After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar was the culprit. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again. It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 3 or 4 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day.
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. Good luck! - Rick Hyer (RickHyer@outlook.com, 636-528-4840).
You are right about that - it's so easy to start AFIB, but once it starts I don't know how to stop it. I just go cold-turkey on sugars for a day or two and then it stops. If I eat sugars then it never stops. It seems that whatever in your body is processing sugar improperly, it keeps processing improperly until the excess sugar is burned off. Moderate exercise helps burn off excess sugar - to a point. I have noticed that if my AFIB is triggered by dehydration (not drinking enough water or eating too much salt), then it is easier to stop by drinking lots of water, but I don't know how to reduce the sugar in your body - we need an anti-sugar pill !!! Good luck. - Rick Hyer.
For the longest time I believed that I was hypoglycemic. But after my ablation and am in NSR now, I never have the hypoglycemic symptoms, which means the real culprit, all along, was that I was in Afib!
Sugarisit: Another poster "jimbabwe" posted today what I think could be part of your cure: "This is how i cured myself-i concluded AF is a conduction issue not a structural issue hence i need to make sure my conductors Calcium,Potassium,Manganese and especially Magnesium are in abundance for my body to use as necessary!
I was getting enough calcium with dairy and manganese as trace.
Interestingly Magnesium is leached out the body when you take certain meds and when you eat anything with sugar in it such as sweets,pastries and colas!!
Also interestingly magnesium helps the absorption of potassium and forces it into the cells.
Hence amiodarone tablets remained untouched and i started on 600-800mg of magnesium a day with 200-400mg of potassium a day. I started to feel great! BUT every now and then a flutter would occur and id be cautious not too move as my heart felt it was ready to start again into craziness. After a week i added b complex one a day and 300mg of B3 as niacin(100mg 3 times). After about two weeks once my tissues caught up with my blood levels i felt normal. Of course i stopped the colas, and cut down on the sweetstuff too."
Yes, magnesium and potassium were the first things I tried, but no mater how much I took, it made no difference. Since then, I can turn AFIB on any time I want by consuming enough sugar to exceed my threshold. I am seeing a Nutritionist right now and she says I have all the trace elements I need, so it isn't those. Thanks, though - you never know when you might hit on something. - Rick Hyer.
Oops - forgot something. You said Manganese, and I overlooked it. I never messed with Manganese. I will have my Nutritionist check for it next Wed. You never know - I could be depleted in that, which causes who-knows-what to mis-process sugar. I agree with you that AFIB is probably a conduction issue - probably something that involves the glands, hormones or organs. I talked to a Endocrinologist about that a month or so ago and, unfortunately, medicine just isn't advanced enough right now to do anything we are asking. I would like you to quit the pills and see if it comes back (and also keep off the colas and other sweets too). If it doesn't come back, we know it's the sugars, if it does, then the pills are what you are depleted of - and you could make History by defining the root cause of AFIB. (I'll be looking for you on 60-minutes). Let me know if you would like to try that. You can use my email if you want instead of this forum (RickHyer@outlook.com). Thanks. - Rick Hyer.
Why not just take a multivitamin and mineral supplement? I had been taking one but stopped as I was having a knee op, but back on it now. I’ve also started taking extra magnesium.
With some are needed if the multivitamin and mineral supplement hasn’t enough of what you need. Lot of the vitamins etc need each other to assimilate properly. I’ve used a particular company for many years, very good company. The magnesium content isn’t as high as recommended for A Fib, so I supplement it. There are RDA’s for the supplements. I’m a therapist and was lucky to be given a book from a supplement manufacturer.
That's an interesting view Rick. We have a lady called Sam on this forum who has been telling us the same thing re sugar causing AF. I agree with you both 100% regards that. However, I've noticed that for the last three summers (with no change of diet) I've been AF free, then back it comes constantly for the winter months starting around October. The only reason I could think of for this was the fact that I wear dresses more in the summer, leaving my waist free from anything that's constricting. So I would add to that AF cure of yours, wear looser fitting clothing.
Thank you for sharing what you've discovered
How long have you been AF free? I'm in my 5th month.
It's not the dress - wish it were. There is something you are eating/drinking in the winter months that you are not in the summer (or vice-versa). I have noticed that moderate exercise (5 mile walk) seems to burn off excess sugar in my muscles/fat that help, whereas I don't exercise as much in the winter. Keep a log of food/sugars you eat, log the sugars in them - you will find out what it is. I don't know how to measure dehydration so just drink 3 or 4 glasses of water a day. You don't have to be thirsty to be slightly dehydrated and then AFIB kicks in. When my sugar tolerance was 180 grams a day, I went 30 days one time just to test it, but I usually got AFIB every 7-10 days or so. But now that my tolerance is only 60 grams a day I'm lucky to go AFIB free 2 or 3 days a week. Everything contains sugar, even carrots. Keep an eye on your body/foods, not on your dress!! - Rick Hyer.
Rick, I've had AF for 14 years and have tried every trick in the book. Yes, every weird and wonderful cure that has ever been mentioned on here! Honestly, some would make you laugh. I don't eat anything different in summer to winter, but here I am in my 5th month without AF. I did have a cardioversion early in January this year (one of many over the years) and since then have made sure I don't have anything snug fitting around my waist. It appears to have worked, but the real test will come towards the end of October when I usually slip back into constant low rate AF.
I've changed my diet drastically over the last few years and I'm convinced that has helped too. I now eat mostly plant based foods, with a little meat, and nothing containing artificial additives passes my lips. All my meals are cooked by me from scratch, so that I know exactly what I'm eating.
