UPDATE: Dancing with Atrial Fibrillation

My earlier post Dancing with Atrial Fibrillation has received the most hits of anything I've ever written here. I've also received many personal e-mails with questions on the subject. People have so many questions. To be sure, this condition affects a great number of people all over the world. The anxiety with this condition is off the charts as well. Let me just add a few thoughts to the original post.

I'm not a doctor, certainly not a Cardiologist, and I have no desire to impersonate one or to dispense medical advice. I am an herbalist with around twenty years experience in the field; herbal medicine is usually my first option for most of the ailments I and my loved ones experience, but if you have access to qualified and competent medical professionals, always seek them out. Employ all the resources at your disposal. Regarding natural remedies, I never advise an all or nothing approach. This is a common though serious condition and not one to fool around with.

That said, many people, like myself, have a strong desire to heal ourselves whenever possible. We seek to understand what makes us ill and to work in different ways to affect change and to promote wellness. For some of us, increasingly-invasive medical procedures leave little appeal unless desperately required, and I think A-Fib is certainly one of those conditions where the advanced and invasive medical procedures are probably something people like me (and you perhaps) would rather avoid, and I get that.

My personality and experiences dictate that whenever possible I try to heal things on my own with the least amount of outside medical intervention. But when I experienced my most dramatic and overpowering episode of A-Fib and my initial herbal remedies did not seem to be working, I felt I had to go to the emergency room. I think there is an internal knowing for those of us who have spent time learning the language of our bodies, and we know instantly, this is something I can work with my natural remedies or this is something for which I need immediate medical attention.

I think about healing A-Fib from at least two mindsets:

1) Overall nourishment and wellness--the goal being to strengthen our bodies though nourishment, allowing the body to heal itself while promoting greater resiliency when faced with stressors. This is an on-going process, something you cultivate each and every day with individual acts of self-care. While seemingly small in nature, when done over time, they really add up. Nourishment is not just food but everything and everyone we surround ourselves with and using movement and breath in physical exercise--I'm not talking about lifting huge amounts of weight in a gym or running marathons, but exercise that builds health, flexibility and strength, like my personal favorite, Pilates. One dropper full of Hawthorne tincture in my morning tea, and my personal herbal invention, Stinging Nettle infusion with two droppers full of Motherwort, taken several times a week, have been tremendously helpful for me.

2) Immediate first-aid and fast remedy--the goal to quell the attack keeping one out of the emergency room. Certain herbs are quite useful here, especially the heart-health superstar Motherwort tincture, made from the fresh flowering plant tops. At least two droppers full in a small glass of water; repeat the dosage if you don't feel any results within, say, ten or fifteen minutes. Motherwort can also be taken directly under the tongue for even faster absorption, though, generally speaking, we do not use tinctures that way except in emergencies.

Let me provide a few other off-the-radar ideas to keep in mind:

a) avoid getting dehydrated--it seems to me that hydration is key to preventing future episodes, and remember hydration is not just water but electrolytes in the proper balance as well.

b) keep up your intake of potassium--bananas are a very healing food for the heart, and I try to have at least one or two ripe bananas a day.

c) the importance of restful, healthy sleep cannot be overestimated--the better quality of sleep, the less likely you are to be in a vulnerable state, and if you have bad nights, tone down your activities for the next day--take a nap--nourish yourself.

d) proper breathing techniques--learn from such disciplines as Yoga, Pilates, Tai Qi, the proper way to breathe and employ belly breaths with extended exhales during times when you feel on the edge of an episode. I have seen these extended exhales thwart an attack in progress many times. My Cardiologist also employs some physical manipulation to stop an attack; I don't feel confident explaining these techniques here, but they are very simple and mostly safe, so you might ask your Cardiologist.

I avoid most supplements, especially fish oil. I realize fish oil is often highly touted, especially for conditions such as A-Fib, but its efficacy is questionable at best, and it may even bring on episodes of A-Fib. If you wish to thin your blood, the herbal infusion made from dried Red Clover blossoms is very effective. You might drink that a few times a week.

A certain degree of A-fib is probably a natural result of aging and getting an episode is not the end of the world; I think former and present athletes, especially those who've have participated in endurance sports like running, for example, are almost guaranteed to experience A-fib during their later years. My personal point of view is older people, how ever you define older, do not need hard workouts to stay healthy--running is for horses! Do workouts that strengthen your body and your Qi, like Pilates or gentle, flowing Yoga or even Tai Qi.  I'm sure there are many other kinds of movement that promote this kind of wellness, like ballroom dancing or even riding a bike near the sea. Forget the triathlons, please. Time better spent would be growing your own garden of herbs and tending to it every day as a means of stress relief.

People write me to ask if I have experienced any more episodes since my original crash in 2012, and the answer is probably, but they were short-lived and they corrected themselves quickly with a little deep breathing and Motherwort tincture. My heart seems much more resilient after having taken Hawthorne every day for about the last seven years. I think that herb has made a tremendous difference. I've also helped others during their episodes with Motherwort tincture; the heart takes only a few minutes after having taking Motherwort to correct, and no matter how many times I see the benefits, I'm always amazed at how that wonderful healing plant works for us humans.

Think of nourishment as an ongoing process and the progression of healing as a spiral, not a straight line; we move back, again and again, over familiar territory in slightly different ways, while ending up in slightly different place. My teacher Susun S. Weed outlines different philosophies of healing in her book Healing Wise, and I would refer you to her work to get a better understanding of the ways people think about healing and how those thoughts shape our outcomes.

Most of all, be kind to yourselves and learn to say no to requests that don't honor your true nature.