I have had symptoms of AF for many years but only had it confirmed recently. I’m not on any medication as I only have episodes now and again. Can anyone recommend vitamins to take which may help and also does losing weight reduce symptoms?
thank you x
A BMI of less than 26 and a more plant based diet all seem to reduce AF burden. Obviously reduced stress and zero alcohol and caffeine go without saying.
Hi
Yes losing weight helps. Also dosage can usually be reduced under H/Special.
It also affected my thyrox ine due to weigh/dose ratio.
First step is control of BP and H/Rate.
cheri JOY. 74. (NZ)
Maybe try magnesium taurate or other Mg compound and CoQ10 - that's what I was advised on by a London Alternative Practitioner in my early AF days.
More generally, I have used the threat of AF to give me the will power to improve lifestyle choices and was determined it will make me overall a healthier person albeit maybe still with occasional episodes. That mindset together with Flecainide has worked well for me.
Hi Lotty
Having had AF for 18 years, three ablations (where they go up through your groin to burn or freeze the inside of the heart where the rogue pulses often come from) and numerous cardioversions (electric shock to put the heart back into it's correct rhythm) my advice to everyone diagnosed with AF is the following:
1. Be Aware you are most unlikely to die from Atrial Fibrillation (AF). I used to think that the way my heart bounced around I would surely be found dead next day. Still here though!
2. Changing your diet to a more plant based one, avoiding any foods containing artificial additives, not allowing yourself to become dehydrated, cutting back on sugar, alcohol and caffeine, also losing weight (if it's needed) will all have a beneficial effect on your AF. Artificial sweeteners were a sure trigger for my attacks. How I wish I'd known all of this before having any of my ablations. Would I have listened if anyone had told me? Probably not, because I believed ablations would cure me - three didn't! They have helped some people though and my AF now is not so severe.
3. This is a hard one, but looking at gadgets that show your pulse and AF will make you anxious and anxiety feeds AF. I was obsessed with what my heart was doing for about the first ten+ years of my AF journey and my attacks were so debilitating I'd end up in a hospital ward, it has taken me a long time to take my mind off this subject and get on with living. The less I think about it, the better I feel. Now I used to feel cross with people who suggested I stop looking at my pulse rate machines, I thought that their AF couldn't be as bad as mine and they didn't understand how poorly attacks made some of us feel. I would get cross with anyone who said they could still go on holiday and carry on life as normal. They made me feel evil, by not understanding how ill I felt! In our minds AF is only as bad as we have experienced, for some attacks are mild for others they're more severe.
4. Make sure you don't slouch, or unwittingly do shallow breathing while watching tv or if you're online. If you do your heart will protest. Also avoid tight clothing around your waist.
5. Try supplementing with magnesium, any type except oxide (I use glycinate from YourSupplements and also take taurine, zinc, vitamin B complex, D3, K2, C and CoQ-10 ). I feel fine and there's little I can't do now, despite being in constant low rate AF. Or at least I think I am, I don't check these days.
6. If over 60 I would make sure that you’re taking an anticoagulant to prevent blood clots forming and causing a stroke. Note that they do not thin the blood in any way. It's said that people who have AF are more likely to suffer from a stroke.
Jean
When making lifestyle changes it all depends on what your starting point is, and the question you need to keep asking yourself when considering changes is “compared to what”?
With regard to weight, I’ve never been anywhere near overweight ever. I have no intention of losing weight. I don’t have any weight to lose in the first place. If I lose weight I’ll lose muscle mass and bone density, and that’s a no-no as far as I’m concerned. So, any weight loss below my current weight would have a detrimental impact on my overall health. It’s always a case of weight loss “compared to what”? The answer for an obese person is not going to be the same as it for me. Having a low normal BMI didn’t stop me from getting AF anyway, so the whole weight loss thing is a moot point as far as I’m concerned. However, if you are obese or overweight and it’s impacting on your overall health then it might be beneficial.
There’s no need to megadose on supplements. Make sure you eat as healthily as you can. Steer clear of fad diets, branded diets and internet diet tribes. Anything that involves cutting out entire food groups for no good reason isn’t a healthy diet. You have to make up the shortfall somehow. Vitamin D supplementation is a must in the UK as we don’t get enough natural sunlight. K2 is supposed to help get your dietary calcium into your bones, but the initial promise hasn’t translated into strong evidence, at least not yet, so it’s your call whether to take a combined D3/K2 formula.
Magnesium doesn’t help everyone. It didn’t help me but it’s still worth a trial to see if it helps. I take the food first approach. Mg is still an important nutrient which is found in leafy greens such as spinach, nuts and seeds including almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, as well as avocados, bananas, beans and legumes.
Like others have already mentioned, I’m also a plant based eater but the caveat here is that I was already plant based before AF happened. It’s the “compared to what?” question again. So following a plant based diet isn’t going to change anything for me, but it might help someone else who is changing from a less healthy eating pattern — but there are no guarantees it will prevent AF episodes.
The important thing is that you always need to look after your health no matter what the diagnosis, or even if you have no diagnosis. AF doesn’t make you exempt from developing any other conditions. So always take the holistic view and look at the bigger picture. A healthy eating pattern with an emphasis is whole foods, a variety of plant fibre sources, healthy plant based fats (avocados, nuts, seeds etc), fibre from moderate amounts of whole grains, beans and legumes is what works for me. Add in some fermented foods if you can. Small portions of animal protein in the context of a healthy plant based diet is fine. Avoid ultra processed foods as far as is realistically possible. I’m sure you know what to avoid because the warnings are everywhere. You probably know if alcohol and caffeine affect your AF by now.
It’s not all about the food, so prioritise sleep, learn some form of stress management eg yoga, mindfulness etc and move your body in ways that you enjoy. It’s always a work in progress, but it can be fun and enjoyable and creative too.
That's odd because I was like you and finally it was caught on ecg. Proximinal AF diagnosed Told I would have to take blood thinners for the rest of my life !
Lotty,
I see you have been on the Forum since 2018, so not such a newbie perhaps to matters AF?
Anyway I personally think the start of my AF was strongly affected by a deficiency of Vitamin D detected at the same time as my diagnosis. My deficiency is now resolved by supplementation and has produced an obvious lessening of my AF events. I have since discovered that a lot of the UK population need to supplement with Vitamin D3 due to lack of sunshine in our northerly location as well as reduced skin absorption of Vitamin D as we age. And UK NICE recommended serum Vitamin D levels are way lower than current research and other countries advise.
I recommend you ask your GP to test your current level of Vitamin D, and you can then go forward and test later to assess how supplementation has worked of required.
In the meantime here's an important article that indicates how Vitamin D is essential in lowering the morbidity rates from all kinds of health conditions ...
medscape.com/viewarticle/98...
You might need to join Medscape to read the article, but it's free, and I've had no follow-on issues after joining.
Highly recommended reading.
You can find other articles that link Vitamin D levels, either too low or too high, to other arrhythmias.
Good luck, Bob.
Diagnosing AF - advice needed
Newly diagnosed paroxmyl AF
Help with newly diagnosed AF
Newly diagnosed with AF
recently diagnose permanent AF
