I'm still a little weirded out by my visit today with a prominent founder of a lot of "allergy and asthma" clinics in the Southern Calif area. After many tests, one of which he ran a tube with a light down both sides of my nose and after completion told me my throat was red and irritated, probably from "acid reflux" and one of the medications he put me on was "pantoprazole", and he said because I was on "amiodarone" and "apixaban" that it works very well with "amiodarone" and that it might help by helping me not to go into afib as much as I have been. I am just literally blown away how an allergist can know about acid reflux, afib, amiodarone and apixaban! Is he stepping out of his boundaries or is this Dr. Legit in his knowledge. It is 9pm here and my head is still trying to comprehend what happened today. Does anybody have any insight? This Dr. is supposed to be a respected and knowledgable person when it comes to allergies and asthma but afib? Do I run for the hills as fast as I can or continue treatment with him, any comments will be appreciated. Thank You
What do Allergists Know about AFIB? - Atrial Fibrillati...
What do Allergists Know about AFIB?
An allergist knowing all that doesn’t surprise me at all, in fact you could be on to something. Many of us feel that chemicals in our food supply or an allergy to food triggers the Afib. Rather than cover up what you’re allergic to that is causing your redness in your throat, I would be on a hunt to figure out what is causing it. Unless it is seasonal type of allergy. Then I would be asking what is the allergy and get some tests. Just my thoughts.
Thank You for your reply. that's exactly I've decided to do as he seemed so certain and 35 years as a Dr. and with all of his allergy and asthma centers around he must have some medical insight on the problems and effects of medicine. Thanks again and have a Blessed Day!
I hate my allergies.😡
Try supplementing with Quercetin. Allergy symptoms are caused by over active mast cells reacting to allergens . Quercetin acts as a natural antihistamine . It worked a treat for my hives even at a very low dose.
thankyou. That’s very interesting and I’ll definitely give it a go. 👍
Antihistamines cause me to go into afib almost immediately after taking. Is this antihistamine free? Have a Super Day!
It is a natural substance found in foods such as apples and onions. I have not had any of the side effects associated with antihistamines when taking it and I am very sensitive to drugs in general. You can find info about it online.
Thank You, will do.
Pantoprazole is a PPI (proton pump inhibitor). They are prescribed to reduce stomach acid. They’re best not used long term if you can help it. I can’t see how a PPI prevents AF episodes. PPIs don’t treat allergies either. If you have gastric reflux you really ought to be seen by a gastroenterologist, not an allergy specialist. Ideally you should have an endoscopy to see what’s going on in your stomach and upper GI tract to find out what’s causing acid reflux, if it’s actually happening at all. I’m more inclined to seek a second opinion from a GI specialist. From what you describe, it doesn’t sound right to me.
I take a PPI Lansoprazole for reflux and have done for years. I had my first AF episode in January. I don't feel as though the two are related and certainly no one has suggested it.
Acid reflux has a relationship with AF. Have a look at the York Cardiologist YouTube channel and you'll see several videos about digestive issues and AF. I'd recommend though (as a long term acid reflux sufferer) that you address the problem with dietary changes rather than medication. There's an excellent book I've used on this topic which I can give you title if interested
Definitely makes sense to address acid reflux by addressing general digestive health than by going straight to long term use of PPIs. Not eating for 3-4 hours before bedtime can help as a first step. Adequate fibre intake can improve the motility of the digestive system overall if the diet has been lacking in fibre. I’m not a fan of cutting out any foods or food groups unnecessarily though. I only have occasional reflux and if it’s bad at night I’ll take a couple of spoonfuls or Gaviscon, which I was told by a medical doctor was preferable to taking PPIs. PPIs have their place but we are hearing more and more caveats about the wisdom of using them long term, and the consensus seems to be pointing away from routine long term prescriptions to using only when necessary.
What if you've been a vegetarian for 60 years like myself, I don't know how much better one can eat but this can be mis-leading because i just weighed at Dr.s office at 266 lbs. After wife's death and being 100% service connected for ptsd and being partially dis-abled and living alone, no living relatives I found myself turning to eating as something to do, so maybe quantity of food and not quality could be the cause of a lot of health problems, afib and excessive coronary artery calcification being among others. Thank You for all of your information on this mater.
Please don’t blame yourself for your health problems. Although diet and lifestyle can play a role to some extent, it’s not the whole story and it’s certainly not a cure-all. The social determinants of health, including social support, finances, access to medical care, play a significant role too. The loss of your wife must have been devastating.
I presume he's a medical doctor who will have specialised in allergies after his medical degree? In which case his training will have covered heart arrhythmias and much else.
If he saw signs of acid reflux, it would have been some level of visible redness or erosion of the mucosal lining of the oesophagus, hence the need for an acid blocking PPI drug, e.g. pantoprazole (acid reflux can be an aspect, too, of a small hiatus (hiatal) hernia). Gastric issues caused by acid reflux seem often to accompany minor cardiac issues such as premature beats (PACs and PVCs) but these can also trigger an episode of AF in prone individuals.
I get this and never know whether the gastric issues are the cause of the cardiac, or vice versa, but the PPI drug seems not to help with the arrhythmias at all, only the acid reflux.
Steve
Yes, we have to be very careful about the credentials of the people we seek out for our healthcare, and also we have to be wise to the current trend for blood tests ordered by under-qualified/unqualified/unregulated “nutrition coaches” or “holistic” whatevers which purport to identify “food sensitivities” because these are often not worth the paper they are printed on. So many people are falling for it, and once someone has invested financially and emotionally to going down this route, the sunk cost fallacy kicks in big time and it’s impossible to persuade them otherwise. Nobody wants to admit to themselves that they’ve been conned, or that the person who promises good health is actually just seeing them as a repeat customer. The whole “allergy” industry is minefield. Of course, true allergies exist and can be life threatening but these pop nutritionists who purport to be able to identify “allergies” won’t have any expertise on any of this. Allergy specialists are usually immunologists, not high street peddlers of pseudoscience.
You have said it well. The internet has spawned a whole new fraudulent industry that makes the old Snake Oil days seem like child's play. Caveat emptor, eh?!
Steve
The sunk cost phenomenon is a massive barrier to getting people to question what they so readily fall for. My dentist told me about the lemon water trend and how they were seeing all the damage to the teeth of their “health conscious” patients. It’s an acid, so go figure. A friend of mine was advised to drink lemon water every morning for some silly made up reason like “cleansing the liver” or “purifying the kidneys”. Her response to it wearing away the enamel on the teeth was “maybe they weren’t doing it properly”! If people are paying for dodgy advice, they won’t actually believe it’s dodgy advice because they’re so invested so much financially, emotionally and personally. It’s always the “fault” of the punter when it doesn’t work, they never admit the idea was all nonsense in the first place. I’ve lost count of the people I’ve met with allergies that mysteriously disappear at the sight of Ben & Jerry’s.
That’s fascinating. I know that the only truly scientific test for effectiveness and safety is a trial that has been double blinded and placebo controlled. That is never done by these “neutriceutical” companies. When people are given placebo they often get the same level of effects and side effects as when given the active product. When you tell them afterwards, they often make up some reason why rather than face the reality of it.
Steve
I was on a blind study in 1995 from the VA Hospital in Los Angeles for (dofetelide, Tikosyn) and the administering Dr said I could get either a placebo or the actual drug but later on during the study he relented and told me I was getting the actual medicine, which thankfully worked wonders for 15-20 years until the efficacy waned and then was put on amiodarone which I'm on now which is so,so. I just thought it very strange an allergist would know anything about afib.
It must have been wonderful to have that many years of relief from the tablets and such a disappointment (and worry, I guess) when it started to fail. Amiodarone is said to be a highly effective and safe drug (except for the toxicity it can have in higher doses). It's certainly very commonly prescribed, it seems.
Steve
As the allergy Dr. told me "the benefits far outweigh the risk", and isn't quality of life living this afib what we're all looking for?
Last year my husband's voice started to become extremely croaky. He went to ENT who put a camera through his nose and diagnosed acid reflux damaging his voice box so yes it certainly can be diagnosed that way. He was put on a PPI which he refused to take claiming there's nothing wrong with his stomach ( He didn't have his hearing aids in so he didn't hear the actual explanation. ) I wouldn't like to be on a PPI very long term, there are some quite worrying long term effects reported- see Mayo Clinic website.
The latest evidence for PPIs is supposed to be good, with much of the earlier fears not founded. I’ll look at that website, though - thank you.
What also has to be taken into account is the truly enormous reduction in gastric and oesophageal illnesses - including the most serious - since PPIs were introduced. Previous long and dangerous operations for gastric and duodenal ulcers, erosion, Barrett’s, hiatus hernia and worse are a thing of the past for many people these days.
Steve
We're all just looking for answers! They may come in the most unsuspecting way. Have a Great Day
I completely agree; you have to balance out what's best for you. I'm allergic to PPIs so I take Famotidine following a heart attack.
I'm glad it's working for you. To tell you the truth I'm terrified of taking pills.
My named GP ( If I ever get to see him greets me with "Hello trouble" because I am so difficult to prescribe for. I have so many bad reactions to tablets as well as true allergies, everything has to be prescribed with a specific manufacturer's name so we k now I won't re act badly to fillers or colourings. As for antibiotics- no thank you. I have very bad bowel adhesions and antibiotics leave me in unbearable pain. The bloating rips on where the bowel is stuck to my spine.
I tried to switch to that a few years ago when the scare stories around PPIs first appeared. It just didn't stop the acid well enough, sadly, and, despite a good long attempt, I had many months of acid problems, my doctor convinced me to start esomeprazole again. Even so, the effects of the acid took months to return to normal.
Steve
Thank You, I hope he's doing better, but why do we go to the Dr. in the first place if we don't do what they advise us to do, after all they've spent vast amounts of time and money on their desired medical field and the thing I've always been told is that the benefits outweigh the risk and finally I don't think they're intentionally trying to harm us in any way, just trying to give us some relief. Have a Wonderful Day.
Your allergist might very well know about heart-related issues from his long practice. When my allergies kick up, it gives me palpitations caused from esophageal congestion. My GP last October gave me an allergy shot (unbeknownst to me, it was a steroid) and also Advil (also a steroid) and I went into horrible a-fib, sending me to the ER. Two months later I had an ablation at Cleveland Clinic. But I digress -- yes, I believe allergists might know a thing or two about the heart.
After 35+ years living with afib this would be a blessing if what he proposes helps, even a small way. I'll just keep praying and let things land where they may . He did give me a dose of an inhaler and I went into afib for about 3 hours but it was the first time in many years I could breathe out of both nostrils at the same time. He said I had extensive allergins and wondered why the VA Hospital didn't start me on allergy shots, I told him their allergist was afraid to as she didn't want to risk me going into anaphylaxis but he said if that happens just a shot from an eppipen is all that I would need to be fine and the benefits far outweigh the risks. Thank You for your reply. Have a Blessed Day!
I think some doctors are so focused on what they want the medication to fix that they don't see everything those meds affect, while other doctors see the big picture so the medication they prescribe doesn't cause other problems. Both doctors are good doctors, but their focus is different.
For example: My EP had no problem with an ER doctor prescribing metoprolol for my afib last summer and was skeptical when I said it was impacting my asthma. I learned of this interaction when I had an essential tremor added to my list of conditions last fall and the neurologist said the med he wished he could prescribe can't be taken with metoprolol - and, by the way, [looks at my medical history] metoprolol tightens the chest of asthmatics and makes it hard to breathe. This explains 90% of the problems I've been having since my ER visit.
It might be because neurologists prescribe some heavy-duty meds and need to know everything about those meds (the big picture), so I trust this guy even though some of his advice was outside his area of expertise; a little research of my own showed he was spot on. It bugs me that my EP dismissed my concerns (I was complaining of breathing problems), but I think he was too focused on stopping my afib and not seeing that I may have had one of the less-common side effects of the meds - a good doctor who doesn't see the big picture. I had an ablation in February and soon hope to be able to 1) drop the two heart meds from my ER visit and 2) drop the side effects of those drugs.
On the other hand , I've been prescribed medicines in the past from various doctors from EPs to ER Drs. and after arriving home home will go right to my computer and go to drugs.com and check to see of there are any interactions and or side effects with other meds I'm taking and I would say 90% of the time there is, usually irregular or fast heart beat which I don't want as I already have it. I have lately flatly refused medicines ER Drs. tried to get me to take as part of their treatment as I know I will have repercussions with it and demand them call the pharmacy and check with them. Medical treatment in the United States is going downhill rapidly. ( along with QOL) since the Democrat Socialists stole the election, but that's another story LOL. All we can do is trust in our creator and let it go at that or the stress will kill us. Have a Blessed Day!
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
I know what triggers AFIB.
Ablation or not? I really don't know what to do
I don't know what to do!!
Do you have Vagal Afib or Adrenergic Afib?
WHAT ARE YOUR AFIB TRIGGERS?
Curious about AFib and Apnea
What rights do I have re treatment for AFib.
What comes first? |Silent AFib
Quite lost , dont know what to do anymore!
