Heart Health

[Mike_Jones]

The jury is still out on the mechanism which causes the amyloid plaque, but not on the mechanism which causes the shriveled cholesterol particles

It seems that I should have studied up on the latest research linking prion disease to amyloid diseases. This should turn some massive profit centers on their ears.

Page 184610 – medwirenews.com

www.medwirenews.com

Alzheimer’s Disease is a ‘Double-Prion Disorder,’ Study Shows

Two proteins central to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease act as prions – spreading through tissue like an infection by forcing normal proteins to adopt the same misfolded shape.

www.ucsf.edu

UCSF study finds two old drugs may help fight prion diseases

UCSF researchers have determined that two drugs currently approved to treat either malaria or certain psychotic illnesses are effective in treating mouse cells infected with the infectious protein known as the prion (PREE-on).

www.ucsf.edu

 

[hammies]

My cousin is married to a UCSF research cardiologist and they came down one time to visit and he went on about how all these studies are done and they are not bad, but they are all looking for that *one single thing*, when in reality it's a million things, plus luck. He basically said what Mr. Doof's list has - don't smoke, don't drink too much, exercise regularly, eat a healthy, balanced diet, pick your parents well (cousin and I are both doomed in that dept.), and be careful about stress. He said even then, all you can do is reduce your chance of heart disease or a heart attack, but never eliminate it.

 

[oeste858]

Yesterday morning, Thought I might be having a heart attack while I was driving the kids to school. Turned out I just pulled my left pec… reaching over to buckle my kid into her carseat in the backseat.
man, freaked me out cause it was right above my heart. I had daymares of passing out behind the wheel.

Getting old is the worst.

 

[PPK96754]

Yesterday morning, Thought I might be having a heart attack while I was driving the kids to school. Turned out I just pulled my left pec… reaching over to buckle my kid into her carseat in the backseat.
man, freaked me out cause it was right above my heart. I had daymares of p, assing out behind the wheel.

Getting old is the worst.

Just shudd-up already! It’s real when yer riding in the wagon and the sirens are on ~
2x and the EMT say’s, “what’s up Uncle Pete?” & half of the Fire Dept are surfer’s.

I FEEL Your Pain!
Actually …. Your anxiety

 

[oeste858]

Just shudd-up already! It’s real when yer riding in the wagon and the sirens are on ~
2x and the EMT say’s, “what’s up Uncle Pete?” & half of the Fire Dept are surfer’s.

I FEEL Your Pain!
Actually …. Your anxiety

Haha. Well, I certainly don't mean to make light of actual heart attacks /issues like yours. But the anxiety was real- I really thought that was gonna be my time!
But I pulled the car over, called my dad (who's had heart issues) and I realized I had no other symptoms besides the muscle pain, which lasted all day.
This morning, my left pec still a little sore but not as bad as yesterday. To appease wife, I saw the doctor today: everything’s fine, EKG was normal.
Thank Jeebus!

 

[VonMeister]

The number one cause of death in the USA (and in the world) is heart desease.

"A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine."

My primary care physician told me years ago that I have risk factors (father who died of a heart attack and now myocardial bridge) that lower my thresholds for healthy cholesterol levels. He also said that one of the factors in their calculation is age and so that even if I maintain my current levels, sooner or later my age would push me into the risk category. Well my last visit my LDL level went over the threshold and he prescribed a statin (atorvastatin). Yesterday I went for a three month check up and he said the results were "dramatic." My LDL went from 130 to 60.

He asked me if I changed anything else and I mentioned that now that I am retired I exercise more. I explained my routines. He encouraged that and suggested I favor aerobic exercise and repeated his warning that when I do resistance not to lift heavy (this is not a general recommendation but for my given situation).

I got curious about the relationship of cholesterol and exercise and found the following article.

Differential Effects of Aerobic Exercise, Resistance Training and Combined Exercise Modalities on Cholesterol and the Lipid Profile: Review, Synthesis and Recommendations

There is a direct relationship between chronically elevated cholesterol levels (dyslipidaemia) and coronary heart disease. A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine. Exercise has been shown ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Warning- the heavy lifters here might not like it. It says nothing against heavy resistance training, but for lowering cholesterol, volume seems to be better than intensity. I remember in "The Barbell Prescription" Dr. Sullivan reluctantly concedes that for cardiovascular health LSD (long slow distance) was the best.

