Heart Attack and Stroke advice.
This is a summary of the advice my mother took that gave her and my father back a healthy and enjoyable life.
My mother had two strokes and was almost dead and not expected to recover. In fact for a while my parents nursed each other waiting for the finish. My mother is now fully recovered and both my parents are doing very well and really enjoying life. I would like to share with you the solutions they found. Get onto the right diet.
Do not trust your doctor. Try a clinic where you can take a doctor off the rack (so to speak).
My mother had cholesterol levels of 7.9 and the doctor told her it was OK. Her doctor was part of her problem. Only when she changed doctors did she start getting better and honest advice and service. My parents felt that because they were in privately insured they were getting treatments but not getting their problems solved. They can afford to pay for their medical services and dropped out of Medical Benefits and began taking "off the rack" Doctors at the medical clinics. They made an effort to understand their own needs and treatment requirements and found their way to the best recommended specialists. They began to know what to ask and what to ask for and so got improved medications.
Practice Relaxation. Whenever the distress feeling comes stop thinking, stop worrying, stop those thoughts and calm down. Less consumption of oxygen from an active mind means less production of carbon dioxide and thus a lower heart pressure.
High blood pressure is the body's response to excess carbon dioxide in the brain. The body's carbon dioxide sensor is in the brain. When there is excessive mental activity brought on by stress or distress and arteries that are slightly blocked the carbon dioxide builds up in the brain. This signal is relayed to the heart to work harder and thus up goes the blood pressure. pH is also sensed and our breathing is managed to remove carbon dioxide at a rate that maintains our pH at 7.4. For more on pH. Carbon dioxide forms a weak acid called carbolic acid. Some diets are to acidic. Where people have become too acidic and if blood sodium levels are not high a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (Baking soda) dissolved in fruit juice can help.
Your doctor should prescribe some drugs to drop your blood pressure, to reduce the possibility of more clots and reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood.
High blood pressure is dangerous. It causes the heart to get bigger and large hearts can not pump at the pressure the body needs to keep well. It is important to reduce blood pressure and unclog those arteries. All drugs have side effects so they are best avoided if possible and replaced by the right diet. An enlarged heart will cause long term ill effects and should be avoided. High blood pressure can also cause arteries to balloon and then burst with devastating consequences.
Change to a better diet. The right diet is high in vegetables and low in energy such as fats and carbohydrates.
Saturated fats in the blood polymerize, they go like plastic and this is called plaque. They link up together and become wax like and then accumulate precipitates in the blood. Eventually the artery walls become coated in a material not unlike hardiflex only a bit softer. Keeping down the fat intake reduces the rate of build up of plaque.
Blood tests that measure blood cholesterol are not measuring the real problem. Fats are not water soluble. The body has a transport mechanism for moving fats around in the body. This transport mechanism with the attached fat is the cholesterol that is measured. LDL and HDL refers to the mechanism that have a preference for the saturated fats and the unsaturated fats. The real problem is not cholesterol, it is saturated fat. The more saturated fat is eaten the higher is the bad cholesterol. The catalyst that promotes polymerization of saturated fats (makes the molecules stick) is the free radical. A free radical is an atom or molecule that is highly reactive and wants electrons. They are generated in the body by normal metabolic action and they can be absorbed in food and smoke, cigarette smoke is full of them. They pull the electron off the molecules they stick to making that molecule a free radical as well. Vitamin E is a fat soluble antioxidant and can absorb the free radicals. Unsaturated oils like in linseed oil have 1, 2, or 3 double bonds and so do not become sticky.
Stop taking sugar in tea and coffee and do not eat more often than once every 4 hours.
Our liver with muscles is the energy management system in our bodies. It operates in two modes: energy output and energy input. In normal situations the liver is adding into the blood glucose and fat for those tissues that need energy. When we eat the liver halts the energy output mode and becomes an energy absorber taking up the sugars and fats and signaling to the muscles to do likewise. When the energy input is high too often the liver and the muscles become saturated and then do not stop the energy output mode. This drives the saturated fats and sugars in our blood very high as the liver and what we eat contribute to the fat and sugar load in out blood at the same time. The high sugar levels stimulate the insulin producing cells in our pancreas to release more insulin to signal to the muscles to take up more sugar. Slowly over time the muscles stop taking any notice of this insulin signal and we find ourselves in the early stages of age onset diabetes.
Take antioxidants B,C and E.
It is free radicals that cause saturated fats to polymerize - The small fat molecules take up a free radical and get sticky and stick to the artery walls and each other and build up. Then precipitates (solids) in the blood like calcium carbonate, calcium oxalate and others get caught up in the mat of polymerized fats and this is called plaque.
Oxygen comes as O2, that is two oxygen atoms in one molecule. When the body consumes oxygen it takes one O at a time. The other O is often left free. This is a free radical and is very dangerous if not properly managed. The body uses antioxidants to manage and contain this O, the free radical. There are water soluble and fat soluble antioxidants. The process of undoing and removing the plaque requires antioxidants that can take up and consume free radicals. Vitamin E is fat soluble and so helps remove the plaque. Take a large E every day. Also take Vitamin C and B group vitamins as these help other parts of the body deal with free radicals and help the body repair its self.
Take Omega 3 oils - Fish oils and linseed oil.
Our bodies desperately need unsaturated oils which are essential for production of all sorts of compounds including hormones, lipoproteins that hold cells together and are very fundamental for good health. Unsaturated fats have double bonds in them. Double bonds are capable of absorbing free radicals. A diet high in unsaturated fats can soak up free radicals and be very beneficial to general well being. Use linseed oil on salads and over vegetables just before eating. Keep this oil refrigerated as it oxidises easily and loses its value when heated. Cook with and use lots of virgin olive oil.
Increase steady endurance exercise to burn fats.
Muscles burn fat. Removing fat requires plenty of big strong active muscles. Good steady exercise is required.
A diet without exercise causes muscle loss and this is the opposite of what is required.