What's the Root Cause? by Dr Vikki Petersen
"What's the Root Cause?" is brought to you by Root Cause Medical Clinic, featuring Dr. Vikki Petersen—renowned doctor, functional medicine expert, author of "Hiatal Hernia Syndrome" and host of a highly popular YouTube channel.
Dr. Vikki Petersen and her team of clinicians provide cutting-edge solutions in gut health, hiatal hernia syndrome, nutrition, food, hormones, genetics, lifestyle, and more.
You don’t have to accept feeling unwell or struggling with chronic health issues. Your body has the power to heal, and with the right approach, reversing many health conditions is possible. We're here to help you do just that.
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What's the Root Cause? by Dr Vikki Petersen
Afib Caused by Imbalanced Testosterone!
I spoke earlier about the Afib link to Hiatal Hernia your Cardiologist may not know about.
In this video I discuss another link to Afib for men, who are more affected with this ailment than women.
Testosterone converts to DHT, the most potent type of testosterone. About 10% converts and this happens in the prostate and liver.
Both elevated and very insufficient levels of DHT have been linked to Afib. So there is a nice normal range we are shooting for in your blood work.
The mechanism of how elevated and very insufficient DHT can cause Afib is not completely understood, but what we understand so far is that it is linked to inflammation, vasoreactivity, or blood vessel elasticity, affecting platelet levels which affect clotting, as well as electrical signalling. A fib is an electrical issue with the heart, so the latter makes sense, but A fib is also seen with heart disease.
High DHT is seen with aging, someone with prostate hypertrophy, prostate cancer, or a person taking anabolic steroids. Lifestyle factors leading to high DHT include smoking, alcohol consumption, poor diet and stress.
Low DHT is also associated with age, plus a person taking statins or opioids. Additionally obesity, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and drugs for the prostate can all cause low DHT.
The good news is that much can be done to normalize DHT and thus avoid treatments like ablation for Afib which won't be effective long-term without addressing the true root cause.
If you're suffering with Afib consider contacting us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400. We're here to help!