Coffee and Chocolate, maybe not on the banned list?

[HelenClare]

I’ve just read a very interesting article on Medscape that coffee/tea and chocolate might not be the baddies we all thought they were! I’m rubbish at technology and forwarding the link so I’ve just taken a photo of where to find it. Off to put the kettle on….

[CDreamer]

Never been off the ‘banned’ list for me. There have been a plethora of articles on this subject on Medscape but here are links to a few

medscape.com/viewarticle/96...

medscape.com/viewarticle/95...

That doesn’t mean that it may not be a trigger for some - but probably that it won’t be the caffeine that’s responsible, more likely a substance in processing or the crop IMHO.

[JudiHalf]

We all react differently to things, coffee and chocolate are very much on the banned list for me unfortunately.

[Thomas45]

We are all different. Dark chocolate was very good for me when I had Polymyalgia Rheumatica as well as AF and asthma. Coffee, not caffeine, caused AF to exacerbate.

[Tilly1957 in reply to Thomas45]

Hi Thomas45, I have questions about the polymyalgia rheumatic,if that is ok? My af seems to be behaving itself at the moment, but my gp is now considering the possibility of polymyalgia - any advice, how long before you were diagnosed etc? Thank you, Penny

[Thomas45 in reply to Tilly1957]

Apologies for the delay in replying. Polymyalgia Rheumatica is an auto-immune disease Something upsets the body's mechanism and PMR results.in my case it was a new tablet, a change of anticoagulant, from Warfarin to Rivaroxaban. I had pains throughout my body, except my head, fortunately. (PMR in the head can lead to blindness.)

It took many tests and after 5 weeks my GPs rang up saying they thought they knew what it was but needed another blood test to confirm. That test was ESR, which stands for Erithrocyte Sedimentation Rate, which measures the rate one element of blood took to travel down a tube. For men 20 was normal. Anything above showed inflammation. My rate was 130, which indicated severe inflammation.

The main treatment for PMR is a reducing dose of prednisolone. You'd start at a relatively high dose, and reduce over time to nothing. I used the DSNS method, that's Dead Slow, Nearly Stop. It took nearly 4 years to get to none, but I still had periods of intense tiredness which is a known symptom. Some people get stuck at a dose of the steroid which becomes their maintenance dose for years. It is more prevalent in women than men. Taking the prednisolone allows you to function fairly normally. There is a Health Unlocked discussion board on PMR, which I found useful.

I hope this helps.

[beach_bum]

I drink 2 cups of decaf a day, sometimes 3, occasionally....well, weekly 70% dark chocolate bar, and no effect. But only you know what does or doesn't effect you.In my case, I was positive 2 own goals, resulting in a 2 nil loss to Chelsea would set my ticker off... sorry sorry...I'll try to use my inside voice next time. 😝

[HelenClare in reply to beach_bum]

Ha Ha! Still I West Bromwich fan for my sins! Article just cheered me up a bit.

[secondtry]

In my early AF days coffee even decaf/tea/choc was a no go but after 5 years I slowly introduced Green tea and small amounts of chocolate, sips of my wife coffee and wine; the latter, the forbidden fruit, always tastes better than it did 😋!!

[HelenClare]

I still have a drink 2 days a week-Tuesday and Friday usually ( I do love the clinking ice in a crystal glass of a G&T) and I find the relaxation outweighs the constant niggling worrying about my Paf AFIB etc etc. my heart rate is usually higher after a drink during the night. I know I will give up alcohol one day. But for now I have a de-caff coffee every day and several teas and some dark chocolate a few evenings a week. I need to feel ‘normal’ getting old and the thought of being denied things is not good for the psyche! As Bette Davis said ‘ Old age isn’t for sissies!’

[KMRobbo]

medscape.com/viewarticle/93...

[KMRobbo in reply to KMRobbo]

I stopped all caffeine when told to ( warned) when first diagnosed. I still got afib, so after many months I went back to the occasional coffee and it was not a trigger. I carried on with decaf tea for 3 years as it was not as horrible as decaf coffee but am now back to normal caffeinated tea and coffee 2 coffee 3 tea a day.However just because it was not my trigger it does not mean it us not yours ! I never found any triggers.

[NYCgal22]

I can drink one cup of coffee a day in the morning and rarely if socializing have had another cup at night. No issues with coffee or chocolate, but red wine definitely a trigger. Have had an occasional 3/4 glass of white wine and been ok but afraid to drink more. But I have also had bouts of AF without identifying any triggers. Everyone is so different.

[Snowgirl65]

I'll never give up my chocolate!

[RatPurdy]

This is very interesting - I'm a long time AF sufferer but have found recently that a late evening attack seems to be stopped completely upon drinking a mid-morning strong coffee.

But it doesn't affect a morning AF start-up (though these are rare for me).

Anyone else had a similar experience ?