No, he, despite having no treatment options, was hopeful, through the several years involved, that a treatment would be found. A few weeks before he died he wanted to get new glasses, so, no asking about giving up the meds would not have been on his list.
They do; they are running an ECG test while I’m on the treadmill; they hooked me up to the wires before putting me on the treadmill. What they want to see is how the valves are responding when your heart is basically racing, and they do that part with a post-treadmill echocardiogram. But they want it the second you get off the treadmill.
That being said, my heart continued to beat quite fast and hard for at least two minutes after I got off that treadmill and was on the table. They don’t even take that much time on the second one. Frankly, I would think the hardest thing for them is trying to shove that ultrasound wand into your ribs to image your heart while you’re panting. And that part’s not very comfortable, having that wand stuck in between your ribs.
In the end, I got a clean bill of health pertaining to my heart. So if my mom had a silent heart attack in her mid 50s, and I’m almost 52, then it’s likely she already had heart disease at my age. So I’m grateful.
<p>Hypothyroidism is associated with elevated cholesterol levels.</p>
<p>performersmom - how could I forget that one, too?</p>
<p>Yes, you’re very correct.</p>
Elevated LDL, Total Cholesteral here. Took Crestor 3 months last summer, discontinued due to severe cognitive effects, and PVCs
Had stress/echo test Terrwtt described two weeks ago. PVCs went away with max exercise, so trying cardio exercise/ diet for 3 months as mentioned by so many of you knowledgeable CCers, before I go back on something.
So how do you factor in C --reative protein test—marker for inflammation? Mine is good.
And, that VLDL----is that important, too ?
Question- how are you getting the fiber --Cardiologist said 25 grams a day!
And, what Omega 3 - do you recommend? (stood in front of selection two days ago, geesh big selection)
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<p>I don’t eat pork but do enjoy uncured Turkey Bacon from Trader Joes.</p>
<p>Here’s something that I found on beef bacon:</p>
<p>For our morning test run we used not only beef bacon, but uncured beef bacon. This style of bacon hasn’t gone through the curing process, where meat sits for 3 days in a brine of water and sugar and is then smoked. Because it hasn’t gone through these steps, the bacon is less sweet and still retains its natural moisture. Normally this isn’t really something to write home about, but cured beef bacon tends to be a little on the dry (although less fatty) and lackluster side (think thinner jerky without spices).</p>
<p>It’s advertised as a healthier alternative to pork bacon with grassfed beef bacon being almost 90% lean. But like most things that are 90% lean, it can also be lean on taste as well. Although cured beef bacon is delicious in its own right (and still has less fat than pork due to the cut it’s made from), if we’re going to deviate from pork bacon (for other than health reasons), we stand by the idea of uncured vs. cured. </p>
<p>[The</a> Skinny On (Uncured) Beef Bacon | The Kitchn](<a href=“http://www.thekitchn.com/the-skinny-on-beef-bacon-how-t-79133]The”>The Skinny On (Uncured) Beef Bacon | The Kitchn)</p>
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<p>I would go nuts. When my heart rate is that high and I’m gasping to catch a breath, I just want to stand and walk around slowly and pant. I even want to rip the heart rate monitor strap off because it’s “constricting”. I’d probably go postal if they made me lie down.</p>
<p>Looked at my Garmin computer logs yesterday out of curiosity. Since May last year, I’ve gotten my heart rate up to at least 90% of my max during workouts on 81 days or an average of about twice a week. 95% or higher on 47 of those workouts. 95% of my max heart rate is a pretty intense stress-test level effort for me.</p>
Ive had a treadmill test before, but they scare the crap out of me. The H of a friend had a stroke while being tested & he died shortly afterward. 
