ICD/ heart problem direct result of Keto!

#1

OK I have had an ICD for 3+ years mainly due to an LBB and enlarged left ventricle. Starting about 2 months after keto I got strong twitching on my left side about the bottom of the rib cage when I would lie on my right side. More frequently until yesterday almost constantly. The Medtronic people were able to reprogram it to eliminate it. (I am in the office now)

Turns out that 55 lbs I lost probably included some fat that was insulating the area between my heart and an adjacent nerve. With that gone I got the nerve stimulation when it was supposed to be just doing the heart.

Looks like my only downside other than those dreams about Portuguese egg tarts.

New here and need some help troubleshooting
(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

So isn’t this good? Fat around the heart isn’t a sign of good health. With it readjusted are you comfortable now? :cowboy_hat_face:

#3

Internal Carrot Detector? Languid Beachside Blowout?

At least now I know what a PET scan is for.

#4

I fee better in a zillion ways

#5

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Left branch bundle block

(Full Metal KETO AF) #6

Is it looking for your dog that’s run off?

:joy::joy::grin::cowboy_hat_face:

#7

Especially if it is with a Portuguese Egg Tart

#8

You describe an absolutely unique body fat loss situation @Fracmeister. Amazing to say the least.

#9

I bet there are MANY of us who lost fat there. Just not that many who needed the insulation!

(Consensus is Politics) #10

Im curious as to what you mean by insulation? As in electrical insulation, somehow insulating an electrical abnormalitie? Or perhaps insulating against pressure on a nerve or muscle? Im guessing the latter, but Im curious just the same.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #11

@Robert_Johnson I assumed he meant padding. Maybe that’s wrong . :cowboy_hat_face:

#12

I mean electrical insulation. Fat doesn’t conduct electrical energy well and in any event once it was gone the leads from my device were at least much closer to the muscles in my chest. This lead to the twitching.

(Consensus is Politics) #13

I would think the device would be insulated from other muscles from the get go. If a layer of fat is enough to create enough insulation, then its poor planning on the medical engineers to not ask what would happen if that layer of insulation were to get used up. Thats what the fat is for, to eventually get used up.

But then again, the medical community isnt about actually curing or helping people but keeping them as sick as possible without killing off their human resources. Thats a simple conclusion I came up with when I discovered for myself that the ketogenic diet CURES T2DM. The medical community is more worried about “standards of care” than what ACTUALLY CURES THE PROBLEM. Case in point… medicating a T2DM to a HBa1c of 7%. Thereby keeping them sick, keeping them coming back for meds, keeping them obese, yada yada yada.

#14

I think you misunderstand the electrical signals issue. I didn’t really want to get into detail but three leads are involved and the relative intensity can be varied. You want to have it be large enough to do the job (and in the case of LBB that means firing both ventricles simultaneously instead of one firing and the other following) but not so large to overstimulate the area. No amount of fat overcomes the power the devices could put out and at the high end the batteries would deplete too soon. When initially installed everything worked fine with a certain distribution to the leads. After losing 55 lbs including some fat near the heart, one leads’ proximity to the muscles caused the spasms. It just requires redistribution.

As to your cynicism about the medical community I will take a hard pass on commentary except to say that even the most MCT oil swilling macro counting Gandhi-like fasting keto heads don’t claim that keto will fix an LBB or dilates cardiomyopathy. My cardiologist was the one who told me to cut out the carbs to lose weight

(Joey) #15

@Fracmeister Wonderful to hear they figured out what was going on!

Hearty congratulations (<< yeah, intentional) on your remarkable improvements in health, losing so much adipose fat that they needed to reposition your defibrillator leads. Kudos to reaching this point.

FWIW, I’d have suggested that your twitching symptoms were caused by an ill-positioned defibrillator (as opposed to keto) but hey, that’s just me. :wink:

Again, congrats on reaching this remarkable milestone along your path toward better health. :fist:

#16

Saturated fat doesn’t however non oxidized Polyunsaturated fat from whole food does. This is mainly why sufficient polyunsaturated fat stored in our neurons improves cursive hand writing and brain efficiency but too much PUFA promotes inflammation in those living in a city congested with air pollution.

https://www.google.com/search?q=prostaglandins+electrical

https://www.google.com/search?q=prostaglandins+electrical+heart

#17

Fats may not be great insulators but if nothing else they provide some space between muscles all too ready to twitch with any electrical stimulation. So maybe just the decrease in thickness of fat resulted in a proximity issue

(Bob M) #18

No, but it helps, a lot. The failing heart loves ketones. I have idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, and went low carb/keto to help with this. In fact, I’ve seen studies where going low carb/keto was much better than the drugs they give you. I am, however, on the drugs and on keto plus fasting.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #19

While you are, of course, perfectly correct about the positioning of the electrodes, I read the thread title as clearly a joke, since the effect on the ICD is something for which the OP expressed his gratitude. I moved this thread into the Progress forum, but I’m wondering if it actually isn’t a matter for the Keto Complaint Department, lol!

Getting the defibrillator re-regulated may have been something of an annoyance, but losing a chunk of visceral fat can only be to the good, and is a massive sign of progress. @Fracmeister, kudos to you, and keep ketoing on!

(Joey) #20

Agreed :wink: