Here's a question that some of you academics or seasoned Afibers may answer.
I am a podiatrist and due to the dust I wear a dust mask for about 70% of my day. I breath in my own CO2 70 % of my working hours. It is a bog standard dust mask cheap and cheerful.I now suspect not healthy and not good practice. My thinking goes like this:
I breath in my own CO2 for lengthy periods of time and little fresh oxygen. Am I getting hypercapnia which has an association with arrhythmia . It is at work that I mostly start my arrhythmia ?
I know we all look for connections but this one seems to have a strong one.
I know there is a new EP on this great forum so ??
thanks
Rod
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I am not sure you will get a response as the few EP’s on the forum tend not to respond regularly - guess they are too busy.
Interesting theory probably best discussed with your own EP.
I also have Myasthenia and hypercapnia is a threat for all Myasthenics when breathing issues arise and I have ended up with medics who just don’t get that just because my O2 sats are up, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem - trouble is that very few are educated enough to know about Myasthenia and hpercapnian + AF and that Myasthenia symptoms mimic stroke - mmmmmmm.
I got so scared of hypercapnia and worried that it was all connected to the arrythmias that I got help by understanding the process and taking preventative measures which for me was to use a power breather to increase intercostal muscle strength - worked too!
I guess you have partially answered your own question and maybe could reconsider either using an alternative mask with a vent or not wearing a mask.
I would also suggest that posture may be a trigger?
Must say I know nothing about hypercapnia, but when I first started reading your post and it said you are a podiatrist I thought you were going to associate your afib with the bending or leaning over a lot during your work day.
When I sit on a stool and bend over for a long time to plant flowers or any time I spend time bending over it frequently triggers afib.
Maybe you aren’t bending down that much while you work and what I’m posting may not be relevant.
My EP spoke about research in sheep - when they pumped in CO2 they went into AF and their hearts settled down when they were pumped with oxygen. Our discussion was around my sleep test as, whilst most of my sleep was good, when I went into REM my oxygen levels dropped. So, maybe your assumption is correct.
I know nothing about hypercapnia at all, but as a hobbyist woodworker I do use dust masks. I went right off the plain simple masks when I realised that they were simply not doing the job I wanted. I now look for a P3 mask, which has the exhalation valve and filters down to the necessary particulate size.
My current favorite is the Venitex Spider Mask Kit 20 x Disposable Dust Masks Valved Respirator FFP3, bought from Amazon at £23.99. The better masks tend to have the exhalation valve off to one side, where they will not fog up your glasses, and two is better than one, but this mask is both comfortable and the refills are not too expensive. I can wear it for several jobs before replacing the filter, and the filters can be bought in bulk lots in several places.
Hard to say, Rod. But I doubt it. I'm guessing it's what you are eating at work, not the mask. Try this to see if you can trigger, or keep from triggering, your Afib:
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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:
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