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← Return to No Rhyme or Reason to A-Fib
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I am a new person to this chat room, am 71 YO and in good physical health (I live on 16AC and take care of most of it myself)... but I too have these random AFIB attacks. Mostly they were at night, but then a started wearing a CPAP and - although I may still be having them - it doesn't wake me up anymore. I've done everything I have heard might affect it, going vegetarian with lots of fresh fruits and veggies (although I ate a lot of that before, now just ramping it up more). I can't get any doctor to say what actually CAUSES AFIB. Lots of advice on minimalizing their frequency and length, but nothing on how it started in the first place (just 2 years ago). I also had a Watchman installed, which reduces risk of stroke AND gets me off of blood thinners (YAHOO!).
So this is all to say that I will read your posts looking for any new idea, and of course post myself if I find out something new.
Replies to "I am a new person to this chat room, am 71 YO and in good physical..."
The fact is that science & medicine (which is rightfully termed "the medical arts") have NOT identified...the cause of atrial fibrillation. And all the blather about atrial fibrillation being a predictive predicate for ischemic stroke...is NOT based on controlled evidence-based study (but that doesn't stop Kardia mobile from hawking its product by striking fear of stroke in the hearts of everyone experiencing atrial fibrillation).
I heartily recommend the work of John Mandrola, M.D. & board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist. He is not only a clinician but also a physician-scientist, actively engaged in research (which makes a very big difference).
He is very critical of what he terms "dogmatic cardiology" & advocates alternatively what he terms "conservative cardiology," which eschews the widespread & indiscriminate practice/use of medication & surgeries, including the standard/dogmatic surgeries for...afib, which are NOT predicated on data from studies with controls or so-called sham comparison groups.
As it stands now, we have no definitive controlled studies documenting the efficacy of cardioversion, ablation or worse... for addressing/resolving atrial fibrillation. Witness: Why so many cardioversion & ablation patients experience atrial fibrillation rebound following the procedures.
But those procedures are the bread & butter of conventional cardiology practices in the United States. One is tempted to question the extent to which medical decisions by clinicians, including & especially cardiologists (well represented in the 1-3% income bracket), are influenced by uncritical/reflexive recourse to medical procedures with a long history of unquestioned third-party (read: health insurers) reimbursement (note: when there is no outcome data supporting their long-term efficacy).
I encourage everyone to spend some time on Dr. Mandrola's Web site: https://www.drjohnm.org/about/.
Dr. Mandrola works at Baptist Health in Louisville, KY & presents widely at scientific conferences & other venues. In addition, he is an editor/chief cardiology correspondent for Medscape.
Btw: He does telemedical consults too.
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Thanks for your reply happy to hear watchman is working out for you. Agree that you can’t get a definitive answer on what may cause your afib. For me which i explained in detail in some earlier post (not sure if you can reference them however please try) I believe the first covid booster shot did it to me.