H.as anyone ever seen a neurologist for Afib?

[Robb S]

I'm an old member of this board but haven't posted in a while.  Long story short, I had an ablation last Oct for my paroxysmal Afib that has not been successful, although the frequency of my episodes has been reduced.  I am looking at another ablation, probably later this year if a new med (Norpace) doesn't help.

One thing that I was thinking about trying is seeing a neurologist.  My Afib episodes are triggered by my vagus nerve almost every time.  Eating the wrong thing, lifting weights or even sleeping the wrong way can irritate my vagus nerve above my stomach and an episode will come on in the next day, or sooner.  I am wondering if a neurologist would be able to help lower the tone of my vagus nerve so that it is less sensitive to the activity that I just described.  My EP told me that neurologists don't do too much with the autonomic nervous system.  Has anyone ever looked into if a neurologist can help with vagally-triggered Afib?

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

That's what I have is pacs


Do you get them for hours on hours.  I do sometimes

Never got afib praying I dont

[achillea]

The word 'vagus' is related to 'vagabond' and 'vagrant,'  and the so-named nerve does indeed wander around, starting up in the skull and sending branches to many different organs.  It has both motor and sensory functions.  As you know, it has effects on the heart and circulatory system, to say nothing of the gut, but also involves the functions of speech, hearing, swallowing, and taste, and even some sensation of the outer ear!

[Robb S]

Thanks for the direction on where to search, I will research it.  I don't really want to try something that is a risk or experimental.  I know that the vagus nerve is vital to the function of a number of organs and for that reason neuralogists probably don't want to alter its function.

If I can get my afib under control by either another ablation or medication I have a feeling that I will still be experiencing a lot of pac's every time that my vagus nerve starts jumping.  But pac's are better than Afib.

[achillea]

So far, it appears that even in neurological discussions of vagally mediated Afib, the preferred strategies for treating it are medicinal, followed by ablation, followed by pacing in some cases.

The problem is that the basic mechanism underlying Afib is just not understood yet, but there is just a hint of some newer approaches related to more sophisticated mapping techniques for ablation.  You might be able to get to one quite technical paper by typing this into your google search:

Narayan focal impulse and rotor modulation atrial fibrillation

As for mucking with the Vagus nerve directly, very little has been done with that, but there is a little experimental info.  You could try searching this to read one such paper:

Mark J. Shen, Continuous low-level vagus nerve stimulation