By T. Jared Bunch, MD

One of the most common statements that I hear from patients is “I don’t want to take drugs, what are my alternatives?  Are there any ways to treat atrial fibrillation naturally?”  I do live in a state where there is a tremendous interest in natural therapies.  Numerous herbal and nonherbal supplement companies are based in Utah.  Also, there are many multi-level marketing companies that bring these therapies directly to your home.  In this environment, it is not uncommon for me to be asked these questions multiple times in a day.

Most of the time patients are nervous about asking questions about nontraditional approaches in medicine.  The nervous feelings often stem from fears of the physician not understanding or approving of alternative approaches or that these approaches may be in opposition to what the physician may want.  In my practice I want my patients to feel comfortable discussing any matter with me.  I want to learn about their use of herbal and nonherbal supplements.  If they have a new agent that has brought them benefit, I typically will research it to learn more about the substance and the potential health related benefits or risks.  In general the use of herbal and nonherbal supplements and alternative approaches to health care has increased dramatically, so it is important that patients and physicians discuss these therapies without any hesitation.

This background information gets me to my topic of this blog, what are the natural or alternative therapies available to treat or possibly prevent atrial fibrillation?

T. Jared Bunch, MD

Dr. T. Jared Bunch a native of Logan Utah graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine and received alpha omega alpha honors. He completed internal medicine residency and fellowships in cardiovascular diseases and electrophysiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. He received the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship Award for clinical care of patients and the Donald C. Balfour Award for meritorious research. He served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic from 2003-2007, before joining his current partners at Intermountain Heart Rhythm Specialists. He currently directs heart rhythm research at Intermountain Medical Center and is the medical director for heart rhythm services for the Intermountain Healthcare network.