Carol - I'm really sorry to hear this. I know the feeling well. Thoughts: Cashews - probably okay, but what about the salt? Frequently, if you are low of potassium, ingestion of a salty food will lower K enough to trigger an event. That salt coupled with no veggies all day might have been enough. Were the cashews roasted or fried? I'm sure the coconut oil wouldn't do it.by Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ah yes, John, AF is the ulitmate humbler. Just when you think you have the solution, it proves you wrong once again. Have you proved to yourself yet that coffee is just not the thing to drink? and To Jon.... just go the the many sites about aspartame to learn why it is such a dangerous chemical... it doesn't take much imagination to see why it is a trigger among many other things.by Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Fran - my experience is that they are not looking for a cause. They are interested in doing ablations when drugs don't work. In my 8 years of seeing cardiologists, my constant goal was for them to tell me research had found the eitology. Nada. The closest I came was lasts year while in the ER an attending cardiologist mentioned the CRP connection which I have brought up on the BB fromby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Charlie - I'll be posting my protocol for keeping my heart calm before and after ablation fairly soon. In the interium, I would suggest that you follow instructions very well. Mine were: for 48 hours, stay quiet. No heavy lifting. After that, normal rountine is fine. Exercise? Not for 10 days to 2 weeks. I opted for 2 weeks just to be sure. I went back to my fitness program at 50%by Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Anton - I'm sorry to read of your situation and the increasing intensity. The uncertainly does weigh on one's mind. I'm totally satisfied with Dr. Natale and his PVI in my case. I realize it's not the same, but I feel he is an extraordinarily gifted EP...and he is very, very thorough not to mention knowledgeable. The downside is you can't get through to him personaby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Joe - If it wasn't on your list to Dr. Chou, you might want to know how they follow up - 2 mos? 3 mos? and with a spiral CAT scan to check for stenosis...or an MRI.... and what's the difference. Also - do they use ICE monitoring? Do they find that with its use, it eliminates stenosis? Do they have percentages of patients having had PVI's and how many have had stenosis.. likeby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Joe - My Bp ran about where it is now.... depending on my environment. In the doctor's office I could get 150/80 pretty fast if something was annoying or controversial. But at home and doing normal things or even in a non-aggravating situation, it was around 120/78...sometimes lower. However, my cardiologist always felt that I had spikes of occult high Bp and had me wear a monitor for 3by Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Elaine - the thyroid supplement I take is from Metagenics and is called Thyrosol. It can be ordered from Willner Chemists 800 633-1106. Contents are Vit A, D, E, Riboflavin, Niacin, Iodine from Bladderwrack whole plant powder, zinc selenium and Rosemary leaf extract. I believe if you go to the MG web page and type in a product search for Thyrosol, you can read the details of the product. Iby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Howie and all - on the topic of grapefruit juice. I just had a conversation about this with my MD. It came up in passing; I wasn't targeting the converstion. She said that grapefruit is so damaging to liver function and clearance of drugs that she doesn't recommend anyone taking drugs use any form of grapefruit. Since you are in warfarin.... do you notice you have to take higherby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hans - Liz Carol - I agree.... I didn't post to be upsetting...it is, after all, just a survey and fibrosis is mentioned in a significant number of studies on afib. I didn't see any report indicating that it was a death sentence. Long term, maybe. We all die of something. But at no time, was I upset about what it means to afibbers. If I had thought otherwise, I never would havby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thank you all so very much for your very kind words. I feel very fortunate to belong to this "family" of supporters. I wish that I didn't have to have the ablation, but since it seems to be cured, I am grateful to be relieved of the stress and anxiety it caused, and free to give time an energy to this group and to other projects in my life long ignored. I began January with aby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Linda - you have already received great advice to check Hans book, the archives and become as informed as possible. The CCF journal is great but you won't obtain from that some true facts about handling afib until you compare the experiential reports from forum members. When the drugs I was on for 8 years began to fail in keeping me out of arrhythmia, I was told that Tikosyn would be aby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Pam - thanks for this. There but for the Grace of God.... I read your original post when you first joined the forum and I thank you again and again for your contribution. Yours is a story that should not be forgotten - anyone considering ablation should be aware. As I recently mentioned in another post, ablations should be a last-resort option as far as I am concerned. Certainly, onlyby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Rand - thanks so much for a very positive post on the merits of holistic healing. I'm very happy for you that it has been successful and while I am sure the herbals are helpful, I also think the meditation factor is a huge influence on calming the mind and healing the body. I found that it was a great help to me when I began my quest to calm my heart before ablation. I think most of usby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tom - if you do a search by author BobG, you will find some good information about Bob's ablation with the CCF. I think that is the way he lists his name. Jackieby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Chris - your experience is what happened with me as well. More flecanide just seemed to bring on more afib.... until I took the elevated doses of magnesium glycinate and became saturated with it. Then, 100 mg. flecanide am and pm held for the two months before ablation and for two months afterward. I also increased potassium intake through food and plant-based supplements because I found thby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
