I started with AFib about 18 months ago and at its worse I was in AFib for up to 35% of the week. However after reading the book “AFib, the cure” I changed my lifestyle and over 9 months reduced my weight by 20%(15kg), lowered my BP and with the help of flecainide 100mg der day reduced the AFib to less than 5% (1-2 short episodes) per week. On 19th December I had a Pulse Field Ablation, here in The Netherlands. It went exceptionally well with only 2 tiny pin pricks at the top of my right leg. After a couple of days of rest I felt fitting fit and on the 2nd January I walked 16500 steps while racking up leaves in our 5 acre woodland garden. I know it’s still early days but I am sure that AFib can be overcome by some people with persistence (diet and exercise) and the right treatment. It puzzles me that cardiologists don’t stress the importance of diet and exercise to patients and seem reluctant to refer to patients to an EP for an ablation. Good luck everyone and healthy new year
A good news story to give you hope - Atrial Fibrillati...
A good news story to give you hope
It is well known here that life style and diet, including weight loss, are important in helping control AF. Glad things are good for you now.
It also puzzled me why EPs are able to write about it and yet not discuss with patients - so I asked one. The answer astounded me in that they said they had to be very cautious when discussing lifestyle as they had experienced some quite unpleasant retorts to - lose weight, exercise more, improve your sleep etc. I then experienced some patients who had been angry at being told to lose weight and exercise more. I think part of the problem is that EPs don’t have the time or resources to organise educational classes - our GP practice tried to do that and 2 people turned up 🙆♂️.
Well done you on achieving such a successful outcome, certainly an inspiration for others. Very useful book The AFib Cure.
This is a difficult area. Many people who are overweight find it difficult to lose weight and not for wont of trying. I am one of them. Undiagnosed hypothyroidism for 7+ years certainly did not help. When getting on a combo thyroid treatment I stopped gaining but did not lose the weight I'd gained. As a Bharatanatyan dancer I practised 2/3 times a week as well as demonstrating when teaching. I also worked several hours a day in the garden for large parts of the year. Since retiring from dance I have skeletal problems that have at times made exercising more difficult. I still work in the garden unless it is raining and here in France I can work in the winter as well. Stopping my T3 treatment after the onset of afib has contributed to more weight piling on - I am one of the women who do not do that well on T4 alone. I eat sensibly with most food cooked from scratch and very small portions of things like spuds ,rice and pasta. I have cut alcohol to a small ( sherry size) glass of wine with my principal meal of the day and have a little dark chocolate most evenings. One pudding a week. I refuse absolutely to give up these small treats as I do not think that would result in the large loss of weight I would need to gain a BMI of 25. It would just make me miserable! My GP is not bothered by my obesity ( despite my mentioning it when weighed at checkups) as my blood pressure and blood sugar are fine and he considers that on the whole I am healthy. My cardiologist has never suggested that I lose weight. So I have given up trying to lose weight and if an EP were to tell me I should lose weight I would give him chapter and verse as to what I ate and ask him what I should cut out that would make a real difference.
I’m finding harder & harder to lose weight as I age.
Hi
I was aware that when my Mum whom I was looking after, she was no longer hyper.
I believe I will do the same as I grow older.
But I did loose 3 kg and I now hover at losing another 2 kg.
Exercise. Get a companion a dog to encourage you to walk.
Good on you.
But I cannot have Flec or other procedures because of structural damage.
But the CCB introduced which controls my rapid H/R acts also as a safe anti-arrthym med.
I am happy with my Diltiazem 120cd Med AM. I was able to toss out the BB Bisoprolol as my
BP went low.
cheri JOY. 75. (NZ)
Sounds excellent and hopefully you will keep improving; that 5 acre garden will be good for your mental health.
Diet is such a big one not just for AF. Here in the UK my impression is doctors have given up offering advice and if they did I doubt I would follow it as most have minimal training or experience. Hospital food is mostly poor.
To save a long post after decades of interest and reading on the subject, I would just say: drink well filtered water, minimise processed food, reduce sugar by 50%+, buy organic (incl flour to make your own bread), grass fed meat & eggs and all where practical from regional trusted sources. Eat like you did in the Sixties, minimise snacking and maximise the fasting window, mine is 6pm-8am.
If the above sounds like a struggle just make a start somewhere and keep going.
