Heart issues: the latest 2ketodudes podcast

(KB) #1

Do you think the heart issues that have come about for Tom & Brenda have anything to do with the keto diet? Or I wonder if either of them have a genetic history that they could point to as a cause?

(mike) #2

Sounded like Tom’s came from pneumonia, and I believe Brenda said hers was from a congenital issue. Also Keto is what is making them both better.

(KB) #3

Thank you Mike. I must have missed Brenda’s reason…

(mike) #4

By the way, I found Tom’s story riveting. I have had Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation myself for a long time, decades in fact. I used to think it was caused by stress and or caffeine related food I ate. Now being keto and learning more about it I believe it is mostly driven by electrolyte imbalance. Since adding salt and increasing magnesium I notice it less and less. Tom mentioned his researched shows it is about 70-80% electrolyte imbalance related. I was stunned about how his fasting had such and impact on his ability to heal his heart.

Now I wonder can people who have had a heart attack repair their damage the same way?

It’s amazing the ability of the human body to repair itself when given time and proper fasting.

Go Autophagy!

(Tom Seest) #5

It’s an interesting question, and one that I had to evaluate. Where did my Atrial Fibrillation come from? The only evidence that I had that it was the pneumonia was my CRP rocketing from 0.71 to 64 in one week, and then going back to the 0.7’s a month later. Other than that, I had no evidence.

My mother has a history of heart issues dating back to childhood so I had to consider that as an alternative. She’s had SVT (@Brenda’s type of heart problem) as a teenager, and she had Wilson’s Syndrome later on (even more different), and didn’t develop her Atrial Fibrillation until about 10 years ago. However, after looking at her, and her diet at the time, I concluded that it may not be “genetic” but more “dietary” in nature. She’s done Keto now for just over 1 year, and here episodes have gone way down as long as she maintains her electrolyte balances correctly. But, she has years of damage to over come.

After that, I researched sites like this using Google to determine potential causes for A-Fib:

http://www.stopafib.org/causes.cfm

As I found them, I would order blood tests to determine if I was lacking electrolytes, or taking too many. One by one, I investigated and dismissed the other potential causes.

But, the ultimate test was the Electro Cardioversion in February. For people that have genetic causes of A-Fib, or triggers or they go in and out of A-Fib, the body’s natural tendency is for the body to return to a normal rhythm. So, I spent $6,000 and got my heart zapped back into normal rhythm. But, it only maintained it for 40 hours.

At that point, it became clear that the elephant in the room, was really the elephant. And, while it was a huge challenge, it was indeed a blessing. Because, as I stated in the podcast, most people never really know what caused their A-Fib. In my case, I actually knew, and this allowed me to attack it at the cellular level instead of just guessing the true nature and cause of the disease.

While it remains a challenge to this day, I am truly grateful that I have a heart disease where I can be certain that I know what caused it. It’s a giant mountain to climb, and I hope I climb it, but I have little doubt as to what the mountain consists of.

Yet, I still may fail ultimately. But, at least I knew…

(Cywgdave) #6

Tom,

One of my first posts here, I listened to your podcast just yesterday, I am wondering if there is any chance you might be willing to contact me (or let me contact you), the information you brought up about autophagy and scar tissue really struck a nerve (pun not really intended), I am suffering from a chronic pain issue that most of the doctors I have consulted with think could easily be caused by scarring. The possibility that allowing our bodies natural ability to heal itself to affect (effect?) a solution is quite appealing considering the options I have been offered have somewhat less zero appeal to me. Especially since they always qualify it with “There’s no guarantee this will work”

Hope you read this, I’m rooting for your success,

Dave A
cywgdave at gmail.com

(Tom Seest) #7

Thanks

I sent you an email

(Tom Seest) #8

My decision to use autophagy to remove scarring on my heart really came early on. Although I have no evidence of scarring because I did not want invasive confirmation done, it took about two months of testing to rule out the other potential causes for the Atrial Fibrillation. But, based on my previous light reading on fasting and autophagy and subsequent experience fasting, I felt I had the experience necessary to explore fasting as a therapy to heal my condition.

I found this paper early on that gave me more information on autophagy and the heart:

After reading this paper, I decided that the least risky method of fasting would be frequent, but shorter fasts. Anything from 18 hours to 7 days seemed appropriate. Generally, I would consume a pound of Liverwurst or Braunschweiger immediately before and after a fast and then fast until I felt off due to stress. Using a heart rate variability app really helped me detect stress before I could “feel” it so I felt pretty safe doing it.

