On Sat 02 Aug 2008 07:56:50a, Dimitri told us...
>
> "Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
> ...
>> sf wrote:
>>>
>>> Unless he's eating entire sticks behind my back.... I don't think he
>>> eats very much. It's one of those things he can point at and say
>>> "fat", so he decided to eliminate it.
>>
>>
>> If his health problems are genetic (from what you've said, I believe
>> they are), will cutting down on fats any further really improve his
>> health? Has his doctor told him to keep the fats in his diet down to a
>> certain amount?
>>
>>
>> I'm no doctor. I only know what I read in the news media so I'm sure
>> I've got a distorted view, but the way I understand it, making dietary
>> changes will help some people quite a bit in preventing heart attack.
>> That may even be most people.
>>
>>
>> For the others, for the ones who have never eaten a high fat diet, for
>> the ones who have always exercised, for the ones who have always
>> maintained a healthy low weight, for the people who do all that and
>> still have family members who have died young of heart attack, those
>> people are better off seeing their doctor regularly and taking the
>> right medicines than further tweaking their diet with butter
>> substitutes.
>>
>>
>> For the record, I'm saying this because, while the news is good, I'm
>> still a little freaked by a friend's recent quadruple bypass surgery.
>> He's someone who has never been overweight and has seemed to eat right.
>> He'd been on heart medication, gotten stents put in 6 months ago, went
>> into the hospital for more stents, but gotten tests results showing
>> that he needed surgery right away. Even while in the hospital, his
>> chest pains and tests worried the doctors enough that they gave him
>> emergency surgery. They pushed it forward a few days. They didn't
>> want to wait.
>>
>>
>> He's fine. He's at home and recovering and telecommuting and saving
>> the day at work (computer programming). I'm relieved and rejoicing but
>> still freaked that he was ever in this situation in the first place.
>> The man isn't yet 60 years old! Then I learned about his family
>> history-- both parents and several aunts and uncles have all died young
>> of heart disease.
>>
>>
>> --Lia
>
>
> When I was at UCLA a while back the head of cardiology told me the sad
> fact is without an angiogram there is simply no way to tell how much
> blockage is present. If you look at the case of Tim Russert its a
> classic example of a "Widow Maker"
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow_maker
>
> No symptoms then by the time you hit the floor you're gone.
>
> I also believe one can do everything to put the odds in your favor from
> the French Paradox to the Mediterranean diet but I think heredity plays
> a much stronger role than we can imagine.
I totally agree. My dad, at age 75, was diagnosed with extreme blockage
when they performed an angiogram, but this was before extensive angioplasty
or stent implantation existed. They also considered him a poor risk for
arterial bypass, and chose to treat him only with medication. He was in a
slow downward spiral for the next 6 years until he died from congestive
heart failure at age 81. All of his siblings died from coronary disease,
as did his father, from whom they apprently inherited their predisposition.
His mother lived to the age of 101 and had no history of coronary disease.
I can't remember what she died from, but I contribute her death simply to
old age.
My friend's mother, for whom I baked two 90th birthday cakes last week,
seems to be in near perfect health. Her vitals and blood chemistry are all
good, and she has only slightly elevated blood pressure for which she takes
a mild medication. She has had cataract surgery, but no other health
issues. She smokes like a fiend and eats anything and everything put in
front of her. She drinks a glass of red wine every night with dinner, and
drinks a double martini if she goes out to dinner. She's a tiny woman,
weighing in at a bit under 100 pounds. She is one of 10 children, 8 of
whom are still living.
--
Wayne Boatwright
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Saturday, 08(VIII)/02(II)/08(MMVIII)
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Don't start an argument with somebody
who has a microphone when you don't;
they'll make you look like chopped
liver. --Harlan Ellison, on hecklers
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