I saved this interesting article a few years ago and have just come across it again. I thought some of you might find it interesting as it classifies types of AF. It's 20 years old and from the really informative Afibbers site(USA) which was how I discovered I'm vagally affected. It was also the inspiration for my starting daily magnesium in 2012.
Pat
Very interesting Pat and it has so many points which various members have highlighted over the years - eg elevating the head, cold drinks etc. And it is 20 years old - well done to those early researchers when vagal AF was ‘unknown’.
Thank you very much for this. I also believe that my AF is vagally induced.
I wish there was a way to confirm a diagnosis and steps to take to avoid the onset of AF.
Thanks again.
Hi Saulger, my Lone PAF is vagally mediated. Firstly, many medics including my cardiologist still raise their eyebrows if you mention the topic, don't be discouraged.
Fortunately, there is a lot of stuff on the Vagus Nerve on this Forum. As to steps to take, my personal successful actions are 1) reduce all forms of stress in your life - business, personal & other (e.g. substitute Romcoms for late night tv thrillers) 2) introduce a new anti-stress action in your routine - I took up walking basketball, daily nature trail walk & one hour mindfullness/yoga & prayer before bed 3) if possible avoid the scene of previous bad episodes 4) sort out your gut - most can benefit from reducing gluten, sugar & fancy processed food and consider buying better quality of everything unprocessed & supplements to help 5) fix your sleep pattern if poor & avoid sleeping on your left side 6) help neck pressure on the VN by supporting the head with a cushion when sitting down 7) splashing cold water on your face...hope one of the helps.
Dear secondtry. Thank you very much for your post.
I already follow many of your suggestions: normal BMI, eating lots of fresh fruit and veg (living in Athens, Greece), no alcohol, no caffeine...retired and not too much stress - boring life really !!!
I get annoyed that when I exercise (rowing machine) and swim in the sea, I get the irregular rhythm and chest pressure during and after I stop.
Long steep walks and swims were some of the reasons why I ended up here.
This forum has been wonderful in highlighting the benefit of magnesium supplements and the vagal connection.
I also believe that sleep apnea, acid reflux, gout, and constipation may also play a part, and I partake in all of the above, from time to time.
Best wishes to us all and stay safe.
p.s. a link to the study that was mentioned in the article:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Glad it helps. I agree I believe a number of factors of the average patient can move you towards the threshold of AF or perhaps in the case of say extreme athletes just one issue. Equally, I believe reducing all at risk factors a bit can keep you AF free.
Your reply reminded me I should have mentioned first I used to love pushing myself during exercise - tennis, skiing & running all gone as they all caused episodes... substituted by daily Nordic walking as my body seems to prefer brisk steady routines. Also cold is out, no iced drinks, dips in the sea or steep hill walks, again caused episodes. Yes, also tested and have mild sleep apnea so addressing this with nasal strips and currently doing home work on better breathing (if you are interested that is Patrick McKeown, lots of YouTube talks & his website Oxygenadvantage.com). Patrick treats patients for apnea & much more and incidentally yesterday I received his unique mouth strip to encourage nasal breathing at night nb it doesn't seal the mouth just pushes the lips together!
This may sound all too boring for you & no doubt others too but on the positive side AF free life to me is worth more, new hobbies can be surprisingly enjoyable and once the VN is 'rebalanced' (my term to save going into the medical detail) I expect many can slowly introduce old habits, although personally my QOL is such that I haven't got the bottle yet to rock the boat.
Thanks Pat , it is a great read. I printed it off years ago and re-read it from time to time.
Considering all this was researched(so the evidence was out there over 20 yrs ago ) and put together by a very clever fellow sufferer, but not a doctor, I wonder why so many of our consultants don’t appear to be aware of these things?
The marathon running depleting magnesium for instance. I’m sure that would be akin with serious cycling and the large numbers of avid cyclists who appear to have AF.
The mention of beta blockers making matters worse for Vagal AF.... that was me. I really couldn’t cope on them even as pill in the pocket.
Incidentally, I take Coenzyme Q10, Taurine and Hawthorn along with magnesium and they’re all mentioned there.
Back in 2012 I spent 100’s of hours researching online, reading articles like this so I could make my own informed decisions.
Pat
Hi Pat, I am sure you have mentioned it before but if you have the time could you repeat how long you have been taking Hawthorn now, how much do you take and have you been able to attribute any gain to this particular supplement.
I have been taking the majority of my supplements for the best part of 7-8 years now, since my scary AF episode in June 2012. The Hawthorn I take daily is 565mg. It’s difficult to attribute gain to a specific supplement as I take several (many).
What I can tell you is I no longer experience the many arrhythmias I used to suffer. At worst I have a few ectopics occasionally. In the past I’ve had days on end of trigeminy or bigeminy and repeated tachycardia spells during the night. I have not had those for a very long time(🤞🏻)... years now.
My theory on the tachy was that it would jump in when my heart was at its lowest bmp, which makes it obviously the vagal nerve again.
I once researched why I could count an accurate bpm from the beating I could hear by/in my ear, without feeling my pulse. I discovered it’s where the vagal nerve passes and vibrates with heartbeat. The high magnesium stopped that sensation too.
I’m 60 now, overweight(not good), but do not have high blood pressure or diabetes as my sister and 2 brothers do and did at my age. I’m not on any prescribed medication.... just the supplements.
(I’m wary of tempting fate saying all the above, despite logic telling me that can’t be done, hence all the crossed fingers 🤞🏻😐
Pat
That's good to know, thanks Pat. All that research has paid off. I take an Mg compound & Co Q10 to keep AF at bay & think Hawthorn may be an addition in the future as something of a substitute for my medication Flecainide.
I can't get my Mg level up into the top quartile as suggested by my Naturopath but you have given me an added incentive by mentioning that it could reduce the that pulse sounding in the ear.
One silver lining to the present Lockdown is that I have not been working in front of a computer and instead more physical on my smallholding. The result has been my resting pulse has gone up a welcome 5 points to 57, almost reversing the 5 points down from Flecainide, which is supposed to affect rhythm only.
Every day is a school day!
Really interesting - thank you for the link.
Ablation, here I come!
Ablation, here I come :)
I have a kin interest in learning from anecdotal experiences. 
40 year old just diagnosed advice please
Came across this, a Winter Olympics athlete who has just had an ablation
