Still Ticking

I know its been two years since my last post. Time flies when you are having fun. I've been taking my medication since 2004 and rarely experience angina. In the past year, my current cardiologist has tried to convince me to get the quintuple coronary artery bypass graft that I was originally told I needed back in 2004 when I took the advice of my second opinion cardiologist and began a medication protocol to control hypertension and assist my body in developing a better microcirculation and more efficient collateral vessels. It's been working.

Every time I see my cardiologist, my ECG and echocardiogram have shown my heart is normal. It would not be if the collateral vessels and microcirculation were not supplying the heart with adequate oxygen. In December I relented to my cardiologist's insistence that I have an angiogram which showed the blockages to my coronary arteries were essentially the same as they were in 2004. She still wanted me to have a five vessel CABG despite having a normal heart.

I told her that if a second opinion from a noninterventional cardiologist decided I needed a CABG, I would get one. Two months ago, I went to Indiana Heart Hospital for that second opinion. The cardiologist had all of my records and gave me a pretty thorough exam. He told me if I could do seven minutes of a cardiac stress test, he would agree with me that my medication regimen is providing adequate treatment of my coronary artery disease.

My current cardiologist gave me a stress test two years ago and I only lasted a little over five minutes at that time. Now my second opinion cardiologist wanted me to do two whole minutes more. Was I up for the challenge?

Tuesday was the big day. To make a long story short, I lasted seven minutes and 31 seconds and only experienced a slight amount of chest tightness at the end of the test that was gone within two minutes of the end of the test. The results were normal. My stress ECG showed no changes from my baseline ECG. The post stress left ventricle was normal in size. There was a normal pattern of perfusion in all myocardial regions. Resting images showed a normal perfusion pattern. Analysis of post exercise quantitative gated SPECT images showed a normal pattern of systolic thickening and normal wall motion in all regions. The post stress ejection fraction was measured at 63%, which is NORMAL.

Finally, my cardiologist's impression of the cardiac stress test: No scar. No ischemia. Normal LV systolic function. The post stress ejection fraction is 63%. NORMAL MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION STUDY.

I was told in 2004 that I would probably have a massive stroke or deadly heart attack within three months if I didn't have a quintuple coronary artery bypass graft. I opted to be treated with medication and now eight years later, I am still ticking.

Dr. Howard H. Wayne, a noninterventional cardiologist, said 95% of all CABGs are unnecessary. I hope that if you or a loved one have been told you need this very traumatic surgery, you will get a second opinion from a noninterventional cardiologist. It could save your life, or at the very least give you years of a higher quality of life than you would have if you had the surgery.

If you would like to discuss my blog or anything about the choices I have made regarding CABG surgery, email me at wordworks2001@yahoo.com.

Update

In September I began having palpitations, usually in the evening. I was fitted with a halter monitor which I wore for 48 hours. No abnormalities were observed. I began course of 35 session of ECP and have 10 more to go. The palpitations continue and are accompanied frequently by PVCs. Two nights ago, I had a bout of midsternal chest pain, probably angina. My BP was about 140-150/80-90 at the time. There was some mild sweating. This lasted about half an hour. Th next night, while taking my BP with a digital cuff that beeps when the heart beats, I had a 5 second runof pretty fast taachycardia. The pulse had been reading in the mid 70s before this event and was reorded at 111 after the tachycardia. There were abolutely no symptoms at this time.

I havean appointment with my cardiologist on October 14. I will keep those interested posted.

Beware of Medical Terrorists

More Harm Than Good: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Common Treatments and Procedures by Alan, M.d. Zelicoff

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Four years ago, I began writing a blog (http://wordworks2001.blogspot.... to warn people about the dangers of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. When I read this book, I didn't have to go any further than page two for validation of my blog's premise. Here is an excerpt:



"...Before the 1960s, there was little a doctor could do about coronary artery disease. Patients with angina -- chest pain from coronary blockages -- were simply put to bedrest for several weeks and given aspirin.



"It must have seemed like medicine had taken a quantum leap ahead when the cardiac bypass technique was perfected in the later part of the decade...



"...The initial successes were splashed across newspaper headlines...



"...The truth was that bypass surgery wasn't the cure-all that the medical establishment made it out to be. Simply put the procedure didn't always work well, and it sometimes resulted in a more rapid demise than if nothing had been done at all!



"...Billions of dollars were spent for a procedure that benefited only a fraction of patients who received it, while arguably harming a great number of others.



"...It would take years for the data to show that people ended up with unchanged or shorter life spans from bypass surgery."



The subtitle of this valuable book is What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Common Treatments and Procedures. That is why I began advoctating that patients take control of their health care and insist that they coordinate and compose their medical treatment plan with their physician. In other words - Take Charge of Your Own Body!



Over the years I have begged and pleaded with people to always ALWAYS get a second opinion from a noninvasive cardiologist before being coerced into allowing a cardio-thoracic surgeon crack your chest open and perform a CABG.



The cardiologist who saved me from the surgeon's knife in 2004 started me on a medication regimen that continues to be effective and serves me well today. His name was Howard Wayne and he called cardiologists who were quick to cut "medical terrorists."



Personally, I call doctors who coerce patients and their family members into a traumatic and unneeded surgical procedure CRIMINALS, and I believe they are guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.


View all my reviews.

Non-Interventionalists 1 - Butchers 0

Imagine my pleasant surprise when I heard the health reporter on Channel 6 News announce last night that a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) says angioplasty is not as efficacious as medication in treating chest pain. Well, quite frankly, that's been known by the patients of the late Howard Wayne for many years.

