I am 27 years old and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter 3 months ago after i went out of rhytm when i stepped out of hot tub. I went to the emergency room and after 3 days the rhytm went back to normal after being on Tambocor (Flecainide) and metaprolol for 2 days. But after i got home the afib attacks have started 5 times. And i always feel some very uncomfortable heavy heartbeat(not fast just heavy). And then i had holter monitor for 48 hours and everything was normal. But then i found out that if i eat ginger and cayenne pepper the heavy heartbeat goes away within an hour. But in every case when the afib attack start is when i eat those 2 foods. So it seems to calm my heavy heartbeat but also trigger the afib. My blood pressure is generally low 120/60 and resting pulse is between 50-60beats/min. Have anyone else notice ginger or cayenne pepper or any other herb trigger atrial fibrillation? I tried to google it but the only information i found is that these 2 herbs can help afib.
Hi Froscur, At the moment I have my monitor on for 24 hours, it was fitted this morning. Its interesting that herbs trigger your palpitations I can't figure what triggers mine.Having read others on this Forum I now have cut right back on Tea and coffee and stopped using sweeeteners, Haven't noticed a difference yet but its early days. As I have already mentioned the medication is causing me more problems than the palpitations.
Sorry I'm not much help.
Hi Foscor, besides stopping tea and coffe you must stop all forms of Caffien, that means regular Coka Cola products and others that contain caffien. Read the labels, Zero caffien can help the palpetations go away very fast. I noticed an improvement within 2 days.
Hi thanks for the reply, I am having a hard time figuring out what is triggering mine to. But i suspect ginger and cayenne pepper. It might be other factors to. It would be interesting to know if it helps to skip the coffee/tea/sweeteners. I dont drink coffee or tea but there might be some artificial sweetener or caffeine in something i eat/drink. The medications are also causing problems for me like nausea and vision trouble and shortness of breath.
Hi, It's only a couple of days since I stopped, tea, cofee etc I will let you know how I get on.
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to check the labels from now on.
Hi. I take ginger spice, with turmeric, teaspoon of each on my salad daily . Try stopping the cayenne. Canned drinks are a definite NO, I bought a juicer. Use fizzy water as I like it, to dilute the juice., Sometimes add honey, dont like bitter drinks.Stopped a lot of my favourites, like cafe and chocolate and eat small meals. HUH . . Good Luck .
Hi I have found not only caffeine but alcohol especially wine and spirits affects me. I can drink one or even two beers but thats it. Even one glass of wine sets it off. I dont miss coffee or tea ( I have decaff which is fine for me) but I do miss an occasional glass of wine!!
Interesting, But good you did mention chocolate i eat dark chocolate very often. Perhaps i should try to avoid it to.
I went through the food i've been eating lately. And did see there is caffeine in dark chocolate so im going to avoid it. No caffeine for the next days.
i've not had any alcohol since diagnosed but the cardiologist warned me about it and told me to avoid it. Are anything other that affect you or just coffee and alcohol?
For me yes, cafe,coke,tea,(de-caf or normal) 4 After eights! Miss my chocolate a lot and shop icecream which seemed to set off the rattle, I make slushies now.
Sorry for the delay the only other thing so far is msg so I am really careful about what takeaways I eat I'm OK with chocolate so far thank goodness think it's just trial and error until you find yours.
Take ginger daily in tea form, have not noticed that triggering any AFIB. Have noticed that typical one a day vitamins cause my AFIB to act up. Instead of taking them everyday,am trying every other day,so far no trigger. Have stopped anything caffinated on a daily and have less AFIB problems overall. I find moderation in all aspects is best, have not quit anything totally yet just been using all things in moderation. Finding that exercise(losing belly fat)and tweaking my daily eating habits slows down the occurrances of AFIB...this process (I am finding) is very demanding, but worth it!!! A good Cardiologist is worth it, but ultimately it's your call...all in all it's a process!!!
Hi all, I currently have similar issues as you do with afib.. I've been hospitalized on three occasions with heart rates of 210-250.
The specialist did tell me that mist cases will be similar but not all the same.. There are different triggers for different people. Alcohol is not a trigger at this time for me.. But have noticed the heart rate getting higher and higher each time I had a few beers. I think wine is a no no, as I tried some last week and my heart jump to 150..choclate was also consumed at this time. High doses of caffeine are a no as well.. But I am currently drinking organo gold coffee which only has 9mg of caffeine compared to Tim Hortons of 137mg.. Also the natural herb within organo gold called ganoderma is a herb that helps many parts of the body including the heart. I would recommend looking into this. If you have questions I'm here to help as I am currently waiting for my appointment to have the ablation procedure done for my situation.
I have Afib and I take magnesium complete with taurate 300 mg and the flutters seem to go away for a longer time.
I aim to increase eating Magnesium-rich nuts (cashew + almond) and seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower). I already have life-long habit of eating much dark leafy greens + fish. Also regularly eat plain yogurt. I may add avocados + bananas, althose my constant AFib + palpitations elevates when I eat bananas, and then I feel sleepy for a couple of hous afterwards.
Anyone here have good, or bad, experiences regarding any Magnesium-rich foods?
You will probably find it has Nothing at all to do with the type of food you eat. It would probably happen even if you starved yourself for two days and you will also find that sometimes when you eat a certain food it comes on but you can eat it the next day and it doesnt start an afib off. Blood thinners and beta blockers are probably keeping you in Afib and its probably a natural cure we are looking for like curcumin, flavay or krill fish oil. since taking these my attacks have gone down by hours.
Couple of consideration. As for myself when I attempt a low carb ketogenic type diet I am prone to bouts of Afib. I have successfully used GINGER and Cayanne PEPPER to HELP cardiovert me naturally back into normal sinus rhythm by using VERY HOT boiled green tea SEPARATELY
with a 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of Cayanne and Ginger MIXED IN WARM water taken together with good results as well as magnesium and potassium rich foods post tea. 20 minutes plus of gentle rhythmic cardio exercise has helped cardiovert naturally.
Hope I helped a little. I know this is FROM 3 years ago.
Froskur,
How is your caffeine intake? It is not too difficult to hit 500 - 600 mg of caffeine per day if you drink just coffee and like dark chocolate. This would be enough to start afib.
Paul