Monthly Archives: August 2024

My Old And Frail Grandpa Had Open Heart Surgery And Was Home In Two Days!

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It does sound like a StarTrek movie but it is definitely not!! Many elderly patients can rapidly return to their valuable lives and families after a minimal invasivecardiac operation. There is a widespread belief among well-meaning sons or daughters and sometimes even their own doctors that patients in advanced age with a severe heart ailment are too old and frail to withstand open heart surgery.The reverse is actually true: they are too old and frail to withstand their heart disease without the help of a surgeon! Our statistics are showing this important truth. The most common problems that can be corrected to save these patients’ lives are heart valve malfunctions, aneurysms and coronary artery disease. Elderly patients can live longer AND better if they are offered a minimally invasive cardiac surgical solution for their heart problem. If you or someone you care for are caught in this predicament, you can learn what to ask for and what to look for.
1.How old is too old? Age is truly a relative concept! I have seen innumerable patients in their 80’s and 90’s who had beautifully lucid minds and productive life styles and were nevertheless denied lifesaving surgery just because of their age. These patients are often physically younger than their real age and do absolutely fantastic with their heart surger procedures. In my experience, the fact that they are looking forward to a better life is by itself a strong predictor of surgical success.

2.Can your level of energy be restored by an operation? Heart disease and symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath and weakness tend to deteriorate elderly patients by gradually taking away their life style. This is the time to have a “heart to heart” with a cardiac surgeon who can offer an effective surgical therapy to restore energy levels and a better life style.

3.Can minimally invasive heart surgery be performed in your case? Most elderly heart patients can now be helped with minimally invasive techniques and will be walking the hospital halls in less than 24 hours after their operation. Most patients can return to their lives and families in two to three days. You owe it to yourself: find out if the surgeon specializes in minimally invasive techniques and don’t be shy about asking how many of his patients can enjoy a minimally invasive approach.If necessary ask for a second opinion. An expert minimally invasive surgeon uses these techniques in the majoritymost of his patients.

I’ll conclude with a line from my 84 year old father-in-law, a recently retired internist: “Many elderly patients are young minds trapped in an old body”. Well…it’s your body, it’s your heart, it’s your life!! Help yourself to what modern medicine can offer.

Learn Transcendental Meditation And Lower High Blood Pressure

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A new scientific research study conducted at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine provides further evidence that people with high blood pressure can find relief through meditationbut the study also found that not all forms of meditation are equally effective. The study compared findings from research on several well-known types of meditation and relaxation practices, and found that the only mind/body practice that produces significant changes in blood pressure is the Transcendental Meditation technique.

According to a definitive new meta-analysis of 107 previous studies on stress reduction programs and high blood pressure, published in the American Journal of Hypertension (Vol. 21, 3: 310-316), the Transcendental Meditation technique was found to produce a statistically significant reduction in high blood pressurean effect not found with other forms of relaxation, meditation, biofeedback or stress management.

Significant Reductions in Blood Pressure
The new meta-analysis reviewed randomized, controlled trials published in peer-reviewed scientific journals over the past decades concerning stress reduction and relaxation methods used by participants with high blood pressure. Blood pressure changes through the Transcendental Meditation technique included average reductions of 5.0 points of systolic and 2.8 points of diastolic blood pressure, changes which were statistically significant, according to the review. These changes associated with Transcendental Meditation practice were consistent with other controlled studies showing reductions in cardiovascular risk factors, improved markers of heart disease, and reduced mortality rates among participants in the Transcendental Meditation program.

Transcendental Meditation equivalent to adding a second hypertensive agent
“The magnitude of the changes in blood pressure with the Transcendental Meditation technique are at least as great as the changes found with major changes in diet or exercise that doctors often recommend,” said Dr. James Anderson, principal author of the study. “Yet the Transcendental Meditation technique does not require changes in lifestyle. Thus many patients with mild hypertension or prehypertension may be able to avoid the need to take blood pressure medicationsall of which have adverse side effects. Individuals with more severe forms of hypertension may be able to reduce the number or dosages of their BP medications under the guidance of their doctor.

Dr. Anderson stated further: Adding Transcendental Meditation is about equivalent to adding a second hypertensive agent to one’s current regiment, only safer and less troublesome.

Reduced Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke
Anderson added that long-term changes in blood pressure of this magnitude are associated with at least a 15 percent reduction in rates of heart attack and stroke. “This is important to everyone because cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. and worldwide,” Anderson said. The study’s biostatistician, Maxwell Rainforth, assistant professor of Physiology and Health Statistics at Maharishi University of Management, said the meta-analysis used state-of-the-art statistical methods to review 107 published studies in the field of stress reduction, relaxation and blood pressure. “The twenty-three separate studies included in the final analysis met well-known criteria for high scientific quality. That is, these studies used repeated blood pressure measurements and participants were randomized to either a stress reduction technique or placebo-type control for at least eight weeks. The data we used are all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals,” Rainforth said.

Side Benefits of TM vs. side effects of drugs
According to Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention and co-author, this rigorously conducted meta-analysis indicates that the Transcendental Meditation technique is distinctively effective compared to other scientifically studied techniques in lowering high blood pressure. “For those 100 million Americans with elevated blood pressure, here is a scientifically documented, yet simple and easy way to lower blood pressure without drugs and harmful side effects. In addition, related studies show an integrated set of positive ‘side benefits,’ such as reduced stress, reduced heart disease levels and longer lifespan with this technique to restore balance in the cardiovascular system, mind and body,” Schneider said.