Some quotes from the article-

Regarding aerobic training-

"Those authors consequently suggested that the training volume, as opposed to the training intensity, is the key to improving the lipid profile.."

"The evidence suggests that a moderate-intensity exercise programme will be effective in increasing HDL cholesterol. This will have a positive impact upon atherosclerosis (hardening of artery walls through plaque and fat accumulation [13]) via HDL cholesterol-facilitated removal of LDL cholesterol. To directly reduce LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, however, the intensity of aerobic exercise must be increased—something that may not be possible in individuals with a limited exercise capacity or other risk factors."


Regarding resistance training-

" The authors concluded that low- to moderate-intensity resistance training results in greater benefit to the lipid profile than high-intensity resistance training, although the mechanisms underlying this difference are unclear."

"This study once again demonstrated the limited additional benefit of increasing the resistance training intensity when equalizing the training load by reducing the numbers of sets and repetitions being completed to compensate for the increased weight being lifted. "


" During resistance training, it has been shown consistently that the increased volume of movement via increased numbers of sets and/or repetitions has a greater impact upon the lipid profile than increased intensity (e.g. via high-weight low-repetition training)."

I don't know of anyone worth listening to that would say that heavy weight training is the best prescription for lowering your cholesterol. Activity is good, diet is better....but at the end of the day in most people 80+ percent of your cholesterol is genetic and all the non medicine interventions in the world aren't going to alone be very helpful. It's a tough thing to say because most people don't get enough exercise and by telling them diet and exercise isn't going to be enough you risk them concluding that they can continue an unhealthy lifestyle and just take a pill.

I don't think there's another drug that has saved more lives than statins have.

 

[One-Off]

I don't know of anyone worth listening to that would say that heavy weight training is the best prescription for lowering your cholesterol. Activity is good, diet is better....but at the end of the day in most people 80+ percent of your cholesterol is genetic and all the non medicine interventions in the world aren't going to alone be very helpful. It's a tough thing to say because most people don't get enough exercise and by telling them diet and exercise isn't going to be enough you risk them concluding that they can continue an unhealthy lifestyle and just take a pill.

I don't think there's another drug that has saved more lives than statins have.

I think I read somewhere that if you strictly follow a certain diet you could lower your LDL by 10%, but that IRL 5% was a more likely outcome.

This study says diet plus exercise can reduce up to 20%.

Effectiveness of altering serum cholesterol levels without drugs

Drug therapy with statins and other agents can result in dramatic lipidlowering effects. Despite the wealth of data supporting the beneficial effects of pharmacologic therapy on cardiovascular risk, patients often express a desire to accomplish similar ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

“Coupling diet with an exercise program of 10 miles of walking or jogging per week produced a more substantial 14% to 20% decrease in LDL cholesterol levels (18).”

That's significant. But like you said, once I got on a low dose (20mg) of a statin my LDL went down over 50%.

One result of my reading of the study I lined in the OP has to do with the intensity of aerobic exercise. They said it was the primary driver of improvement of lipid profiles. With that in mind I added wind sprints to my short runs. Now when I go for my 4 miler, I add four 100+ yard sprints. It's something I hadn't done in decades. It's a whole differnt ball game compared to LSD (long slow distance). Gasping for air, legs getting all shaky. There's an intensity to it that appeals to me. I also get weird looks when I do it (wearing my sandals), because you never see people running all out sprints on the Strand.

I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. Actually, with regard to lifting I'm an eight of spades....but I used to be a two.

 

[Autoprax]

Has any one mentioned niacin?

 

[One-Off]

Has any one mentioned niacin?

I take fish oil.

The Truth About Heart Vitamins and Supplements

Vitamins and supplements get a lot of hype as a way to promote heart health. But do they help, or can they even cause harm in some cases?

www.hopkinsmedicine.org

 

[oneula]

my before dinner and breakfast pill appetizers

B4 Breakfast
Clopidogrel
Metoprolol
Metformin
Pregnenolone (no exercise)
D3 (no sun)
Lions Mane (brain)

B4 Dinner
Metoprolol
Metformin
Jardiance
Atorvastin
D3
Red Yeast Rice
Magnesium (joints)
Omega3
Zinc (immunity)
Quercetin (immunity)
DHEA (no exercise)
Zanthosin (joints)
Melatonin (sleep)

My heart surgeon told me in recovery that all the crap they scraped out from the 90% and 85% blockages when they stented me just ends up floating around in your blood stream forever until they find an opportunity to clog up somewhere else. So you got to grease the tubes with drugs and change your life style. I told him I rather do the drugs. Wish they could find a way to just clean out you blood with a heart lung machine.

