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Knowledge gives a person many options for managing cardiovascular disease and they can then personally take charge of the effect this disease is having on their life. |
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Vitamins:
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CV-Kit |
Amino Acids:
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Nutrient Cofactors:
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Make sure your diet is well balanced and contains plenty of fiber. Eat plenty of raw foods. For protein, eat broiled fish and skinless turkey and chicken, which are low in fat.
Include in the diet garlic, onions, and lecithin. They effectively reduce serum cholesterol levels.
Add raw nuts (except peanuts), olive oil, pink salmon, trout, tuna, Atlantic herring, and mackerel to your diet. These foods contain essential fatty acids.
Do not consume stimulants, such as coffee and black tea, that contain caffeine. Also avoid tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, sugar, butter, red meat, fats (particularly animal fats and hydrogenated oils), fried foods, processed and refined foods, soft drinks, spicy foods, and white flour products, such as white bread.
Drink steam-distilled water only.
If you take an anticoagulant (blood thinner) such as warfarin (Coumadin) or heparin, or even aspirin, do not take supplemental vitamin K.
Eat more of the following: wheat germ, vitamin E, soybeans, and sunflower seeds.
According to some studies, magnesium supplementation can correct some types or irregular heartbeat, and could save the lives of many people with heart trouble.
Citrin, an extract from the plant Garcinia cambogia, inhibits the synthesis of fatty acids in the liver, thus helping to prevent the accumulation of potentially dangerous fats in the body.
Other herbs beneficial for cardiovascular disorders include barberry, black cohash, butcher's broom, cayenne (cpsicum), dandelion, ginseng, hawthorn berries, and valerian root.
Avoid the herbs ephedra (ma huang) and licorice; they can cause a rise in blood pressure.
Make sure your diet is well balanced and contains plenty of fiber. Eat plenty of raw foods. For protein, eat broiled fish and skinless turkey and chicken, which are low in fat.
Include in the diet garlic, onions, and lecithin. They effectively reduce serum cholesterol levels.
Add raw nuts (except peanuts), olive oil, pink salmon, trout, tuna, Atlantic herring, and mackerel to your diet. These foods contain essential fatty acids.
Do not consume stimulants, such as coffee and black tea, that contain caffeine. Also avoid tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, sugar, butter, red meat, fats (particularly animal fats and hydrogenated oils), fried foods, processed and refined foods, soft drinks, spicy foods, and white flour products, such as white bread.
Drink steam-distilled water only.
If you take an anticoagulant (blood thinner) such as warfarin (Coumadin) or heparin, or even aspirin, do not take supplemental vitamin K.
Eat more of the following: wheat germ, vitamin E, soybeans, and sunflower seeds.
According to some studies, magnesium supplementation can correct some types or irregular heartbeat, and could save the lives of many people with heart trouble.
Citrin, an extract from the plant Garcinia cambogia, inhibits the synthesis of fatty acids in the liver, thus helping to prevent the accumulation of potentially dangerous fats in the body.
Other herbs beneficial for cardiovascular disorders include barberry, black cohash, butcher's broom, cayenne (cpsicum), dandelion, ginseng, hawthorn berries, and valerian root.
Avoid the herbs ephedra (ma huang) and licorice; they can cause a rise in blood pressure.
Lifestyle Changes
Keep your weight down. Obesity is a risk factor for heart attacks and high blood pressure. Get regular moderate exercise. Caution: If you are over 35 and/or have been sedentary for some time, consult with your health care provider before beginning an exercise program.
A walking, swimming, or other aerobic exercise started gradually and consistently used will greatly improve the physical conditioning of the heart.
Stop smoking and drinking alcohol and coffee because these substances have been proven to increase your risk of heart disease. If you insist on continuing to compromise your body with these substances, you should also take extra antioxidants to help the body fight of the damaging effects.
Avoid fried foods, and try to limit simple carbohydrates (sugar, honey, dried fruit, fruit juices, refined white flour).
Avoid stress, and learn stress-management techniques such as progressive relaxation, meditation, or guided imagery.
If you experience any of the symptoms of a heart attack, contact your doctor or go immediately to the emergency room of the nearest hospital, even if symptoms last only a few minutes. Half of all heart attack deaths occur within three to fours hours of the onset of the attack, so a person suffering from a heart attack requires immediate medical attention.
Keep your weight down. Obesity is a risk factor for heart attacks and high blood pressure. Get regular moderate exercise. Caution: If you are over 35 and/or have been sedentary for some time, consult with your health care provider before beginning an exercise program.
A walking, swimming, or other aerobic exercise started gradually and consistently used will greatly improve the physical conditioning of the heart.
Stop smoking and drinking alcohol and coffee because these substances have been proven to increase your risk of heart disease. If you insist on continuing to compromise your body with these substances, you should also take extra antioxidants to help the body fight of the damaging effects.
Avoid fried foods, and try to limit simple carbohydrates (sugar, honey, dried fruit, fruit juices, refined white flour).
Avoid stress, and learn stress-management techniques such as progressive relaxation, meditation, or guided imagery.
If you experience any of the symptoms of a heart attack, contact your doctor or go immediately to the emergency room of the nearest hospital, even if symptoms last only a few minutes. Half of all heart attack deaths occur within three to fours hours of the onset of the attack, so a person suffering from a heart attack requires immediate medical attention.
