HEART DISEASE SOLILOQUY
Found out yesterday that my sister has heart disease, specifically super high cholesterol and plaques in her arteries. She is 51, athletic, and I'm talking triathlete, runs every morning for an hour, is super active with outdoor sports year round, has never been overweight, has never smoked or abused her body with drugs and alcohol. And she's had an infarction, discovered during testing. Oh. She also has been a vegetarian most of her adult life. Not vegan, and not low fat, but she avoids sat fats and processed foods. IOW, this woman is healthy, trim (I'd say her body fat is probably 15%), active, eats extremely well...and she's got clogged arteries.
And this is where genetics come in, because on my mom's side of the family, over several generations, there have been mid-50's "widow maker" heart attacks. That is, my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 56. My uncle, his son, died at the same age of the exact same thing. We've all been eyeballing my brother, as he is in his mid-50's now and obese...but it turns out my petite, fit, athletic, healthy little sister got "the gene." It's a worry, to be sure, but now she knows and the doctor told her in no uncertain terms "If you feel tired, if you have a persistent headache or sore/tired throat, or heavy arms, or nausea out of the blue, don't go lie down. Go to the hospital"
I recommended Caldwell Esselstyn's book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" but I don't remember if it addresses genetics. We talked about the environmental triggers of genetic predispositions in cancer. If she has the gene, but never consumes any added fats, including nuts, seeds, and avocados, will that decrease her cholesterol and wipe out some of those plaques? The cardiologist told her no, lifestyle alone doesn't really effect this genetic cholesterol thing. That book has images of a heart before and after...clearly visible, white lines of arteries fully clogged, vs. clear, dark, open arteries. So how about lifestyle with drugs? Could she get away with a smaller dose if she stayed completely away from oils?
We talked about that. Would cutting out all added fats and high fat foods make a difference for her? I don't know anyone more physically fit than my sister, yet she's got heart disease...Part of her diagnosis is Familial Hypercholesterolemia. FAMILIAL e.g. inherited, genetic. Does that REALLY mean that cutting fats would make ZERO difference?
This was discovered when she had a blood draw to check her estrogen levels...the lab tested for other things as well, including cholesterol, and found her numbers in the high 400's. This led her to having a checkup with a cardiologist, and they found plaques in her arteries, AND discovered an infarction in the veins of the heart's blood vessels. That is, they found damage in the tissue that nourishes the arteries themselves. It was a heart attack, but she never had any symptoms.
God this is scary.
Anyway, she said she'd read the book but also said the doc told her that lifestyle doesn't do much for this condition. I'd love to see her follow it for half a year and see what her arteries look like then. And of course, taking her cholesterol meds.
I'm so worried.
This also confirms my commitment to just doing this, with no more cheats. I had my blood panels done in May, after she got her high cholesterol report. If it's familial...so I had to be sure. My cholesterol was smack dab in the middle of normal (lower than when I had it done in 2014 and was much more fully following the McDougall plan) Anyway. My numbers are normal across the board, so I'm not worried about my heart but I can't go through the rest of my life unable to take the dog for a walk because it'll kill my feet.
Time to get this effing thing done. Screw the Pleasure Trap. I'm getting out of it. Turning this stupid obesity around once and for all.