Do you take extra minerals and salt during heatwave?

[aFibber55]

Hello every everyone and although I haven’t posted for a while (no news is goods news😀) I do follow your excellent posts regularly.

I was diagnosed a year ago after couple of AnE visits during the heatwave May 2020. It’s been a bit of journey and the first six months were challenging to say the least, but I have tackled many lifestyle changes, lost weight, totally changed my diet and I am now a very very cheap date in deed.

I have settled on bisoprolol 10mg taken in two doses morning and night and after feeling absolutely dreadful on it for quite a while, I seem to be able to tolerate it pretty well. I do find that after about 20min of moderate exercise I seem to hit a bit of a wall and the going gets a bit heavy.

What still worries me greatly is the heat. I have never been good with heat and humidity, but now it really scares me. I have my first more stressful couple of weeks coming up. I will be setting up and helping to run an art and craft show over a period of 10 days. It will be my last as I know I just can’t manage it any more, particularly if we get temperatures around 30C.

I perspire and know to keep hydrated, but any advice on minerals and salts to take my good people. I know that I was given intravenous magnesium and potassium (?) while in AnE and that Afibbers are often low. There are some foods that are recommended (bananas, avocados, nuts etc) and I do have some magnesium supplements, but have been reluctant to take anything that might interfere with my meds which have been working well.

I have seen suggestions of using sports drinks or rehydration sachets or homemade solutions, but I am reluctant as AF is sensitive to additives and stimulants.

I would love to know how others deal with summer heat.

[BobD Volunteer]

I read an interesting article last year that said a glass of water with a pinch of salt wasas good or better than most "energy" or "sports" drinks.

[aFibber55 in reply to BobD]

I think most sports drinks are a no-no anyway as they can have caffeine and sugars which don’t agree with the FODMAP diet.I just had a look and I think Dr Gupta mentions Dioralyte. Has anyone tried this?

[BobD Volunteer in reply to aFibber55]

Yes often used it for the squits.

[Hidden in reply to aFibber55]

I’m not sure the salt is a good idea. During a recent chat with a consultant he told me that too much salt can trigger AF. I would have thought that just drinking plenty of water and staying as relaxed as possible was your best bet.

[Pacific in reply to BobD]

I was in Venice over 20 years ago in June. It was 40 C, unusually hot for June, or any month in this city. No ice was available in the cafes. Sadly yet fortunately, there was a Macdonalds, right in the centre. We bought a portion of fries with some lukewarm water and I immediately felt recovered. Drastic measures are sometimes necessary!

[Pacific in reply to Pacific]

They were salty fries

[rosyG]

coconut water is quite god for potassium but main thing is t o drink a lot of water

[Singwell]

One if our forum members told me we need 6gms salt a day. I'd has a horrible BP hypo due to electrolyte loss on that occasion and am watchful of my sodium levels since. You'd be surprised how much salt that is, so don't be afraid to take electrolytes if that's where you go. I also do not tolerate the heat well these days. I recommend organic coconut water, which I can assure you is far more palatable than athletes electrolytes, which are truly disgusting. In the AFib Cure book they recommend V8. I checked it out and there's almost no nasty additives there, so that might be an option. The other slightly mad thing I do? I have those wine cooler things in the fridge and my wrists are small enough to pop over my hands and use as wrist coolers! If you can, put ice packs in the fridge of your venue and use in an emergency. Hope these ideas are helpful.

[aFibber55 in reply to Singwell]

Thanks Singwell. I will try the coconut water and wine coolers. Thank you.