Medical Options and Precautions
Coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty usually cost about $40,000 to $100,000. Before proceeding with surgery learn exactly what and how much of your body will be affected by the surgery. For example, the general process in bypass surgery is to make an incision opening from the top of the sternum to the navel, break the sternum, roll back the ribs, attach the heart to a machine, cut open the leg from the hip to the ankle to acquire an alternate blood vessel, use that blood vessel to bypass the problematic area, and then put everything back in place and hope that it all functions adequately. Obviously this invasive procedure is quite traumatic on the body and would require many weeks of recovery. Also, the surgery has not cured the mechanisms of damage. If the lifestyle mechanisms that caused the damage are not changed another surgery will probably have to be done in the not too distant future.
Also, surgery opens up direct exposure to death. In the ongoing sophisticated study of bypass surgery, the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS), it was demonstrated that heart patients with healthy hearts but that had one, two, or all three of the major heart vessels blocked, did surprisingly well without surgery. Regardless of the severity of the blockages each group in the study had a death rate of 1 percent per year. That same year the average death rate from bypass surgery was 10.1 percent. That's one death in every 10 surgeries. In other words, the operation being recommended to save a life costs thousands of dollars and was ten times more deadly than the disease itself!
Try to talk with someone who has had the surgery done and find out their feelings on the procedure.
Most importantly, obtain a second and even a third professional opinion as to why the surgery is needed and what other noninvasive options might be possible instead of surgery.
EDTA Chelation Therapy is an alternative treatment for angina, peripheral vascular disease, and cerebral vascular disease. The relative cost is less than $2,500. Persons interested in more information on this type of injection therapy can contact the American College for the Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), 23121 Verdugo Drive, Suite 204, Laguna Hills, CA 92653. Outside California 1-800-532-3688. Inside California 1-800-435-6199.
Learn all about the drugs that have been prescribed for you. Know what to do in case of an emergency. Keep emergency and ambulance numbers easily accessible. If you have a heart condition, someone close to you should know what to do if cardiac arrest occurs. Make sure your loved one knows how to do cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth breathing. The American Red Cross and many local hospitals offer training in these techniques.
The use of a test called cardiokymography (CKG) together with electrocardiograms (ECGs) may help to detect "silent" heart disease. A comparison study revealed that electrocardiograms alone dismissed 39% of heart disease cases. When CKG was used with ECGs, only 8% of cases were undetected.
Nitroglycerine, which is sold in sublingual tablet, patch, and lingual spray form, is commonly prescribed to relieve chest pain and to improve oxygen supply to the heart. The drug is taken at the first sign of pain. If dry mouth prevents sublingual nitroglycerine tablets form dissolving, the spray form may be a better choice. Nitroglycerine has some side effects, including headache, weakness, and dizziness. These usually disappear with continued use.
Coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty usually cost about $40,000 to $100,000. Before proceeding with surgery learn exactly what and how much of your body will be affected by the surgery. For example, the general process in bypass surgery is to make an incision opening from the top of the sternum to the navel, break the sternum, roll back the ribs, attach the heart to a machine, cut open the leg from the hip to the ankle to acquire an alternate blood vessel, use that blood vessel to bypass the problematic area, and then put everything back in place and hope that it all functions adequately. Obviously this invasive procedure is quite traumatic on the body and would require many weeks of recovery. Also, the surgery has not cured the mechanisms of damage. If the lifestyle mechanisms that caused the damage are not changed another surgery will probably have to be done in the not too distant future.
Also, surgery opens up direct exposure to death. In the ongoing sophisticated study of bypass surgery, the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS), it was demonstrated that heart patients with healthy hearts but that had one, two, or all three of the major heart vessels blocked, did surprisingly well without surgery. Regardless of the severity of the blockages each group in the study had a death rate of 1 percent per year. That same year the average death rate from bypass surgery was 10.1 percent. That's one death in every 10 surgeries. In other words, the operation being recommended to save a life costs thousands of dollars and was ten times more deadly than the disease itself!
Try to talk with someone who has had the surgery done and find out their feelings on the procedure.
Most importantly, obtain a second and even a third professional opinion as to why the surgery is needed and what other noninvasive options might be possible instead of surgery.
EDTA Chelation Therapy is an alternative treatment for angina, peripheral vascular disease, and cerebral vascular disease. The relative cost is less than $2,500. Persons interested in more information on this type of injection therapy can contact the American College for the Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), 23121 Verdugo Drive, Suite 204, Laguna Hills, CA 92653. Outside California 1-800-532-3688. Inside California 1-800-435-6199.
Learn all about the drugs that have been prescribed for you. Know what to do in case of an emergency. Keep emergency and ambulance numbers easily accessible. If you have a heart condition, someone close to you should know what to do if cardiac arrest occurs. Make sure your loved one knows how to do cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth breathing. The American Red Cross and many local hospitals offer training in these techniques.
The use of a test called cardiokymography (CKG) together with electrocardiograms (ECGs) may help to detect "silent" heart disease. A comparison study revealed that electrocardiograms alone dismissed 39% of heart disease cases. When CKG was used with ECGs, only 8% of cases were undetected.
Nitroglycerine, which is sold in sublingual tablet, patch, and lingual spray form, is commonly prescribed to relieve chest pain and to improve oxygen supply to the heart. The drug is taken at the first sign of pain. If dry mouth prevents sublingual nitroglycerine tablets form dissolving, the spray form may be a better choice. Nitroglycerine has some side effects, including headache, weakness, and dizziness. These usually disappear with continued use.
