Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

I was diagnosed with afib and high blood pressure. I was put on a blood thinner, medicine to keep my heart from racing and two blood pressure medicines. I was told that my afib is permanent and has no cure. Has anyone been told this and should I get a second opinion on whether or not an ablation will help me? I am a former dancer and life long exerciser. I also had surgery to repair a hole in my heart at age six. I am 66 years old and this is the first time I've had trouble with my heart. I was also told that years of physical exercise and prior heart surgery probably predisposed me to the problems with my heart. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My thoughts exactly! When you go to doctors, they want to know all the meds you are taking, all the numbers like cholesterol, bp etc, but seldom do they ask what you eat or your lifestyle. If they ask a patient to describe what's in his/her pantry or refrigerator, they would probably have been able to diagnose the patient's health issue with better clarity. I'm getting a loop implant to test fir afib and my doctor also puts me on zeralto and statin even though my cholesterol level is ok. I'm taking CO Q10 as statin depletes me of coq10 in my body. I called zeralto and they don't know if it will interfere with the medication.

Natural methods are really great. However, since MDs get so little training in nutrition and the pharmaceutical industry does really have heavy hands in getting MDs to embrace the drugs they manufacture there is little room for natural methods.

Try changing your MD for an Osteopath. They do have more nutrition education in their curriculum path to earn that Osteopath title. But some of them are reluctant to buck the pharmaceutical industry and the AMA.

Don't be discouraged. My son-in-law takes exercises very seriously.. he rows and uses the Pelaton. He had afib for years and had a couple of ablations. Finally, he found a cardiologist in Texas who found that there was a genetic issue that other cardiologists in CA (where we live) did not see. He had an operation and he does not have afib anymore. Actually this Texas cardiologist told him he can go back to his exercise routine the week after the operation. He is no longer on any meds. I had a TSI and now my cardiologist is testing me for afib. I had a loop implant. I'm glad I found this forum. My daughter knows alot about afib because of her husband's experience and she's a comfort. I'm blessed. I have a family history of strokes so I eat very clean, do not smoke or drink and I am not overweight. I can only walk everyday because of my back problems resulting from a horrific car accident when a car ran a light and hit my car. I hope you can be positive and know that you will get better! A second opinion is a good thing.

I spoke with my doctor about CO Q10 when he put me on xarelto and he said it was ok.

Hi, I am Karen from Vegas right now I go to Nevada Heart and Vascular. I am a school teacher with the severally emotionally disturbed kiddos in a special school. In the last 2 years I have had a stroke, 2 heart Caths, and now I have a Defibulator ( i did not spell that right). I am going to go on a disability retirement because I am not 65 and my husband and I are going to move to Jacksonville Florida so I can be close to the Mayo Clinic and get out of this hot hot heat. I am only working to save money and pay off some bills, I am so excited to come that I wish I could leave right now. I am the mother of 10 children and have 21 grandchildren and I want to live. Thank you for letting me express myself, no one at works understand my situation or how I feel.

OldKarl here. I am already a member of several other Mayo groups. When you have multiple systemic diseases, all incurable and all eventually fatal, everything of body, mind and spirit is up for grabs. For my heart rhythm issues, I have frequent spells of tachy, early or extra beats, slow, diastolic disorders, dilated cardiomegaly, QRS bounces, etc. These have been dXed as many different disorders, from excess vitamin D to Polio to Amyloidosis. I have a list of about 100 different dX in my 80 years. The current certain dXes impacting the heart include RyR1, RyR2, FKTN, Gelsolin, CAA, RA, Radon, Chronic Bronchiectasis, Cancers: Prostate, Thyroid, Melanoma, Esophageal. Married 60 years, 4 children, 10 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren (including 2 Marine Great Grandsons)