I am assuming you will be on the Flecainide until the 19th of January?
It would be difficult to apportion a reduction of AF burden to diet when you have been prescribed Flecainide. That would be the main reason for controlling AF.
Having a pulsed field ablation and then weaning from the Flec will be the true indicator as to how well the AF has been controlled.
I am about 2 months ahead of you, just weaned of the blood thinners after PFA and dropped the flec a month ago.
The best to you too.
Great to read that, and a happy new year to you! I too found that lifestyle and diet changes are essential and very rewarding.
In the past year my Afib burden has dropped enormously. I've had months with none at all, and only hours in light Afib in the others.
Main changes last year - losing weight (10% of BMI last year), cutting carbs right back, strictly avoiding added sugar stuff (and having no cheat days as regards that!), eating much more fat (healthy, like peanut butter, good olive oil, avocado - cut out all seed oils), 85% cut in alcohol (I'm Scottish, do therefore need an occasional whisky 😅 - which can sometimes help but I know what's controversial!), and keeping up moderate exercise. Taking quality magnesium and a few other sensible supplements.
I've cut my daily Flecainide to 75mg and Bisoprolol to 1.25. I take Loprazolam 1mg as an anti anxiety med which is great, and a statin. Not on Epixoban yet as CHADS risk still low. BP great.
Bought a simple blood sugar monitor and keep a close eye on that - I've learned a simple fact for me: a steady blood sugar level is CRITICAL. How I wish I'd known that sooner! I eat a little like a diabetic, I guess, and treat it that carefully.
I'm 65, really very well, despite first having nasty SVT at 15 and rhythm issues all my adult life. I've not had an ablation, but am interested in your pulsed field one just in case - and I'm hugely fortunate to have very easy access here in Edinburgh to both my Doctor and excellent EPs.
Enjoy your lovely garden and look forward to warmer days to come! Cheers!
Fantastic Post - thank you! Afib can be so frightening, understandably many of us look for the medics to come up with the answer but we do have the chance to make a significant difference to our chances of successfully keeping AFib at bay, once back in Normal Sinus Rhythm. At times I find the tendency to say it is inevitable we will all revert to AFib rather disheartening (pun intended), there are a percentage of complete success stories (please don’t feel the need to throw lots of statistics at me) maybe the success stories are predominantly the people who find the resolve to seriously take care of themselves, or maybe they are ignorant of the high reversion rate.
I asked my GP why he never commented on my being overweight and he explained that I already knew I was over weight, I think he was missing my ability to embrace denial and avoidance. Apparently, in New Zealand Dr’s prescribe a ‘self care’ action along with any necessary medications of course, for instance - increase your daily walking, reduce sugar intake etc. I have recently lost weight and intend to continue dieting. One point of encouragement came from an engaging cardiologist who was openly delighted when I told him I had lost 12 kg. I believe he told me they consider loosing 3kg to be the equivalent having an Ablation as a contributing factor in staying in Normal Sinus Rhythm.
Loosing weight is not easy! I did some work recently on motivation, understanding it is not something we find or loose but something we need to identify. So, for me, I have tried to shift my thoughts from ‘I will eat less’ to ‘I want to stay in normal sinus rhythm, so I will eat less’.
Forgive me for wittering on, I appreciate it is all subjective, a very personal experience but I guess the value of this forum is sharing thoughts and experiences.
It's great news for you. However some of us already eat healthily, are fit and rarely drink and never smoked!!! It's quite sickening really 😊😊😊
Forgive me, I get that.
I apologise for being a bit sharp this morning. I'm still recovering from my fourth ablation in under five years and it doesn't appear to have worked. None have worked for more than five months so I'm feeling a bit snappy.In fact, I totally agree with your post. I run a scheme that provides exercise options for people referred by their GPs so I know how much fitness and healthy eating can impact health.
Sorry for my mean reply 😔
Bless you, no need to apologise but thank you! Great to hear of such GP referrals. Very best of luck with your own endeavours, it sounds to be an on going challenge, and yet you are still finding a way forward. Life is fundamentally unfair and I reckon we are allowed days of feeling hard done by.
