Vagal AF

[Barny12]

Quick question, sorry if it's been asked a million times before, but with vagal AF do we need to increase or decrease vagal tone?

For instance as i understand it, if I'm an athlete and develop afib it's likely to be because I have high vagal tone and my parasympathetic system is slowing my heart down almost too much which then sets off the AF.

Therefore if we have vagal AF should we really be trying to encourage our vagus nerve to help us rest/relax even more?

[rosyG]

HiI have vagal AF but haven’t found manuvoures to work. If you’re an athlete the advice is usually to detain so heart muscle returns to normal size. I’ve found I have to watch potassium levels as low levels are definitely a trigger.

[secondtry]

The analogy I like to use, without using the nervous system terms, for Vagally mediated AF (be it athletes or stress) is it is like a choke on an engine stuck on full. You need to get it so that it runs smoothly again, out when needed and slowly back in when not. As Rosy says in the case of athletes this can be done by detraining and in the case of many more (incl myself) eliminating all forms of stress. All lifestyle changes take time and effort but the good news is when you plan carefully there are no side effects and they work!

[Barny12 in reply to secondtry]

The reason I'm asking is that I recently bought a vagus nerve stimulator (tens machine + ear clip) and after a few days use noticed that whilst I've felt slighter more relaxed in myself, it seems to be making the AF worse!

[secondtry in reply to Barny12]

I would be very wary of using it further, tempting as it is to find the silver bullet, as your experience confirms what I was thinking that such action can go both ways. The same can be said about a chiropractor or osteopath's treatment.

[blulla1]

Here is the case of an athlete who cured himself of AF & ectopic beats without meds or an ablation. carrafibdietinfo.com/