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<p>For fiber, I just eat as much raw veggie and fresh veggie as I can. Massive salads. When I have soup, I add a cup of lightly sauteed carrots, onions, celery. Huge serving of broccoli, green beans, etc.</p>
<p>For a supplement, you can take a spoonful of Metamucil dissolved in a glass of water a couple times a day. That’s just psyllium husk fiber with a little sugar (and maybe orange flavor). I don’t really want the sugar (and can’t stand artificial sweeteners), so I buy just plain 100% psyllium husk fiber. GNC sells it, usually with a buy 1/get one half price deal:</p>
<p>[Natural</a> Brand™ Colon Pure™ Unflavored - GNC NATURAL BRAND - GNC](<a href=“http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2986019]Natural”>http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2986019)
<a href=“http://gnc.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pGNC1-4391154_gnclabel_pdf.pdf[/url]”>http://gnc.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pGNC1-4391154_gnclabel_pdf.pdf</a></p>
<p>Just mix a teaspoon in water and drink it to wash down a couple of fish oil caps, once with lunch, once with dinner.</p>
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<p>For fish oil, I usually buy this one:</p>
<p>[Finest</a> Natural*Fish Oil 1200 mg Dietary Supplement Softgels | Walgreens](<a href=“http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/finest-natural-fish-oil-1200-mg-dietary-supplement-softgels/ID=prod5846025-product]Finest”>http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/finest-natural-fish-oil-1200-mg-dietary-supplement-softgels/ID=prod5846025-product)</p>
<p>Walgreens usually has it (or the identical [Nature</a> Made brand](<a href=“http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/nature-made-fish-oil-1200-mg/ID=prod987286-product]Nature”>http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/nature-made-fish-oil-1200-mg/ID=prod987286-product)) on sale – buy 1, get one free. So I get two and stick them in the fridge. I take two 1200 mg caplets twice a day. If they only have a buy 1 get one free deal on 1000 mg caplets, then I get those and take 5 caps a day.</p>
<p>Trader Joes High Fiber Cereal, one serving: 80 calories, 8 grams of fiber. I typically have one and a half servings per day for 12 grams. I get the rest from other sources such as soy, nuts, bread, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables.</p>
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<p>90% lean by total weight? Since much of the total weight is water, the protein:fat ratio may not be as high as you may be looking for.</p>
<p>That site was just an explanation - I haven’t tried that particular product (beef). I’m just using the turkey bacon right now.</p>
<p>Livestrong lists the Turkey Bacon as 6 grams of protein and 0.5 grams of fat.</p>
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<p>Yeah. That would tend to put you right off the idea!</p>
<p>At first, I was worried when I first saw these crazy high heart rates on my heart rate monitor watch. But, now, having seen them in literally hundreds of workouts over the last two years, I don’t really worry about it. I figure that, if pushing my heart rate up were going to kill me, it probably would have by now. If anything, it’s really improved my cardiac capacity.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that for men, 50 and older, the recovery in heart rate in 60 seconds after maximum stress-test style exertion is the single best predictor of keeling over dead in the next five years. Under 12 beats per minute recovery in 60s seconds means significantly increased risk of mortality. I started out at 15 bpm recovery (not good). Now, I’m around 30 bpm recovery, which puts me in the top 20% of men my age. Considering that I smoked for 38 years, I’m pretty happy with that. I’ve also seen my resting heart rate fall. It’s now around 48 to 50 beats per minute. So, I’m sold on the benefit of exercise that puts you through repeated cycles of high heart rate and recovery – even though it is really not much fun to do.</p>
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<p>Probably the same stuff. They just mix the psyllium husk fiber into cereal and add a teaspoon of sugar to each serving. I think most of the “high fiber” products just have added psyllium husk fiber powder.</p>
idad: “Studies have shown that for men, 50 and older, the recovery in heart rate in 60 seconds after maximum stress-test style exertion is the single best predictor of keeling over dead in the next five years. Under 12 beats per minute recovery in 60s seconds means significantly increased risk of mortality.”
Is there a guideline for women in this area???
<p>Is there a guideline for women in this area??? </p>
<p>Interested to know that too, as well as this: what makes one get a treadmill stress test? Did your physician suggest it or should one ask for it? It’s never come up in my annual physicals. Maybe I look stressed enough already…</p>
People should use (IMO) American Heart Ass guidelines.
A not so funny story involved my husband and his doc years ago. Doc was an Ivy med school grad. He told my husband to ignore the AHA guidelines and to push beyond what was recommended. Husband had no risk factors.
