Re: Re:Chest pain, Dr. appt, surgery canceled, more tests ...

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Hi Sol, I had my regular Dr.s appointment on Wednesday, so I could get my surgery clearance which is supposed to be this comming Thursday, May 1'st. After the regular EKG that is standard for pre-surgical clearance, I mentioned to her about my chest pain episode that I had talked to the nurse practioneer to to a few days earlier. She has said she would leave some notes about our phone conversation on the computer ( everyone's chart is now on the computer..) and the dr caught up on what had happened to me a couple of weeks prior. It was she said too late to do an enzyme test to check for Cardiac proteins that show up in the blood stream after a heart attack, but that it was a classic heart attack picture and she needed to follow up with more testing. Even though my heart sounded ok , you cant see what the heart and arteries look like. She also wanted to retest my

cholesteral levels and my TSH, since I have been on this new dose, the 224 mcg of Thyroid long enough for it to register if it was working or not. ( I take 2 112 mcg Synthroid pills, because they don't make that dosage in a single pill.) So she said she would send a referral over to the hospital for my test. later that night she called me because she forgot to give me some other instructions. 1. To take a daily aspirin, which my husband has been giving me for quite some time now. 2. No physical exertion. ( Not too sure what she means about that, but she said it has to do with if there was a blood clot somewhere it could burst with exertion, so I will not exert myself.) 3.She prescribed an additional blood chosesteral lowering drug,

Zetia. ( I already take 20 mg of Lipitor.) She said she had gotten the results of my cholesteral test that I had just taken a few hours earlier, and my LDL was 184 She did not mention my other numbers, but she said this is the one she was concerned about. 4. She told me to start taking the Atenol every day, as it allso protects the heart, not just blood pressure. ( My blood pressure was a little elevated, 134/88, but she wants it in the 120/80 or less range. 5. She also ordered some Nitroglycerine spray for me to take at the first sign of chest pain, and told me after the second spray if I am still having chest pain, don't take a third, but call 911 and go to the hospital. I got my prescriptions yesterday, and the hospital called also and my test is set up right away for 8:00 a.m. on Monday. She ordered what is called a persantine cardioyte test. Basically it is a stress test where they inject a medicine into my I.V. with a radioactive dye because I can not do the regular stress test because of my back injury and also two previous foot

surgeries in the last year. The test is supposed to take till around 1;30-12;00 noon. I have to be fasting and no caffeine of any sort for 24 hrs. I don't mind fasting, it is no coffee or tea that is the hard part for 24 hrs! I had a strang chest feeling Wednesday night, about 4:30 a.m. where I woke up with a pounding chest and tingling in my arm and fingers and some tingling in my chest. Mostly a fear set in and I got up and took a Aspirn right away. I sat up for about half an hour and was afraid to lie back down, but at 4;58

I went back to bed. I didn't have the Nitro yet , or I would have taken it.( this was the same night the dr. called with my orders ) Does this test that I am going to have sound similiar to the one you had ? I don't know anything about going into the Donut tube, but it sounds like what you had was a MRI with the injection they gave you. I have had several MRI's with my back, and it is a long donut shaped tube that you have to lie in for awhile and they usually give you earphones with music because the machine makes noise like a jack-hammer or something similiar, very loud, and it is easy to get claustrophobic. Also the building I am going into is a

separate building, actually a long trailer where they have the MRI's done. When they gave you the injection, could you feel your heart speed up? Do you have trouble exercising also, getting out of breath etc. ? I am afraid of the part of my heart speeding up and getting out of breath, but I guess I am in the perfect place if there is a problem with my heart, so I will just try and relax as much as possible, but I am going to ask plenty of questions. How did your test come out, what were the results? I am going to make sure I get a copy of my medical tests, I have medical records of everything that is done for me, I want to know what is going on with my own body. Well, now I

just have to wait the weekend out and try not to worry. Oh, I still need to call my doctor that was doing the surgery and cancel it and have it rescheduled as soon as possible, depending on the results of course. Take care and hope to hear from you. Patcat ( Pat ) sol wrote: A

Hawk wrote:> He is a big meat eater, but luckily he has changed his eating habits > for the better.Because of his terrible Tryglicerides he was diagnosed > with fatty liver disease.Meat eating if fine for about 60% of the population. To say meat eating is bad is just not accurate unless you are taking into account the individual and metabolic type. The problem with blood fats is sugar and carbs. Avoiding all that is "white" carbs doesn't help because all the "brown" whole grain carbs are metabolized as sugar just the same as white flour, etc. This is a huge myth that won't die. And for a person with my individual metabolic type, I do best keeping my total daily carbs between 40 and 60 grams a day, or less. Do a count for a day or two, both you and your hubby, and find out exactly how many carbs per day you are consuming. Just do it to know. Doesn't mean you need to do anything about it.I harp on

