Doctors Demonstrate Irregular Heartbeats - With Music!

Doctors demonstrate irregular heartbeats, set to music.

very funny ^^
heart rhythm disorders
Posted by Medical MCQ on Monday, January 12, 2015

Invisible Illness Awareness Week

I never knew anything like this existed!

http://invisibleillnessweek.com/

Aside from his fading scar, my husband's coronary artery disease is invisible. My CFS is invisible, as is my hypothyroid, hypoglycemia, partial deafness, asthma, and degenerative disc disease and other arthritis and neuritis problems. And now that my labwork is showing I have an autoimmune disease, add that to the list.

I think I'll be spending a lot of time on that web site the next few days. 

"No Longer Defensible" Post from Fat and Not Afraid Blog

This blog gets better each time I read it! Be sure to read the comments, too.

“No Longer Defensible”

June 25, 2013

 

 I don’t think there is a person who is connected to the wider world somehow (e.g., internet, evening news, newspapers) who doesn’t know that the AMA declared obesity a disease this week.  Many Fat Acceptance bloggers have written about it.
In the same week that this is happening, Time Magazine posted an online article about, well, about a sort of Fat Acceptance.  Oh, they didn’t call it that, but that’s what it was.

Declining Life Span In Women Confuses Scientists - Not Me

I just saw this news report this morning and just shook my head in disbelief:

Study shows declining life span for some US women
Mar 4, 4:07 PM (ET)
By MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK (AP) - A new study offers more compelling evidence that life expectancy for some  U.S. women is actually falling, a disturbing trend that experts can't explain.

The latest research found that women age 75 and younger are dying at higher rates than previous years in nearly half of the nation's counties - many of them rural and in the South and West. Curiously, for men, life expectancy has held steady or improved in nearly all counties.

The study is the latest to spot this pattern, especially among disadvantaged white women. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates, obesity and less education, but several experts said they simply don't know why.

I know why, and so does any fat woman in America today. There's a whole blog out there describing the treatment we get when we go to doctors with our medical complaints.  Everything is blamed on our fat. If we are above the "normal" BMI we're not taken seriously, and the treatment for our complaints is always "lose weight," whether we present with a broken arm or chest pains. 

Read the blog First, Do No Harm if you don't believe me. "Normies" will be aghast at the treatment those people received at the hands of their doctors while fat people will nod their heads and say, "Yep, that happened to me, many times." I can add a few stories of my own if I wanted to, most notably the cardiologist who told me I had a heart attack when I didn't because, he admitted, he thought hearing that would scare me into losing weight. Nice, especially when the cardiac problem I DID have was the result of the extreme stress I had in my life at the time. He didn't think the fat lady would have copies of all the tests he ran that showed what I did or didn't have so he couldn't bullshit me. He got mad at me when I refused to see his friend, the head of the bariatric surgery department of the hospital, for a consultation. And even though I had the lab work in my hands that proved it, he didn't believe I was following a very low fat, whole foods, plant based food plan prior to my hospitalization, because "vegans aren't fat."

These people in the study didn't die of obesity but of neglect and malpractice. There are thousands of doctors out there like that cardiologist.

People like those doctors make women afraid to see a doctor when something really is wrong. Women have died of heart attacks and ruptured aneurysms, ruptured appendices, various cancers, etc., because they were afraid to see their doctor when they had pain, because they knew it would be blamed on their weight and not given any diagnosis or treatment, so they lived with the symptoms. Until they didn't.

And what about the fat people who believe what their doctors tell them, that their fat is the cause of their ills, and go through desperate measures to get rid of the fat and die as the result? Women who take unsafe over-the-counter stimulants to "boost their metabolism." Women who over exercise and undereat and overstress their bodies which may lead to sudden death from heart attacks or electrolyte imbalances. Women who ingest tapeworm tablets. Women who have their healthy intestines and stomachs amputated in hopes that less digestion leads to weight loss. You know, weight loss surgeries. These procedures rob the body of needed nutrients, which lead to all sorts of medical problems, and for many, early death, earlier than if they just stayed fat in the first place. And don't forget those who die on the operating table or within the first 48 hours. Those are the only deaths counted as caused by the surgery itself. Statistics aren't kept on those who die months or a few years later from all the complications even if they're from the surgical procedure, such as ruptured suture lines, infections at the suture site that never healed because the body doesn't have the nutrition to defend itself, leaking of gastric material into the abdominal cavity from internal sutures or staples that weren't done right or ripped, etc. Those deaths are attributed to the person's fat, not the surgery.

