What are the routine options available to you, as a heart patient, when you go and see your cardiologist?
If your doctor belongs to mainstream medicine, you will probably have three options available depending on the severity of your arterial blockage: take statin medication, undergo angioplasty procedure, and go under knife in a heart by-pass operation.
Statin drugs simply do not work, as proven in several clinical studies. Besides, statins have also been shown to cause harmful side effects. If statins work, heart disease would not be the number one killer in the United States for several years now.
Angioplasty is the popular procedure today because it is less invasive and more economical compared to a heart by-pass. But the ballooned arteries in the former procedure, and the implanted arteries in the latter, are still subject to inflammation and future blockage, if nothing is done to prevent arterial inflammation from taking place.
What benefits does a heart patient get with angioplasty?
A 2009 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine will give you surprising results. Of the 2400 subjects of this study, half were given drug medications like statins, aspirins, and beta-blockers. The other half underwent angioplasty aside from the drug therapy they were receiving.
Five years later, it was found out by the researchers that there was no significant difference in the rates of death, heart attack, or other major events between subjects of the two groups. And these findings are not an isolated case. Another similar study, by the Department of Veteran Affairs in 2007, also came up with the same results.
The results of a recent study involving 150 angioplasty patients and 17 cardiologists, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, are even more interesting.
On the patients' side, almost 90% believed angioplasty reduced their risk of heart attack, and nearly 75% believed without the angioplasty, they risk having an attack within the next five years.
[I believe it is good for patients to have a positive attitude on their treatment. It helps in many cases.]
On the other hand, what do the cardiologists in the study think? Over 60% believed that angioplasty would simply relieve the symptoms being experienced by the patients, like shortness of breath. And 40% said they would go ahead with the procedure even if it will not provide any benefit to the patient! [I do not know how these findings affect you.]
It's a vicious cycle for angioplasty patients. After a stent has been inserted, they have to take drugs to treat the scarring and inflammation resulting from the insertion. The stents, inserted to reduce the risk of blood clots, might actually cause blood clots. To offset this, patients are given blood thinners, and with it comes the risk of bleeding, which can be fatal. Would you be comfortable with this expensive invasive procedure, especially if you are aware that this will only provide symptomatic relief? You probably have no choice if you are already in a life or death situation.
Yes, you read it right. Interpretation: The medical industry [hospitals, doctors, auxilliary fields] and the pharmarceutical/medical supplies and equipment industries, need patients to survive. The medical industry is torn between humanitarian service and corporate profit, which oftentimes dictates why a patient has to take useless medications, or undergoes unnecessary procedures.
But do not despair, the situation is not that hopeless. Heart disease, like diabetes, can be reversed and cured, especially if given attention at its early stage. But you won't find the solutions within mainstream medicine because there's no money to be made from it. Get it from Dr. Dwight Lundell, a veteran heart surgeon of 25 years who gave up his lucrative practice because he believed the true cause of heart disease and its cure cannot be found within the medical establishment. [read What Makes Dr. Dwight Lundell So Controversial]
I strongly recommend investing in a copy of his book, The Cure For Heart Disease, to get the very important information he revealed on reversing heart disease. It won't even cost you as much as your visit to your cardiologist. Besides, you'll have access to Dr. Lundell should you want to raise some questions.
Here is another information loaded reference book, The Doctor's Heart Cure, by a naturopathic doctor, if you want more weighty opinions outside of mainstream medicine.
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