49. Detraining - not entering endurance events and the training for them and moderating other endurance activities plus magnesium and also potassium and taurine have been what has kept me in relative afib remission over this time. I rby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sam, I was in your shoes in 2012. Since 2004, I had relatively few episodes, mostly kept at bay with magnesium to bowel tolerance. Then I was going through a divorce and about 9 months in, I had 4 episodes in a row. A cardiologist suggested taking the flec daily. I did and started at 300 mg (my style - start with what works - may not be optimal or safest approach in this case). It workedby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteRitva Hi, Despite increasing my Mag intake substantially, I still was experiencing occasional evening flutters, PACs and short fast run palpitations. I came across George N's account on stopping PACs with ginger. I had been adding 1/4 tsp. ginger to my morning oatmeal for a long time as it supposedly also works as a blood thinner. (I am not on blood thinners.) So I stated adding 1/3 tsby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotekong2018 Hi George, so you don’t have episode any more? How often were they?. When afib first presented, 14 years ago, I got it every 10-14 days with 6-10 hour duration. They would come at ~3AM and I could convert them with exercise or on their own. Then, after about two months I had an episode that would not convert. It lasted 2.5 months. It was converted with 300 mg flecainide - flecby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sam, I successfully used powdered ginger spice < to ward off vagal afib at night. Turns out I determined that excess dietary calcium was the root issue and when I decreased the calcium, I no longer had the issue. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ralph, Perhaps ginger (as in powdered spice) might be useful < After I wrote this, I learned that, for me, calcium was a bad actor and when I reduced its intake, I no longer needed the ginger. In the first few months of my afib journey, in 2004, I also experienced cyclical afib. This did not continue after my 2 1/2 month episode and I added in lots of mag & taurine. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Steve, From reading here for nearly 13 years, high dose flec usually loses effectiveness over time. You triggers sound vagal. Some thoughts as a vagal afibber. - for me, ginger (organic powder spice) was helpful. There was a period when I was consuming too much calcium (I didn't know it was a problem), I started taking 300 mg flec, then added in ginger and titrated the flec to 0.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMarkF786 - Have others had success with taking Flecainide only once a day, before bed? It's worked for me and the doctor didn't care if I tried that approach first. - If taking Flecainide once a day and at a low dose (50 - 75mg), do I really need the Diltiazem? Mark, I've had afib for over 12 1/2 years. The first two months it came every 10-12 days and lasted 6-9by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Mark, Some here who determined that coffee was a trigger switched to organic coffee and found it did not trigger. On the caffeine being OK for vagal afib, see what I and others have written about ginger for vagal afib: < Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM