for 9 weeks I have had sig++ PACs 24hrs a day. Some flips in & out of AF. This is v different from my PAF path with a couple of episodes per year.
But I have just spent 4 days in Spain & from when I got there I have had wonderfully smooth normal SR. No bumps, nothing 🙏
The only difference (other than more relaxation. & sun which I know helps) was I drank 2-3 litres of mineral water per day. Could this be the solution?
I would love your thoughts from those that have explored the mineral element & triggers of their AF. I also drank strong coffee & wine & nothing!
Thanks as always Rachel
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Pigleywigley
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l would love this to be a cure, but you would be a millionaire if mineral water was it! Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is such a mongrel condition and has a mind of its own. So many times l have thought l have won, but it always rears its ugly head. It was good that you had a holiday free of it and was able to enjoy your holiday Rachel. Long may your good spell last.
Whoever finds the solution for AF and other arrhythmias will not get wealthy but will risk getting murdered. If there would be found a simple and cheap solution, it would spoil business worth billions (so many medications, ablations, pace-makers, etc.).If anyone ever finds the solution, it would be prudent to keep silent and live long and peaceful life.
Do you think some on this Forum would be disappointed if there was a simple and cheap solution because they no longer had something to talk about? Thanks.
Never intended to say anything like that... This forum is liveliest and best visited of all where I have been until now, and the people are great! If the disaster would strike and the solution was found, I am sure that many would still continue to communicate with each other. Hope the disaster will not strike, lol.
Waking at 4am and unable to get back to sleep I gave in and decided to read emails. Yours made me smile: why murdered if they became wealthy because of AF cure? A few years back I stopped playing Lotto in case I became so wealthy my grandchildren would be kidnapped. It's along same lines.
Camelia, I did not mean that one could get murdered by the robbers because of having a lot of money, but murdered by the interested party whose money income would be impaired by the new knowledge. If one could be identified early enough, he would be murdered as the preventive. If the damage could not be prevented, he could get murdered as the revenge. Please, do not call me conspiracy theorist - conspiracies are all around us, proven many times to be true. Unfortunately, we live in a world of evil, where it is more and more difficult even to get medical support we are entitled to receive...
Hi! Camelia, I would be proud if you did, lol! Conspiracy theorists are the people who have understood the conspiracy early enough, so should be ridiculed and prevented of explaining it to others. I am antivax also, so happy to not have taken this poison. Just look at Dr Campbell's posts in YT.
Hi R,Let's agree to differ. I can't and never will understand anti vaxxers. Please don't try to explain or convert me. It's interesting to wake 2 hours early and read my emails. As the only driver in the house I hope I'm awake to drive us to our nearest bigger town! My worst trait when tired is grumpiness . Ha ha
No worries, I know that it would be indecent to try to convert you. As the English say: "Everyone to his own." Since how long you have problems to sleep? I am 72 and only lately wake up early, sometimes as early as 3 am. No more sleep at all, only reflecting on the past and lost chances with girls, lol.
Usually I get back to sleep fairly quickly but wake up at least twice in the night. This morning I gave in and put on the light. In the summer I wear eye mask but this time of year it's not necessary. I just passed 80 in June.
Thanks Cavalierrubie. It was of course a play on words, I know there is no cure, but it did get me thinking about mineral deficiency & whether others have got to the bottom of this for them - helping them. My holiday was lovely!
Glad you had a good holiday, that’s all that matters. It obviously done you good all the mineral water, sun and fresh air. Thanks for sharing your good news and it reminds us to look after ourselves. It is important to keep our electrolytes in sync. so you must have been doing something right. If we can keep this at bay it’s a bonus. Take care.
I guess it could be a cure for you, who knows. I hope you are going to keep drinking mineral water at home now to see how you get on?
I once thought that because one April I'd had an infected tooth removed, that I had cured my AF. I went all summer without any AF attacks and also stopped taking my beta blockers, kept on with my anticoagulants. October came and back I went into AF, so that hadn't been the cure after all.
Next year at the start of summer I stopped my beta blockers and again went AF free until about the end of September and I thought it must be the sunshine. The following year, well my heart played up serious style when I stopped taking my beta blockers no matter how I tried to reduce my dose it wasn't going to behave. Well, that was the end of my trying and I eventually went into constant AF, which is how I am now but fortunately it's at a low rate 60-90bpm.
I really hope that this is a cure for you, keep on the mineral water. Just thinking could the cure be sunshine and the vitamin D you absorbed from it?
A friend of mine today told me to add Celtic course grey sea salt to my water so I’ve done so today! Two weeks ago I spent 9 days in Barcelona. My heart really misbehaved, that said I did get lots of vid D & therefore my current vid D will have been topped up. Our bodies are such a mystery! I too have given in trying to stop my BB. Thanks for responding. Rachel
Mineral water has extra magnesium and potassium that may be helping. It also can have a positive effect on the gastro tract which is a trigger for many of us. Conversely, it could be something in the water at home, the triggers things. Or maybe it's just being more relaxed on vacation or a combination of f things. .
Hopefully you have access to that brand of mineral water at home!
Hey Jim it was Spanish but I’m going to try more minerals in my water. Obvs relaxing is easier when our heart behaves, I so admire the peeps that don’t get stressed with their hearts misbehaving! Maybe I need to move to Spain 🇪🇸 😂
Mineral water may have improved your hydration and mineral levels but it's definitely not a cure, just part of the good recommended self care to keep generally healthy and help reduce your AF symptoms.The sunshine and relaxation you enjoyed will have also been important factors , stress reduction is the most important thing and pacing yourself does make significant changes.
Glad you had a super holiday, wish I was in Spain myself now that the weather is getting colder, take care , Bee
Minerals may have helped but I suspect the main reason was the relaxation.
Most here think stress is a key AF villain and therefore the opposite relaxation can I expect for some (not for others though) have a positive effect. I refer here to the two faced effect of AF eg a cold drink can stop AF and start it 😖.
I have just had a 'bumpy' AF journey leading up to an annual business event I was organising and then afterwards (feeling like on holiday) I was AF free for 4 days.
Its frustrating but keep persevering and one day we will form a set of guidelines on lifestyle choices that is as effective overall as an ablation 🤞🤞.
With you there secondtry. I am also a mid life woman so hormones playing havoc on keeping on an even keel including terrible sleep. While away I didn’t have to share my bed with my husband & my dog 🐶 - now maybe 🤔 there is some cure in that one! 😂
wow, pigleywigley, I am very pleased for you. I have just come to Cyprus, and had the opposite effect - but it’s my own fault, drank just a small glass of white wine, which I never normally do, and have been in AF since last night. At least I know for sure it’s a trigger. Please tell me what sig ++ PAC means? I’m off to buy some mineral water as soon as I’m well!
I can drink when before I was scared not that I do a lot….but hydration is key…and for me..heat…too much and that sets me off. So a bottle of water and a sun hat and I’m fine
I'm in Cyprus right now but flying back to Scotland tonight. I've had 2 gorgeous weeks AF free apart from one episode after eating some spicy pizza with a glass of white wine, two things I never do at home. My episode stopped after 6 hours and been fine since. I really hope yours settles soon so you can enjoy the warmth.
Thank you Rosemary I’m glad for you and hope same will be for me soon. I’m currently still not right. But I only got here early hours of 11 Oct, and it was to a dusty flat, so that may have contributed. I am already glad to be here in the balmy warmth,. Worst thing is it’s hard for anyone who hasn’t had Afib to know what it feels like. Safe trip back to Scotland. P.s. interesting white wine preceded yours too.
Hey did you have disrupted sleep to get to Cyprus? When I did long haul last year I went into AF. Plus of course even with a lot of water you still dehydrate quicker flying. I definitely know that dehydration is an issue for me. My first ever AF episode was in Tenerife after too much sun & too much wine! I hope the mineral water helps you. I drink 2-3 litre of water every day at home, but on holiday this was mineral.
PAC are premature atrial contractions. I have a trigenimy rhythm (an extra beat & then a pause). They are ok if the burden is not high, but can also lead you into AF. Hope you can enjoy your holiday.
Hi, pleased to say that since that first episode after 2 sips white wine I’ve been free of Paf. I have bought mineral water! I am beginning to feel relaxed too, here! Maybe as you say the stress of the flight and the dehydration contributed to the Episode, I did miss out on sleep too due to flight times. Hope you’re doing well still.
dehydration plays a big part I think and especially if sweating I take a zero tab which has electrolytes to replace what I have lost in sweat.
There is no cure for afib. Strangely enough since being on Blood pressure tablets my episodes have significantly decreased and their symptoms too. My BP wasn’t high but you know drs…they like to move the goal post lower lol
It's not strange really many people receive blood pressure medication to help manage BP and Heart Rate and that control is what reduces the aFib trigger.
Drinking 2 litres plus of water a day from almost zero has really helped my AF, but I believe the mineral balance is key. A particular French brand ticks all the right boxes for me. Stress is one of my main triggers and would love the slower pace in Spain )
Here's a strange possible explanation... one that I have had explained by a cardiologist.
I wonder whether the weight of the water in the stomach acted to hold it down and away from the diaphragm / heart? This is a known cause of PACs.
It is not impossible at all also that you have a slight "sliding" hiatus hernia as drinking is a way to temporarily "cure" this causing it to slide back down. Jumping off a single stair after drinking can also do the same trick, but sufficient water will also do it. Too much likely will cause the opposite, I guess!
Do you have any more info relating to the movement of the stomach acting on the heart? I've always suspected that my ectopics/af are set off by running, walking and generally being bounced around.
No, sadly. I did find a couple of studies online once, a while ago, but never kept the links. I'll have another scout around later as it's cropped up a couple of times on the forum of late. I was under an excellent cardiologist at the time - we are going back to th 1970s (at least I was told by the nurse that he was esteemed as part of the South African heart transplant team, so he was treated suitably reverently!).
The background was that, in my early 20s, I had had some loud clicking sounds and harsh stitch like pains from my heart area - quite weird to listen to and which got all the GPs in the practice into the one room listening to me and enthusiastically guessing ("Oh, that's a prosthetic valve"... "But he hasn't got aa prosthetic valve...!" and so on). I think they all thought they were back at medical school! Anyway, they despatched me pronto to the local hospital where a consultant came in telling me this had better be good as he'd left his breakfast to come!
It was after that when I discovered I had a sliding hiatus hernia but a link between the two was never made. That might have arisen when, as a youngster, I was in goal and, in boredom (who would be a goalie!). Well, I was pretending I was an ape hanging from the crossbar but slipped and landed smack on my back, badly winding myself - completely unable to breathe for some time, worrying everyone and halting the game. I recovered from that but had severe stitch a lot in the years after. I only recently made a tentative connection - and still wonder at the possibility.
Ha! I think we all did the hanging like an ape falling and landing on our backs winding ourselves thing as kids! Maybe it has a lot to answer for 🙂
The hiatus hernia and the secondary displacement of the heart issue sound like Roemheld syndrome, but apparently this is considered an obsolete medical diagnosis these days...
This thread of convo very interesting! I have just done a core strength yoga & doing the crunchies and upper abdominal work got my heart bouncing around. I am the same when bending over!
If it's working, carry on with what you've been doing in Spain. This could be what your body needs? I find that protein seems to keep my AF in check (less flipping). When I don't eat properly and just pick I find my heart starts jumping about. I've discovered the days I eat 3 meals a day with which includes protein in at least two meals my heart is calm. It could be pure coincidence, but it works for me, so far 🤞🤞. Obviously it's not a cure, unfortunately ☹️ but, maybe each body is lacking in either a certain victim or mineral, who knows 🤷. I reiterate, carry on doing what you're doing, Rachel. Long my it continue. 👍🤞
I agree BluPick64. I have continued to add minerals/grey Celtic sea salt to my daily water! I try to eat well & mid life female, more protein! I have a terrible sweet tooth though 😤 🍰
Possibly a factor could be that your bottled mineral water is not contaminated with some of the stuff coming out of our taps? I filter all my drinking and cooking water and while I can't make any direct links to presence/absence of afib, my body can definitely tell the difference! In fact, it actively protests if confronted with unfiltered water now — even in hot drinks!
That’s interesting emv54. What do you use? I have an American fridge freezer that has a water dispenser with a filter. That said, I think it needs changing! 😤
I use a Wrekin — UK-designed and manufactured, very similar to the American Berkey. I know we can't post links here, but if you search for 'Wrekin water filter', it'll come up. Lots of options. Mine is a gravity filter with a 7-8 litre capacity. Had it two years and absolutely love it!
Glad you have enjoyed a free AF holiday. And about the mineral water, if you can, keep having it which is not going to hurt plus keep hydrated. Most people with AF, as I have found out, find that drinking could water helps, however in my case it is to be warm. You see, everyone must find the best for themselves. 😀
I get a little confused with the term 'mineral water' - minerals used to be the generic description of non - alcoholic soft drinks - Does it now refer to the bottled water that is supposed to come from underground springs ? I'm not quite sure.Thank you.
Hey there. It sounds like you may have had several triggers and unfortunately once tge heast awakens sometimes it takes a while fir it yo settle down. I find that even mild dehydration particularly if it coupled with warmer temps is a major trigger me. I have learned to "pre" hydrate, especially during long flights is very helpful and avoiding salt and caffeine as they can lead to dehydration . Red wines especially Merlots are beastly for me. Finally, traveling an be such a stressor these days. Good sleep, meditation, breathing and being present and journaling about my travels have been VERY helpful. All the best
My mix everyday for afib (The taurine is for pacs and pvcs) is minimum one liter of this mix and one other water only - so two liters a day. If im going to mtn bike hard that day Ill drink two liters of the electrolyte mix
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