My Top 10 Takeaways From My Heart Disease - “It may not be your fault but it is your problem”

Introduction

This is the 3rd article in my new series called “How I Beat 3 Chronic Diseases; For Now At Least”. There is an accompanying short video which sets out 5 of the 10 takeaways from my Heart Disease.

The first article, which introduces this series, is called “Top 10 Takeaways From My 3 Chronic Diseases” and tells how a routine blood test changed the course of my life when I was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer, heart and autoimmune disease, all within 12 months. Article 2 tells my Cancer Story and look out for my autoimmune disease story in article 4. There are short videos with “5 of the Top 10 Takeaways” for each article.

Heart Disease

Heart disease has been prominent in my life, after my dad died from a massive heart attack at the relatively young age of 47, back in 1975; I was 20 at the time. So conscious of the risks from heart disease, I sought to be as healthy as I could be mainly through exercise; rugby in my twenties, running in my thirties, triathlon in my forties and fifties and back to running and now walking in my sixties.

Shortly after returning to Ireland from the USA in Sept. 2016, a good friend introduced me to David Bobbett [Irish Heart Disease Awareness] who introduced me to Ivor Cummins [The Fat Emperor]. Their key message which resonated with me was to know if you have heart disease and they encouraged me to get a Coronary Artery Calcium Scan. This test measures and shows your true level of heart disease; like a CT scan it takes images of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, to check for the buildup of calcified plaque. You need a doctor to refer you for a scan and I didn’t have one when I returned to Ireland. I didn’t have any urgent needs, or at least that’s what I thought.?

CAC Scan

A trip to Africa, to climb Kilimanjaro with my good friend Pat Falvey, in 2018,?required a yellow fever jab and so I had to go find a doctor for the first time. I also arranged a routine blood test and asked for a CAC Scan referral. Interestingly the doctor was not aware of this scan and didn’t think she could refer me. She said she would investigate and the next day, I got a call confirming my scan, which I had a few days later. Similar to my PSA Score in my Cancer Story, I was shocked when my CAC Score was in the moderately high category between mild and high. Given how fit and active I was, I didn’t see this coming.

Blood Test Results

When the blood test results came back, I got a call from my GP expressing serious concern about my “cholesterol” and he recommended I go on a statin immediately. Demonstrating genuine concern, he actually said to me “if you were my father I’d be very worried about you”. I told him that I had arranged to meet a cardiologist, though this was because of my CAC score and not my Cholesterol.

I’m not going to get into Cholesterol in this article other than to say you need to know and understand what your cholesterol profile is telling you. A major problem with science and medicine is that everything by its nature is complex so my intention moving forward is to explain complicated, technical, medical topics in a way which is easier to understand. I’m working on Cholesterol and will shortly produce content on it, so look out for that.

Cardiologist

Heart Disease - “It may not be your fault but it is your problem”; that is what my cardiologist said to me recently. While I don’t like that this is my problem, I totally agree with him. While I lean on my cardiologist quite a bit, ultimately my heart disease problem is my responsibility and thus I have to manage it with appropriate actions.

Root Cause of My Disease

Because I thought I had a healthy lifestyle, I really wanted to try and understand the root cause of my heart disease [i.e. calcified arteries]. It’s difficult to say categorically that X is the root cause; all I can do based on my knowledge and the advice and support I get from experts like my cardiologist and others [I’ll elaborate on these in the future] is hypothesise the likely causes. I believe the following factors are the most likely causes in my case:

• Nutrition [i.e. my diet] over many years is the primary culprit.
• Stress and anxiety is a major contributing factor.
• Lp(a) “ell pee ay” is a little known but very important molecule in the blood.
• Exercise is also a possible contributor in two ways. I may have done too much and pushed myself too hard! There is growing concern about this possibility and this is a key message for all endurance athletes out there. Outside of my regular exercise, I tended to sit for a long periods of time and not get up and move nearly enough.?

All I will say about Lp(a) in this article is, if like me you have heart disease, you need to know your Lp(a) score. There is a genetical link here with some 20% of the population having a relatively high score. I will return to this subject in the future.

Top 10 Takeaways From My Heart Disease

1. Heart Disease may not be your fault but it is your problem.
2. Know your CAC score. If you suspect you have heart disease this scan/score will give you the definitive answer.
3. Monitor your cholesterol profile over time; trends are key and I’ll return to this important subject in the future.
4. Know your Lp(a) score especially if you have heart disease. For everyone else, 1 in 5 have a high score so don’t play Russian roulette.
5. If you have heart disease or you think you may have it, preventing further deterioration is both very important and very possible.
6. Knowledge about heart disease is very important if you have heart disease.
7. Exercise is a key part of the solution and there’s an optimal level you should do.
8. Nutrition is probably the most important factor, if your diet is currently sub-optimal.
9. Stress is also a major factor so it’s very important to develop strategies to reduce it.
10. Like cancer, I had to make some key transformative but sustainable lifestyle changes to deal with my heart disease, which I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

Important Note: I strongly recommend that you continue to work with your medical?professionals, as I do with my cardiologist, oncologist and urologist.

I hope you found this article both interesting and helpful. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. If you could, like and share it; that would be brilliant too. Why not connect with me or follow me and look out for article 2 coming very soon.

Message me or email me at [email protected]. Thank You. Jim