Hopefully this will be my first and last attack for the rest of my long life.
My family encouraged me to "take care of myself" almost two years ago when my wife was diagnosed with cancer and they knew I would be her primary caregiver. I decided to keep a regular Dr appointment and over a few months was diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD) even though I have maintained a relatively active lifestyle and generally ate a well-balanced diet according to the governmental recommendations. My Dr previously described me in his notes that I was a former US Marine in good physical shape.
However, my blood pressure was mildly elevated and he was concerned about my LDL cholesterol so wanted me on meds for those. I was 70 years old and up to that point was not on any medications. We a Calcification Scan and when the score came back, I agreed to taking the medications as prescribed for three months when we would redo the lipid panels.
Three months later he walked into the exam room and said, "Man, Wayne, you sure did turn those numbers around, what did you do?"
I read to him a list of the lifestyle changes I had made, and he told me that I could stop the medications. I suggested to him that we did not know the root cause of the CVD and asked for a CIMT because I had done a deep dive research and found out that it is not the LDL that kills but rather inappropriate chronic inflammation that can be caused by several conditions like autoimmune disorders, but the single largest cause is insulin resistance (IR). I was, in his words, "in shape" and did not fit the profile for being pre-diabetic. I was carrying a few pounds around the middle which may not have been enough for him to suggest testing (A1C, OGTT, or an Insulin Survey) but it was a red flag to those Drs who are specializing in preventative medicine.
I've said all that to say to every one of you. You owe it to yourself and those you love to learn about the risks and how to manage them because heart attacks are the number one cause of death and strokes are the number one cause of permanent disability. The trouble is the vast number of primary physicians and even cardiologists who do not test for the root causes.
I am NOT a doctor and do not offer medical advice. I do recommend that you take a little time to educate yourself. You can start by watching a couple of YouTube videos. I recommend the following because of their science-based approach to the subject.
1) Dr. Ford Brewer an ER Doc who after 20 years grew frustrated by the number of people presenting in the ER with cardio events that should have been preventable. He returned John Hopkins to study Preventative Medicine and ended up running the program. He is an epidemiologist and speaks to the science.
2) Dr. Pradip Jamnadas is a cardiologist and the founder and medical director of Cardiovascular Interventions and has practiced in Central Florida for over 31 years.
And excellent book, "Beat the Heart Attack Gene" was written in 2014 by Dr. Bradley Bale and Amy Doneen which is a wealth of easy-to-read information on how this disease gets missed until people have suffered events and how to manage the disease with lifestyle changes, possibly avoiding surgical procedures.
Here is one simple fact. We have been lied to for decades by big pharma, the food industry and our government, at the least, has been complicit in the crime. Heart healthy labels on some products should be changed to skull and crossbones.
May your good health be your best gift to yourself and your families!
