Re: Hello, new here

[Guest guest]

Moose, Welcome!! You came to the right place for the help and encouragement

you need!

Bette

[Guest guest]

Kim - I'm not sure who you'd go to, but you might want to investigate the

reasons WHY you are low in magnesium? I mean.. is there something (other than

stress) physiologically going on in your body that makes you more susecptible to

its loss? Instead of just supplementing, find out why and try to fix the

source? I'm not even sure who could do that... someone who specializes in

nutritional imbalances.. there has to be a specialty for that somewhere? Or

perhaps talk to a nutritionists about your diet.. maybe you could supplement

your supplements by upping magnesium rich foods in your diet? I know that

almonds are high in magnesium, so I've been eating them as my afternoon snack

for months now (although there was just a giant recall on almonds sold by Trader

Joes and two other companies)... I'm sure there are plenty of other foods that

might help as well.. and certainly 'naners are great for the potassium!

just a thought!

Stef

t2doulamom wrote:

Hello, and thank you for writing! Reading over my post, I realize I was

not as clear as I could have been......actually, I *did* go off the

cardizem after 2 months last year ( 120 mg), and did very well with no

problems at all ( went to amusement parks and rode the adrenal busters

with my kids a few times, even!) , until the PAC's began to be

troublesome a couple of months ago.........again, I feel now , because

of low potassium and magnesium. Extra life stress uses up available

magnesium, and I have been right in the middle of applying for a loan to

build a house, with lots of roadblocks and starts and stops, and now our

family doing a lot of the building work ourselves, and I do believe

that this affected me more than I realized. I just began the cardizem

again this week, after 3 straight days of premature beats that were so

frequent that it interfered with life and sleep, and I did not know what

they even were, nor link them to the a-fib at all until the doctor did.

I am hoping that after 1 month of this, and strong magnesium

supplementation, I can wean myself off again.....that is the plan

anyway. ( I should know tomorrow about blood levels of the mag and

other minerals, twice in the last year I have had low levels), and by

the way, does anyone have a suggestion on optimal magnesium

supplementation? It does not seem me that normal dose supplementation

does the trick for me, but I don't know what the outer ranges of safety

are.

Also, those of you who do mag supplements, do you take a 2:1 ratio with

calcium, or mag only?

Personally, Stef, I agree with you completely, and that is the direction

I am working towards. Just dialoguing with others is such a comfort to

me.

Blessings,

Kim

Re: hello, new here

Kim - having had " butterflies in my heart " my entire life, and PACs for

as long as I can remember, my only question to you is why, after just

one episode, and especially one apparently triggered by low potassium

and calcium, do you remain on medication? Heart medication in and of

itself is not without risk, and/or side effects, and I guess I wonder

why you're on 240 cardizem after just one event?

When I had my first several events, I was treated with medication just

long enough to get me back into rhythm, and then that was it... I had

about 2 or 3 short lived episodes per year... when this proved to be a

pattern, (still only 2 or 3 a year) I was put on 120 Cardizem and told

to bump to 240 if I had an event... I stayed at 120 for more than a

year, and this past Jan, I had a bad episode, complicated, I think, by a

viral intestinal illness, and was put on anti-arrythmics...

Now I think I'm WAY over medicated.. my heart does things now that it

never did before.. all kinds of short runs, hard beats... etc... I stay

in rhythm, but I often think these " weirdnesses " are due to the meds and

not to my own heart!

I am not suggesting you get off medication yourself, but you might talk

to your doctor about it.. ESPECIALLY since you had verifiable evidence

(your potassium deficiency) of something that would trigger afib in an

otherwise normal heart... I would guess that regulating the potassium

and calcium, might be enough to keep you out of afib from now on.

Just a thought.

Stef

joyfulexpectations wrote:

Hello, and thanks for letting me be here among you, I am encouraged

already. I am a 43 year old woman, who is quickly finding her life

changing, although things do not seem to be nearly as severe for me

as for others. I had 1 sudden and out of the blue a-fib episode in

March of 2003, which responded to meds in the ER after 4 hours, and I

was able to go home. Was found to be low in potassium, calcium, and

magesium at the time, and began to take cardizem and supplement the

minerals. Did very well, and had no recurrences at all, until

beginning in Feb of this year, began to notice the " skipped beat "

feeling, which I now know is premature beats, which is basically a

precursor to an a-fib episode.........if I am not correct here,

please feel free to educate me! I am still learning. Are ectopics the

same thing as PAC'S, can someone tell me? I am still learning the

jargon. Yesterday was my worst day ever with the PAC'S, and we will

probably be doing the holter monitor soon, but first I have to come

up with the money to do it, we currently are self-employed people

with no health insurance. So now I am taking the timed released

version of cardizem, 240 mgs, again supplementing with a good cal/mag

supplement,and trying some simple things for stress management and

coping skills, which I am definitely ready to hear more expertise

from all of you, I feel this is key.

Another question: do any of you feel a dull headache on your days

when the premature beats are at their worst? And what alternative

remedies has anyone had success with? What lifestyle changes have

been most beneficial to you?

Thanks so much in advance.

Blessings,

Kim

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