Last winter my husband injured his thumb from doing a lot of snow shoveling.  We had about eight feet of snow where we live in accumulation over the winter and he had to shovel the roof off four times.   Then we had to shovel out our driveway seven times.   Because our plow broke and it took a month to get the part.   It was grueling, hard work and long and very cold.   He also hurt his back doing this and had a lot of pain.   So he began taking over the counter Advil nighttime capsules to help him sleep and ease the pain. 

The bottles of OTC do warn of possible side effects such as liver, kidney and heart problems.   He did not think it would bother him as he has taken such before with no problems but he was much younger then.  He is sixty now and slowing down. 

About February he started feeling a little short of breath and having slight chest pains (of course he did not tell me until May as he did not want to worry me)    Please do not put off telling your family if your having trouble with health and you think you maybe having heart problems.   Men have a tendency to do this more than women.   They don't want to worry their spouse or family.   But that is the worst thing you can do.  

My husband did not tell me and it could have killed him long before and I would not even have understood why.   The medication he was taking led to his having atrial flutter ;   Atrial flutter is an abnormality of the heart rhythm, resulting in a rapid
and sometimes irregular heartbeat. Such abnormalities, whether in the rate or
regularity of the heartbeat, are known as arrhythmias.   

The Cardiologist said that the over the counter medication my husband was taking may have contributed to the flutter.   My husband had stopped taking the pain medication but the damage had already occured to his heart.    

We will know more after August 5th what course of action if any to take for this situation

Atrial flutter can lead to stroke or fatal heart attack unexpectedly.   The normal treatment for it is to have the patient take a blood thinner such as Warifin or Coumadin.   However my husband flat told the doctor he was not taking either as they literally are "Rat Poison"   My husband is a science teacher so is savvy to all this.   The Cardiologist instead put him on a full dose of adult aspirin daily.  

We also learned more natural things that are much safer and healthier than aspirin to take.  One is Cardio Chelate.  Chelate helps remove metals and chemicals from the body, blood stream and veins and rids the body of them.  It along with Omega 3 Fish Oil,  Vitamin E and Vitamin B6 all help the heart and blood pressure.  

Normally it is believed that atrial flutter is an indication of high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and high triglycerides and other warning signs indicating blood clots and that can lead to stroke, heart attack and death.   However blood tests did not show my husband had any of these problems he was well within normal range of all of them and not even close to being high range. 

 This puzzled the doctors because the immedeate supposition is you have clogged heart arteries that need to be thinned with blood thinners.  But because his blood tests showed normal range they are not sure why the flutter.   Except possibly due to the OTC meds this past winter he had been taking.   Thus they wanted him to take aspirin and or Coumadin.  

After talking to other people who used the natural things and to a Naturopathic doctor as well.  My husband began taking the Cardio Chelate, he had already been taking the Vitamin E oil and Omega 3 Fish oil only he was advised to take 4000 mg of the fish oil capsules daily not one.   And to take a vitamin B6 tablet twice a day.   Plus two capsules of Cardio Chelate twice daily at least two hours before or after meals.  

 It has now been a month since his initial diagnosis of atrial flutter,  With another 2 weeks before his Echocardiogram to go.    However since my husband has been taking the Omega 3 Fish Oil, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E and the Cardio Chelate he is breathing better, the heavy feeling in his chest has gone away, he has more energy and feels normal again.   

He was also anointed and had hands laid upon him at the Healing Rooms of Prayer in Spokane, Washington.   God is an awesome God and made the human body wonderful and if allowed with proper diet, and natural elements the body will heal itself.  

Medical doctors do NOT want people to know about Cardio Chelate nor do they tell you to take 4000 mg of Omega Fish oil they suggest you use it and use 1000 mg or less.   Knowing you need more and knowing it is a natural blood thinner.  

My husband and I have been eating healthy for the past 5 years, we don't eat a lot of carbs or fats and we use olive and coconut oils for baking, cooking etc.   We eat healthy, raw, fresh or steamed veggies,  We eat lots of chicken, fish, and lamb, venison, turkey etc.   We don't use much salt.    We use garlic and oatmeal and parsley all things natural to keep the blood pressure low.     So the diet is healthy and was not contributing to his heart problems.    We also exercise walking and dancing, and doing water swim aerobics.   All things the cardiologist said were good for us to be doing.     We drink 2-4 quarts of water daily, we are very light coffee drinkers only a cup about twice a week.   We rarely drink alcoholic beverages and don't drink soda.  Neither of us have diabetes.   

While we don't know if my husband still has atrial flutter we believe it has straightened out with using healthier methods because he is feeling 100% again and has energy, feeling good and able to do more.  He is pacing himself and he is resting and not over doing.   We are being cautious.   But no matter what they find on August 5th we have decided against any surgery because we feel he will not need it and the risks are very great for his death for the surgeries they suggested he might need.  

He did have open heart surgery August 26, 1992 for two large congenital holes in his heart which is hereditary from his dad and his uncles who all had it and all died from it.   They were repaired and he has led a pretty normal life until recently with his heart.   So we believe the flutter resulted due to the OTC meds and with natural methods is healing his heart.   Cleaning the poisons, chemicals and metals from his body.   We are 99% sure he has no blockage because his blood tests came back normal and because of our dietary health and exercise. 

The Cardiologist said there were risks with the two possible methods for medically correcting the flutter one was doing an atrial burn which would cauterize the flutter and it would not ever return.  It would mean going up with a heart catheter through his leg vein and it could result in stopping his heart and death.   This did happen on my husband surgery in 1992 and they did get him back but they also told him if anyone ever suggested he do another heart cath not to do it.    As it would probably kill him.   The other is to do a debfibrillation shock method which could put his beat back to normal ( if it is not already there)  and the risk is less but still a risk that he could die and they might not get him back.   

The cardiologist also stated often these flutters do tend to stop of their own accord and get back into a regular rhythm for years to come and may or may not get out of rhythm again. 

 I will let you know after August 5th what the echocardiogram finds.  I suspect they won't find much.     If they do we will continue as we have been doing and my husband has opted to not have surgery if they think he needs it.   Because several others we talked to opted out and are doing much better, living normal healthier lives using the Omega 3 Fish oils, Vitamins E and B6,  taking Cardio Chelate and eating healthy and exercising.