And, I could not really afford the alternatives they were offering and didn’t really want them anyway.

(Cywgdave) #9

Only real questions I have right now, was there a reason for the liverwurst or braunschweiger? I like liverwurst but not sure that I like it that much that I could eat a whole pound at a sitting…

And, was there any pattern to your fasting or was it just as you were able to? I’m guessing it was the latter.

That’s basically it for now.

Thanks again,

Dave

(Tom Seest) #10

First, I didn’t really have a pattern for fasting because I was basing it on how I felt. I only would fast when I was feeling great. If I felt off, in anyway, I’d stop fasting. While a little bit of stress (physically) isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I figured my cardiovascular system was under enough stress as it was.

Regarding the liverwurst, braunschweiger, head cheese, liver, etc., it’s more of a complicated answer. I actually like the taste of organ meats, but that’s not why I chose to eat them.

Even though I had tested for every possible electrolyte deficiency possible, and other causes for the A-Fib, you always wonder in the back of your mind if you missed anything. As part of my goal to create a good environment for healing, I felt it was important to eat a good variety of meats to maximize the vitamins and minerals for my heart, in case I was missing something in my supplementation, or in case my heart was over using some of them as part of the process of healing. So, since these organ meats have a tendency to have a broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals, etc, I chose them as my go to meats before and after fasting.

I ordered most of them from https://grasslandbeef.com as I felt I wanted to maximize the sources for these foods.

I hope this helps.

#11

Thanks for sharing the link, Tom. I’d never heard of US Wellness Meats. I’m going to have to give them a try.

(Cywgdave) #12

Thanks, if I had been guessing that is about what I would have guessed. I will have to see what happens with me. Currently trying to plan out when good times for me to fast will be. I’ll keep you posted.

(Cywgdave) #13

Further thoughts, do you feel that being in ketosis in between your fasts was necessary or desireable or was it that it makes getting into a fasted state so much easier?

Would you feel that weight loss to improve/increase autophagy is beneficial? I don’t have cardiac problems so I wouldn’t see a benefit there, I also don’t have a lot to lose but probably will drop some as a by-product. (found out about LCHF/keto before any major metabolic mayhem got established- love that I now feel like I don’t need to worry at all about most of those major epidemics facing society today.)

Thanks again.

(Tom Seest) #14

Being in Ketosis makes it easier (at least for me) to slip in and out of fasting.

I assume you meant “Would you feel that fasting to improve/increase autophagy is beneficial?”. I would say yes. I would say that there are lots of benefits to fasting besides autophagy as well. If you Google “Fasting and Immune System”, find articles like this:

For people that have issues with inflammation in general, fasting seems to help lower inflammation.

(Cywgdave) #15

Apologies, wasn’t clear in my question, it would be more along the lines of “would weight loss in addition to fasting be beneficial (as in increase autophagy) or merely a side effect of fasting?”

I understand that fasting does increase autophagy, I’m trying to figure out if weight loss in addition increases the benefit or is a neutral side effect.

Looked at a few of the links, the benefits fasting has on the immune system are amazing, I never would have thought it would be so profound. I wish I had known before, I would have been able to utilize it to increase the benefit of other treatments I’ve had. Oh well, next time.

(Jamie Holtzclaw) #16

I’m currently doing keto, I’ve been in ketosis for 2.5 weeks. I have SVT, and I have noticed my resting HR is 66, standing 85, walking 109-115. I had an STV Attack yesterday 160BPM, I quickly put my head between my knees and stopped it. I’ve realized that my addiction to water has caused me to deplete my electrolytes. So I’ve cut back on water, increased salt, 2500mg of potassium and 400mg of magnesium. This is helping but I’m not sure how much Celtic salt I should be taking. My BP is low/normal sitting and really low standing. Just wondering if you had any advice.
Just purchased some of this. https://shop.drberg.com/electrolyte-powder-regular#prettyPhoto

(Tom Seest) #17

How are you measuring your Heart Rate? Do you have access to a heart rate strap, or are you using a device like the AliveCor Kardia? Both are excellent tools that can be used to monitor the heart.

In my case, I track my heart rate 24 x 7, and I use the heart rate strap to measure Heart Rate Variability every morning which gives me a good feedback mechanism for determining how stressed my heart is.