I can’t be the only one…

[Churchmouse]

Hello,
I was typing all the details on this and decided to cut to the chase. Any heart patients here that went vegan and experienced issues with your medication thereafter? I’d like to discuss that a bit.
I have been stable for a long time (well off and on but mostly stable). I have changed my lifestyle quite a bit over last year and a half and am now having a rough time with arrhythmias and lightheadedness. I believe it is the meds are now too strong and I am negotiating reductions but while things improve for a week or so, symptoms return.
Just want to know this is not unique so if you are in my general category, would love to discuss.

 

[David3]

Hello,
I was typing all the details on this and decided to cut to the chase. Any heart patients here that went vegan and experienced issues with your medication thereafter? I’d like to discuss that a bit.
I have been stable for a long time (well off and on but mostly stable). I have changed my lifestyle quite a bit over last year and a half and am now having a rough time with arrhythmias and lightheadedness. I believe it is the meds are now too strong and I am negotiating reductions but while things improve for a week or so, symptoms return.
Just want to know this is not unique so if you are in my general category, would love to discuss.

.
You really should consult your physician regarding these symptoms!

Mainstream health organizations seem to recommend plant-based diets. According to Kaiser Permanente (one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States):

"Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA1C, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity."

Link: Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets - The Permanente Journal - Kaiser Permanente

 

[Tom L.]

I think my heart occasionally skips a beat, but I'm not taking any medication other than a low-dose aspirin every two days. I had a stress ECG about 2 years ago, and it didn't show anything amiss. I've been vegetarian since 1972 and started phasing out other foods of animal origin in the mid-1990s, so I don't know how veganism and heart arrhythmia medications would interact.

 

[Churchmouse]

.
You really should consult your physician regarding these symptoms!

Mainstream health organizations seem to recommend plant-based diets. According to Kaiser Permanente (one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States):

"Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA1C, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity."

Link: Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets - The Permanente Journal - Kaiser Permanente

Thanks for the info. Believe me, I am in consultation with my medical team. They of course are not automatically recommending the things I do, but, support them. I got my cardiologist to agree to reduce one of my meds and is in support of all this. My question really was about if anyone else maybe has successfully gotten through some transition like mine and can tell me they went through something like this and for them turned out OK.

 

[Emma JC]

Hello,
I was typing all the details on this and decided to cut to the chase. Any heart patients here that went vegan and experienced issues with your medication thereafter? I’d like to discuss that a bit.
I have been stable for a long time (well off and on but mostly stable). I have changed my lifestyle quite a bit over last year and a half and am now having a rough time with arrhythmias and lightheadedness. I believe it is the meds are now too strong and I am negotiating reductions but while things improve for a week or so, symptoms return.
Just want to know this is not unique so if you are in my general category, would love to discuss.

as David says, be sure you stay in touch with a medical professional.... if I were you I would touch base with Dr McDougall as he and his team have a great deal of experience with people taking their courses and weaning themselves of a lot of their medications - I do not know how this is monitored or any of the details so you can touch base and see if he/they have suggestions Dr. McDougall's Health & Medical Center Contact Us - Dr. McDougall

I have reached out to him a couple of times (not for health reasons) and he has always responded.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Tom L.]

On second thought: I think I had a Stress Echocardiogram. They had me jog on a treadmill to get my heart rate up a bit and then used what appeared to be a sonogram/microphone, which produced a visible movie of my beating heart with sound. (Weird, squishy sound.) I still have my printout of the results; I suppose my memory is a bit foggy because things were OK and there was nothing I needed to do (except keep getting the exercise I'm doing, keep eating right, and keep taking the low-dose aspirin).

 

[robert85]

Have you tried consulting your eating habbits with experienced medical dietician? If your diet provide you with correct amount of nutrients, vitamins etc according to your lifestyle there may be other cause, like your body responding badly to the pills you take for your current cardiological problems. These effects may also be caused by interference with other medicaments you take.

 

[Churchmouse]

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions! Got more to go on now. Appreciate it!

 

[beforewisdom]

Hello,
I was typing all the details on this and decided to cut to the chase. Any heart patients here that went vegan and experienced issues with your medication thereafter? I’d like to discuss that a bit.
I have been stable for a long time (well off and on but mostly stable). I have changed my lifestyle quite a bit over last year and a half and am now having a rough time with arrhythmias and lightheadedness. I believe it is the meds are now too strong and I am negotiating reductions but while things improve for a week or so, symptoms return.
Just want to know this is not unique so if you are in my general category, would love to discuss.

I haven't had that issue myself, but have read about it often in books authored by Vegan MDs.

Vegan diets lessen the need for many drugs and you need an MD to help you adjust dosages.