Dr. Lam Author of
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Drug-Based Treatment of LAF
Successful management of AF from the traditional medical approach
involves controlling the risk factors, slowing the rapid heart rate, preventing
strokes and other blood clot embolization, and converting the irregular
rhythm back to normal rhythms whenever possible. Accordingly, stimulant drugs and alcohol should be eliminated.
Abnormal blood pressure, thyroid, and oxygen levels are therefore corrected.
Underlying heart failure and other diseases of the heart and lungs should
be treated accordingly. Some of the medicines to slow the rapid beating of the
ventricles include digitalis (Digoxin), beta
blockers, propranolol (Inderal), atenolol (Tenormin), metoprolol (Lopressor),
esmolol (Brevibloc), calcium blockers verapamil (Calan), and diltiazem (Cardizem)
Patients with AF have an increased risk for a blood clot traveling to the
brain, resulting in death of brain tissues (embolic stroke). Blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin) are commonly used
to reduce this risk.
Cardioversion (conversion
of the heart rhythm back to normal) is needed for those with persistent
AF. It can be performed with either electrical shock to the chest, or with
medications.
Ablation procedures are used as a last resort
in cases of refractory AF. Arrhythmia is terminated by introducing catheters
into the heart and directing energy at specific areas of heart tissue found
to be the source of the irregular rhythms. An electrophysiology study is
performed to discover the location and the characteristics of the arrhythmia.
Once the specific location is mapped, then special catheters are precisely
placed and radio frequency energy is passed down the catheter to the heart
tissue. The abnormal tissue is destroyed and is unable to initiate or to
conduct any type of electrical impulse.
Traditional Medical Approach
- Treatment of Choice?
Modern medicine can be spectacularly successful and woefully inadequate.
It alternatively inspires praise and condemnation. In the case of LAF, it
is well known that the current western protocol of drugs and ablation
is only a temporary band-aid at best. At worst, it masks the underlying
symptom and may actually promote rapid deterioration of the heart's sensitivity
to the already imbalanced autonomic nervous system.
There is no doubt that advance
stages of LAF requires drugs -based intervention to ensure stable hemodynamic
flow and prevent stroke formation. Unfortunately, such a drug-based program
is often started early on in the course of the disease as part of a standard
medical treatment protocol. This may be over treatment and akin to killing
a fly with a sledgehammer, especially in cases of the young and otherwise healthy patient without
an adequate trial on lifestyle adjustment or other alternative treatments
to rid the illness. The medical establishment
dictates that such "protocol" is followed as a matter of routine. Most doctors are not taught alternative treatments
in medical schools. In a litigious society,
the medical-legal implications of trying alternative non-standard modalities
can be wrongly interpreted as rendering substandard medical care.
The traditional approach of using drugs to control the heart rate, followed
by medical cardioversion, electrical cardioversion, and ablation are only
symptomatic treatments of LAF. Lucky are those that are "cured" by this
approach. It is the best western medicine has to offer. There is an
apparent need for a protocol that is more than a mechanical and technical
band-aid approach to healing.
 How the Chinese Cure LAF
The Chinese have recognized LAF thousands of years back. In Traditional
Chinese Medicine, the entire sum effect of the ANS system can be incorporated
and described in one word - Qi (or "Chi" - pronounced "chee"). Qi is
the word for "life energy". It is the animating power that flows through
all living things. The living is are filled with it. A dead person has no
more Qi - the warmth, the life energy is gone. A healthy person has more
than one who is ill. Being healthy implies that the Qi in our bodies is
clear, rather than polluted and turbid, and flowing smoothly, like a stream,
not blocked or stagnant. In simplistic western terms - a
balanced Qi means a balanced ANS system, the way it is suppose to be. An
imbalanced Qi encompasses an imbalanced ANS system and other illnesses.
The Chinese believes
that the body is a complex unit that is an integral part of the universal
, and Qi is the ultimate indicator of health. The
lack of or imbalanced Qi is the root of all diseases in the body. You can
never have too much Qi, but deficiency in Qi can be harmful. Everyone is
bestowed with a healthy and optimum amount of Qi at birth. This is slowly
and gradually depleted through the years if not replenished. Replenishment
comes from doing Qi exercises and taking herbal soups. Rebuilding
There is no short cut and the process cannot be hurried.
Even though having been
around for 5000 years, the concept of Qi is non-existence in the western
scientific model of cause and effect. Western doctors are trained to think
of diseases in terms of cause and effect. In the absence of a well-documented
cause, there is a tendency to treat the effect (symptoms) as a disease state.
This works well for acute illness but its effectiveness is severely deficient
when it comes to chronic disease where the cause is unknown. Treating chronic
disease, including hypertension, arthrosclerosis, and AF with the western
approach in a long run may cause more harm than good due to side effects
from drugs and the possible masking of the disease at its root.
While neither approach
is perfect, it can be said that the western approach is highly successful
in dealing with acute illness, while the Chinese approach can be an important
adjunct or even replace the traditional western treatment of chronic diseases
such as LAF. The open-minded physician and patient
alike will find wisdom in this only concept only after exhaustive study
into the limitations of western medicine and its approaches.
From the traditional Chinese medicine perspective,
the cure of LAF is straightforward - re-establish internal harmony, balance
of the right amount of Qi, and the disease will resolve itself. It is a
simple yet important concept to grasp and understand.
Imbalanced Qi can be reinstated to perfect harmony through:
a. Avoidance of factors that can disturb the balance of Qi. This
is equivalent to lifestyle and dietary control in modern day medicine such
as avoidance of emotional stress and coffee, etc.
b. Use of mental relaxation techniques such as Qigong, Taichi, or variations
of these to balance the Qi. This
is equivalent to the use of biofeedback, meditation, mental imagery, etc. in modern day medicine.
 c.
Use of Chinese herbal medicine to fortify the body against such Qi imbalance.
This is equivalent to the use
of nutritional supplements in modern day medicine and the use of herbs in
Chinese medicine.
Since the 1970s, the western physician has slowly but surely come to recognize
the importance of the above three-prong approach the Chinese have used for
thousands of years to cure Qi imbalance (one symptom of which is what western
doctors would call LAF). Western doctors now embraced dietary modifications
and mental relaxation as standard recommendation for treatment of LAF. Since
the 1990s, acceptance of nutritional supplementation as a therapeutic modality
has gained ground, facilitated by the acceptance of concepts such as free
radicals, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial disease from research into
mainstream medicine.
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