Advice please....

[Chris1945]

I suffer from paroxysmal afib, only get it once in a blue moon and when I've eaten something that disagrees with me i.e. barley/gluten products and I was put on Warfarin 5 years ago. However, my real concern is that lately, I've noticed my memory is not as sharp as it used to be, been putting it down to my advancing age (75 next year) but having read up on info, it appears that being on blood thinners long-term can exacerbate things and now I'm getting seriously concerned. Does anybody have any further information on this? Would be very grateful for thoughts/advice...thanks.

[10gingercats]

I am not a medic. but I have taken Warfarinn and now on Apixaban and age 81. Taken them,one at a time, for 10 years .No memory loss.if you run this concern past your GP he will be be able to do a simple test to assess your memory re. cognitive impairment or whatever.My husband had this done recently. I believe the doc. asked 30 questions and bases his finding on whether to refer you further only upon the answers you give out of 30.

[Hidden]

Not aware of any link, but if it is a potential problem I guess we have to consider what’s worse, the possible onset of memory loss or the very real risk of having a stroke.....getting old ain’t much fun, but for most, it’s better than the alternative......😉

[Finvola]

Hello Chris - I’m the same age as you and my memory in certain areas is rubbish - going to a part of the house and completely forgetting why I’ve done it. That I put down to ageing and not concentrating!

There have been studies on the effects of anticoagulation on certain patients and how these patients may develop dementia BUT there have been new studies done which show the opposite effect. I remember reading something about micro-emboli in certain people.

You may find this BMJ article reassuring

bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/1...

[Hidden]

Try this - it may reduce your episodes or make them less severe:

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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?? I also found that strenuous exercise does no good – perhaps you make yourself dehydrated??

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

PS – there is a study backing up this data you can view at:

Cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2840-7-28

[Chris1945 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for this, I can certainly identify with it and I do believe there is a definite link. when first diagnosed I changed my diet completely, cut out all sugar, carbs etc, weight just fell off me and I felt great....clearly remember one day saying to myself that I couldn't remember feeling this good in ages. Sadly, over time I've sipped back into old habits and I'm paying the price, so your answer has helped me rethink things and given me the impetus to try again...so thanks again!

[Chris1945]

To everyone who responded, another big thanks. I've been a bit stressed lately with a few things going on so I'm thinking that maybe that has contributed in some way to the memory probs so I will try to relax and take it from there!