In 2004, a well-known and respected invasive cardiologist in Indianapolis tried to coerce me into receiving a quintuple coronary artery bypass graft to treat my angina. The whole story is reported in this blog so I won't go over it again. If you are interested, just read this blog from the beginning.

What I do want to discuss is the naivity of the Channel 6 health reporter. She thinks this will decrease the number of angioplasties performed by cardiologists as they opt to use medication in their treatment rather than the invasive procedures they now use. WRONG!

That might be true if the motivation of the physician was to treat the patient in the best way possible. Unfortunately, many of these invsive cardiologists are not motivated by treating you right, they are motivated by money. Angioplasty and bypasses make doctors and hospital piles and piles of money. Writing prescriptions does not.

Bottom line, remember what I've been preaching all these years -- if your doctor wants to cut, get a second opinion from a noninterventionalist cardiologist!

Still Kicking

Well, it's been nearly two months since my last entry. I thought I'd better create a posting so you all would know I am still alive and kicking. I am doing very well. I can't remember the last incident of angina pain so I guess the EECP keeps working well after the therapy is over.

I am in the process of preparing to relocate to Sedona, Arizona and hope to have made the move by the end of June at the latest. I will keep you posted on the reason I have moved more than halfway across the country once I get settled in. Those who know me will be in for quite a surprise, I am sure.

Also, look for a change in the subject matter of this blog come the summertime. I started it in 2004 as an effort to alert unsuspecting patients to the unscrupulous practice of putting greed before the patient's welfare. I still believe way too many CABGs are performed in the United States but my life has taken a huge turn that has prompted me to choose one cause over the other. I will still rant about cardiologists who coerce their patient's families into getting unnecessary and expensive surgery. The medical terrorists, as Dr. Howard Wayne referred to them, will get know peace from this quarter.

Take care for now and remember always get a second opinion before allowing them to cut.

Update #5

I continue to be free of angina pain after once again dodging the knife of the cardio-thoracic surgeon. Just to bring you up to date, I once again opted to treat my coronary artery disease medically rather than through bypass surgery. My faith still lies with my former cardiologist, Howard Wayne, who explained angiogenesis and the collateral vessel system to me back in 2004, when I sought a second opinion from him.

Since the addition of Isordil to my medication regimen, my blood pressure fluctuates between 128/72 and 96/55. The lower blood pressures are always obtained in the evening. I would like my BP to become approximately 90/50 at all times when I am at rest. That should control the hypertension I was experiencing when I was under physical or emotional stress.

The good news is that I have not had an angina attack since the one that sent me to the emergency room of the Indiana Heart Hospital last month.

Update #4

This entry in my blog contains some references to sexual activity. If you find this embarrassing, please read no further. Also, patients on nitrates are advised to consult their cardiologist before attempting what you read here.

Valentine's Day came and went and my vital signs stayed pretty much the same as they had the day before. The Isordil has not lowered the blood pressure to anywhere the 90/50 level that I maintained it at from 2004 to 2006. I am somewhat disappointed at the progress but will maintain my dosages at 5/10/15mg at 7 am, 1 pm and 7 pm.

On February 15, I did try something different. Anticipating the opportunity for intimate activities with my significant-other, I decided to forgo the 7 pm dose of Isordil and to take 20mg of Levitra at 8:00 pm instead. Now I realize all the furor that occurred when Viagra was blamed for the heart attacks of some men who took it shortly after approval by the FDA. The warning that this drug could cause low blood pressure and heart attacks was added to Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.

The correlation between these drugs and heart attacks is a very tenuous one as far as I am concerned. In my humble layman's opinion, the fact that they also lower the blood pressure can be taken into consideration by the person on nitrates and these drugs can be adjusted accordingly. As I said above, I did not take my 15mg dose of Isordil at 7 pm and popped a 20mg tablet of Levitra at 8 pm.

I felt no untoward side effects. My blood pressure did drop significantly by 10 pm however. It went from 116/62 with a 68 pulse at 6 pm to 88/46 with a pulse of 72 at 10 pm. It should be noted, the 88/46 is about what I want my BP to register at rest all of the time.

My significant-other and I engaged in intimate sexual activities for approximately an hour and then rested. By 1 am, my blood pressure was 112/56 and the pulse was 68. We then went to sleep, waking at approximately 6 am for another session of intimate activities which lasted about a half hour. There were no negative side effects and I felt absolutely no angina during these two sessions.

Given the drop in blood pressure that followed ingestion of the 20mg of Levitra, perhaps this drug should be used to control blood pressure as well as treat erectile dysfunction. I would be interested in hearing from cardiologists what they think about this Levitra experiment I conducted last night. Also, if you are a patient on nitrates, I would be curious if you have had any experience taking one of these drugs.

I am not suggesting that anyone on nitrates attempt to do what I did last night without first seeking the advice of competent medical authority. I did and received two totally different answers. One physician told me to definitely not do it. The other said, "Go ahead and try it, you never follow my advice anyway."

Again, let me reiterate that I believe the correlation between nitrates and drugs that treat erectile dysfunction has not been properly studied. In my opinion, it is like saying since 50% of the men who had a heart attack ate red meat within 24 hours of their cardiac event that the meat was the cause of their heart attack. I will admit the drop in blood pressure could be troublesome, particularly if the person has never maintained their blood pressure at rest that low.