Atrial Fibrillation & Stomach Gas, Digestive Tract Problems?

[delcocat]

I saw another post about atrial fibrillation and stomach gas possible association or connection.  I too have the same thing so it may not be all in your head if your suspect this to be the case.  Most dr.'s think your crazy or never heard of this when you even suggest it.  Thats whats wrong with most dr's atleast in my experience in that they don't think outside the box enough possibly because this is what they learned.  I think I/we can guess or prognose just as well or better than they can at times particularly if we know something about health and or ourselves and our own health.  Never be afraid to speak up because I feel strongly that digestive tract problems are real and translate into other real nasty symptoms like this.  Fortunately we can prevent much of this & need to prevent it from happening. I do feel the more you get afib the worse it can become either physically, emmotionally or both no matter what the cause.  I thought up until now that I may have been the first to discover this but would like to know if anyone else has any real answers to this as being a connection?  I would like to know how many people feel that they get atrial fibrillation and feel that it may be related to gas or full, bloated stomach, intestinal or digestive tract troubles etc?  Isn't it possible
that the gas, bloat, perhaps inflamed digestive or intestinal tract can disturb the vagus nerve thereby possibly causing
you to go into an afib attack?  Any real dr's out there any more with some real info about this?  Even conjecture?
Any way I also would be interested in what anyone might have to say about it and or what they may have learned from this?   If you know or even think this to be the case for you I would also like to correspond with you to trade stories and info on what you''ve learned and done. Be well.  Sincerely, Rich - delcocat at aol *******

[kennvido]

I still stay it's all related to vagus nerve stimulation... Do you notice it ALSO has to do with a feeling in the throat as well?
I do.... hard to swallow, a pb and j sandwich set mine off twice... or eating something dry,
Ever stick you finger down your throat like you want to make yourself vomit??? The doc told me to do that and sometimes it works as a reversal or to stimulate the vages nerve to slow down the hear...
AGAIN... notice the tightness or cramping in the throat area just before and while it happens... The vagovagal reflex is active during the receptive relaxation of the stomach in response to swallowing of food (prior to it reaching the stomach). When food enters the stomach a "vagovagal" reflex goes from the stomach to the brain, and then back again to the stomach causing a reduction in the muscular tone of the stomach wall.

[delcocat]

I think your both right.  In my opinion there still however must be a common cause that triggers the event or chain of events.  When I started this post thread I was grasping at straws since like most of you I got no where with doctors.  The only thing I knew is that I was tested and supposed to be healthy so what could this be?  Most of us here seem to agree there must be a relation between digestion, gas & bloat and afib but also that there appears to be another mysterious mediator between these two that ultimately triggers the afib response..  Another words if you took the above example Kennivido elludes to it might look something like this:  Gas and or bloat + vagus nerve stimulation = afib.
My thought has been and still is that there is a precursor to these.  Something has triggered our digestive systems to go crazy.  Kind of like a an ulcer.  You get h. pylori bacteria into your gut which then causes the ulcer to form and in the process causes all sorts of nasty symptoms and pain occur.   I think its like this here.  How common are digestive problems these days.  50 years ago this was virtually a non issue.  Now every other commercial is for problems relating to the digestive troubles we now see.  Things like prevacid, nexium, tums, prilosec, antibiotics and the list goes on...  These are supposed to treat digestive troubles now called diseases by names like gerd, colitis, ibs, reflux etc but really do nothing.  In some they may give temporary relief but they are certainly no cure.  My thought has been wait a minute... I used to get gas and bloat years ago but it didn't transcend into this misery so what is the missing element?  My hypothesis is that something has injured our digstive tract beyond just having a gassing meal then passing gas and it being over.  It coul be a bacteria, a virus, a fungus or perhaps even just years of neglect and abuse we put ourselves through with poor dietary habbits.  Food has changed through out the years - have you noticed?  There are foods still around today we enjoyed when we were kids (my case 35 years ago) but ever notice the taste and have you ever looked at the ingredients?  In either case not the same at all.  We went from sugar (bad enough) to high fructrose corn syrup (worse).  We went from real milk & cream to the highly processed  versions now required by the government (hmmm... conspiracy?)  with pasteurization and homogenization.  In ice creams you'll find polysorbate this and that plus a bunch of other junk.  In fact I've had afib triggered by ice cream and I just couldn't figure that one out.  The ice cream didn't even have a chance to form gas and bloat so was I or am I allergic to something in the ice cream?  I think we can all find that there are certain things that apparently trigger us off seemingly more quickly than at other times.  I'm thinking and or my hypothesis has been that some damage has been done to a particular area in my stomach and or gut.  Perhaps this damage has resulted in a thinned out, inflamed, sensitive spot that when triggered triggers other responses?  I'll use the same formula or equation that i used above:   Ingestion of food + resulting gas or pressure or allergy + sensitive injured area in gut = spasm of area triggering spasm of surrounding nerves which can trigger afib response.  Sound logical?   I have been trying to hit this from a holistic approach and with everything I can and have had some reasonable results however the battle continues and the definative answer and solution stills elludes.  Knock on wood I have been able to avoid, curtail any afib episodes and in the beginning of this venture I could barely tell sometimes whether I had gas or digestive problems but as time moved on  ironically it has been my worse problem.  Again as I said I have made some great strides into the knowing and understanding of what seems to cause or induce and trigger  my own symptoms but if I'm a good boy and watch closely the weight, what I eat, chuck down some probiotics etc I can keep both problems under some form of control.  Better than before but certainly not perfect.  One day perhaps one of us will find a common denominator and some better answers and solutions...   -Rich-

[SmokChsr]

Hi Kennvido,
One slight addition for those wanting to do research look for "Vasovagal" and "vegus reflex".  Now where I tend to differ is with those who are saying this is caused by stimulation of the vagus nerve. Stimulation of the vagus nerve is what you are doing with the finger in the throat, you are stimulating the vegus nerve and causing a slow down. Note: there are several other ways of doing this. I'm tending to think it the vegus nerve is involved with the AF, it's more likely that it is some how being blocked rather than stimulated.

[delcocat]

I agree that the vagus nerve could be playing a part in all this whether its transmission of the nerve that is being blocked or what have you but it is actually the what, where, when, how and why that is the question?  This somehow all must be an interlinked chain of events set off perhaps by a common denomiator?   I don't think the vagus nerve is the common denominator but rather perhaps just a link in the chain.

[kennvido]

I agree with your logic. I still believe that the vagus nerve is the bottom line... how each of us get to that, well, that's the question...

[kennvido]

What about us putting on weight and extending our abdomens? Out of shape muscles and what encases our guts? Could this physical change also be a precursor? You know a distended middle. Love to see the ratio of overweight and out of shape people who get this compared to what would be considered the norm in weight and shape that get this..