Questions Arrhythmias, Bowel Function, BP Medication

I am 44, 5′-10″, 240 pounds. My ideal weight is about 185. I smoke a pipe, but do not inhale. I am a recovering alcoholic, and have not drank alcohol in 4 months.

Medical Condition
I am about 50 – 60 pounds overweight, with mild depression, anxiety, mild to moderate hypertension, controlled by medication. I also have heart palpitations, which the Dr. characterizes as PVCs. They occur once or twice a day, and can last anywhere from half a second to 2 or 3 seconds, during which I sometimes feel like I’m going to pass out, and have to catch my breath. They are very distressing, especially since my younger sister died last year from heart failure. I have worn a holter monitor for 24 hrs, and an event monitor for a week. They found no serious arrhythmias.  I have more tests pending.

I have been juicing sporadically for quite some time, with my Breville compact juicer. I have been researching fasting on your site and others for about a week now, and I have decided to do my first juice fast, in the hope of normalizing my blood pressure, jumpstarting my weightloss, healing my heart palpitations, and boosting my energy, as a catalyst for a more healthy and active lifestyle.

My plan is to do a pre-fast next week, eating only raw fruits and veggies and juice, and discontinue all meat, caffeine, refined sugars, starches, and nicotine.  I want to begin my juice fast on February 1st, and fast for the entire month of February. The longest I’ve ever fasted is 48 hours.
However, I have some concerns:

1) I have read in a few places that juice fasting can cause potentially deadly arrhythmia’s, particularly in people with a history of arrhythmias.  Then, again, I’ve read stories of people being cured of arrhythmias by fasting. I’m wondering if it’s safe for me to do a juice fast, with my history of palpitations.  I would discuss it with my doctor, but I’m afraid he would reject fasting automatically, as most western practitioners would.

2) I’m concerned about bowel function with fasting. One of the blessings I’ve enjoyed throughout my life is regular bowels. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Conversely, my dad’s father died of impacted bowels. I’ve gotten some conflicting information in this regard.  I know that normal bowel movements typically stop during a juice fast.  But should bowel function be allowed to stop completely, in order to conserve energy for healing? Or should one try to keep the bowels moving throughout the fast to facilitate removal of toxins?  If the bowel function stops completely during the fast, could it lead to future problems with constipation after I break the fast? There is a horror story on You-Tube from a girl who got impacted bowels after a 20 day juice fast, and had to have half a dozen in-hospital irrigations to clear her out. She suffered horribly.  I don’t want that.  Then again, she was drinking only apple juice, and it doesn’t say whether it was fresh raw juice or commercial bottled juice.

3) Should I continue taking my BP meds during my fast?

Hi

1. We have one documented case study of fasting curing  arrhythmias  /juice-fasting/fasting-stories-and-testimonies/fasting-cured-hypertension-diabetes-cholesterol-arrhythmias-and-arthritis  Your condition is not diagnosed or is life threatening and juice fasting is easy so I would juice fast without modification.

You can add 4 tablespoon of essential oils with 12000 IU of vitamin E to the juices.  Drink about 3 liter a day. If you want to reduce the detox rate add slices of avocado or 2 bananas per day.  It can be blended into a smoothie.

2. Fasting is the best remedy for healing colon disorders.  You can use and enema to remove all feces.  There is a big section on this site on the colon.

3. Yes take your Blood Pressure medications until you are stable below 130. After one day under 130  you can cease all blood pressure medication.  Two days if you want to be cautious.