Cardioversion

[Catlady56]

I have been diagnosed with Afib following a massive pulmonary embolism in April this year. Echo cardiogram shows no lasting heart damage ("surprisingly" the technician has put!) but all EKG tests show Afib present at all times. I am unaware of it, but I have to say I feel like I aged ten years following the PE. Short of breath on stairs, walking any distance, and on just normal activity level. I am 63 year old woman. No sign of DVT in legs following doppler test. PE unprovoked but suspected due to untreated high blood pressure. I was in hospital on drips etc and had clot buster given in A & E. I've been told they usually see people with PE like I had on autopsy table. They are suggesting I try a cardioversion, which I am having next Wednesday. Questions:- What are the chances of this actually working as I am unaware of the Afib - that could have been present before the PE perhaps? If it does work, how long will it last? If it doesn't - what then? "Live" with it? Haven't been seen by Pulmonary clinic yet as tremendously long waiting list for them - plus cardiac doc told me the pulmonary doc thought I would probably die after discharge from hospital! She's told him I'm still alive now! I live in rural Wales in UK and the NHS is stretched here on a good day. I'm on Xarelto 20mg, Bisoprolol 2.5mg twice a day and Amlodipine 5mg - on all for life I'm told.

[BobD Volunteer]

Cardioversio0n is not a cure for anything but a useful tool to see if you a0 cab ne retunred to NSR and b) if you feel better as a result. This is importnat as it can sign post future treatment plans.

It is a simple procedure where you will be away with the fairies whilst they zap you and only takes a few minutes so probably a good idea. No doubt the pre-existing asymptomatic AF was the cause of your PE so you are lucky it wasn't a massive stroke from which you may not have recovered.

Sounds like you are being well looked after.

[Shcldavies]

Only the Docs know how to best treat your condition, true they don't always get it right but it is unusual for them not to provide the best treatment for your known condition and in your case they have a lot of knowledge about you condition. Whilst the Cardioversion does not always work (very few things carry a 100% guarantee) it does for the vast majority and you will most likely feel a lot better after such a small and surprisingly painless procedure. Whilst AF is not in itself life threatening, some of its side effects can be and it will make your heart do things it should not be doing. I suggest that getting back into NSR is the best thing for your condition. It will, in all likelihood work, how long it lasts no one can say as this depends on the underlying cause, in the vast majority it will last many years or even forever, in a few just hours but if the Doc thinks you should have it then it is likely to work for a long time. There are drug alternatives if your one of the few that do not convert, thankfully I have no experience of these but read on this site that they can have some undesirable side effects - not worth thinking about now as the Cardioversion is very likely to work.

[Hidden]

Sometimes surgery works and sometimes it doesn't. I had it done many years ago and it did nothing - didn't even work for 1 day. However, since that time, I have found something that helps a lot. Give it a try if you can. Here is my data:

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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:

https//cardiab.biomedcentral.com/a...