AF no attempt to convert

[Krinic]

I have had AF for two years. I didn’t know I had it because it’s not rapid. I had been on bisopropol for many years for my high blood pressure. I came off of it due to my Heart rate running very low at night. I feel so much better now. They never attempted to cardiovert me and I still don’t understand that. I’m on a blood thinner. Anyone else not even one attempt at cardioversion?

[BobD Volunteer]

Any treatment for AF is only ever about quality of life and symptom control so if like yourself a person is asymptomatic then treatment is about rate control to prevent the heart becoming enlarged through over work. . Cardiovesion is just to se if a person feels better in NSR.

[Hidden]

Hi there,

Very curious ... how do you know that your Bisoprolol was prescribed for blood pressure. What dose were you on, 1.25mg, 5mg or higher ? I have it for heart rate control. Currently I have challenged my GP on this drug as I am on another two drugs for blood pressure control.

Many thanks.

John

[Krinic in reply to Hidden]

I was in my early 50,s and in great health when I developed high BP. This was prescribed only for that reason. I’m not sure why it was chosen but otherwise I was in perfect health. I thought when I came off October it my heart rate would jump up and I would notice the a fib but it’s been over 9 months and my rate is always between 59 and 78

[Omniscient1]

Carneuny - I think Bisoprolol is a fairly common prescribe for high blood pressure.

Krinic - No attempt to reset you back to NSR? That makes two of us then. However I suspect we're not alone. My consultant declined to do it after the first detailed scan, and then afterward when challenged - as it seemed to me a lot of the posts here are people going into, coming out of cardioversions and ablations. I think that if you've had AF for a while then the chances of a long term fix are diminished/gone, but I could be wrong.

I will repeat what I have said elsewhere that as far as the NHS are concerned AF treatment seems to be treated more to prevent stroke than a heart health priority, so as long as you are ticking along, as with most things, they'll leave you alone.

[Hidden]

You might want to try this:

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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 (this is why all doctors agree that afib gets worse as you get older). 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??

I'm pretty sure that Afib is caused by a gland(s) - like the Pancreas - or an organ that, in our old age, is not working well anymore and excess sugar or dehydration is causing them to send mixed signals to the heart - for example telling the heart to beat fast and slow at the same time - which causes it to skip beats, etc. I can't prove that (and neither can my doctors), but I have a very strong suspicion that that is the root cause of our Afib problems. I am working on this with a Nutritionist and hope to get some definitive proof in a few months.

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

[DevonHubby1]

Cardioversion is not a silver bullet. In my wifes case she normally self reverted after a few days but was admitted recently to A&E when in high rate AF for more than a week.

They attempted to cardiovert her via shock and that put her in flutter which was far worse. Luckily she went back to AF from flutter and now doctors said they would not re-attempt cardioversion.

So, as BobD said, it's all about quality of life and the risks associated with each procedure. A balance has to be struck between the 2.

[Krinic]

Thank you for your reply DevonHubby1