John - please send an email to me by clicking my name at the top of this post.... then I'll return the email to you with the article. I did send it to you but apparently it is lost in cyberspace. I didn't suggest coffee at night. Must have been another post! Horrors... I don't drink coffee.... maybe some organic decafe on special occasions. Jackieby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Bren - I was not able to tolerate the chelation therapy fluids, but I do know a person who successfully eliminated his afib by getting rid of heavy metal contamination via chelation along with other things he did to stabiize the heart. If you have access to chelation through a qualified MD and can afford it, the benefits are huge - even if it doesn't help with the afib. Be sure to askby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi everyone. Today I'm celebrating 90 days post ablation. Ablation 11/12/03 Back on Flecanide and Coumadin 7 weeks later - off Flecanide and Coumadin. I had no afib at all from the time of ablation, on - either with the drugs or without. I'm extremely grateful. The symptoms I did have included about 9 PAC's while still on the drugs including six rapid beats that I thoughtby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Congratulations, Bob. Glad to hear you are okay.... finally. I'm sure that having afib right after was unsettling. Just remember, you heart will be in a state of irritability for at least six weeks. Try to treat it kindly. Thanks for you kind comment about support. I'm happy to know it helped. Please keep us posted on your progress. We all learn from each other's experieby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Liz - couldn't stand it - did a google and found the date of the PR on Bush and the autoimmune disease, Graves. One article was disecting another and considered the press release disparaging apparently - and mentions the dog portion that I recall.... I didn't find anything else... but here it is.... Jackie .............."of interest" that Barbara also had Graves'by Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thomas - I've tuned in late to this thread and have not gone to the site you mention. Probably won't. Having just had an ablation, my comment would be that anyone who hasn't experienced virtually non-stop afib lasting over 24 hours each time for months on end...better yet, years on end.... and which doesn't respond to drugs...should not be considering ablation anytime soby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi again Liz - I understand about not having a thyroid and your limitations.... I wasn't recommending anything to either you or John, just reporting on my experience. By the way, my supplement is doctor directed.... my functional medicine MD who uses the Metagenics products - among other brands. Now about taking bladderwrack, dulse, iodine, etc.... I'll have to do some research in soby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Liz - yes I realize about Graves disease. The thryoid support supplement that I take daily derives the iodine factor from a plant-based source - bladderwrack - and delivers 76 mcg of Iodine twice a day. Other thyroid supporting or targeted nutrients include Vitamin A, D, E Riboflavin, Niacin, along with zinc and selenium. The herbs are bladderwrack and rosemany leaf. It works for me. Iby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
John - MFP - is a typo....I meant to type MVP for Mitral Valve Prolapse. Uncooperative fingers and poor job of proofing before I hit send.... very sorry. I'm sending you privately an interesting article I found on endurance training..... just for information. I realize you are not now doing this. Jackieby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
John - in addition to the about.com thyroid site, I should have suggested you go to and in the onside search engine, type in thyroid testing. Dr. Mercola has written extensively about thyroid testing and what the numbers mean. He also indicates that many people who test out as "with normal range" are actually subclinical or hypothyroid even though the numbers don't indicate iby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
John - I just read a comment in an article concerning mitral valve prolapse that says: "Resting bradycardia, a sign of parasympathetic overactivity, is common in MFP." Have you ever had any indications there is a valve problem? Jackieby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Marshall - Go to and review what he says about dosing and Q10. Dr. Sinatra is a cardiologist who pushed to get the use of CoQ10 accepted among cardiologists several years ago. He presented it to a convention of them in Italy. He has been a staunch advocate of the use of Q10.... but admits that it won't correct or cure afib. What it does, though, is offer superior energy to the miby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
John - I have alot of experience with AF and hypothyroidism. I took Synthroid for 10 years before afib...wound up with the start of a goiter because it wasn't working. I switched to a natural thyroid product called Armour thyroid (it's still a prescription drug) and it seemed to work for a while but tended to influence AF. (This is an observation after the fact.) Much later and afby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Jeanne - I've never taken Norpace so I can't address that question, but as far as ablation goes, my ablation was on 11/12. Between then and 1/12, I experienced about 9 skipped beats including a short run of rapid PAC's. Since then and totally off meds, I have an occasional skipped beat... maybe one a week. No afib at all. Have you assessed your daily consumption of foods cby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM