Pico de Orizaba

Pico de Orizaba
Taken from Huatusco, Veracruz, the closest town to Margarita's family's ranch.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

MTHFR (what soes that look like to you?) Typical correspondence with my mother

Over a year ago, Jenny had recommended my joining the Magnesium group on Facebook because of my vitamin D deficiency and possibly other things... With the heart attack she insisted I check my homocystein levels and with the results she insisted on my joining the MTHFR gene mutation group on Facebook (my membership is "pending") and connected me with the MTHFR website from which I was connected with the articles on gene reading I sent you last night. Actually, the coordinator of that website connected me with those articles in response to what I wrote that I'm sharing with you below. Inspired by her response, I decided to post the same piece on the Magnesium group on Facebook... later on to realize that I had originally planned upon placing it on th Facebook MTHFR mutation group, but that I'm not yet a member and that I had confused the former with the magnesium group and mistakenly placed the piece on their wall... In any case, I received a whole bunch of responses. The one that annoyed me most or gained my attention most was by an abnoxious person who insisted that I had a sulfur deficiency and posted a bunch of links on the issue of sulfur deficiency and the consequences. Needless to say, I've read about sulfur deficiencies and am greatful to have been connected to another aspect of human health, illness, medicine and science. And, no, I
don't believe I'm a case of sulfur deficiency based upon various physical and dietary reasons. But, I do find it interesting just how a genetic difference or physiological changes or traumas caused by major surgery can affect our health and nutritional standing later on in life.

And think about this: do you know just how important is a person's medical/health history for doctors and hospitals before ever treating the patient? Having been with Beth and I through all of those examinations, doctors, surgeries and hospital case workers, I'm sure you are very familiar with the answer.

So, how the hell could it be possible that the Cardiologist and no other doctor I've met with here in Guadalajara gives a flying fish about anything I tell them about my history, my allergies, my diet etc?

Most humans supposedly aren't born with a gene mutation. So, the doctors or medical industry can treat them as if they are all alike, prescribing the same homogenous remedies... as if the patient is a clone of the other patients... But, what happens when you encounter a "mutant"... someone who is physiological or genetically different?

Remember one thing: I could have died on that table the evening of March 14th... I went into convulsions. My pulse shot up from 68 to 200 before I lost consciousness. My cardiologist said it was an alergic reaction to the iodine in the image resolution ink they placed in my heart. He said that this had NEVER happened in his experience and that the statistics are less than 10% of angiogram patients having an alergic reaction to the ink. Margarita said that when this was happening, he ran out of the "operating room" in search of someone... that someone was an expert in these types of reactions... but what would have occurred had that person not been available on time... or if they couldn't control the reaction?

And why in the name of... doesn't this experience cause the cardiologist to listen to what I tell him about my asthma, slight bleeding problems related to my J-Pouch, my dehydration issue connected with my not having a rectum or a large intestine, my history of allergic reactions to Aspirin, and my duodenitis connected with FAP/Gardners? When you read about the pharmaceuticals he prescribed, it is stated "if the patient is asthmatic or has respiratory problems"... "if the patient has hemoraging or bleeding problems"... if the patient suffers from diarrhea or dehidration problems..." "If the patient has issues with alergies in general..." And, he said, "considering your history, I see absolutely no problem with your taking any of the medications I prescribed."

I don't know if I sent you the Australian article explaining that alergic reactions to the image resonance ink during angiograms has nothing to do with iodine or allergies to shellfish or seafood. It has totally to do with IF THE PATIENT HAS A HISTORY OF A BROAD SWATH OF
ALLERGIES... And the cardiologists and nurses must be aware of that increased risk before the patient is placed within the angiogram.

That said, it is very poor medicine on the part of the cardiologist that he blatantly ignores my medical history and my allergy history.