Could it be due to the production of nitric oxide? UVA from the sun produces this in our skins as UVB produces vit D . Nitric oxide helps reduce blood pressure an relax artery wall stiffness. It might have an effect on afib as well.
This post on sugar is very helpful as I have found too much sugar in my diet will give me ectopics and short runs of arrhythmia (not sure what type) for up to 10 seconds. Thankfully thats all I get now thanks to my ablation 14 months ago.
Before the ablation my condition also always reappeared some time from end October to Xmas (have been suffering this for 23 years - since moving up to Scotland where the sunlight is less at this time of year). I believe it was a number of things. Two of the main culprits were pressure of tight clothes around the wast/stomach area (which affected my nervous system) and lack of vitamin D or sunlight (which affected my electrolytes). Since the ablation I am not so sensitive to the triggers anymore, except that is for sugar.
Unfortunately I don't believe the lack of vitamin D or pressure around the wast was anything more than the trigger (the final straw if you like) that put me over the edge. There were many other elements to my condition primarily caused by electrolyte imbalance caused in turn by a combination of unhealthy eating and drinking over a prolonged time. Taking Omeprizole over a prolonged period for acid reflux also played a role.
I have been thinking about your dress causing Afib. It could be that the belt is pressing on your pancreas - which is right under your stomach and where a belt or tight dress would be pressing. My Nutritionist is always finding problems with my pancreas so it could be the dress after all (or whatever you are wearing in the winter months) that's pressing on your pancreas and possibly prohibiting it from functioning 100%. If you exercise more in the summer than the winter that might be a factor as well (you burn excess sugars in your body when you exercise). Just a thought.
Thank you for that idea Rick. I never wear belts but I'm sure it could be waistbands on skirts and trousers pressing. With the dresses I wear now, there is absolutely nothing around my waist and I've even taking to wearing full petticoats.
The weather here is awful at the moment, so much rain and I'm certainly not getting enough exercise right now. The town where I live is in a valley on the coast and is built on the surrounding hills. I make myself walk into town and back several times a week and you have to be a mountain goat to do that!
I'm taking your sugar warning seriously too and now avoid having it as much as I can.
I agree that sugar is a trigger. It definitely is for me now, but only over the last year I would say. I can’t eat desserts, chocolate or sweets. I have other triggers too. Caffeine, alcohol, some artificial sweeteners and I need to keep well hydrated. Not much fun at all. If I go out, I just drink water as can’t drink alcohol and most soft drinks either contain, sugar, artificial sweetener and/or caffeine. Can’t have a dessert so opt for cheese and biscuits, but depending where I go, I can’t usually have the biscuits because I am also gluten intolerant. Some places do have gluten free biscuits. All in all between AF and gluten intolerance eating out can be a challenge.
I feel for you as I too struggle with ye right foods. Salt is my trigger and can't eat more than 1gm of it. I am beginning to think that I have an issue with sugar too. What's keys here is there is a definite link with what you put into your bodies that kicked af off. It worth the hard work and frustration to find out which food types set it off though. But when you go down the list of those things that do you are not left with much to eat especially if sugar in fruit can set it off like sugarisit. For me I stay off processed foods and keep the diet very simple and exercise as much as you can.
You should be able to eat more than a gram of salt as long as you drink enough water during the day. But remember - there are salts in foods as well (cheese, etc.) especially anything canned or bought in a restaurant. I have noticed that if I eat enough salt - as in a pizza or restaurant food - I cannot drink enough water to offset that. Exercise burns off excess sugars so you are doing good there, but exercise also makes you sweat and you need to drink more water or your body will notice an uptick of salt in your blood and overreact to the dehydration message. You have to watch your body very closely every day. Good luck. - Rick Hyer.
Glad it’s working for you but in my experience nothing ‘triggered’ it. I believe it is random occurrence. I went for 6 months on a protein powder diet that had zero sugar and still had AFIB. An ablation stopped it. Good luck to you as it is unnerving, I know.
Glad your ablation worked. I had one 10 years ago and it did nothing. Am thinking about trying another one this Fall. At first my AFIB episodes appeared random as well - it took me 9 years of trial-and-error to find out what food was causing it. Nothing is "random" - there is always a reason why something happens - you just have to find it. - Rick Hyer.
Good luck to you Rick. I probably spent 10 years as well, thanks to a great Doctor team my ablation seems to have stopped it. But you never know. I agree nothing is random, I guess I don't believe anything 'triggers' it. Hopefully someday there is a cure. Again, glad you seem to have stopped it.
I am triggered by my supplements. I cannot take fish oil, flax seed oil or Tumeric without a couple of hours later getting afib. I have read that fish oil and flax seed collect in the atrium. Not sure but it makes sense for me. Salt is definitely an issue. I can eat sugar such as smoothies and a glass of orange or grape juice with no problem. My afib seems to have a mind of its own!
I really doubt that flax oil or fish oil are causing you AFIB. And it doesn't accumulate in the heart - helps the heart but doesn't accumulate in there. If they are then you are REALLY a weird case!! Orange juice contains a ton of sugar, as does any fruit juice. I bet if you log every gram of sugar you consume every day you will find out what's triggering your AFIB. Also, if you take enough supplements some of them may be salt based and thus may cause you to be slightly dehydrated, which will also trigger AFIB. You ought to try keeping track of your sugars and salts just for the fun of it - you should figure it out in a month or so. Good Luck!! - Rick Hyer.
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