We need to remember everyone is different and exactly there. You are doing the right things and it’s still not working. I have had it that losing even 10 pounds can make a difference. I had lost 40 and it does make a difference. I think the doctors are hesitant because we are already dealing with the emotional trauma of a fib. Mine was so bad I could not walk let alone try to exercise, etc.. my doctor knew that why would he tell me to lose weight.? I barely had an appetite, but if you’re not moving, it’s hard to lose weight. It’s a double edge sword. Someone like you did in the 60s and I agree. Processed everything these days we don’t know what is in our food. I have no doubt these foods add to cravings for them so it’s hard to break away.
I’m also pretty sure at our age whatever it is we are old enough to know that we are overweight, etc. if we are, I don’t need anyone to lecture me or try to scare me. If there was a magic wand we would all feel much better.
we also know there is no cure no guarantee with cardioversions ablations, I suggest you take a look at your electrical field where your a fib comes from. Think of the large area and the is trying to find one pinpoint to block. I was blessed with an EP that did not believe in repeating ablations and explained how minimal the odds are of getting the right spot. A little common sense goes a long way. I hate to but let’s face it. The hospitals want to make money. They want the doctors to repeat even when it doesn’t work. Some people have been lucky my first two ablations I got a year and a half of a break from a fib somewhat. But then I crashed with a vengeance.
I have a pacemaker best thing I had done. The pulse Field ablations sound as though finally there is something else that is hopeful. I was just reading about it the other day. Just like everything they will continue to perfect the procedures, but it’s looking good. It looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Please everyone just know you can’t compare yourself with anyone else. not stamped out by a machine.
happy new year I hope that it continues to get better to my a fib family. I am happy with what I have and grateful when I think about two years next month, I was severe heart failure, which reversed and I can think of all the things I could not do. My EP tells me I can do anything anyone else can do now. Within reason, of course. Don’t let a fib hold you back or run your life. Listen Keep an open mind and positivity truly makes a difference in your healing. I think so. I look at my life and I think of things that I have beaten, We all have been there so don’t give up now. Except for when I get a little blip of a fib, I barely think about it anymore because if you think about it, that’s all you’ll end up thinking about and you have a whole life to live.
Just a question for you - how was your severe heart failure reversed? I have mild CHF but it feels like it's getting worse lately.
Judy I been in serious tachycardia on a regular basis no break from it. Christmas week they attempted a cardioversion that failed miserably and almost lost me. My ejection rate was 40 at that time. It is now in the 70s according to my EP people without heart failure would be happy to have that. It changed because of good timing and an even better. It was the pacemaker. If my heart had continued on any length of time, the way it had been I would not be telling you this now. according to my EP neither I or my heart of a beating from the tachycardia, etc. there was no pacemaker for and I been seeing another doctor. I will say he butchered my heart using a procedure he had developed that left so much scar tissue. Another ablation was not even a possibility. Doctors don’t usually say anything about another my EP did not say much but he said enough about that particular doctor, who by the way is supposed to be a rockstar at one of the best known hospitals in the world. I also had the at the although I don’t keep up on my pacemaker was I was one of a kind. Pretty much my EP devised it while he was working on my because there were no options. The original plan was simply to put me into sinus rhythm and on a new medication that would keep me in the hospital five days to be watched 24 hours a day because it is that serious although if it works, I’ve heard it referred to as a wonder drug.
as long as your heart keeps being abused in there, your heart failure will continue to get worse. Something has to be done to make it as normal as possible every day. I am thankful when I can step out the door with my dog or whatever I am doing. Before the pacemaker standing up was almost impossible, and when I did, I would feel as if I were going to blackout.
that’s why I tell people don’t give up every day. They are working on something new or sometimes they do something out of necessity like my EP. I can’t tell you what was in his head for I have all four chambers that were involved. I have three leads on my pacemaker and they had to improvise with what existed.
let me tell you this, when I left the hospital I left in a wheelchair but only as far as my car where I was able to climb into it by myself. The wheelchair is a liability if she, etc. for hospitals I’m not sure how far I could’ve walked that day, but I felt like a new person already.
it will be two years Valentine’s Day that I getting my new one that makes me feel normal. I had AF and flutter both a typical for about five years out of the blue. The first year is a lot of you have a learning curve as far as what my trigger you some things you can’t control
I don’t know where you’re located. Sadly, my EP is now in North Florida sad for not for him. I knew he would be famous. He presented my case in Dallas, where they asked him to come and teach the there. I’m guessing that was the beginning of better things for him.
