FAQ:  Dr. Lishan Aklog Addresses Patient Question on  Whether to Use Amiodarone for Mini Maze Surgery

You may have wondered if Nicola’s afib impacted her during the Olympics. You’ll find the answer in the updated story:

Nicola Coles and Other Olympic Athletes Fight Atrial Fibrillation
Just scan about halfway down the page to find the update.

Read the update…

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.

Click here for the article…

Once you’ve read it, please come back and share your thoughts and comments here at the Atrial Fibrillation Blog.

Speak Up for Your Safety Before Your Procedure

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.

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?

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.

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

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.