Total Pageviews

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Stop A-Fib


So much for Multaq which I thought would and pardon the pun ‘arrest’ my heart problem but it too is not the answer as I have fallen off the rails once again and hit that 200 HR number. I am sprinting from 47 and rocketing into three figures on the most irregular path. My wife suggests that it might be my exercise regimen and I until now never gave much credence to that but maybe that has something to do with it. She said: John you don’t exercise you go crazy. 

 My cardiologist doesn’t seem to know either and he could be   using me as a testing ground for the latest heart medications to hit the market. I am not blaming him after all he has put me through all the tests available and there are so underlying symptoms that would precipitate my atrial fibrillation.  I am at wits end and it would seem that trial and error is the only method available to me now except maybe to have another ablation, which may not even work, and the pain of it is excruciating. I know I had one.  

And here is something interesting I found from Melanie True Hills an award winning author and speaker she writes:
What was most interesting, though, was the relationship of coffee and cardiac arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation. According to the site,
“Clinical trials have not found coffee or caffeine intake equivalent to 5-6 cups/d to increase the frequency or severity of cardiac arrhythmias in healthy people or people with CHD. A large prospective study in the US that followed more than 128,000 people for 7 years found no association between coffee consumption and sudden cardiac death. More recently, two prospective studies in Scandinavia found no association between coffee consumption and the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a common supraventricular arrhythmia.”
So, according to this, coffee, even 5-6 cups per day, doesn’t play a role in developing atrial fibrillation or increasing the frequency or severity of arrhythmias.
When this topic comes up on a discussion forum, someone will inevitably say that they drink as much coffee they want as long as it’s organic or it’s decaf.
What has been your experience with coffee and afib? Does cutting out coffee or caffeine decrease or eliminate your atrial fibrillation? Or does it make it any difference at all?
How many of us grab some coffee when we’re stressed? Could it be stress, not coffee, that’s the culprit (StopAfib.org, 2008

2 comments:

  1. Some year back I wrote a paper about the frequency of MD's prescribing new med following a visit from detail men(drug salesmen). The results were significant enough that I vowed to discourage my significant others from taking new meds ,that is number one.
    Number two wife is 100% right . That over exercising combined with STRESS is lethal. Be sensible

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your commentary and erudite response. I am grateful to you for taking the time to write me. I am under tremendous stress at home in terms of work and being the only one making a living among four adults. I workout like a madman as the wife suggests and I never think I am doing it hard enough when I am doing it even though I see people around me half my age not keeping up with me. Just goes to show you that this old dog needs to change and change quickly before the ultimate dirt nap ensues.

    ReplyDelete