A few months later at the age of 48 this M.D. had a heart attack when running, and died.
Re: heart attacks during intense exercise
In snow areas, the first big snowfall is known to bring increased emergency room admissions for show shoveling heart attacks, presumably in people with pre-existing unstable atherosclerotic plaques and poor physical fitness doing intense exercise after not having done any for a long time.
[Protect</a> your heart when shoveling snow - Harvard Health Publications](<a href=“http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/protect-your-heart-when-shoveling-snow-201101151153]Protect”>Protect your heart when shoveling snow - Harvard Health)
<p>Re: heart rate recovery after intense exercise</p>
<p>This is basically one way of measuring physical fitness, which (to no one’s surprise) tends to be associated with better health and longer life span.</p>
<p>Gentler ways of testing heart rate recovery include the step tests, where the person being tested repeatedly steps up and down for some number of minutes at a moderate pace (although even a few steps may be intense for those with very low levels of physical fitness), followed by heart rate measurement immediately afterward and at intervals (e.g. one minute, two minutes) afterward at rest. However, the treadmill stress test is presumably done to measure other things as well.</p>
<p>Performersmom:</p>
<p>[Heart</a> Rate Recovery and Treadmill Exercise Score as Predictors of Mortality in Patients Referred for Exercise ECG (pdf)](<a href=“http://fisioterapeutasplugadas.com.br/JAMA_284_11_1392-1398_2000.pdf]Heart”>http://fisioterapeutasplugadas.com.br/JAMA_284_11_1392-1398_2000.pdf)</p>
<p>Here’s the biggest study (and it included women). This was a study done on the records of over 9400 people (age 30 and above without prior heart failure or heart valve disease or pacemakers) who had treadmill stress tests at the Cleveland Clinic between 1990 and 1997. The sample was 79% men and 21% women, but that’s still a sizable number of women. The results, as far as heart rate recovery and mortality were the same for men and women.</p>
<p>The test involved the standard [Bruce</a> protocol treadmill stress test](<a href=“http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Bruce_Protocol.htm]Bruce”>The Bruce Protocol Treadmill Test). Start walking very slowly at a modest grade and increase in stages every 3 minutes until you can’t go any further (or until symptoms make them stop the test):</p>
<p>Stage 1 = 1.7 mph at 10% Grade
Stage 2 = 2.5 mph at 12% Grade
Stage 3 = 3.4 mph at 14% Grade
Stage 4 = 4.2 mph at 16% Grade
Stage 5 = 5.0 mph at 18% Grade
Stage 6 = 5.5 mph at 20% Grade
Stage 7 = 6.0 mph at 22% Grade
Stage 8 = 6.5 mph at 24% Grade
Stage 9 = 7.0 mph at 26% Grade</p>
<p>A treadmill score of 5 (minutes minus some subtractions for chest pain or EKG abnormalities during the test) was considered low risk (so, almost completing stage 2). That’s a pretty low bar. 43% of the people reached or exceeded their theoretical max heart rate (220-age) during the test.</p>
<p>At the end of the test, the subjects continued walking for a 2 minute cooldown at 1.5 mph on a 2.5% grade. They measured how much their heart rate fell during the first 60 seconds of the recovery. Here’s the percentiles on heart rate recovery:</p>
<p>90th - >29 bpm
80th - 26-29 bpm
70th - 23-25 bpm
60th - 21-22 bpm
50th - 19-20 bpm
40th - 17-18 bpm
30th - 15-16 bpm
20th - 13-14 bpm
10th - 10-12 bpm</p>
<p>They then looked a mortality rates at a 5 or 6 year followup period for those with heart rate recoveries of 12bpm or less and those with heart rate recoveries above 12bpm. Of those with heart rate recoveries above 12, 2% died (with an average followup period of 5.2 year). With recoveries below 12, 8% died. This was the same for men or women.</p>
<p>For those below age 65, the difference was more striking. 1% of the decent heart rate recovery people died compared to 5% of those with recoveries under 12.</p>
<p>Of all the things they looked at, only two characteristics were slightly more correlated with mortality rates than a heart rate recovery of 12 or below: age and resting heart rate above 100.</p>