I finally saw a cardiologist that was helpful and we had a real discussion about where I am. Can I ask you this.
The cardio looked at my ECG's and siad that they were not typical Afib but could be A Flutter ?. I am sure that they are probs about the same but can you help.
My Afib is not completely controlled by my 2.5mg of Bisop and he is talking about taking Dronedarone to help. My last Afib was 9 weeks ago.
The cardio is talking to the 'sparky' as he calls the EP about ablation but tells me that the EP will decided.
I continue to change lifestyle and lose weight I am now about 2 stone over.
Any advice really gratefully received.
Rod
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Flutter is easier to ablate as it is in the right atrium . It presents as a saw toothed trace on ECG whereas Fibrillation is just plain chaotic and in the left atrium. Both feel awful!
Being overweight can be a cause and losing weight is going to be good for health . However my BMI is 23.4 and I have paroxymal atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. We come in many varieties!
After reading your post, I happened to come across my old training records. It's no wonder that I had a stroke. My records for 2014 show that my peak heart rate on several sessions was around 225 and that was about the maximum that my old heart monitor would register. Wouldn't it be great if you could look ahead and spot all the things that you should have avoided and, all the things that were the right path. I'm not quite in the same place that you are prostate wise, but my PSA blood test will be next week prior to another chat with the Uro-Oncology department. I think I prefer having AF!
My AF is triggered by exercise so whilst exercising I use a chest strap and heart rate monitor and I watch it like a hawk. I know that once its in the mid -160s it can jump to 180+. I don't take medication to control heart rate as I really don't tolerate it.
My second ablation was for peri-mitral atrial flutter in the left atrium. My third ablation ablation dealt with atrial flutter in the right atrium. In my case, atrial flutter presented itself both in the right and left atrium. Peri-mitral flutter in the left atrium is difficult to ablate, so I had vein of marshal ethanol infusion.
If its Aflutter get the ablation as it could well cure the condition. If its Afib there are other things to consider so take your EPs advice. The problem is that it may need an EP study to get a definitive diagnosis in some cases (mine was one), so if your getting an EP study best to let the EP decide what needs to be done when he sees what the problem is.
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:
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Cost of ablation for AFIB left atrium? Already had right atrium for aflutter and SVT. 
Afib &Aflutter ablation with loop recorder removal at Cleveland Clinic
Working out after AFIB 
Dronedarone & Ablation
Dronedarone 
