What Are The Home Remedies For Long QT Syndrome?
Current therapies include the use of medicines such as beta-blockers, sodium-channel blockers, potassium, and the implantation of a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
The below mentioned home remedy options are still under study for this disease, so there are no proven home remedies that can improve long QT syndrome. However, it is important to have a healthy lifestyle and attend to a specialist.
Nowadays, there is scarce scientific data about the use of home remedies for prevention or treatment of long QT syndrome. The following options have proven its efficacy for treatment of abnormal heart rhythm and other related conditions. These should be used only under a healthcare professional supervision, and should not replace the existent proven therapies.
General Measures: Patients with long QT syndrome need to attend their doctor for medical treatment immediately for diseases that can originate low blood potassium levels, such as disorders that cause vomiting or diarrhea. Close relatives and friends should be informed about the warning signs so they could call emergency medical services in the case that the patient faints. Also, they ought to be trained to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if the patient goes into cardiac arrest. Patients with this condition need to attend regularly to a cardiologist.
Stress Reduction: Stress can step up blood pressure and also the risk of blood coagulation. That is why it is so important to decrease stress levels to lower the symptoms of long QT syndrome.
Diet: It is vital for all patients with this disease to consume a healthy diet. This means to include five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, foods rich in soluble fiber, calcium, soy products, and omega-3 fatty acids. Pregnant women or those who are planning to have children in the next years ought to avoid their intake of cold-water fish due to the high risk of mercury contamination. The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proclaimed that whole-grain barley and barley-containing products can feature a claim that diminishes the risk of coronary artery disease.
Genetic Testing: Patients with long QT syndrome need to attend to genetic counselors to talk about the risks of having children with this disease. People with a family history of long QT syndrome but who have not yet been diagnosed with the condition can seek help with these professionals in order to establish if they bear a defective gene that is related to this disease. On the other hand, if the patient with the genetic mutation that causes long QT syndrome can attend to genetic counseling before conceiving a child.
These experts can give different options and explain the possible risks of some tests such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), amniocentesis, and chorionic villus sampling (CVS).
Medications: Patients with long QT syndrome need to be careful about the intake of specific medications, for example, appetite suppressants, decongestants, and some antibiotics such as erythromycin, can originate risky heart rhythms. Drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines imply a serious risk for patients with long QT syndrome. These people need to avoid stimulants, such a medicine found in over-the-counter and nasal congestion drugs like pseudoephedrine or caffeine.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: This practice tackles a series of different methods and traditions of healing, among which are acupuncture, herbal medicines, cupping and also moxibustion. Traditional Chinese medicine herb mixtures are used to stabilize arrhythmias after viral myocarditis (inflammation of the heart). Nevertheless, studies about the efficacy of this therapy are still under study, so it is not highly recommended at this moment.
Chinese herbs can increase the effect of other herbs, foods, or drugs by interacting with them that is why it is important to consult your doctor before taking. It has been reported that many of these Chinese herbal products are contaminated with toxins or heavy metals or do not contain the listed ingredients. That is a valid reason for buying these herbal products from reliable providers. Try to avoid “ma huang”, it is the active ingredient in ephedra, and also ginseng if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
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