AF Patients Day

[mackemaf]

Hi all

I was unable to make the patients day but noticed the item about how weight loss/management can be as effective as an ablation.

Does anyone please have a link to this article or can share any information on what was said?

Thanks

[CaroleF]

I think that, usually, the AFA places the talks from Patients' Day online (for a fee) sometime after the event. I may be wrong but I think these are the slides from the presentations rather than videos of the various talks.

I was at Patients Day and this talk primarily reported on some research done in Australia (I think it was) It compared 3 groups of people over a period of 3 months. I didn't take note of all the details and now can't remember everything but they found that the group that lost the most weight lessened their AF episodes by 50%. However, if I remember correctly this group was on a nutrition plan of 1200 calories a day and was aiming to lose 10kg and I don't remember being told how overweight they were at the beginning.

To be honest I switched off a bit during the talk since I didn't feel it 'spoke to me'. My episodes are not all that frequent and my BMI is only just over 25. The one message I did really pick up on was that a Low GI diet (eg wholewheat bread, oatmeal, sweet potatoes) has more benefits than a low calorie diet.

From my own point of view …. if you have AF and are overweight try hard to get your BMI down below 25. To be honest I think that's all one really needs to know. The rest of the study would certainly be of interest to clinicians, but in its detail - not so much to the 'ordinary' AF sufferer (IMHO).

Others from the Forum who were also there can probably add more detail.

[mackemaf in reply to CaroleF]

Hi Carole

Thanks for the reply and information which is interesting.

I’m much the same as you in respect of BMI etc but was interested to hear what was said I wish I could have gone to the day.

I have had PAF for 7 or so years now and have turned down a couple of ablations to be honest as I’m able to conduct a normal life with my AF

.

I’m not keen to have the ablation for some reason and so anything I can try to help I will try hence my interest in this.

Anyway thanks once again Carole.

Andrew

[CaroleF in reply to mackemaf]

It's never been suggested to me that I might have an ablation but, like you, I think I'd be pretty reluctant to have one mostly because at the moment my life with AF is not too adversely affected. I guess I'd be forced to rethink if circumstances changed.

In the meantime I think it would benefit everyone (AF sufferer or not) to get their BMI down to a 'healthy' level. Being overweight can do none of us any good. in fact, following all of the 'healthy living' advice that is out there is probably the best thing that any of us can do to help ourselves.

[mackemaf in reply to CaroleF]

Thanks again Carole agree with those sentiments entirely.

Will keep trying to lose some weight.

Andrew

[Hidden in reply to CaroleF]

Afraid my BMI hasn't been in the low 20s since before I had my children in my mid/ late thirties. Still trying to lose the baby weight 😕 . My life seems to be a continual diet. I realise how important it is for all of us , AF or not , to be at a healthy weight and am on a new onslaught attempting to keep to 1200 cals max ( and it works).

I was interested to read in a BMA

publication that those suffering from Heart Failure are advised to keep their Bmi between 25-30 as there is no evidence that the ideal weight for a healthy person is the same as that for people with heart failure. ( written by Prof John Cleland).

These BMI figs can only be a rough guide.

PS.. it was taking diet pills which first put me into frighteningly fast AF 25+ years ago...

[doodle68]

Hi mackemaf When I was first diagnosed with P-AF 2 years ago I did a lot of research into self help for AF and came up with the LEGACY study into weight loss.....

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/257...

I lost a stone and a half, increased my daily exercise to 2 miles of brisk walking every day, cut out all alcohol and further improved my already healthy diet.

I have yet to reach a BMI of below 25 and am getting there but I have certainly lost more than the 10% body weight mentioned in the study .

Initially, my P-AF episodes decreased in length and severity but I have had a number of late varying in length which is a bit disheartening after all my efforts but who knows, without them my P-AF might have been worse . I am also taking beta blockers which I think may have contributed to reducing the severity of many of my episodes by lowering my HR.

I feel having a low body weight at the very least gives the heart less work to do and a healthy life style helps the body to cope with AF and to slow down and repair any damage.

I have refused an ablation, I am going to try other methods to control my P-AF first .

[mackemaf in reply to doodle68]

Hi doodle68

Thanks

For the reply and the info which is helpful.

It’s frustrating isn’t it to do all you can from a fitness and weight loss perspective and still have af.

My own af doesn’t really affect my day to day life so I’m just doing everything I can to keep it that way.

Best of luck with your own health and appreciate the information.

Andrew