When you say ''Ive gone years without Af'', do you mean...

Thanks Suzanne  :-)

Thanks Simon. Glad the ablation seems to have worked. I'm also terrified of one of those haha!

I'm OK with wine, coffee and chocolate. I'm in permanent AF but mostly unaware of it. More erratic incidents are started by the digestion/vagus nerve combination. Not much point in going to A&E as it usually settles after a few hours but has lasted for a day and a half at times.

so coffee and chocolater are no no's ..I read about what happens but so far not experinced it ..except for light headedness. bit of vertigo on arising. going to look up vagus nerve...

As with side effects of medications triggers vary from person to person.

There are so many coffees and the roasting processes must affect them as well. As I said I'm normally OK with coffee but twice I had one at one location that I did react to.

Nope. One second it seems that stimulating it is good, next it seems it's bad...

Some people massage a certain area to stimulate it themselves.

I think i wrote about it Betty.

?The vagal nerve is a significant nerve in the central nervous system, an information superhighway between the heart and brain. It is a nerve which also controls BOTH heart and digestive system !

?Some AF sufferers -me for instance - can link their AF with a dysfunctional vagal nerve. So I figured if I can calm the vagal nerve I can calm the digestive system and as a spin off calm the heart.

?I have done this - I have had no cardioversion, no ablation - and it is now a little over 2 years since my last AF event.

I can't comment on stimulating the vagus nerve or not stimulating. I chose to calm it ! For me it meant that changing my diet calmed the vagal nerve and as a consequence it calmed the heart - thus no AF.

John

Hi john, this is a big ask, but can you give us/me a tip about the diet you're on please? Maybe a glimpse inot what you may eat in a typical day? 

I think I may be a sugar addict, can that cause it,for you?

Hi Terence,

Sure, no problem - see below.

**OK - well firstly the symptoms that occurred when I became aware of the link between vagal nerve, food and AF. These were massive, massive and painful bloating around the heart area of my chest. also, diahorrea, very loud and unsocial unacceptable intestinal gurgling and burping. Not all at the same time, all at random and in no particular sequence. The most common was the massive bloating. Like I was in a garage with an airline attached to me inflating me.

I have to say when the bloating occurred my blood pressure rapidly increased - my normal is around 126/72 with an average heart rate of 65. When I had the bloating my BP would jump within hours to anything up to 160/90. The heart rate was unaffected. I would then feel as sick as a dog. It would then take 5 days for the BP to revert to normal. Then I'd feel fine once more.

Because of the similarity with IBS and Coeliac Disease my GP had me checked out for these two conditions but I was all clear. He offered to do more tests but I declined. Instead I consulted a Nutritionist.

After carrying out some basic tests she put me on a course of Probiotics and suggested I go Gluten Free and Wheat Free. She also suggested I look at the FODMAPS diet. Much later still in Feb 2014 (some 3 and half years after seeing Nutritionist) I cut out all added sugar, my choice not the Nutritionist recommendation.

From the time I saw the Nutritionist I began experimenting with food and keeping a diary. The following went OUT - runner beans, baked beans, peas, anything with Gluten and Wheat and Oats in it (this list is almost endless). This included I might add all English traditional ales. In fact the only beers I can drink now are Tiger beer and Peroni. Also soft cheeses, yoghurt and a good many fruits went out. (If you 'google FODMAPS you'll understand what I mean). Raspberries no good but strawberries - yes ! and clotted cream are fine. Pork is out ! Booo hoooo - no more crackling.

Initially, cutting out foods which aggravated the vagal nerve was not negotiable. It just had to be done. Bread for example. Strangely the worst were most of the range of 'brown wholemeal, seedy type breads. The best for me to have was any sourdough bread. So I occasionally have that - well toasted - today. Otherwise I stay with a Gluten Free Crispbread. I can handle occasional nuts like salted cashews and salted peanuts. I cannot handle most other nuts, Almonds, Walnuts etc etc.

Chinese Foods regardless of MSG is a problem and the range of this food I can safely have is limited. Thai or Indian spicy food is right out. A nice so called healthy salad with lettuce and other forms of rabbit food is out. Onions are out - yet - shallots are no problem and I find a radish very soothing on my gut.

Rice is best. Little or no processed meat.

This has been a monumental task and is still very much a work in progress. I just have to be aware of anything and everything I eat. But it doesn't stop me enjoying life BECAUSE I now have no AF. Yes I do have an AF induced damaged left atrium and I'll always be on warfarin ( my new forever friend) but hell I still work, driving a bus 30 to 40 hours a week and I still pass my annual bus drivers licence medical, even though all my medical frailties have been and continue to be declared to DVLA.. I'm active, travel, often to my family in Australia and even survive a partial knee replacement.

BUT all this is thanks to getting this rotten mongrel AF controlled.   **

?I hope this is what you want. I would add that I have been salt free from my meals for years, decades now. I have been sugar free since Feb 2014 when I went for an eyesight test and the optician detected from an eye exa,ination that I had significantly raised blood sugar levels. He refused to prescribe new spectacles until I'd sorted the sugar issue out.

My GP organised a HbA1c blood test which indeed confirmed that my blood sugar was almost at 'Prediabetic'.

I might add diabetes killed my father.

?I stopped all added sugar imediately ! and I succeeded in getting my blood suagr down to a reasonably healthy level. I bought my own testing device and at random - twice a year - I do a series of blood sugar tests on myself.

I'm not sure that I'd call this business a 'diet' as such - more a food plan. What I do pleases my own body. It may not work for others, on the other hand bits of it may, other bits may not. Its a personal journey aimed at calming the vagal nerve, so long as it isn't inflamed or aggravated in anyway I'm fine and of course, so is my heart.

Hope this helps. Get back to me if you have other questions.

John

I call it a diet, it means what you eat, but we equate the word as meaning low calorie food to lose weight. Semantics. 

I will start to follow your example I feel,starting with....get rid of the gluten.

You say you omitted yogurt. How do yuo get the probiotics then, pill form?

Thanks again.