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PH, The longer someone is in permanent afib, the more difficult the ablation. Hence you need absolutely the best team, in this case. Pacemakers are designed to set a "floor" on rate, not the top end. There is an AV node ablation that disconnects (electrically) the atria from the ventricles. This is combined with a pacemaker which then are the only signal driving the ventricles. Tby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Liz, Prior to Obamacare, to keep premiums reasonable, one needed to frequently change plans and be looked at by the underwriter. Once one has an illness, like afib, this underwriting is no longer possible. Hence one gets "locked into" the plan they are in. People who can be underwritten leave the plan, so the group in the plan becomes smaller and composed of those who can'tby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Liz, I've had my own (non-company) health insurance since 1987. I recently picked a new Obamacare plan that allows me to go out of network. It is about 25% cheaper than my old plan, which had a much higher out of network max (I get no tax credits or subsidies, so am paying full price). One benefit is with the new setup, I can change plans. Before, my afib made that impossible. I coulby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
As to Drs. Hao & Hongo knowing about this site, years ago, when Dr. Natale was still at the Cleveland Clinic and had started working with Hao & Hongo in San Fran, the nurse who ran his whole program in SF used to post here. I don't recall her name now, but she was from Egypt.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Totally different group & they are surgeons, not EP's. Wolf comes to mind.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Shannon is away at the Boston Afib Conference in Orlando. In the mean time, here is a search on his posts on the Lariat procedure, which isolates the LAA and a successful one eliminates the need for anticoagulation. < This procedure does not put a watchman device in the LAA. I'm guessing he'd send you to Natale. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Lynn, For a time, I successfully used Flec once a day, before bed for a while a year ago. Just as Liz does with Propafenone. I'm vagal and all my episodes were at night, too. It worked well. Then I titrated the Flec down to zero, taking ginger as organic powdered spice before bed, too. Ultimately I figured out I'd added too much calcium in my diet through food and once I correctby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Louise, I'd read here that the eHealth people wouldn't respond. AliveCor kept telling me I had to activate their app. I had, with no response. I finally sent them a screen shot of the app with my account info. Then they finally sent me the email saying they were out of stock. I have a friend who signed up & is a WPW ablatee. Since she doesn't have afib, she didnby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gill, Your diligence and perseverance with your research is the epitome of many of the prolific posters who have made this site a premier source of information over the years. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gill, Keep it up and enjoy the diving! It was truly fortunate you had the foresight back then to choose Haissaguerre. I've been around here since the summer of '04 and recall many of your posts over the years. Great news! Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
I'd signed up for that study a few months ago that offered a free one, once you filled out the questions, if you have afib. They just sent me an email saying they were backordered and they'd have new stock in a few weeks.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
That is why you are going to see Natale. For someone with your history, you need his skills to help you.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
I never could reconcile the pro/anti high dose iodine sides. I modestly supplement with around 1 mg/day of iodine as potassium iodide. I also use povidone iodine for water purification away from civilization (4 drops/liter and 30 minutes < ). When I gave blood a few days ago, I noticed my temp was 97.9 deg F, as it was 8 weeks ago. This is an increase of about 1/2 deg from a few years agoby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hans, Thank you for the tremendous job and the huge resource you've provided for all of us!! I wish you the very best in retirement! Shannon is an excellent successor and I know I will do all I can to support him in this. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Denver, Great report. I recall when you got your ablation. Keep it up! Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tom, I certainly am aware that ions aren't a panacea. However they do help many and have fewer side effects than putting everyone on meds and ablating them. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
From the article "Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reported this month in Annals of Internal Medicine that people with a high rate of premature atrial contractions, which can be detected by a Holter monitor worn for 24 hours, face a significantly increased risk of developing A-fib. Dr. Gregory M. Marcus, the senior author and director of clinical research at U.Cby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Some have found that organic coffee is OK for them, non-organic a trigger.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Jackie, Somebody observing me would probably think it is high protein, because the fat isn't as obvious. I'm still a bit higher than Rosedale suggests, but not by too much. As I recall, he suggests around 0.8g/kg body weight. Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ron, I use a meter by Precision Xtra. The bad part is the strips are expensive here in the US. I buy mine from Canada ($2US/strip in bulk). < I also got a free meter here: < Peter Atia MD has quite a bit on his eating academy site. Here is a Google search of his site: < So has Jimmy Moore. Here is a search on his site: < After loosing a lot of weight on a low carb/by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Jackie, Thanks, but one comment. My current diet is not what most consider "high protein." Cooking for myself, it is typically about 1g protein/kg body weight (I asked my dietician friend, who works in nursing homes and she said this was her guide when designing meals at work). This represents about 12%-15% of my daily caloric intake. Dean Ornish's low fat veg. diet, whiby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
One other thing to be aware of is nocturnal hypoglycemia. This can happen around 3 AM and can trigger afib. Symptoms can include waking up hot, sweaty or with a racing heart rate. This may have be an contributor to my afib and I didn't correlate the symptoms for a long time. It hasn't happened since switching to a low carb/high fat diet 5+ years ago. I never (to my knowledge) hadby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sleeping on your left side is a known trigger for many.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes it was great for Theresa and me to meet Shannon in person! Shannon is the fourth member of this site I've had the pleasure of meeting. The first was PeggyM. We met for lunch about five or six years ago in her town of Skowhegan, ME. That was delightful. The second was Erling, who happens to live in the same area I do. He brought another member, who only contributed here for a shortby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Happy Holidays to all. Thank you to Hans for providing this wonderful resource!!!! Also thanks to all who contribute and make it what it is. Shannon, Theresa and I are looking forward to our rendezvous! Georgeby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Lance, From my friend: "The device I purchased on line is thru Vital Sleep – best to Google. There are others, but this one seem to work best for me. Also, there is a tongue holding device I ordered from Canada – Snore Solution, which did not work well for me – its about $99, but a similar device is prescription fitted in US by dentists – I think for approx $1000. The idea was to get aby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ron, No info, however my own Mg experience has been there is not a big difference between the various formulations. I take a huge amount - over 3g/day. This is inclusive of the Albion patented dimagnesium malate (2g), KAL brand glycinate (.4g), MgCl2 (.8g) and Mg Bicarb (.3g) . I've been playing with mag for over nine years, and it is a cornerstone of my afib remission strategy. Thatby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
Shannon, Great post. I concur that NNT (number needed to treat) should be looked at on all interventions. I think most people assume NNT's are in the low single digits, when many times they are in the 100's. The NNT means how many people need to be treated for one person to benefit. Here is a link that isn't tied to Shannon's Medscape account < You'll stilby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
I've used PIP (on-demand) flec to convert my vagal afib. I've noticed that the number of PAC's significantly diminish after taking the flec. I believe flec was developed to curtail ectopics.by GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM
If you look at the heart rate vs. time graphs in CR 52: < on page 12 you'll see that the rate varied between ~88 and ~132 with other rates in between in a random fashion. This means the time between beats is highly variable. You can feel this in your pulse at your wrist or any other pulse point like your neck. NSR feels very regular, afib feels very irregular. If your rate is just faby GeorgeN - AFIBBERS FORUM