Good Morning AF family - beautiful sunny day again and I have 100 plants to plant in my re-designed garden so I am hoping for cloud cover and rain tomorrow on a Bank Holiday week-end - is that sacrilege?
This appeared in my in box this morning - an interesting read which looks at the complexities of our physiology.
I think this article makes some interesting points and illustrates the complexities of blaming all ills on one cause.
My personal experience is that IBS was the first symptom of illness I experienced but I was able to manage the illness by completely excluding sugar and gluten in my diet.
What it fails to mention is the affect of stress which I personally know to be one of the biggest triggers.
Best wishes CD
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CDreamer
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Well said CD,
As I think you know, my first symptoms were like I were going down with flu ! Then fairly quickly the same day, rapidly falling BP, I was admitted to A&E then spent the next 6 days in hospital for tests when they identified AFand treatment started. Then gradually over the succeeding months symptoms akin to IBS and Coeliac Disease were identified. This followed a consultation with a Nutritionist and then came, added sugar free, gluten, free, wheat free and oats free and a shedload of other stuff too.
The gut is viewed as the body's 2nd brain and as such plays a much more significant role in our wellbeing than we can ever imagine. But you know all this 🙂
Tomorrow I will register with medscape and read on.
Also, as I'll have more time I'll try and put on here copies of my ECG's with AF and massive bloating.
Hi John - G’day to you, hope it is. We are on the same page, as you know.
The complexities and the individualities of all this stuff is so personal but I am so pleased that eventually this is being researched and talked about within the medical community so much more.
I thought this a very balanced article which basically said there is some truth in Leaky Gut theory and cite research papers which have looked at this in detail and then cited the unknowns and anomalies. Interesting food for the intellect. X
Thanks for sharing this link. It was a very interesting interview and very informative. I control my IBS symptoms by a gluten free diet and taking probiotics every day. Also small meals with a lot of different vegetables. I try to keep my gut biome happy. I find eating a lot of sugary foods almost immediately results in bloat. I look at chocolate with envy!!!
I have Autoimmune thyroid disease, sjogrens syndrome and a skin rash and arthritis which I suspect is psoriasis but my GP can't find a cause. No tests suggested though. So who knows, maybe a leaky gut is to blame for it all.
Enjoy your gardening. I am going to sit in mine and watch the bees at work while the baby starlings harass their parents.
Stress was definitely the start of my AF journey 17 years ago. I went into AF following a stressful 2 weeks after my 8 month pregnant daughter with 3 year old in the back had a crash in her car, they were all fine thankfully but the shock of it all is what I blame on my AF starting.
Here is article for those that cant log in:
Perspective > Medscape Gastroenterology
Is 'Leaky Gut' the Root of All Ills?
John Watson
DISCLOSURES May 23, 2019
4
IN THIS ARTICLE
A Possible Underlying Mechanism
Another question drawing the focus of researchers is why the gastrointestinal disorders most closely associated with increased intestinal permeability, such as IBD, IBS, and celiac disease, are becoming more common.
Julia Liu, MD, MSc
The best explanation is offered by the so-called "hygiene hypothesis," said Julia Liu, MD, MSc, associate professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, whose lab is elucidating the underlying mechanism of intestinal permeability.
"If you think back to how we were living 200 years ago, we were not in these confined spaces with clean water where everything is hygienic and untainted. Instead, we were dealing with infections and infestations that were causing people to die in large numbers."
However, increased hygiene practices and medical breakthroughs may have left us more vulnerable to these gastrointestinal disorders because our immune systems were no longer required to fortify themselves by interacting with such a large spectrum of hostile elements.
"Once we moved to a very clean environment without all these infections and infestations, all of a sudden the innate immune system lost the checks and balances that were originally in place," Liu said. "It's counterintuitive. You would think that if you have all these horrible infections, your gut would be experiencing increased permeability, but it's the exact opposite."
It appears that in our bid to better our health by keeping dangerous elements at bay, we may have overcorrected somewhat. Yet, as researchers learn more about the intestinal mucosal barrier, they are hoping that they can better address these gastrointestinal disorders and other problematic conditions facing patients today.
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I remember reading a report about forty years ago (or more ) about the incidence of leukaemia in New York which stated that in the very poor black areas it was virtually unknown compared with the much higher finding in the wealthy white areas, the conclusion being that eating dirt kept our imune systems working well. "The devil finds work for idle hands to do" my Grandmother always told me and if your imune system can't find anything to fight it turns inwards and starts fighting the body. Maybe our modern obsession with cleanliness is the reason for the increase in auto immune conditons which seem to have grown since WWll .
I always thought a bit of oil and brake dust greatly improved a bacon butty .
My family were obsessed about ‘germs’ & I wasn’t allowed to garden as a child or get ‘mucky’. I certainly make up for it now! I think you may have a point Bob.
Another saying "You need to eat a peck of dirt before you die". Not sure how much a peck is but there seems to be some recent research that soil bacteria are good for our guts. I deliberately eat a handful of nuts or a banana now before I wash my hands after gardening.
Lol! That’s just what I tell my husband when I’m eating a snack with messy ‘garden hands’! And critters in the soil can make us happier too: blog.nwf.org/2011/03/its-in...
How interesting,it makes sense all round.Lack of exposure to germs could very well be a bad idea,when you think about it,the whole ethos of vaccination is just that,exposure to a small measure of disease in order to stimulate our defences!
Yes, bending certainly sometimes triggered Arrythmias, but not always. I have POTS with low BP, quite well controlled these days but any change in posture would often cause syncope - I used to faint as a teenager quite often. The worst for me was transitioning from sitting to standing - everything still goes black for a second but I now know to have a deep breath in, hold & tense my abdomen.
Like many people with POTS I need a lot of fluid & take at least 8gramms of salt a day which helps a lot. I met a lot of people at the Patients day who basically lived life mostly in a semi prone position to stay conscious, horrible & so grateful I’ve never been that bad for more than a day or so.
Not liking your POTS CDreamer but the way you manage it. Met a lovely lady at Dr Guptas York seminar who seemed to be amazingly upbeat. The gut is certainly in need of some care and attention instead of ingesting rubbish and expecting it to cope.
Good morning CD,hope you got your plants in! This was interesting. I too have had digestive disorders,whenever Im ill,even with a cold,I get bloating,diarhoea etc. I had norovirus in October 2013,and was hospitalised with severe dehydration.Whilst in,AF was diagnosed .I think I had it before but just out it down to lots of stress at home and work.
Now I firmly believe BOTH my troublesome gut and stress levels massively affect incidences of AF and Flutter,having taken strong steps to improve my lifestyle,nutrition and leaving stressful job. Im now off flecanaide and bisoprolol as daily doses and am seeing my EP this Friday to decide if I am still a candidate for ablation as episodes of both have greatly improved in frequency and duration.Mind and body are not seperate entities.
If I could it would be a good seller eh? I dont eat a boring diet,and i do still drink wine ,good quality no sulphides,and the occasional beer from ourlocal micro brewery.No processed foods,good quality carbs,loads of fruit and vegetables.Some of the stress I struggled with was unavoidable,but the major causes of it are gone now.
Apart from the changes to my hectic lifestyle ,rushed meals and huge stress at home and work,nothing else has changed ,yet my AF and flutter are mostly absent friends at the moment. Xx
I think all the allergies and problems kids have is they are not exposed to anything because mom has not put a boot in their ass and made them leave the house.
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And critters in the soil can make us happier too: 
ROOT CAUSE THEORY
Refusal of critical illness mortgage cover due to AF 
Root Canal tomorrow Is anaesthetic ok?
all went well yesterday 
