Help with Atrial Fibrillation and Acupuncture

[Mirhadi]

I am a 70 year old male. I have an appointment for Radio Frequency Ablation in 5 weeks. I am very stressed out and I wish I could avoid it. Someone suggested to try acupuncture. Has anyone had acupuncture for Afib? Any experiences to share? Currently I am on 120mg of Diltiazem once a day and 80 mg Sotalol twice a day and of course Eliquis. Any suggestions or advice will be welcome.

[CDreamer]

Acupuncture will help relaxation and reduce your stress burden, which in turn may reduce your AF burden as stress is the No1 antagonist for AF episodes in my experience. However, it won’t help the AF directly. Still worth going for the stress though.

All complimentary therapies work in a VERY different way to conventional, western therapies though so a one off session is very unlikely to do much so expect to have a course. When complimentary therapies are affective they wipe me out for the following 24 hours so I always ensure I have no commitments following a treatment for 24 hours.

[Mirhadi in reply to CDreamer]

Hi , Thank you very much for the info. I am going to try acupuncture and will keep the next day free to relax. Keeping fingers crossed.

[BobD Volunteer]

Acupuncture may well help you to accept and relax into the ablation so by all means go for it but don't expect it to stop AF.

Life style change, meat reduced diet, no alcohol or stimulants, no stress, no procesed foods , BMI less than 25 etc will all help the ablation to improve your quality of life but trust me there is no magic bullet, just a lot of hard work and a complete change in the way you live.

[Mirhadi in reply to BobD]

Hi, Thanks for the info. I agree that I must lose weight and change my diet. I have cut down on so many things yet the change is very slow. I will try acupuncture but I wish I could avoid ablation.

[secondtry]

A health email from Dr Sally Bell dropped into my Inbox yesterday: 'Of all of the foundations to health, stress management is perhaps the most important. Why? Because no matter what diet you follow, how much you exercise and what supplements you take, if you’re not managing your stress you will still be at risk for modern diseases like heart disease, diabetes, autoimmunity disease and obesity. 'Also coincidentally in my Inbox an Acupressure device that you might want to research, see attached.

Flyer

[Mirhadi in reply to secondtry]

Hi, Oh I didn’t know such a thing exists. May be worth a try. Thank you for letting me know.

[Maggimunro in reply to Mirhadi]

You are welcome

[Maggimunro]

I used to use acupuncture as one of my physiotherapy techniques for helping people. I often thought that the relaxation it produced was the key to its success.

[Mirhadi in reply to Maggimunro]

Hi, So as far as acupuncture does not have adverse effects, I’m okay with trying it. Thank you for responding.

[Megams]

~Hi Mirhadi - in same situation booked 17 August cryo/ablation & come closer to the day will be chewing nails to the bone no doubt.I must & will find the courage to proceed - how will I ever know the end result otherwise?

Good luck & sending healing thoughts your way ~

[Mirhadi in reply to Megams]

Hi, thanks for the response. I’m booked for RF ablation. I wonder how Cryo differs from RF ablation. I share your dread and apprehension. I wish there was medication for AFib or at least ablation was 100% successful . Have you tried Sotalol120mg twice a day? I find it effective.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Mirhadi]

Cryo is a simple procedure and often faster that RF so often used as a first attempt. It has limitations in that it can only deal with those signals coming from the four pulmnary viens and only if those are nice and regularly formed. For all other problem areas RF is needed.

[Megams in reply to Mirhadi]

~Have been on variety of heart meds with break through each time. Haven't tried Sotalol but presently holding reasonably well on Betaloc 95mg.

[Golfer60UK]

Hi I am 76 and yesterday had my final ablation and pacemaker switched on. Had two ablations prior to this that worked for a while but AF returned.

Don't stress yourself you will probably have a general so will be out. I had a sedation yesterday so was semi awake and did not feel anything at all.

Don't worry you will be fine

Dave