It was just a few weeks ago that I wrote to you about my efforts to sort out next steps in dealing with my AF. I was feeling rather confused and overwhelmed at the time. Your supportive responses, kindness, and patience were so helpful!
If there's anything I've learned from the AF adventure, it's to keep an open mind and be ready for things to change...quickly and often.
I'd been trying to figure out if I wanted to have a 3rd ablation and was anxious about discussing it with my EP.
I'd thought that my acupuncturist was my most supportive practitioner and that I really needed and was benefiting from his help and herbal formulations.
I had appointments with each of them on the same day. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the acupuncturist basically turned on me after I asked him to please stop sharing his business / insurance complaints with me. He kicked me out of his practice.
Then the EP said I didn't need the 3rd ablation. The joke was on me!
So I decided to ditch all the herbal formulations and give 50 mg Flecainide 2X daily a try, on the advice of my EP. I felt great for a couple of days, but then had scary hallucinations. I've tried going back to Pill-in-Pocket, which is working fine.
The most interesting part has been how much better I feel overall. I feel like myself again. My head is clear again. I generally sleep better. I feel calmer. The brief episodes I have are mild and the 100 mg Flec PIP + my Arnica "chaser" nip them in the bud in a couple of hours at most. Less is more seems to be working well for me.
The acupuncturist left me hanging with the herbs, in that they can only be sold by licensed practitioners. There are a couple of formulas that are fabulous for boosting the immune system and nipping viruses in the bud. I've literally not had a cold in 2 years, they're that effective, so I was wondering how I'd be able to get them. But I was able to locate a kind and willing practitioner who will order them for me and ship them to my house at the wholesale rate. I discovered in that conversation that my former acupuncturist triples the wholesale rate and nearly doubles the standard retail rate. Then on the bill, he'd always write an even higher price and mark it down so you'd think you were getting a deal. Even more reason that I am glad to be moving on from his care! I had dropped a small fortune on herbs by the time he started complaining about not getting enough money off of me. Good grief.
Funny thing about AF, with its unpredictability, is that it can be easy to essentially blame it for various forms of physical or emotional discomfort. In my case, a couple of strong threads of discomfort were immediately lifted the moment I decided to quit seeing this guy. It really wasn't the AF itself, but these factors were clearly aggravating and triggering it. I think I'm getting better at figuring those things out and just moving on as quickly as possible.
Still taking things a day at a time and greatly appreciating every moment in NSR. Everything is so different now compared to when I first found you all here.
You have each helped me immensely and for that I am truly grateful.
The real Nella, my kitty, is snoozing here next to me as I write. One of these times I'll include her photo.😻
First start when finding a complementary practioner is ensuring there are affiliated to a professional body...That said you tried him and found him out disgusting that he was overcharging you for products..
Welleda will always advise and if need be direct you in the direction of a complementary practioner...
Looking forward to you posting picture of your adorable Nella.
It's good to hear you're doing well Nella and feeling at peace with where you are in life right now.
With AF, I certainly think you're right to keep an open mind and be ready for things to suddenly change and to deal with it calmly. What lifestyle/medicine/food suits us one minute, may not the next! It's a long learning curve.
Thanks goodness you can now see your acupuncturist for what he was, that's a true example of how our paths in life can suddenly change. Your rose coloured glasses fell off and the truth was revealed, he was out to make himself rich! It's not nice to feel duped though, is it!
For me, doing my best not to focus too much on the fact that I have AF has been what has helped the most. I allowed it to take over my life for quite a few years and I know that doing that made the episodes a lot worse. I feel we must always try and focus on the positives in our lives and understand the immense power of our minds. We have to make our lives joyful ourselves, no one else can do that for us! We can choose whether to sit miserable, feeling sorry for ourselves, or seek out what gives us pleasure in life. For me that has been learning more about the history of the town where I live, volunteering at a glorious historic property as a guide and walking in (and admiring) our beautiful countryside. Life can be so good if we find our path to what makes us happy.
Yes, it would be lovely to see a picture of Nella your kitty. I wonder how much she helps to enhance and bring pleasure to your life?