On the opposite end of the weight spectrum are the anorexics and other women with eating disorders. The treatment failure rate is high, and many times leads to unnecessary deaths, all because they feared getting fat.

And let's not forget the young Type 1 diabetics who skip their insulin, not because they're tired of injecting themselves or have a death wish, but because they know insulin improves the metabolism of the food they eat, which leads to weight gain, so if they don't take their insulin they'll lose weight. 

Some women will do anything to lose a few pounds, even risk death. And scientists wonder why the death rate is going up in "certain" women, especially obese ones! Just look at how society treats us and they'll know why!

Never Diet Again - Not This Year 2013

I should really listen to what Angela is saying here. I'll be 60 in a few months and have been on the diet merry-go-round since the day I was born. Even now, while following one of the healthiest food plans on the planet, I'm not losing weight and won't unless I let my calories drop to below 1000/day, something I'm not willing to do, especially since it would put a strain on my already compromised (from decades of dieting and diet pills) heart. 



What can I do, besides point readers to this blog to the official Not This Year web site? Well, it's only the fourth day of the year and already I took a diet book out of my Amazon shopping cart and vowed to not buy ANY food related books this year except for any upcoming cookbooks by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  No diet books, no other cookbooks, no diet-related videos (I took one of them out of the shopping cart, too). I vow to finally read the MANY fat-accepting books I already own but put aside in favor of diet books I already owned to reread.

And I vow to eat more cookies and other baked goods that taste good, not only are good for me. In fact, as I type I have a batch of raisin-chocolate chip banana bran muffins in the oven, made from this recipe. They're very filling and delicious as well as healthier than bakery made muffins, made with all kinds of artificial ingredients. One of these babies for breakfast and I'm good for hours before even looking for lunch!

And Now Low-Salt Is BAD?

Low-salt diet increases heart attack risk, say Danish researchers

Study finds that reducing sodium intake leads to 2.5 percent jump in cholesterol levels and 7 percent increase in trigylcerides

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, November 11 2011, 1:34 PM

To salt or not to salt? For decades health experts have been warning people to put down the salt shaker to reduce their risks of heart attack and stroke. But a new study finds that while cutting back on salt does in fact lower blood pressure, it can also boost cholesterol levels.

Published Wednesday, Danish researchers report in the American Journal of Hypertension that reducing sodium consumption led to a one percent drop in blood pressure in people who had normal pressure readings, and a 3.5 percent drop in those with hypertension.

But at the same time, people who reduced their salt intake also saw a 2.5 percent jump in cholesterol levels and a 7 percent increase in trigylcerides, which can boost risks for heart disease and diabetes.

ESSENTIALS: SALT

Experts told health news site LiveScience that while the findings warrant further research, it's too soon to overturn the recommendations to keep salt levels low just yet. Too much sodium has been found to lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and strokes, yet most people are consuming more than three times the daily minimum requirement of 1,500 mg of sodium a day.

In general, being mindful of sodium in your diet can increase your intake of fresh vs. canned or processed foods, which can give your overall health a boost. The Mayo Clinic also advises to opt for low sodium foods and use fresh herbs to flavor meals. The American Heart Association recommends selecting unsalted nuts, and avoiding adding salt and canned vegetables in favor of homemade dishes.
AFP/Relaxnews

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/low-salt-diet-increases-heart-attack-risk-danish-researchers-article-1.976251

Take THAT, Dr. W (my cardiologist)!!!

Measures of clinical adiposity and cardiovascular risk

5 May, 11 | by Alistair Lindsay

The importance of clinical measures of adiposity (such as body-mass index [BMI], waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio) in calculating cardiovascular risk remains controversial.  For example, both the World Health Organisation and the United States National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommend assessment of BMI, however several common cardiovascular disease risk scores (e.g. PROCAM) omit adiposity measures.  In this analysis, the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration analysed records from 58 prospective studies to determine the separate and combined associations of BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio with the risk of first-onset cardiovascular disease.