FYI, not that he doesn’t care but when he was leaving according to him, I’m gonna be fine. Depending on what longer my battery or it sounds as though he does not expect me to need him for anything again, unless there are extenuating circumstances. I tell you all of this because I don’t know why I was so blessed I had moved.from Florida to Texas to a little town not many people would know of and yet somehow my who was brand new to me to this young EP and look what he did for me. You believe in I’m no one special and yet look at me now 😊🩷
Thank you for responding, Dawn. It sounds like you've been through a lot.
I think anyone with a fib or any heart problem has been through a lot. All we can do is one foot in front of the other when you think about it everything having to do with our health is the same way we just don’t know what we don’t know.
if you have faith in your doctor and he talks to you, not at you then please listen to him. I don’t know how you feel about a pacemaker if it comes to that but even when my doctor mentioned it, I was thinking absolutely not. I sat and made a list of questions. I knew he was the one for because before I could ask him anything he gave me my answers. The empathy and compassion, knowing that my heart and I had been through quite a bit won him over to me that much more. I’ll be honest I wasn’t afraid. I knew I could not feel any worse than I already did. I honestly didn’t know why I was still alive. If this is how my life would be. How quickly your attitude can change when you know you have someone in your corner. I try to make people laugh with the picture in my head of a fib. A fib is a nasty little man after they do the AV node ablation. He is locked away and he can yell and scream, but he can can’t make you sick anymore. The pacemaker is the boss of your It is going to give your heart the rest it the way I picture it and because of that as I told you, my heart failure has reversed quite a bit. My EP is maybe around 40 a very serious young man brilliant I can’t even explain him you just know when you meet him. Each time I would have my check up with him and he would pull up my readings from everything from the previous visit until now you would see a grin on his face, I think sometimes he was happier than I was. As I said, he was very serious to see that on him only made me feel better.
they tell you once you get a pacemaker it’s irreversible with the AV node, but the point is if you are at that point there is nowhere to go but up. No buyers remorse on my end not once. If you end up with one, just remember your traumatizing, your body and your heart you are not gonna feel great overnight, but you will feel better. Somehow, I felt better when I opened my eyes after the procedure I knew something was different I just don’t want anyone to think it’s all roses and even now two years later I have my days but I have no regrets.
I would say that some doctors do stress the importance of diet and exercise, but, presumably, yours didn't? Well done in losing the weight and let's hope for an AF free 2025 for you. My own PFA should be some time soon!
Steve
Let us know how you get on with the pulse field ablation, Steve. I believe you had an ablation a while back, so it would be interesting to hear if it was better having the new pulse field than the other one. Hopefully I won’t need another, but it’s good to know Glenfield is now doing the new one. We’re lucky to have such a good heart unit and skilled Doctors, here in Leicestershire. Which Dr will be doing it.?
Hi there. It’s Dr Sandilands. I’ve been waiting since last June. He wants me to have it under GA, hence the longer wait. My first was for flutter in 2019 but this is for AF and atrial ectopic beats… I have it as I write. My pulse is low enough to cope with at ~ 120-130bpm.
Steve
I had a 15 month wait for mine. Dr Sandilands told me he’d done over 2000 ablations, but the Pulse field is new, so he won’t have done many pulse field ones. Why under GA, I thought they usually did ablations under a local anaesthetic and sedation. I wonder if they do all the pulse field ablations under GA. Whenever I've had a GA, it makes me feel sick afterwards. Would rather have local.
I don't know but I prefer it, to be honest. I had my last one under a general anaesthetic, too. I think it makes it easier for the doctor, though.
Steve
If you’re having a GA, you won’t know if it’s better, as you’ll be out of it, so won’t really be able to tell us what it was like.
I have chosen providers who are members of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, but even with them, we never get to the lifestyle medicine part. I'm guessing that for liability reasons, they have to go through all the traditional medical questions and discussions, and that leaves no time for anything else. Though one of my providers handed me 100+ page bound notebook of research articles and resources he had put together. I had already read all the information he provided, but I am sure it would be new information for many of his heart patients.
I have ordered the book. It certainly can’t do any harm to read.
I have some Very unusual good news.
Afib worse since Ablation
12 month blanking period. Long post 
Exertion triggering flutter condition - ablation, or no
Afib and Aspartame/MSG
