Listening to my Heart, Part 2

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last posted. For all my good intentions to post regularly, I have been lazy.

Do you remember the post from earlier this year when I talked about my heart beating like crazy? Well, it happened again at work a few weeks ago. I was having a really crappy day, and had just gotten off the phone with a difficult contractor. My heart started jumping all over the place. I kept waiting for it to quit, but after about 45 minutes, I told my boss that I was feeling weird and I had heart palpitations. She took my BP and pulse; my BP was 190 over 106 (my normal BP is 120 over 70), and my pulse was around 160 and irregular. So, of course she called the aid car.

When they arrived, they took my BP again, which was still really high. Everyone kept asking me if I was on BP medication...I kept explaining that my normal BP is really low. Then the guys carted me off to the ER, taking EKG’s all the way. Since I work with these guys, I was embarrassed but also thankful that I was among friends. I had never been in an aid car as a passenger before, so it was an interesting experience.

By the time we got to the ER, my heart had calmed down. After spending several hours in the ER and being subjected to a battery of tests, I was feeling fine. Everyone there was so nice. (The fact that the ER doctor was really cute was an extra bonus.) He told me the EKG showed Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), which he said, “may or may not be a life threatening condition." Well, gee, that's really helpful, Doc. Snort.

Because of my family history of heart disease and the risk of stroke associated with AFib, he told me to see a cardiologist as soon as I could. So I got an appointment the next day. They did a whole work up, had me wear a heart monitor for 24 hours, and also did a stress echocardiogram. I did so well on the stress echo that the doctor supervising the procedure told me I had the heart function of a 30 year old. (Yay me! Apparently all that compulsive exercise has paid off.)

So what’s the diagnosis? “Paroxysmal, or lone, atrial fibrillation without heart disease.” Aka LAF. Basically an electrical problem…"Atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia, characterized by grossly disorganized atrial electrical activity, which is irregular in respect to both rate and rhythm." It can happen when we are older because the heart develops additional electrical circuits, which misfire. Those of us who have this condition even have our own name…we are called Afibbers!

From the Afibbers.org website:
Most cases of atrial fibrillation are caused by heart disease or an abnormality of the heart. However, between 12 and 30 per cent of all cases do not involve an underlying heart problem. These cases are classified as lone atrial fibrillation (LAF) or "paroxysmal atrial fibrillation." It is generally accepted that lone atrial fibrillation (LAF) is characterized by the absence of heart abnormalities or heart disease. This means that LAF is not life-threatening and is far less likely to precipitate a stroke than is atrial fibrillation involving heart problems.

"LAF is not life-threatening and less likely to precipitate a stroke"...Well, that's a relief!

So in my case, it's mostly an annoying and distracting condition. The cardiologist gave me the option of going on medication or trying to manage it by lifestyle change. I chose lifestyle change. Since it can be caused by a variety of things, I had to figure out what lifestyle change meant to me:

A full 50% of all respondents listed stress as a trigger. Physical overexertion was next at 24% closely followed by alcohol (including wine) and lack of sleep at 22% each. The digestive period following a heavy meal was a trigger for 18%, caffeine was mentioned by 16%...Other triggers mentioned were aged cheese, sugar, food additives...It is clear that the triggers for LAF are many and varied and highly specific to each individual except for excessive emotional and physical stress which are pretty well universal.

I left out a lot of the trigger list because it literally went on and on. But one interesting item I found in my research about things I can do to avoid an episode:

The most important dietary changes were elimination of wheat, gluten and dairy products, and a switch to the Paleo diet.

Our 4HB Diet is very similar to the Paleo Diet. It's basically a low-carb diet, but without much dairy; and obviously low carb means no wheat or gluten. In retrospect, it's interesting that I recognized even before I knew what "it" was is that "it" seemed to be triggered on our 4HB cheat day, after eating lots of carbs and drinking more alcohol than usual. So my initial thought of cutting back on the amount of sugar I consumed on cheat day was instinctively correct.

So now I’m taking one aspirin a day (to deal with the blood clot risk), trying to reduce my stress, drinking only one coffee a day, trying not to overdo carbs and alcohol on cheat day, taking coEnzyme Q10, fish oil, magnesium and potassium, getting enough sleep, etc. I’m still getting episodes, but they have been less frequent and much milder. The fact that I know what the problem is and that the condition is not life-threatening has lessened the anxiety and probably therefore the severity too.

Life is getting back to normal after that experience and Hub's surgery. I really like normal. I'm looking forward to the weekend, spending time with Hub and B, and taking it easy.

Take care, everyone. I'll be in touch!