Hello! I am a 69 year old woman. If I lost 40 pounds I would be in better health and my BP would come down. New Year's resolution!
I do want to share something with your group. That is how I CURED my atrial fibrillation.
I was 46 years old and suddenly developed a cardiac arrhythmia that was so severe that I didn't have 3 steady beats in a row. Consequently, I would feel faint and need to constantly gasp for air. I was seen by a cardiologist who said he had never seen such a severe case of atrial fibrillation and he put me on a beta blocker. Only the highest does of Sotacor (sotalol) 80 mg 4x per day, kept my heart beating steadily but I felt weak and tired all the time; like I was 90 years old! The cardiologist said that this was too high a dose and that it could actually stop my heart and to reduce the dose on my own. But I could not without my heart going haywire. I stayed on that high dose of beta blocker for almost 2 years and I felt very discouraged to feel like an invalid.
I went to a library (no internet then) and did some reading and because vigourous exercise was recommended I decided to join a gym. I went every morning for an hour, 35 minutes of which was very fast walking and gentle running on a treadmill. I very gradually and carefully (very important) managed to reduce the beta blocker dose bit by bit without my heart skipping beats and by the end of a month, I was completely off the beta blocker and my heart was as steady as a rock. I went to the gym every day but Sundays for 4 months and then tapered off to some degree.
I went to see my cardiologist and he was astounded at my 'cure' which is what I called it. But he said, "You cannot just cure AFib. It will come back. I will be seeing you soon." Well, fast forward 23 years to today and no AFib all this time. But...I followed his advice and NEVER drank alcohol, I avoided smokers, never took any stimulants as in decongestant cold medications. When I have needed freezing at the dentist's, I am given a special non stimulating medication. I am careful about supplements. I never have caffeine which is in chocolate, tea, coffee and coke. Even too many carbs can make my heart beat very fast which I perceive as an AFib warning sign. I have cheated on rare occasions over the years and will feel my heart thump a bit which scares me. I have my own treadmill which I go on 3 - 4 days per week. So, I am highly motivated to keep AFib at bay. I certainly do not want to be back on beta blockers. LIFESTYLE is my healthy choice.