| Name | Tish |
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| Location | USA |
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| Age | 53 |
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| Diagnosed condition | Peroximal atrial fibrillation |
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| Years with condition | 1 |
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| Frequency of episodes | with stress, varies, maybe as freequent as every 2 weeks |
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| Duration of episodes | 10 minutes to 4 hours, never over 4 hours |
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| Event preceding first AF | hyperthyroidism |
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| General health | not great, have hypoadrenia, which I am sure is ultimate cause of events |
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| Current state | unable to excercise or have too much stress. Otherwise I am ok |
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| Triggers | --Work stress and the feeling of needing to hurry lasting a day. Usually accompanied by not eating on time.
--Any physical activity or exposure to heat beyond my adrenal capacity and in which I do not take enough hydrocortisone for. If I guess wrong on how much cortisone I need for the activity or heat, then I will get a-fib within the next 24 hours.
--Cold drinks - only when accompanied by stress prior to having the drink. Otherwise in low stress times I can drink cold drinks, no problem.
--Diarhea and intestinal inflammation from illnesses lasting more than two days.
--Caffiene free diet sodas seem to very slightly worsen
--Too many sweets eaten druing times of stress will increase my likelyhood of having a-fib
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| Preventions | --Taking enough hydrocortisone for stress at the right time or while I am having the stress.
--Avoiding stress, physical or mental.
--Recently I have discovered that 1/4 teaspoon of salt after strenuous activity or excess heat exposure helps avert events and makes me feel better. I cannot tolerate any potassium supplements without getting diarhea. I also will become unwell, develope lots of tachycardia, and not sleep well with the use of magnesium supplements. My research on this indicates that those with low adrenal function suffer from a build-up of potassium and magnesium and loss of sodium. Increasing sodium also lowers aldoserone production.
--Avoiding any hormones such as estrogens (plant of natural), progesterones (plant of natural) and DHEA.
--Staying away from diet drinks and too much sugar or simple carbohydrates helps a little.
--Avoiding wheat. I am a celiac and wheat exposure sets me up for an event with any other little trigger.
--Avoiding anything that causes intestinal inflammation.
--Wine can trigger it if the conditions are right, meaning if I have had stress prior to drinking it.
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| Current medications/side effects | I am on no prescription medications. I refuse to take them.
I use herbal ACE inhibitors, aspirine, Taurine, L-arginine and 800mg of natural vitamin E only when I have an a-fib event. None of these help end the event more quickly or in any way make it better. They do calm me some. The ACE inhibitors seem to make me more likely to have irregular heartbeats the next day. I just do it out of desperation I think.
I take the aspirine and vitamin E to thin my blood to help prevent stroke during an event. I take 400 to 800 mg of vitamin E daily and when I have a-fib, I add another 800mg. Over 2000mg of vitamin E daily works as well as Wafarin according to my research.
Recently, I have discovered that taking salt at the first signs of heart irregularity that preceeds a-fib seems to stop it before it developes.
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| Past medications/side effects | ACE inhibitors. I developed hyperkalemia from several weeks of use of ACE inhibitors. Now, cannot use them for more than a few days without developing tachycardia and other problems from a build up of potassium. Also, I had trouble with my blood pressure going too low (100/50) and I do not feel well at all with low blood pressure.
Beta Blocker. I abandoned this drug after reading that it could make Vagal type a-fibbers (me) become permanent a-fibbers. I never felt well on this drug. It made me ill and unable to think and do my work. I do not have high blood pressure. It has always been 120 over about 75. My blood pressure went too low and I felt awful.
Digoxin. I abandoned this drug after learning that it is totally discreditied by research and is dangerous. I was not on it long enough for any real side effects. |
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| History of surgery | I had abdominal surgery for uterine fibroids, but still retain my uterus and ovaries. The fibroids were caused by undiagnosed hypothyroidism.
I've had surgery for cateracts. I think this is due to oxidative stress from long undiagnosed hypothyroidism and celiac disease. |
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| Future plans | I plan to continue to research adrenal function and electrolyte balance and try to find ways to improve my adrenals function and get off hydrocortisone. I do not have Addison's, but have low function. My adrenal situation underlies my a-fib. I am sure of it.
If over the next years I am unable to find some solutions and improve my adrenal situation and if my a-fib worsens, then I will probably seek ablation in India. I currently do not have good insurance and they will get out of anything I try to do here in the US or pay next to nothing. So, I have limited options at this time. |
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| Personal comments | I opted to not take prescription drugs for my condition. I do not have any heart disease that was found. I found a couple of studies showning that those who took no drugs tended to fare better in the long run. I try to address the stroke risk with vitamin E and aspirine used only when needed.
I believe my situation is different from the vast majority of a-fibbers in that I cannot tolerate potassium or magnesium supplements of any kind. I do better supplementing with sodium, which would horrify some I am sure, but makes sense when you know my adrenal situation.
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| Check list |  acebutolol | amiodarone (cordarone,pacerone) | anisindione (miradon) | | atenolol (tenormin) |  aspirin | azimilide | | bepridil | betaxolol | bisoprolol (monocor,emconcor) | | bretylium | bucindolol | carvedilol | | cibenzoline | dicumarol | digitoxin | | digoxin (lanoxin) | diltiazem (cardizem) | diphenylhydantoin | | disopyramide (norpace) | dofetilide (tikosyn) | dronedarone | | encainide | esmolol (brevibloc) | ersentilide | | flecainide (tambocor) | gallopamil | ibutilide (corvert) | | lidocaine | mibefradil | metoprolol (lopressor,toprol xl) | | mexiletine | moricizine | nadolol | | phenytoin | procainamide | propafanone (rythmol) | | propranolol (inderal) | quinapril (accupril) | quinidine (quinaglute) | | sotalol (betapace) | tedisamil | timolol | | tocainide | trandolapril (mavik) | valsartan (diovan) | | verapamil (calan,isoptin) | warfarin (coumadin) | asthma | | diabetes | GERD/acid reflux | hypertension | | hypotension | hyperthyroidism | hypothyroidism | | adrenergic | vagal | familial | | idiopathic/lone | paroxysmal | permanent/chronic | | atrial flutter | cardiomyopathy | CHF | | PAC | PVC | SVT | | syncope | bradycardia | tachycardia | | heart block | myocardial infarction | rheumatic heart diease | | sick sinus syndrome | stroke | WPW | | electrical cardioversion | defibrillator | pacemaker | | ablation | bypass | maze | | Male | Female | |
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