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Avoiding Heart Disease

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Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#111

Post by bambax »

tansey wrote: post #30

I tend to think of doctors as mechanics. Often when something breaks on my car, the explanation is "it's an old car, that happens eventually." And when they talk about it after fixing it, it's usually "Toyota's a good brand. Take care of it and you'll get another 100k miles from that engine." If I took my car to my mechanic with nothing wrong and asked what I should be doing to make sure the transmission lasts as lon…

Agreed. In my experience doctors are fixated on symptoms and seem to be saying "if you have no symtoms you're wasting my time". I would say they're right. There are enough sick people to keep them busy, why would they spend time with healthy people?

If you're healthy (as in, no symptoms) then managing your lifestyle should be your business, not your doctor's, and most advice is obvious anyway (don't eat or drink too much, avoid processed food and all manners of sodas whenever possible, sleep well, exercise).

Regarding lifestyle choices, I also think doctors have seen many people getting sick that seemed to be doing everything right, they're not sure what's best. It's very possible stress is a main contributor to poor health, and just worrying too much about it is bad in itself.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#112

Post by memracom »

Joel Fuhrman http://www.drfuhrman.com/ is one of a number of medical doctors who promote a coordinated attack on the causes of bad health like heart disease, rather than relying on reducing one or two indicators. Neal Barnard is another such doctor http://www.nealbarnard.org/

In North America, both of these doctors have shows on PBS a couple of times a year, in the weekday evenings and they generally run as part of a series of similar shows by other medical doctors.

The two named above have done a significant amount of research into the programs that they suggest, and they publish widely and openly and tell you what research they are looking at and why they recommend certain actions.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#113

Post by memracom »

pw wrote: post #102
Justsignedup wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm fucked. Grandfather was in decent shape at 40 when pretty much all his arteries clogged. He is now 87 with half a single artery left in his heart. He is not what I would call "living" as much as existing. On the other side, my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother have intense high blood pressure with no understandable reason. Well, I figure I may have till I'm 50. Though I hope doing biking marathons…

Get on a statin even if your LDL levels are within the normal range. They're very safe (safer than aspirin, arguably) and effective.

Do not follow quack recommendations like this. pw is not a medical doctor and is not licenced to practice medecine. That makes pw a quack.

Instead, seek out professionals who don't just say everything is OK, but who tell you what specific things to do and tell you why you should do those things backed up by research. A competent MD will not be afraid to refer you to the research that they are using to make their recommendations. A real MD does not say (I'm and expert, trust me) but they are willing to point to the studies and the opinions of other experts. Experts will not all agree but usually, when something really works, there will be a majority who do prescribe that course of action.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#114

Post by rosser »

graeme wrote: post #40
bdesimone wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would your doctor read the latest research on preventing disease when he can make a tidy profit from treating your disease? Woah woah woah there. Are you really saying doctors don't read the latest research so that they can make a greater profit? Really? You could have at least picked a more realistic example of misaligned incentives in medicine... e.g. using a more expensive drill bit during a surgery because…

The OP phrased it badly, but the point is sound. Suppose a doctor has a choice of two activities: 1. Read research, unpaid 2. Treat patient, paid The doctor clearly has an incentive to focus on treating disease. They do read research, but they would surely read even more if they were paid directly to do so. There's nothing nefarious in this, it happens in any industry. We do more of the things we're paid to do, and l…

Holy false dilemma.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#115

Post by kayoone »

I am pretty late to this but i wanted to raise an important point.

Dont overanalyze yourself. Since passing out about a year ago because of an infection and not drinking/eating anything that morning i have some serious anxiety issues that affect my life in a bad way. I started to monitor my heart, my blood pressure, my pulse and freaked out whenever something was slightly off. I went to numerous doctors and cardiologists, nobody could find anything of relevance, no risk factors at all. I still worry.

With time it got better but there is a reason we dont usually think about bad things to happen or us or even death, because it affects our psychology in a bad way.

I am not saying do not care for this, but also trust the doctors. The advice of eating healthy, exercising regularly and stop overanalyzing yourself is the right approach and will lower your general risk considerably. Of course go and check your blood once a year but overall there is only so much you can do.

In the end theres many,many risks in life that you cant really pre proactive about because we also dont really know the human body yet. If you get into this you will find hundreds of people suggesting different things, you will learn about all kinds of diseases you shouldnt really worry about in the back of your head because it will bring your quality of life down in the end.

I myself am not very good at what i suggest here, but i wish i was.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#116

Post by Evgeny »

Noxchi wrote: post #94
bdesimone wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Doctors are people like any other. But they've spent years specializing in evidence based medicine. They aren't perfect. No. But they are the best we have. 2. The far bigger problem is doctors order tests that wouldn't change treatment but rather help avoid malpractice. 3. The quote -- every time I read it -- makes me laugh because it's so disingenuous. My wife had a week of dietary training in med school. You kno…

#3 is totally wrong. First of all, if your wife graduated from med school, she should have taken the Hippocratic oath. An oath written by the guy considered the father of western medicine. You know what he had to say about diet? “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” He also said something along the lines of "if you don't know diet you can't call yourself a doctor" but I can't find the exact quote. >If y…

Actually, you'd be wrong. Consider a clinical study carried out by the inventor of bypass surgery and another doctor, in the best heart hospital in the world considered by US News & World Report.

It would be so much easier if you could provide some names, or better - the title of the study. I'd like to read it, but can't find it easily. The inventor of the bypass surgery appears to be Michael E. DeBakey, but which of his publications should I read? Thank you.

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#118

Post by berntb »

pw wrote: post #102
Justsignedup wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm fucked. Grandfather was in decent shape at 40 when pretty much all his arteries clogged. He is now 87 with half a single artery left in his heart. He is not what I would call "living" as much as existing. On the other side, my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother have intense high blood pressure with no understandable reason. Well, I figure I may have till I'm 50. Though I hope doing biking marathons…

Get on a statin even if your LDL levels are within the normal range. They're very safe (safer than aspirin, arguably) and effective.

Google memory problems statins.

FDA published a warning a month or two ago.

By anecdotal information, don't believe the memory problems will necessarily go away...

Re: Avoiding Heart Disease

#119

Post by mmagin »

pw wrote: post #102
Justsignedup wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm fucked. Grandfather was in decent shape at 40 when pretty much all his arteries clogged. He is now 87 with half a single artery left in his heart. He is not what I would call "living" as much as existing. On the other side, my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother have intense high blood pressure with no understandable reason. Well, I figure I may have till I'm 50. Though I hope doing biking marathons…

Get on a statin even if your LDL levels are within the normal range. They're very safe (safer than aspirin, arguably) and effective.

I would be very skeptical of statins. An actual MD who disagrees with you: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/statins/statins-everyone-...
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