 

[One-Off]

my before dinner and breakfast pill appetizers

B4 Breakfast
Clopidogrel
Metoprolol
Metformin
Pregnenolone (no exercise)
D3 (no sun)
Lions Mane (brain)

B4 Dinner
Metoprolol
Metformin
Jardiance
Atorvastin
D3
Red Yeast Rice
Magnesium (joints)
Omega3
Zinc (immunity)
Quercetin (immunity)
DHEA (no exercise)
Zanthosin (joints)
Melatonin (sleep)

My heart surgeon told me in recovery that all the crap they scraped out from the 90% and 85% blockages when they stented me just ends up floating around in your blood stream forever until they find an opportunity to clog up somewhere else. So you got to grease the tubes with drugs and change your life style. I told him I rather do the drugs. Wish they could find a way to just clean out you blood with a heart lung machine.

Yikes. Were your issues hereditary? Or lifestyle?

Best RX for my heart was retiring. Much less stress and plenty of time for exercise. I highly recommend it.

 

[VonMeister]

I think I read somewhere that if you strictly follow a certain diet you could lower your LDL by 10%, but that IRL 5% was a more likely outcome.

This study says diet plus exercise can reduce up to 20%.

Effectiveness of altering serum cholesterol levels without drugs

Drug therapy with statins and other agents can result in dramatic lipidlowering effects. Despite the wealth of data supporting the beneficial effects of pharmacologic therapy on cardiovascular risk, patients often express a desire to accomplish similar ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

“Coupling diet with an exercise program of 10 miles of walking or jogging per week produced a more substantial 14% to 20% decrease in LDL cholesterol levels (18).”

That's significant. But like you said, once I got on a low dose (20mg) of a statin my LDL went down over 50%.

One result of my reading of the study I lined in the OP has to do with the intensity of aerobic exercise. They said it was the primary driver of improvement of lipid profiles. With that in mind I added wind sprints to my short runs. Now when I go for my 4 miler, I add four 100+ yard sprints. It's something I hadn't done in decades. It's a whole differnt ball game compared to LSD (long slow distance). Gasping for air, legs getting all shaky. There's an intensity to it that appeals to me. I also get weird looks when I do it (wearing my sandals), because you never see people running all out spronts on the Strand.

I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. Actually, with regard to lifting I'm an eight of spades....but I used to be a two.

20% would be a huge outlier.

I went a couple years trying to get mine down. No processed foods. Mostly lean cuts of meat. It never changed much. 5mg Crestor daily and all my numbers halved to the point that I need to be conscious of getting enough healthy fats ie avocado, fish etc.

We remodeled our kitchen in 2022 and added a steam oven. Complete game changer for cooking fish.

 

[oneula]

Yikes. Were your issues hereditary? Or lifestyle?

Best RX for my heart was retiring. Much less stress and plenty of time for exercise. I highly recommend it.

My grandfather died of a stroke before I was born and my mom and her sister both suffered massive strokes in their 80's. My father suffered most of his life from an enlarged heart and died in my arms from a massive heart attack. My mom survived 3 bouts of different (breast, stomach, colon) cancers before the stroke took her out.
But you're right, for me it's been mostly work/over working which destroyed my water time from being a heavy weekend warrior (4-6 hrs/day) to almost no water time. My water time is what kept me healthy. I was looking at retiring last year or this year but may hang in there till 70 which is soon when I max out my social security contributions. Everyone I know is retired and has been for a while.

Just had my latest non-fasting blood test yesterday and my LDL count was 68 which is good.
But then my triglycerides was 1079, cholesteral 290 and A1C still at 7.2 (was at 9.1 in 2021). Been ordered to go back on fenofibrates because of the cholesteral.

My sister gave me a gym membership for christmas but we'll see as it's a big hole to crawl out of.

 

[PRCD]

My grandfather died of a stroke before I was born and my mom and her sister both suffered massive strokes in their 80's. My father suffered most of his life from an enlarged heart and died in my arms from a massive heart attack. My mom survived 3 bouts of different (breast, stomach, colon) cancers before the stroke took her out.
But you're right, for me it's been mostly work/over working which destroyed my water time from being a heavy weekend warrior (4-6 hrs/day) to almost no water time. My water time is what kept me healthy. I was looking at retiring last year or this year but may hang in there till 70 which is soon when I max out my social security contributions. Everyone I know is retired and has been for a while.

