Afib And Stroke Risk Detection
By: Nutritionist S. Keith Klein IV CN CCN
Disease Prevention Series

As many of you know, I have been a big advocate for preventative medicine and have posted about it throughout my Facebook posts. I slipped back into Afib and didn’t even know it. Usually, when I go into Afib, I feel it in my chest with some lightheadedness. But this time, I had no idea it had come back. I felt run down, tired, had low endurance even to garden, and felt exhausted. One day Kim said, I wonder if you’re in Afib again, here, put on my Apple Watch and run an EKG. I slipped it on, pressed the button, and after 30 seconds, had a full EKG to email to my cardiologist. Sure enough, I was in Afib again.

I had a cardio-version almost four years ago to stop the Afib, which worked…until it didn’t. It lasted two and a half years, which was a reasonable length of time. So I went in again, got another one, and it worked for about 6-7 months. So after meeting with my doctors, we settled on an Ablation which I had done this past Monday. Unfortunately, it didn’t take right away, and in many cases, it might take six months before it finally works. So in the meantime, we started on some heart rhythm medications for seven days, at which point I’ll go in for another Cardio-version to see if the medicine, coupled with the procedure, will put my heart back into rhythm. If it doesn’t, we’ll just wait to see if the Ablation kicks in.

The fact is that millions of Americans have Afib, which is a leading cause of stroke throughout the world. The other point is that most have yet to learn they have Afib. The Apple Watch is a lifesaver, and they did a great job making it easy to find out if you’re in Afib. I could slip that baby on, push a button, and see a warning come up that I am in Afib and can send the EKG to my cardiologist’s email is pretty amazing if you ask me. Furthermore, many health features on that watch can be used to prevent disease. And it’s not just the Apple Watch that offers an EKG in under a minute; a ton of at-home gadgets can do that as well. If you suffer from as strong of a heart disease family history as I do, I suggest buying an Apple Watch for yourself or anyone in your life that is at a high risk.

We live in such a fantastic time in medical history when we can access many preventative tools at amazingly affordable prices. Sadly, far too many people either don’t care or think death is something that happens to everyone else.

Copyright 2023 S. Keith Klein IV CN CCN