For 3 years I have been with afib on and off, and as some of you know, from past posts on here, I have had afib daily, 1 to 2 hour episodes of afib since September... always in the evening, the very odd one during the day.
I have been having ectopic beats during the day as well, not allot but some here and there. During the summer of the last 3 years, may to sept, I have no afib at all, which is strange, but to further prove this strangeness I went south for 2 weeks on boxing day, and my afib disappeared on the 2nd day. No ectopic beats... nothing! I was having afib and ectopic beats EVERY DAY since September, I couldn't sleep on my left side, sometimes I was having afib at the ONSET of sleep, I always had to be careful of what I ate as this would create ectopic beats and in turn bring on afib. It was ruining my life.
But remember, my afib always only lasts 1 to 2 hours for each episode in a day, then I knew I was ok until the next day.
I had been listening to help on this board about magnesium, and supplementing with chelated 200mg per day since the end of November.
Some people mentioned drinking lots of water, so I was doing that as well.
I am as always eating very healthy, no pop, msg, nothing with wheat rye or barley, (I bake my own gluten free bread), but still my episodes would continue at least once a day and always having ectopic beats every day.
UNTIL going south...
let me explain...
My wife and I boarded a plane Dec 26th and flew to Montreal from the east coast of Canada from where I am from. We stayed over night in Montreal, I had 1 episode that night, then the next day at the airport, while waiting to board, I went into afib, it lasted about 30 minutes and came out right before take off. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale and stayed in a hotel for 1 night there, no episode that night but the next morning I felt some ectopic beats...
we spent the day in the sun, then that afternoon boarded a ship for the carribean. We spent everyday with lots of sun, I ate way out of control, just about everything, including LOTS of soda pop! and for 8 glorious days, not 1 ectopic beat and NOT ONE episode of afib !!
On the 8th night, I had some very spicy chicken, and had indigestion that night and felt afib come on about 2am, and lasted 1 hour. Then nothing again! And as I write this, I still cannot understand what happened! I have been back home for 4 days, and still nothing, like it disapeared. ( we'll see for how long), My wife and I wracked our brains trying to figure it out.... its as if someone turned the afib switch off in me. I can even sleep on my left side! Something I would`nt dare do 2 weeks ago!
I also note that I never drank barely any water at all for the past 2 weeks. maybe 1 to 2 glasses per day at most. I still take 200mg of magnesium every day, but that's it.
So I went from having episodes everyday, in the bleek of winter months, while drinking lots of water, eating very healthy... to NO episodes, while just suntanning and eating and drinking pop more than usual. Although, as a conscious person of habit of what I eat, I didn't eat anything bad for me, just allot of what is good, except for that night with the spicy chicken, but also allot of soda pop, which doesn't seem to bother my condition at all.
I came home nice and tanned and feeling like a new person, but I keep asking myself, "How long in these winter months will it last?"
time will tell I guess!
Any thoughts is appreciated as usual.

Kind regards,
Frank

Hi Frank,

While subjective interpretations are typical when experiencing change in symptoms, it's important to realize that factors which may be relevant can represented by a wide variety of circumstances. The implication that heading south possibly had an effect, presumably because of a change to warm tropical environmental conditions, could just as well be represented by the great reduction in stress and anxiety by immersing oneself in a tropical vacation atmosphere. Or alternatively, there are conditions such as certain types of gastrointestinal ulcers which become more symptomatic in colder climates.

The point is simply that in order to truly identify influential factors, clinically sound research would be necessary to selectively define measures taken from those participating in the study.

Regardless, it's good news to heart that you're not presently experiencing difficulty.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)