Hi,

You're wise to be concerned about your niece and her Long QT syndrome. It's a type of heart arrhythmia that can be very dangerous. There are many causes, including medications, etc.

Low electrolytes, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium are possible causes.

Blood tests are pretty accurate, but the calcium measures are sometimes not so.

I've had this happen in my family.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/long-qt-syndrome#summary

Hi Priya,

One thing your niece can do is have her doctor check her vitamin D level and then have her supplement to bring it well into the reference range which is 30 ~ 100 ng/ml. Also check for hypocalcemia.

A low vitamin D level can be a contributing factor to hypocalcemia which can cause prolonged QT interval. Adding calcium with the vitamin D can correct the hypocalcemia if found and possibly the the prolonged QT interval.

Beta blockers are often used to treat this condition and while some supplements have shown the ability to act as beta blockers, the effects are weak compared to prescription beta blockers in which case it might require multiple supplements to get a stronger beta blocker effect and this would be hard to know what equivalent dose you are getting from supplements compared to a prescription beta blocker. This makes the prescription route the most likely choice. Beta blockers come with many potential side effects which can have a negative impact on quality of life which is a major downside to them.

Surprisingly, one of the known side effects of beta blockers is arrythmias, which is also seen in LQTS.

In animals, melatonin has shown the ability to reduce QT prolongation.

The serious nature of LQTS means that any natural remedy your niece may consider has to be approved and supervised by here doctor.

Previously it was thought that potassium may have a beneficial effect for LQTS in terms of decreasing the QT prolongation, but this 2021 study suggests it doesn't:

https://openheart.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001670

Here is a relevant study quote :

' In patients with LQTS, high dose+ treatment increased plasma potassium by 0.4 mmol/L without cases of hyperkalaemia. However, the potassium increase did not shorten the QT interval and several patients had side effects. Considering the QT interval as a proxy for arrhythmic risk, our data do not support that potassium-elevating treatment has a role as antiarrhythmic prophylaxis in patients with LQTS with normal-range potassium levels. '

Art

The only thing I've ever - or WILL ever - take for any heart related discomfort is a teaspoon of cayenne a shot of water. But if I'd never done it, I'd start with 1/4 teaspoon and work my way up to it. Sometimes I do it simply because I see the jar witting there, ROFL! I probably take a shot of cayenne...2 or 3 times per month.

The only issues I've ever had was fluid in the heart sac and palpitations when I suffered a critical spell of dehydration, many years ago. Well, dehydration with malnutrition.

If it was me, I'd assume it was brought on by not drinking enough plain water and start the rehydration timers. Every waking hour, I'd drink 1/2 to one whole cup of plain water with a tiny pinch of sea salt under my tongue but I'd also, definitely, throw back a shot of cayenne every morning until I forgot about it.

All of my old cell phones have great little timers. Set it for an hour and when it goes off, just hit start again. Plus, I have an awesome linux timer on my computer that can be set to restart, automatically.

I often let myself get dehydrated. I gotta stop that. ROFL!

Other possible causes include;

• Caffeine (small amounts are enough to affect the rhythm of the heart)
• MSG also known as 'flavour enhancer' in food ingredient lists
• Magnesium deficiency (caffeine depletes magnesium from your body)
• Heavy metal toxicity (especially mercury which is present in 'silver' dental fillings)