Just had my latest non-fasting blood test yesterday and my LDL count was 68 which is good.
But then my triglycerides was 1079, cholesteral 290 and A1C still at 7.2 (was at 9.1 in 2021). Been ordered to go back on fenofibrates because of the cholesteral.

My sister gave me a gym membership for christmas but we'll see as it's a big hole to crawl out of.

You need a dietitian for long term accountability, support and feedback, uncle. My wife does this and says telling a patient just to lose weight does not work. She was helping people reduce their A1C all last year, but any dietitian can help.

 

[One-Off]

My grandfather died of a stroke before I was born and my mom and her sister both suffered massive strokes in their 80's. My father suffered most of his life from an enlarged heart and died in my arms from a massive heart attack. My mom survived 3 bouts of different (breast, stomach, colon) cancers before the stroke took her out.
But you're right, for me it's been mostly work/over working which destroyed my water time from being a heavy weekend warrior (4-6 hrs/day) to almost no water time. My water time is what kept me healthy. I was looking at retiring last year or this year but may hang in there till 70 which is soon when I max out my social security contributions. Everyone I know is retired and has been for a while.

Just had my latest non-fasting blood test yesterday and my LDL count was 68 which is good.
But then my triglycerides was 1079, cholesteral 290 and A1C still at 7.2 (was at 9.1 in 2021). Been ordered to go back on fenofibrates because of the cholesteral.

My sister gave me a gym membership for christmas but we'll see as it's a big hole to crawl out of.

Before I retired I kept doing the cost benefit analysis of delaying retirement. But one thing kept popping up in my mind. My dad was doing the same thing (debating retirement) when he died of a heart attack at 58. They had offered him a early retirement package but he turned it down. My cost benefit analysis showed that the return for the extra years worked kicked in around 80 years old. I figured I might not make it that far. So we're officially low income now, but my quality of life is off the charts better. Teaching middle school was stressful.

PRCD said to address your diet. I would add to stay active, even if that is just walking every evening. Diet and exercise.

 

[PRCD]

Before I retired I kept doing the cost benefit analysis of delaying retirement. But one thing kept popping up in my mind. My dad was doing the same thing (debating retirement) when he died of a heart attack at 58. They had offered him a early retirement package but he turned it down. My cost benefit analysis showed that the return for the extra years worked kicked in around 80 years old. I figured I might not make it that far. So we're officially low income now, but my quality of life is off the charts better. Teaching middle school was stressful.

PRCD said to address your diet. I would add to stay active, even if that is just walking every evening. Diet and exercise.

Walking is always part of this. I wouldn't dive into weightlifting.

 

[oneula]

it's really my job that's been killing me
up at 1:30am breakfast at 2:00am at work by 4:00am lunch at 10:30 home and dinner at 7pm in bed by 8pm
Been like that for the past 30+ years
When I was younger it wasn't a big deal but at my age it's become way tougher.
Now it pretty much takes all Saturday resting to recover from the toll of Monday through Friday
In my 40s-50s I used to dawn patrol sat-sun and some times get in two sessions a day if the waves were good.
not anymore as I'm just too tired.
so yes, retirement would make a difference if I make it there without dying first
the problem is I love what I do and I'm good at it
There's always another set of new employees to try and inspire to do the right thing
which makes it hard to let go
kind of like your typical small business owner

 

[Aruka]

it's really my job that's been killing me
up at 1:30am breakfast at 2:00am at work by 4:00am lunch at 10:30 home and dinner at 7pm in bed by 8pm
Been like that for the past 30+ years
When I was younger it wasn't a big deal but at my age it's become way tougher.
Now it pretty much takes all Saturday resting to recover from the toll of Monday through Friday
In my 40s-50s I used to dawn patrol sat-sun and some times get in two sessions a day if the waves were good.
not anymore as I'm just too tired.
so yes, retirement would make a difference if I make it there without dying first
the problem is I love what I do and I'm good at it
There's always another set of new employees to try and inspire to do the right thing
which makes it hard to let go
kind of like your typical small business owner

That's only five and a half hours of sleep if you are actually falling asleep by 8pm.

I can't imagine doing that for 30+ years.

 

[SirKooksALot]

it's really my job that's been killing me
up at 1:30am breakfast at 2:00am at work by 4:00am

Holy sh!t what do you do?

 

[oneula]

Holy sh!t what do you do?

$Menehune