Individual records were analysed from 221,934 people in 17 countries; serial adiposity measurements were made in 63,821 people.  Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated per 1 standard deviation (SD) higher baseline values for three clinical adiposity measurements: BMI (1 SD = 4.56kg/m2), waist circumference (1 SD=12.6cm), and waist-to-hip ratio (1 SD=0.083).  Hazard ratios for cardiovascular disease were 1.23 for BMI, 1.27 for waist circumference, and 1.25 for waist-to-hip ratio.  Of note, adding information on BMI, waist circumferece, or waist-to-hip ratio to a cardiovascular disease risk prediction model using conventional risk factors did not significantly improve risk prediction, even when the three measures were considered in combination.

Conclusions:

In this analysis of 58 prospective studies, clinical measures of adiposity, such as BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio, did not improve cardiovascular disease risk prediction over the use of conventional risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol.

• The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration.  Separate and combined associations of body-mass index and abdominal adiposity with cardiovascular disease: collaborative analysis of 58 prospective studies.  Lancet 2011; 377:1085-1095.

Quickie Update

Still following McDougall but in Rice Diet sized portions in my quest to get twenty pounds off between cardiologist appointments. Eating under 1000 calories of mainly vegetables and some oatmeal a day really isn't all that healthy, but my primary care doc said I can most likely treat this cardiologist visit as the last one, so if starving myself for a month will prevent another one of his tirades, so be it. My primary care doc was very satisfied with my weight loss when he saw me three weeks ago, even though it was only 7 pounds down in three months. He knows how hard it is for this sluggish body of mine to release even half a pound! To know that I've lost almost 45 pounds since last summer is miraculous!

After the appointment next week I'll go back to regular McDougall foods, mostly MWLP, in large enough amounts that I'm not constantly thinking and dreaming about food. If I regain some of those pounds, so be it, but starvation dieting to please a doctor is NOT a healthy way to live.

How?!?!

How am I going to lose more than half my current weight and not wind up in the hospital, nuthouse, or cemetery?

I'm following a very low fat, starch based food plan, keeping the sodium under 2000 mg a day and calories between 1200 - 1400.

I'm getting 5 to 6 hours of cardio exercise each week, much of it in my target heart rate zone. I mix it up between different videos, the treadmill and exercise bike. Many of the videos incorporate weight and toning work, too.

I'm using meditation and relaxation techniques, along with an ACE inhibitor, to keep my blood pressure down, and sometimes it goes a little too low, so low I'm about to pass out.

I try get eight hours of sleep a night, but some days life just interferes and I only get 6 or 7. I've been making up for it on weekends.

And my weight still keeps yo-yoing between the same 4 pound weight range that's still 140 pounds above my target weight, as set by the cardiologist in December. I haven't lost any weight in about a month.

Is it any wonder why the doc recommended weight loss surgery? Well, that plus the fact that as a surgeon he's knife happy, and probably gets a kick back from everyone he sends for a consult to one of the surgeons in our hospital's brand new bariatric surgery section, modeled after the cardio-vascular center the hospital built for him and brought in big bucks to the institution.

My food is very bland, meals are unenjoyable, and there's not much of them so I spend the majority of my days - and nights - hungry. My hypoglycemia is acting up, some mornings I wake up so dizzy I can barely walk and find my fasting blood sugars 20 or more points below the normal fasting levels. Between the low blood pressure, low blood sugars, and under active thyroid that my doctor refuses to treat more aggressively I'm barely functional!

My body is falling apart. Because of the degenerative arthritis in my back, many of the upper body movements cause pain in my shoulders, neck and upper back and the sciatica causes pains in my right hip and leg. My feet, malformed to begin with (Thanks, Mom and Nana!), are even worse, with the constant pounding on them from various exercises aggravating the arthritis, fasciitis, tendinitis, and now my podiatrist says some bones are shifting out of position, causing not just more pain but affecting my gait, which aggravates the back and hips even more. My already wide feet are now wider than any shoe on the market so no matter what I wear they don't fit right and cause even more pain.