this because the average america diet is approx 280 to 350 grams carbs per day or even more. This has a huge effect on blood lipids.> > I have had Hepetitis twice, both type A and Type B, so luckily my > liver has not been permantly damaged.As for the protein in my diet and > where do I get it, I do not eat a lot of soy, partly because of the > increase in symptoms from eating too much soy products, so I eat Chick > patties or some Tofu about 4-5 times a week, small portions, sometimes > only 3 times a week. I don't like eggs so I sometimes add some protein > powder to my oatmeal 1-2 times a week. Other than that I get protein > from my consumption of beans, lentils etc with brown rice added to > make it a complete protein.The problem with that as I know too well, is that getting a complete protein from combining plant foods has been proven not to work. It simply does not provide the

quality of protein that animal sources do. There are many references for this, which you can google. But I have read that one proof is in bodybuilders, no matter what protein supps they take, when bodybuilders go vegan or severely vegetarian, they begin to lose muscle mass. Leaving out the dairy and eggs that were absolutely crucial to the original plant protein combining books (Diet for a Small Planet,, and Recipes for a Small Planet) means that there is not enough good quality protein to balance the plant foods. The body simply does not utilize plant proteins as efficiently as it does animal proteins. I used to do that food combining, and even with my heavy soy consumption I still suffered severe lack of protein over time. So for myself my statements are 100% true. And according to metabolic typing my experience would also be true for anyone of similar metabolic type. (Protein types are about half the

population).> My husband has argued for years that I must be low on protein, but > whenever I have been hospitalized or had a blood test for protein, the > numbers are allways ok, sometimes low normal, but never below the > numbers given. I have not been anemic since my hysterectomy, so I > think I am doing ok.Amazingly I also test low on protein, though my diet is very heavy in animal protein. I'm not sure what that means. I think it could mean poor absorption, or that my body is still using every gram of protein I give it to repair the damage caused by decades of protein deficiency. It definitely does prove that blood protein levels do not correlate with dietary protein intake, in me.> > Besides the Premarin and gaining weight, the other culprit in > my case seems to be the Methadone I take for my back,However I wonder if you are keeping up regular testing of your thyroid levels? HRT

and soy really do lower thyroid hormone.> > It is easy to say don't take the methadone,>*I* didn't say stop it. I am too familiar with excruciating pain myself to tell anyone to just stop pain med and suffer. Pain is horrible stress. We do what we have to do.> What does a Heart Imaging Test involve? Did you have to go to a > cardiologist to get this test, or was it something that was done > somewhere else before you saw the Cardiologist? How do you feel now, > do you still have any chest pain?I don't know exactly what it was, I know they gave me a dye via IV, and stuffed me into donut tube, that made a lot of noise and took umpteen color photographs (I saw one displayed on a cumputer screen) of the innards of my heart. That is all I know. I didn't ask enough questions, since I'm violently claustrophobic, by the time they were done (I was in the donut about 30 min, but it felt like years) I

was a basket case, barely holding on to my fear and panic, the last thing I thought of was questions.> > Also because women are protected somewhat from heart disease because > of estrogen untill Menopause, women tend to have heart attacks at an > older age than most men,I have read it isn't so much the estrogen that is protective as that monthly periods keep iron levels down. Men, who don't bleed, usually have too much storage iron, and high iron is a big factor in men's heart attacks, and in women's too, after menopause. I do know of some women who are post meno and still have extremely low ferritin, but I don't think that is very common in the general population, from my readings.My ferritin is way high, though not up to hemochromatosis levels. I've been refused to donate blood because of my adrenal fatigue though, There is no other way to reduce ferritin than to get rid of some blood. I'm

stuck.If more women were given cholesterol lowering meds there would likely be more deaths. I know people who have really had severe side effects from those meds. But the docs don't stop them, they just give the person antidepressants, and other meds also to try to counteract the side effects. They also usually don't tell people they need to take extra Co-Q10 while taking statins. Right there that constitutes malpractice in my view.> You mentioned that you were a Metabolic protein type, is this > related to your blood type? I ask because I know a lot of people > follow a blood type diet that is supposed to be according to their > blood type. I have not heard of the Metabolic protein type what is it?The book is "The Metabolic Typing Diet" by Wolcott and Trish Fahey. I highly recommend it. Your diet may be fine for your metabolic type, OR it could be contributing to your health problems. Blood type

is part of it, but in the book they use blood type as a refinement of the invididual diet. I can't do the "blood type" diet because it has too many conflicts with my allergies, and if memory serves, it is too high carb for me.> . Take care and I will post what I find out tommorow from the dr. or > what I dont find out, which is probably more likely when YOu do'nt > have insurance... Medicare only pays for just so much.I'll be finding out in just a few short years about Medicare. Good luck.sol