Dr. Natale has answered the atrial fibrillation questions that you posted recently over at the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation. You can also post questions there for the next guest expert to answer. Please click on the link below to learn more (the doctors will not be answering comments posted to this blog).
Click here to read the update…
I talk a lot in speeches, programs, and articles about the financial toll that atrial fibrillation takes on us and our families.
A new study from The Commonwealth Fund reinforces the burden of rising medical costs in the U.S. on individuals and families. Those of us that have suffered with atrial fibrillation will not find this information at all surprising.
Over at StopAfib.org, you will find an article about the study findings as well as what it means to those with atrial fibrillation and some ideas to help with the financial burden of atrial fibrillation.
Once you’ve read it, please come back and share your thoughts and comments here at the Atrial Fibrillation Blog.
If you are considering a procedure of any kind, especially an atrial fibrillation procedure, you’ll want to read this about the importance of time outs in the operating room…
Speak Up for Your Safety Before Your Procedure
Atrial fibrillation patient resource, StopAfib.org, announces that September of 2008 has been designated as Atrial Fibrillation Month in order to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation, a life-threatening irregular heartbeat.
Atrial fibrillation, or afib, is a misfiring of the heart’s electrical signals and involves rapid or irregular heartbeats or quivering of the heart’s upper chambers.
Often considered benign, this cardiac arrhythmia can actually lead to congestive heart failure or stroke. One-third of atrial fibrillation patients will have a stroke, and afib is responsible for 105,000-140,000 strokes per year in the United States. Stroke, the #3 killer, takes at least one person every hour and is the #1 cause of permanent disability. For more about stroke risks from afib, see http://www.stopafib.org/stroke.cfm
Over five million Americans now suffer from atrial fibrillation, where the heart goes out of control with little warning and for no apparent reason. It’s a frightening occurrence that will impact millions more as atrial fibrillation overtakes aging baby boomers. The Mayo Clinic estimates that by 2050 at least 16 million Americans will have it.
To learn more, including what you and others can do, see September is Atrial Fibrillation Month Focusing on Life-Threatening Irregular Heartbeat
Please spread the word and help raise awareness.
Stress reduction through heart coherence, by Vreni Gurd, is great food for thought for anyone dealing with stress, especially for those with atrial fibrillation triggered by stress.
Some interesting comments from the article:
The brain and the heart are connected via the autonomic peripheral nervous system, which is not under conscious control and regulates organ function.
The sympathetic branch (fight or flight), raises heart rate, blood pressure etc. whereas the parasympathetic branch slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure etc. The goal for optimal health is to have the two branches balance each other.
So, learning how to control the heart can make a huge difference in our ability to come to peace with the emotional brain.
These ideas come from a book, The Instinct to Heal - Curing Depression, Anxiety, and Stress without Drugs and without Talk Therapy, by David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., PhD
Gurd concludes:
It is said that we are happiest when we follow our heart, so learning to hear what our heart is telling us can be very valuable indeed.
Amen. In my most popular speech and signature story, Hear Your Heart, I talk about how hearing your heart can actually save your life. It saved mine.
Do you have a story about hearing your heart?
Whether or not you have atrial fibrillation, stress isn’t good for you.
We’ve all had e-mail disasters, and they are stressful. I had one earlier this year. A writer for MSNBC.com recently had her own e-mail disaster, but as I shared my experience, she realized that there is life after e-mail disaster.
She wrote up my experience at MSNBC.com in Hell Is Losing Your E-mail Address. Here’s the backstory behind it, including what saved us and my health.
I love the Olympics, and find myself staying up half the night watching them. Yes, I know it’s bad, but it’s only for a short while. I found myself transfixed the other night by the women’s gymnastics competition. They were so incredibly graceful, and yet so powerful, too.
Not being athletic myself, I find this level of athleticism amazing. But being athletic can be a problem, too, when it leads to atrial fibrillation.
The latest story on StopAfib.org is about Nicola Coles, an Olympic athlete competing in Beijing, who stopped by the Atrial Fibrillation Blog recently while struggling with her afib…here’s the story:
Nicola Coles and Other Olympic Athletes Fight Atrial Fibrillation
Last call — ask Dr. Andrea Natale your atrial fibrillation questions at the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation. Learn more here…
UPDATED 8-17-2008: “Ask Dr. Natale” is now closed, but you may now ask questions of Salwa Beheiry, who works very closely with Dr. Natale. Click on the link above to learn more and to go to the site where you can ask Salwa your questions.
For those atrial fibrillation patients who are on amiodarone, or for those avoiding it, there is good news. Multaq® (dronedarone), a replacement for amiodarone, received priority review status from the US FDA. While amiodarone is among the most effective atrial fibrillation medications, it has major toxicity issues that dronedarone doesn’t display.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to doctors who are prescribing amiodarone for their atrial fibrillation patients saying that those patients should take no more than 20 milligrams of Zocor®, Simcor®, or Vytorin®.