Overturns a previous study on meditation
The new meta-analysis was co-authored by researchers at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, in Louisville, and at the NIH-funded Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa.

According to Dr. Anderson, the findings of this new study rebut a July 2007 report sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the NIH-National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which concluded that most research on meditation is low quality and found little evidence that any specific stress reduction effectively lowers blood pressure.

The new meta-analysis identified all high quality meditation studies published through 2006 and rigorously analyzed their results, which the previous government report failed to do. Anderson said the new meta-analysis includes only high quality studies on all available stress reduction interventions. The studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique were conducted at five independent universities and medical institutions, and the majority of them were funded by competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Simple Plans To Prevent Heart Disease

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So, you’ve decided you want to start taking care of your heart. Maybe you had a recent cardiac event. Maybe someone close to you did. Or maybe you just decided to start taking care of yourself and want to start with your heart!

Whatever the reason, congratulations! Heart disease is the major killer in the western world and even small steps can help you avoid it.

So, here is a simple list of 26 things to do. I recommend you start at the top and then go down the list when you feel the top recommendations are part of your lifestyle.

Alternatively, you may want to start all of them at the same time, but that will be much harder. Either way, good luck.

1)Quit smoking.You will not only save money but by quiting you could possibly extending your life span.

2)Ride a bicycle

3)Moderate alcohol intake to two glasses of red wine per day, no other alcoholic beverage should be allowed

4)Eat less meat and other sources of saturated fat

5)Exercise (walk 30 minutes every day at the beginning and try to increase to 60 minutes)

6)Lose weight if you are overweight

7)Control your blood pressure and check it regularly

8)Become more active (take the stairs, play games, walk to work,walk to post office etc)

9)Avoid trans fats found in cookies, fried foods and canned foods

10)Eat more fruit and other fiber rich food

11)Eat less sugar and control your blood sugar

12)Add nuts and seeds to your diet

13)Relax – look for sources of stress in your life and avoid them or learn to deal with them

14)Learn about how your heart works and heart conditions (it actually helps!)

15)Don’t drink more than two cups of coffee per day

16)Eat whole grains instead of processed grains

17)Drink plenty of water

18)Become vegetarian, or abolish meat completely though keeping fish

19)Join an alternative healing group (in addition to the regular walking sessions),like yoga,reiki,or tai-chi.

20)Control your portions, never eat just for eating

21)Make annual checkups with your doctor

22)If you can afford the membership fee,join the gym

23)If you eat meat,eat the lean one with no fat

24)Believe that by doing the right thing,you will get the right result

25)Check the heart disease and it’s prevention related website.

26)Make a check list of this 26 steps,you don’t have to do it all at once,but by simply following some of the major steps,or by only applying the top ten to your life style,you are already preventing your self from heart disease.

Dhea Can Prevent Heart Disease

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If you’re 50 years old and want to avoid having a heart attack, lower your risk factors. A risk factor is anything that increases your risk of heart attack. The common ones are high cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and inactivity. I always emphasize the importance of diet and exercise, and the reason for this is simple: It reduces your risk of having a heart attack.
Now, let’s discuss another risk factorlow levels of the hormone DHEA.
DHEA is used by your body to produce all other hormones, including testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. For reasons we don’t yet know, our production of DHEA declines as we get older, and as it drops, a host of diseases seem to come out of the woodwork, heart disease being one of them.
Low DHEA Levels Can Be a Predictor for Heart Disease
A retrospective study on heart patients found that a reduced blood level of DHEA is a specific and independent marker of heart disease. The DHEA levels of 49 male survivors of heart attacks were compared with those of 49 controls. The patients who had the heart attacks had significantly reduced DHEA levels. They remained low even when they were controlled for cholesterol, blood pressure and other risk factors.
Conventional doctors give patients drugs to lower blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and even to elevate a low HDL level. All of these drugs have major side effects, and it is not even proven that they reduce the risk of heart disease.
Whereas it has not been proven that elevating the DHEA level in the blood with supplemental hormone will prevent a heart attack, it is far safer and more reasonable than all the cholesterol-lowering drugs guzzled every day. Even though any physician can write a prescription for DHEA and any pharmacist can “compound” (put the hormone in a capsule) and dispense it to a patient, the only physicians who are doing this are the unconventional ones.
Why is there resistance to giving a perfectly safe, naturally occurring hormone that might ward off a heart attack? I cannot answer that, except to say that breakthroughs are simply ignored unless they happen to be a patented prescription drug.
Look for the Real Thing
There are several products on the market that are promoted as containing DHEA, but they don’t contain enough to have a measurable effect on your blood level. Additionally, many who promote the use of plant products often state that true DHEA is not available. That is obviously not true, because I have been prescribing it for many years. The prescription DHEA costs less than many of the drugs used to lower your cholesterol levelthe average cost for 50 mg per day is around $20 a month.
In the same way you measure your blood cholesterol level and blood triglyceride level, you should be measuring your DHEA level as well. If your DHEA is below the average range for your age, strongly consider supplementing with DHEA to bring your blood level up. The dose I use is 25 to 50 mg per day in women and 50 to 100 mg per day in men, while monitoring the DHEA sulfate levels.
DHEA strengthens many other aspects of your body, including brain function, energy level, and immune system. Heart disease is surely not the only condition you could be avoiding by supplementation with DHEA.
Reference:
Mitchell, LE et al. Evidence for an association between dehydroepiandosterone sulfate and nonfatal, premature myocardial infarction in males. Circulation, Jan. 1994;89:89-93.
For more information visit https://www.searchhearthealth.com