Thanks for your support, Jean. Reading your posts has inspired me.
It's interesting how the process of clearing out the meds & supplements that I no longer need and finding the right dose for myself of Flec makes it so much easier to focus on the positive. It's been worth every minute of sorting all of that out. Very excited about that.
Your town and activities sound lovely. Yes, focusing on pleasure and the positive is important.
I take great pleasure in my daily walks in nature. Today a beautiful white egret was perched up a tree branch. Quite a sight. My teaching brings me great pleasure, too. I've managed to carve out some lovely teaching projects. We work hard and have a lot of laughs. I have so much more fun when I feel good.
A gift of AF is that I now take great pleasure in a good night's sleep and being in NSR and doing something like catching up on personal paperwork and things I fell behind on in AF fogs. Simply having a clear head thrills me after months of being fuzzy-headed off and on.
And, yes, Nella brings great pleasure. She'll appear here one day soon. She has decided it's time for me to get off the computer.😻
Hi Caromia,
I actually had done my due diligence on this man before working with him. He’s a respected practitioner and has been a professor of acupuncture. We have loads of acupuncturists here where I live, many of them young and inexperienced. He’s about as educated and experienced as they come. And did really help me there for a while. Interesting, isn’t it?
He had even been quite good about handling comments about a treatment not feeling good or a combination of herbs being too strong...till he changed.
With each passing day I feel stronger and happier to be free of all that. It’s taken years for me to develop the strength to deal with someone like him and not crumble, so I’m happy about that.
Doctors can be wonderful and brilliant and we need them, for sure, but really examining what they say and do and not treating them as God is so important.
If you'd stop waffling on about everything else apart from A- Fib and Flecainide, it would be easier for me to give you advice on the back of my experiences both before and post ablations.
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Oh, by the way, Steve, I'm American, so "waffling on" was new to me. Thanks for teaching me another new bit of British English! That's another aspect of the forum that I enjoy, loving language as I do.
"Bloomin eck!" is another favorite....that came in response to my sharing about the acupuncturist. 😂 I do believe it was in response to the guy's behavior and not my "waffling on" about this aspect of my AF experience that has been quite powerful for me.
So kind of you to want to give me advice, though, Steve!
Just seen this. Your rudeness has taken my breath away.
Interesting comment, Steve!
If you don't care for what I write, please feel free to ignore my posts. Lovely how that's possible here in a forum setting.
My intention is to do what I regularly see others do here and appreciate - share my experience, learn from others, and get support, which I've been able to do. Quite grateful for that.
I'm not asking for advice, so no need to worry about that.
Best wishes to you.
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Health Unlocked asked me if I could give any advice re Flecainide. Now you are saying that you don't need any. So, what's it all about then ? Regards, Steve.
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I've never heard of HU asking anybody to give their advice ..... I'm wondering why they haven't asked me or others who follow diet/nutrition plans for their advice. I am wondering if a human ( as distinct from a digital ) moderator is reading this if they could explain this .... or is this a troll at work.
I have no idea why Health Unlocked asked you to give advice on Flecainide. I've never received a request like that myself.
My suggestion is to skim/read posts that are interesting to you and respond based on what the poster is communicating about. That tends to work fine.
I find that sharing one's own experience is more helpful than flat out giving advice. Where medications are concerned, it's really not appropriate to give advice anyway, as that's best handled by one's doctor.
Many people here simply share their experience in the interest of making sense of what's going on for them in dealing with AF, as tricky as it can be to deal with. Reading of the variety of ways people have managed and are managing AF has been informative, inspiring, and a godsend, in my experience. My experience with doctors is that they have not even discussed the various lifestyle changes that can greatly enhance quality of life. I've learned much of that here.
But if you find that the sharing of those experiences is annoying for you to read, by all means, just skip that post!
Mikey good to hear you’ve got some peace with taking Flecanide, I’ve been taking it for a week now & it’s already made a positive difference to my paroxysmal AF. I haven’t noticed any side effects either, though perhaps it’s early days for that, hope not!
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