OK, I have been learning about Heart Disease (HD) for over a year now and I have some ideas I want to share.
HD is the #1 cause of death in both men and women. About 1 out of every 2 men and even more for women.
HD kills as many as 9/11 did every single day, 365 days every year.
OK, that's the bad news. The good news is that we can do something about it.
It's important to understand one of the ways in which this can happen. Here's what happened to me.
CAVEAT: I am not a doctor or accredited expert so this is all just what is true to me.
1. The arteries get inflamed by poor diet, lack of exercise, inflammatory thinking and unresolved emotions. (in no particular order)
2. The intelligence of the body tries to repair these arteries by taking access cholesterol and patching the damaged area.
3. If this goes on too long, the cholesterol in the arteries (plaque) closes part of the artery.
4. Something like vigorous exercise, overheating (sweat lodge), emotional trauma, etc. can cause some of the plaque to dislodge (hemorrhage) and enter the blood stream to be removed.
5. The body sees this opening as a wound and sends red blood cells to patch it up. The patch closes even more of the artery and voila! Heart Attack.
I almost had a heart attack on Sept. 20, 2013. Upon investigation, an angiogram showed that I had 55% blockage in my Left Anterior Descending Artery (LAD). Most don't know anything about this until 80% or more is blocked and they have a full blown Heart Attack and Die or need Heart Surgery immediately. I am one of the fortunate ones.
Genetics are not the cause of this issue but can contribute toward this by producing more cholesterol than ideal. This is my condition and is called Hypercholesterolemia caused by an abnormally high Lipoprotein Little A (LPa).
Cholesterol is not the cause but more of a symptom so when Americans reduced the amount of natural fats in our diet and replaced them with more grains, sugars, grain-fed animal products and processed foods (inflammatory foods), HD went up.
It's important to know that HD does not come from a broken heart. Broken hearts do not contribute to HD but a closed heart does. As long as the heart is allowed to feel and stay open, the heartbreaks will not cause any damage. Only by closing the heart around an emotion will there be heart damage.
In Conclusion: my regime includes:
Dramatically reducing grains, sugars and other inflammatory foods from my diet;
Adding more exercise to my day;
Meditating and relaxing more each day;
Allowing myself to play often;
Letting myself feel all emotions while holding on to none of them;
Taking cholesterol lowering supplements like Niacin, Fish Oil, Flax Seed, Chia seeds & Coconut Oil.
Taking natural blood thinner White Willow Bark.
Temporarily taking a low dose statin while I heal the inflammation as to not add insult to injury.
Taking 360mg of CoQ10 to compensate for it's depletion by the statin.
Seeing a lipidologist every 3 months to check my lipids, LP(a), kidney and liver function.
And eventually, getting another CT Scan to see how much more open my artery is.
Since I started this regime, I feel at least 100% better; I am able to do more vigorous activities without chest pain or shortness of breath; my blood lipids are balanced and my blood pressure is ideal. (I also carry nitro pills with me when I am doing activities that might trigger a hemorrhage to appease my overprotective bride)
It's important to know that cholesterol, red blood cells and LP(a) do not cause HD, they are merely reacting to an unnatural condition (excessive inflammation) the only way they know how.
Warning: when I do vigorous exercise or get stressed, some of the remaining plaque will sometimes dislodge. The minute I feel this I take a baby aspirin to keep the blood thin so it flows without those "good intentioned red blood cells" coming to patch it up. This allows the body to remove the plaque without an event.
