New on here

[chubby2x22]

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I've had blood test results and g.p says I have raised markers for heart failure, being fast tracked to cardiology. Jane

[BobD Volunteer]

Do you have AF? Heart failure does not mean what you think it does mind as it merely means that your heart is unable to meet all the demands of your body. It does not mean you are about to die!

[Hidden]

Hi Chubby, following on from our illustrious leading volunteer, I notice you are new here but have been posting in the British Lung forum for some time. If you have been diagnosed with AF then check out the AF Association webpages as they will tell you most of what you need to know about the condition. If your problem is more to do with Heart Failure, you will probably find the British Heart Foundation forum more helpful.......

[chubby2x22 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, yes I have ephysema bronchietasis and R.a., now this new diagnosis I was struggling to cope with AF, just not my year. Jane

[booboo73]

Hi x I was so scared I had raised bnp Heart Failure markers) last time I was in hospital and scared me to death. They are back to normal now ...its just because my ticker was working harder as I had just had ablation. Apparently the raised marker can come and go and shouldn't let it worry you I was told. Xxoxx

[Hidden]

Don't know if this will work for you or not, but it's free, and healthy, to try:

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After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. 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 (easier said than done of course). 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 1 or 2 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 just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt??

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. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. 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. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer