Beer and Wine

I've had my ICD for a year due to ventricular tacchycardia. The night I was brought into the ER, the doc told my wife no caffeine or alcohol for me...ever....again....it's toxic.

Haven't had either but it would be nice to have a glass of wine on a holiday or birthday...I'm not talking every night or every week, but on a rare occasion.

Over the last year, the docs have said it would be OK to have a glass on a rare occasion but I am petrified, thinking my heart and ICD will go berserk.

Not asking for a medical opinion, just personal experience and I realize everyone's physiology is different.

I was at a party where the only thing I could drink was water or orange soda. After a liter and a half, I felt my heart racing. Who knew orange soda had caffeine in it. I sure didn't. :-)

6 Comments

Alcohol

by IAN MC - 2014-04-13 02:04:22

If you do a search on here you will find loads of posts on this subject . You are absolutely right that everyone's physiology is different when it comes to the effects of trigger factors such as caffeine and alcohol on heart rhythms.

You need to try them at varying levels of consumption and see what happens . As for personal experience :-

In my case , my heart doesn't like it much if I have more than 3 glasses of wine in an evening so I rarely go above that and I have no problems, But some people need to restrict themselves to one glass, or worse still. none at all !

I don't think that knowing other peoples' personal experiences will be of much help to you because we are all different !

Best of luck

Ian


Which is......................

by Tattoo Man - 2014-04-13 03:04:58


.......................I for one, am keeping right out of this topic..............

TM UK

Orange soda

by kmom - 2014-04-13 06:04:14

Most Orange sodas as far as I know don't contain caffeine however they do contain SUGAR unless they're diet. Is it possible that sugar could be an a-fib trigger??

orange soda

by Tracey_E - 2014-04-13 07:04:36

Yep, some brands contain caffeine! Was it Sunkist? They're sneaky like that. It used to be just the brown and yellow sodas had caffeine but they've started adding it to others. I'm super sensitive to it, have been burned more times than I can count. Between the caffeine, chemicals, and sugar, you were probably better off with a cocktail over the soda!

Here's a fairly comprehensive list
http://www.caffeineinformer.com/the-caffeine-database

to answer your question, some meds don't mix with alcohol in which case never drinking is prudent. If you don't have a conflict there, imo a glass or two once in a while won't kill you. Everything in life has risks, many foods aren't good for our hearts, an occasional glass of wine is not a big deal. If you try it and don't feel well, then you have your answer. Alcohol will not directly do anything to your icd but some people can react with racing or afib.

Choose your Dr with care !

by IAN MC - 2014-04-14 03:04:05

I agree with Patch ; always try to find a Dr who is on the same wavelength as yourself !!

I have a list of absolute " No - No's " when it comes to choosing a Dr. I would avoid like the plague any Dr who has the following qualities as I genuinely believe that these could affect his clinical advice :-

- is obese, never exercises and chain-smokes

- is teetotal

- is deeply religious and believes in the power of prayer. That would REALLY scare me !

- has any irrational fears himself ( I had a GP who was scared stiff of anaesthesia and he tried to talk me out of having an ablation for that reason )

- believes in alternative medicine

- talks to me as though I am a moron and genuinely believes that he is some sort of superior being

- is not married, and never will be, for a variety of reasons.

- secretly believes in euthanasia for anyone over the age of 70

Fortunately, I have a great GP who has passed all of of the above tests , ( but he IS putting on a little bit of weight ; I must talk to him about that and threaten to take my business elsewhere unless he does something about it ! )

Cheers

Ian

THANKS Everyone

by gshegedus - 2014-04-16 03:04:52

Great insight. Appreciate it.

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