I consider constantly changing food plans, going for a calorie counting plan like Richard Simmons' Foodmover, or even following the DASH diet, which is not only very low sodium but low calorie, too. Then I look at what foods I have available to me, not just in the local stores but what money I have in my weekly food budget to buy them, and sigh. I looked at chicken breasts yesterday that were loaded with bright yellow blobs of fat and whose packages had small puddles of "chicken juice" comprised of not just blood but I'm assuming the saline solution injected into most chicken breasts on the market today. Ground beef is constantly getting recalled for bacterial contamination, and besides, it's usually too high in fat content to be considered a healthy food, and the lower fat version is too expensive. I know, I could buy a cheaper grade and par boil it and pour off the fatty water, but then I'm left with meat that tastes blander than the packaging it's in.

I could also switch to a vegan plan that relies more on fresh vegetables - greens, mostly - and fruits and restricts starches, but I can't even find enough ingredients for one decent bowl of salad per week and certainly won't be able to find enough to make a pound of salad a day. Then there's another plan that limits you to around 1000 calories a day of mostly starches and fruit and later limited veggies. I don't think all that fruit would be good for my hypoglycemia. I may as well stick with the vegan food plan I'm already on and just pay really close attention to portion size and maybe lower the calories down to 1000 - 1200 a day again.

My hypothyroidism is as bad as it's ever been, with my PCP refusing to raise my med dosage for fear of "blowing out" my thyroid. He refuses to believe the fact that hypothyroid can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, muscle aches, rosacea (Another ailment of mine that keeps me indoors a lot) and of course, weight gain.

I have no energy for anything by the time I finish my daily exercise. I have no mental energy to read or do any of my former hobbies, and I fall asleep at the drop of a hat, making watching even a tv show impossible unless I record it and play it back in bits and pieces. Most days I don't even get dressed.

So I plod along, constantly hungry and in pain, constantly tired and frustrated. I dread each upcoming doctor's appointment because I know I'll get reprimanded for the lack of weight loss each time, whether I lose or not. I have no energy to leave the house most days, and the few times I do it's never for anything pleasant, but for mundane things like grocery shopping or going to the laundromat or to care for the elderly relative with Alzheimer's disease. Her mind is getting worse, her finances dwindling, and we know that sooner or later we'll be forced to move in with her to care for her. Sure, she can afford live-in homemakers right now, but refuses them. We're lucky she allowed us to hire one to come for a few hours on weekdays for the winter. But her money won't last forever, so to keep her safe we'll either have to place her in a nursing home or more in. Since every nursing home we interviewed told us the same thing the assisted living place did last September, that they can't force her to stay there if she doesn't want to, we know we'll never be able to place her. With our luck, as soon as she got settled in and we were lucky enough to sell her house, she'll decide to go home, so the house has to stay, at least for a year, yet we can't afford to care for both her house and pay for a nursing home (Over $3000 a month), so moving in with her is the lesser of the financial evils. This is a woman without a friend in the world, one whose entire family hates her (Including us) and hates to spend any time with, even before she started showing Alzheimer's symptoms, a woman whose own husband used to yell at her to stop being such a bitch to her sister and go to her room until after we left if she couldn't keep a civil tongue in her head. When he husband died there was no one left to reign her in and she berated her sister, my m-i-l, until the day she died. She only has one other nephew and one niece, both live out of state, and both want nothing to do with her. Because we live the closest, her care fell to us. My husband is trying to find a way to have someone else - ANYONE else - take over, maybe make her a ward of the state, but so far no luck. He refuses to accept legal guardianship because of all the paperwork involved, mostly the financial side of keeping every receipt to prove how every penny of her money gets spent. She can't even remember to eat, much less where she spends money each week, which is why we only leave a small amount of cash in her place and took away her checkbook after she once handed it over to a contractor who knocked on her door and offered to do work for her and told him to make out any check he needed. We had to threaten him with legal action to get him to leave her alone and stop coming around. See why she needs someone to be with her as much as possible? I dread the day we have to move in with her.

Heck, I dread many things in life right now. This isn't the life I thought I would be living when I was younger. This isn't even half as good a life I was living even five years ago, five MONTHS ago. Sometimes the alternative does look better, to twist the old saying around.

Since our last visit . . .

To see what happened to me since the last time I posted here, see my LiveJournal Blog, Suzy Bear's Wretched Mess.

I remember I stopped posting here when it became difficult to do so, but now the LJ software is giving this old computer fits so I may move over to here now. Blogger does seem to be working faster and offer more than LJ, that's for sure. Over the next week or so I'll work on fixing this place up a little better. I already removed the long lists of links off the side so it already looks a bit less cluttered.