Paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia

Let's be clear: There is NO established understanding of what causes incident/onset atrial fibrillation. Moreover, there are NO established cures, medical or surgical, for atrial fibrillation (& that includes...catheter ablation: virtually everyone who has catheter ablation experiences post-ablation relapse of atrial fibrillation; & cardiologists are only too happy to follow-up the first ablation...with a second & a third, which is often the case...as the atrial fibrillation almost always returns; at $80K to $90K per catheter ablation, one can readily understand the attraction interventional cardiology in the form of catheter ablation--which takes about an about and 50 minutes to complete, might have for many cardiologists).

Note: Many electrophysiologists agree that ablation for AF is beneficial in some cases but disagree about when this invasive procedure should be performed in the trajectory of the patient's condition.

So I turn to someone, a cardiologist, who has pioneered the Conservative Medicine Movement (you can read their declaration in "The American Journal of Medicine;" see below for link to full declaration), John Mandrola (an electrocardiologist), on the subject of addressing...& more importantly...managing atrial fibrillation (with an unacknowledged nod to now-deceased Dr. Stephen Sinatra): https://www.drmcdougall.com/education/lectures/john-mandrola/ (a short video).

When considering incident AF (including my own, which was caused by the booster C19 mRNA vaccine, following incident myocarditis), three concepts/words come to mind...LONG before I will ever consider...interventionist cardiology: Lifestyle, diet, & supplementation.

Here is the URL to Dr. Mandrola's Web site: https://www.drjohnm.org/about/. His Web site includes links to all of his published research & articles on Medscape.

Worth noting that Dr. Madrola is a...physician-scientist, which makes a very big difference in understanding & epistemology (scientists create knowledge; physicians consume/apply it) & is Medscape's Cardiology editor (he also pens a monthly column on cardiology & cardiological research for Medscape).

Here's "The American Journal of Medicine" declaration on Medical Conservatism, which I surmise to be in no small part inspired by what he has observed in...rising tide of interventional cardiology: https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(19)30167-6/fulltext.

All the best!

Yes, Krav, I very much appreciated your recognition of my Dharma name (which I was given when I went through a Zen lay ordination process & ceremony)!

Note: I am working (& I work long & unusual hours as I have the latitude to work flexibly, which suits asynchronous nature of the work I do, which is primarily dedicated to the oversight of biomedical R & D)...so this will be brief (even if what I usually post does not seem "brief"...it is for me (my job as a health scientist administrator is to read, think, analyse, & advise).

Didn't know you were taking Apixaban ("Eliquis"). That's a road I am thus far unwilling to travel on (all pharmaceutical anti-coagulants, including thrombolytics). Rather, I take proteolytic enzymes, namely, lumbrokinase (Boluoke, which has a published RCT behind it), nattokinase NSK-SD (which has Japanese RCTs behind it), & serrapeptase, which evince slower-acting thrombolytic effects...without the adverse side effects so characteristic of pharmaceutical anti-coagulants (of all kinds).

Dr. Sinatra pioneered the introduction of....nattokinase to the US...many years ago--& prescribed it widely.

Now, on the subject of the progression--post onset (for whatever reason) of AF: Many incident Afibbers do NOT experience disease progression after onset--which is fantastic news. Some do (& American cardiology generally promotes the inevitability of disease progression in its justification for "interventional"--medical & surgical, cardiology.

As someone who spent a fair part of his life living in Continental Europe, I may well be biased in my preference for & admiration of European (vs. American) cardiology & protocols (see the video of Dr. Mandrola--above in another of my posts, where he references differences between American & European approaches). So I look to this European study, which is only one on record to follow longitudinally--without medical or surgical intervention, a large group off confirmed Afibbers to observe whether & to what extent...disease progression occurs.

Here's the URL to the study: https://academic.oup.com/europace/article/22/8/1162/5869098

Results: "Compared to the first 6 months, 111 (62%) patients remained stable during the second 6 months, 39 (22%) showed progression to longer AF episodes, 8 (3%) developed persistent AF, and 29 (16%) patients showed AF regression."

And on the important subject of AF Burden (which only the Apple Watch measures--& why I recommend to everyone that they purchase a new Apple Watch): https://www.afburden.com/ (parameters of afib burden).

As for exercise: I am a confirmed--but now scaled-back, devotee of the following exercise programs: Insanity, TapOut XT (which is MMA-themed extreme fitness) P90X, P90X2, P90X3, & Beach Body's T-25 (25-minute high intensity, body-weight with bands work-outs).

Just read a paper indicating that...HIIT workouts can result in arterial plaque clearing!

Finishing up this missive: How shall we exchange (for starters) email addresses (while preserving privacy on this platform)?

Stay safe (Arcturus & its evolving progeny are scaling up their evolutionary progression)--& cheers 🙂

Excellent. Thank you so much. I have had 3 ablations but unfortunately still have afib. I was with my cardiologist today who said maybe now I just have to accept the afib rather then trying 4th ablation. Encouraged me to do even more exercise and try some relaxation techniques. All great advice. I am taking blood thinner and betablocker so really I have to be accept my afib and continue to live a happy & healthy life.

As always thanks for your feedback and perspective.
Yes I HATE taking the Eliquis however every one I have consulted with say if you do nothing else thats the most important way to go. My daughter is a pharmacist my son in law is anesthesiologist his 2 brothers are doctors as well as his father.
Speaking of A European perspective wondering if you know anything about Wexin Kelli which is Chinese herb and Foxglove some type of plant again used in eastern medicine. Supposedly help with A-Fib.
This whole A-Fib thing and the way I believe I acquired it is just doing my head in.
I did not know what Arcturus meant just looked it up thanks for that piece of knowledge. Speak too you soon.
Private message me if you send me something put in the subject line your Zen name Shoshin so Ill know its you.

I would say about 1 year. I had several cardioversions and then the decision was made to try an ablation. However after 3 ablations it seems they weren't the solution for me. But of course, we are all different. Some people have great results with 1 or 2 ablations.

@kravmaga, you'll notice that I removed your personal email address. Connect is a public forum. We recommend sharing personal contact information using the secure private message function. I might also add that by sharing here in the forum, you are connecting with several people where all can benefit from group support.

Sorry I was unaware of private message.
Just want to make sure i understand you are saying it is ok to send my personal email to someone as a private message?

Exactly. It is safer to share contact information by private message. Posting it publicly opens you to getting unwanted spam. 🙂

Thank you