I posted in March to ask if anyone else was prescribed atorvastatin to calm paroxysmal afib; no one had.
6 month update:
It’s worked for me. I’ve gone from palpitations and breathlessness almost every day to 99% of days free from symptoms. I have gone into afib twice but one was the result of an adrenaline rush after the 2nd AZ vaccination and the other was becoming stupidly dehydrated and tired on holiday. 🙄 perhaps it’s worth asking the question of your medics if you think it’s appropriate. It’s made a huge difference to my condition.
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Crumble2
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Hi Crumble2. It is good to hear that Atorvastatin has reduced your incidence of palpitations, but are you sure it is this particular medication that has done the trick or have you made other changes to your lifestyle? The reason I ask the question is that I was under the impression Atorvastatin was prescribed to reduce cholesterol and had no real effect on heart rate or rhythm. Kind regards
I made no other changes as I already am careful about my diet and exercise every day. I started taking apixaban at the same time as the statin but that would not affect my symptoms.,
I think BobD is referring to statins reducing the inflammation so if your AF was a response to inflammation, that’s what may have helped you. One of the main reasons statins are prescribed is to reduce inflammation.
If you had a lot inflammation in your body and if you were an elite athlete you most certainly would have, then statins reducing inflammation = less AF.
The cholesterol levels in diet are immaterial because the body produces cholesterol, diet has little to do with it unless you have the inherited form of high cholesterol.
Whereas my understanding is that sugar and carbs and ultra processed foods are much more of a problem. I stick to a high fat diet and need to have at least 6g of salt a day but all fats and oils are not equal so for me that means - olive oil, butter, Avacados, oily fish, nuts and seeds and full fat yogurt.
My cardio also says no sugar. WFPB, no oil, sugar, salt or diary. It is hard to know which is correct. Frustrating. Although this way of eating lead me to see another cardiologist 7 times in 6 months and numerous phone calls!! Caused very low blood pressure and many changes in heart medications. Even went into Afib for the first time since Jan. 2019. I am at a crossroads on this way of eating. His main goal is to lower cholesterol.
And there I think lies the difficulty, it’s a very controversial view and it’s incredibly frustrating when you get contradictory information.
My GP seems to take a sensible view and accepts I will not take statins and agrees with me not doing so because of other conditions, wants me to increase dairy because of osteoporosis- I try to eat more broccoli as I only take fermented dairy in the form of yogurt or kefir and occasional cheese. I’ve also used plant based sterols supplements which mops up excess lipids in the gut and managed to reduce my total cholesterol by 1.5 points.
Sugar is certainly a big factor and something to cut all added sugar from your diet.
I learned a lot from reading Dr Malcom Kendrick who wrote a book called the The Great Cholesterol Myth some years ago. drmalcolmkendrick.org/books... but I would say the science and the evidence is constantly changing and we all react very differently.
I don’t know if you are a member of the Cholesterol forum on HU but lots of interesting views and information on there as well.
I consulted a Nutritionist and did a lot of my own research and decided that because my cholesterol ratio’s were good I could reduce my cholesterol via diet BUT I increased salt - important to maintain BP and helps. I know my arteries are clear by the way.
I try to keep to 80% plant based diet, cook from scratch nearly every meal (everyone needs a day off or treat occasionally).
That's interesting Crumble2. I wonder if any member of this forum takes Atorvastatin and still has AF? Or perhaps like you they have noticed an improvement and had fewer attacks. Jean
That's great Crumble2. What matters is that it seems to have helped. I can't say it ever had any effect on my own Afib though I never took it for that but to reduce cholesterol on a dose of 10mg daily. I know that it can be prescribed in higher doses according to clinical need and I wonder what dosage you had which helped you so much. I wonder if it's been at a higher dosage than most people have for lowering cholesterol?
Interesting though as twice my own dose! I must admit I've never had any side effects from atorvastatin either. Lots of people object to having a statin even at lower doses, but it's been fine with me from day one and I've been on it for 10 years now! But anyway, so good that it's dealt with your AF and long may that last! 😊👍
Interesting!When I was first prescribed atorvastatin, I already had PAF. However it was discovered f I had a cholesterol reading of over 13 and was promptly put on 80mg a day. Highest dose.
It brought numbers down to acceptable levels. I didn't know about effect on inflammation,(by the way I am not and ever have been anything of an athlete!!)
Not sure if it's had any effect on PAF as it progressed for a few years until I was put on Flecanide. I have reduced the dose of atorvastatin with Drs agreement as I don't like the idea is taking such a large dose and my readings have stayed exactly the same.
PaF and cholesterol have been stable for a while ,with some lengthy episodes now and then.
It's hard to pin point the effectiveness of one thing against another with AF and AFlutter ,which I also have, such a diverse condition with various methods of control attempts.
For example:
firstly for me I'm convinced that high stress levels over several years due to matters largely out of my control, was the primary cause of my AF.
Second ,strong maternal AF and stroke history.
Third ,a need for lifestyle changes/ upgrades.
Inflammation may have contributed to your experience, especially as an athlete and certainly a medication to combat this would help if that is your main influence on PAF.
I don't know how you know if you have a lot of inflammation in your body?
I've not heard of atorvastatin being used on this way but it's interesting that your prescriber is thinking outside the box about CAUSE rather than EFFECT!
Correct. I have that test every 6 months or so. I also take a food supplement Resveratrol to lower inflammation rather than take a statin, which I was asked to do but not because of AF. There are no clinical studies demonstrating that this helps specific diseases but for me - I find it helps.
Stress of any type, psychological as well as physical will result in inflammation - just depends where or whether it becomes systemic, which is what happens to me.
If you have a look on the Internet you will see that there are a lot of references to a study carried out by Harvard University on the effects of Simvastatin on patients with coronary heart disease. There was clear evidence that the Simvastatin reduced the incidence of atrial fibrillation in these patients. As Bob said, this seems to be because of the anti-inflammatory effects. I think the study was about 10 years ago and nobody seems to have picked up on it. At the time, I asked my doctor if I could go onto Simvastatin and have been taking it ever since. It did seem to reduce the frequency of attacks but as ever the AF won through leading me to a successful ablation over 6 years ago. Peter
I researched about statins and inflammation when it was prescribed. There's not much and they all seem to say it needs more evidence and research but it's not been picked up - that I am aware of. I'm grateful to my consultant that he thought of it and asked me if I was willing to try it out. My PAF seems to have lots of triggers, mostly related to diet and digestion and hydration. I've stopped researching now; I'm just grateful it's working for me so I thought I would pass on the information -just in case it could help anyone else. Even if it's only 1 in 500 people, it was worth my time to post. 🙂
Hi Crumble, I did reply to your post 6m ago and I said I had tried Atorvastatin for 3m without having any effect, I still had AF for one day in every three! You might want to check the other replies. Mark
I take the same amount of Atorvastatin 20mg and I am not sure if has anything to do with the frequency of AFib attacks. So far I have still had one that lasted 7 hours the other day and I am taking Sotalol 80mg for that. I don't really see much of a difference now that I have been taking the Atorvastatin. So maybe it just depends on the individual?
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