Fasting with Congestive Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation

#11

Amazing …

Keep up the good work.

(Tom Seest) #12

So, I just left my appointment with my cardiologist and I have excellent news. My Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (estimate) has improved from 27% to 47% in the last three months and my Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (measured) has gone from 31% to 59%. While my heart function and size are not normal yet, the improvement is considered fantastic…

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(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #13

I was diagnosed with CHF 15 years ago. Is 59% considered in the normal range? Is a normal EF higher?

My cardiologist retired and I saw a new doctor this past November and he said that I didn’t have CHF.

(Ethan) #14

Are they at all sure that this was not an episode of takustubo cardiomyopathy? This sounds VERY similar to what happened to my mother. She is the only known survivor of 4 such attacks.

#15

Congrats on your fabulous progress and results!

(Tom Seest) #16

55% and up are considered normal. But, I don’t know if they go by measured or estimate.

(Tom Seest) #17

Glad your mother is a survivor. I don’t have a match for many of the symptoms of that condition.

(VLC.MD) #18

Rare to see improvements like that.
Congrats.

(Tom Seest) #19

Thanks…

(Ethan) #20

Her first episode (2009) began with a very bad cold/pneumonia. She had an ejection fraction of 20%. They had no idea what was going on. All tests for heart attack were negative. She was intubated for about 10 days during the acute phase. With each attack, the symptoms have been decreasingly severe. With her latest one, she barely knew. She came in and was told her ejection fraction had gone to 25% again. Each time it recovers within a 3 months to near-normal range (45-55%). Usually, it is brought on for her by a severe cold/pneumonia. The pulmonary edema is usually present. There aren’t really any other symptoms than being sick, feeling weak, pulmonary edema/pneumonia, and extreme weakness. In the severe attacks she cannot breathe properly from the edema.

I am not sure which symptoms you saw listed.

(Tom Seest) #21

I was going based on symptoms here.

But I had no initial weakness of the heart and never had pain.

(Ethan) #22

My mother has not had any chest pain from any of her four incidents. She had breathlessness from the edema, which could be diagnosed as pneumonia.

Your experience from a terrible ejection fraction to a near-normal one is highly consistent with takustobu cardiomyopathy and matches my mother’s exactly.

(Ethan) #23

Also interesting to me is that her diagnosis was originally heart attack. When that was proven wrong, they went with pneumonia and myocarditis. We believed that diagnosis for a few weeks. I cannot recall when exactly they changed the diagnosis to takustubo cardiomyopathy, but I do recall that the hospital didn’t even understand the condition. They told us there was a 33% chance that her heart wouldn’t recover, a 33% chance she would die, and a 33% chance of near full recovery. At the second attack, they confirmed the shape of the heart itself, which was a total positive for the condition.

(Tom Seest) #24

Yes. I actually had pneumonia first. I didn’t develop Atrial Fibrillation until about three days after I was over the pneumonia, based on my heart rate tracks…But, my blood tests before and after the pneumonia ultimately saved my skin.

Fortunately, I haven’t had edema in any of my extremities, or in the area of my lungs or heart. The poor functioning of the heart was simply due to the constant tachycardia, and the enlarged chambers…This is why I was hopeful I could reverse remodel it.

(Manny Radzky) #25

Hey Tom,

in 2014 I had a wicked lung infection which left me with congestive heart failure. Needed a pacemaker and bypass surgery. My ejection fraction was and still is in the low 20’s. What is really weird is that I am able to lift weights, go jogging and shovel the snow in my driveway as if nothing ever happened. I’ve gone keto in the last 2 years and feel AMAZING. Dropped from 194 to 172 (5’ 9"). I threw away most of the meds as drs only know how to push pills. I want to start fasting. My BNP is 160 and they want to double one of my meds. CRP is .44. A1C - 5.4. Liver and kidney functions perfectly normal.

So any ideas, insights, or suggestions from you would be more than welcome.

Thanks a million

(Tom Seest) #26

What med are they wanting to double and why?

Have you fasted much before? If not, I’d ease into it by skipping one meal, then two. Then, take a break. Then, skipping a day, then two. Just build it up. The BNP should drop with that, unless there are other con founders.

(Manny Radzky) #27

Tom thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

They want to bump my candesartan from 16 to 32. I am only taking 8. They don’t know this.

In 2014, at my worst heart health, my BNP was close 1,000. It’s been closer to 100 lately, but last week it was 160. So it is moving up. They see this as a precautionary measure.

I don’t like pills. I have done one meal a day and I am fat adapted, but I have never done a fast for more than one day.

Thanks for reading

(Tom Seest) #28

Interesting. That does seem to be a little med happy. Changing the dosage like that over just a little bump in the BNP. My experience tells me that any inflammation or stress can increase my BNP levels. But, since they probably don’t order the tests frequently enough; they probably can’t tell that.

Since the first couple of days of a fast will increase stress some, in theory, your BNP will go up then. But, after that, in theory, it will go back down and then some.

I agree with you on the meds. I can’t stand taking them.

I’m hoping to get electro cardioverted next Friday which in theory will put my heart rhythm back to normal. If it doesn’t succeed in the long term, at that point, I’ll probably embark on a strategy of elimination of the meds by replacing them with herbal equivalents. I’m having good success with Hawthorne, Berberine and many of my other supplements, and I think I can either reduce the need for the meds or eliminate them. But, it takes a lot of time, and testing of the combinations.

(Manny Radzky) #29

Tom are you familiar with Dr Steven Sinatra AWESOME FOURSOME for heart health?i take them EVERY DAY. D-robose, carnitine, CoQ10/ubiguinol, and magnesium. They havent really elevated my ejection fraction much, but I find my exercise tolerance has gone through the roof.

I just started taking Hawthorne.

Also very very good is John Berman, he is big on nerve supply. He has douses of videos, some are on heart health.

(Manny Radzky) #30

Sorry that’s Bergman