Now to what I wrote the other day:

Hi, I was recommended by a friend after sharing with her my homocysteine results. On the 12th of March I had a very surprising first heart attack, although I had just spent a week on the beach and two weeks eating purely fish and a year avoiding all refined carbs, wheat products, industrial vegetable oils... The day I had my heart attack I thought it was an allergic reaction to soybean oil in dark chocolate and did 72 fast push-ups, 20 wheel abdominals and ran 3 miles smack in the middle. Then my bp dropped precipitously... The following day I had my routine blood tests to check my glucose levels, LDL, VLDL and HDL (56)... And discovered my AST and DHL (Lactic Acid in the blood) high, that told me that I had had a heart attack 24 hours earlier. The following day I visited with a cardiologist and later on that day I had an angiogram and two angioplasties (stents) placed in the non-heart attack arteries. In the middle of placing the second stent, I had an allergic reaction causing my heart rate to rise from 68 to 200... My body went into convulsions and I blacked out... When I awakened I couldn't see for a few hours... Before the reaction began, the cardiologist exclaimed that I wasn't hypertensive and I claimed that it must be related to my high consumption of ground flaxseeds... which he promptly ignored... Where am I going with this?

The cardiologist and I (along with my mother who works in a hospital in Flemington NJ; I live in Guadalajara Mexico) are in a battle over my desire to NOT take statins... I asked him, if my numbers are perfect, then why lower the cholesterol and triglycerides? And, why did the heart attack cause my bp to remain so low (on average of 106/70 +/-)? He said that it must be because I'm very healthy due to my exercise and diet and how much weight I had lost over the year (actually between March and July 2014; 33 pounds). So, why the heart attack?

My facebook friend and sufferer of MTHRF along with other problems suggested I have my homocysteine taken and it just came back, so she connected me with you, since the results say that I'm fine. 9.83... 

Let me tell you about me: I was diagnosed with asthma as a child. But supposedly I outgrew that. I do not and have never believed that... always with respiration and sinus problems. I have had horrible reaction to apple cider and alcohol (now I know that it is a reaction to sulfates). Was always allergic to cats (although my mother had us with cats throughout my childhood... and old carpets and old furniture) and she had this horrible habit of smoking in the car with the windows closed on hot summer days... In New York City I visited a free asthma clinic and was told that I wasn't asthmatic, but what I suffered from was seasonal allergies. As a child, my mother would take me to Channel Home Center, where I couldn't breath from the fumes of the treated wood... But, I'm the only one who experiences that. I'm also the only one who reacts to bamboo dust and water damage mold spores... A year ago I prepared a bone broth with cows feet, ribs and oxtail and within hours I inflated with 7 pounds of water... I looked like a gelatin bag. That's when I learned about under-methylation and that, in order for me to decrease the inflamation I must rapidly increase my methionine levels by eating muscle meat like chicken breast... nothing near the bone...

I inhereted my father's and paternal grandmothers FAP/Gardners Syndrome gene and had my colon removed at the age of 13 in 1982. Just after 9/11 I had my rectum removed and part of my ileum constructed as a J-Pouch. A year later I moved to Mexico and have suffered horribly when eating any fruit, vegetable or nut/seed high in fiber... until I removed the wheat products from my diet. I have never been diagnosed for celiac... there are many tests you cannot find here in Mexico.  And, in order to test for celiac, first I must return to eating wheat, which I refuse to do, since I know the difference...

Although Jenny sent me Vitamin D 10,000mgs 2 years ago when I was suffering horrible from muscle fatigue and no longer could run and my Vitamin D was at 19, and although my diet is so wonderful and I run without my shirt at midday etc, I find my Vitamin D levels dropping again (now at 27, down from 33 in November). The cardiologists don't want to talk about Vitamin D... And I'm certain they don't want to talk about magnesium or Vitamin C or CoEnzyme Q10... And, here in
Mexico you can't encounter adequate suppliments... 

And here I am being warned that if I don't take Statins, and blood thinners and Beta Blockers and Effient, I will have a massive heart attack since the stents will become blocked within 6 months... And Jenny wants me to look into MTHFR and I'm wondering just how much any of this truly matters... Ok, not so much as that... But, how much of this truly is in my hands now, although I am very diligent and proactive...

And what do you think after having read all of this? I'm almost 46-years-old... and waiting for the next lightning bolt.


"Ross you letter contains so much information, much of what I am familiar with. But it does scare me and I only hope that you are making the correct decisions about how you are managing health decisions. I will try to be as supportive as I can be and try to get you the suppliments that you have requested. But I have to say that I am not 100% convinced that you are able and can be the best diagnostician for all the correct decisions necessary." 


And in Mexico more than 50% of the diagnostic tests available in the U.S. are non-existent... such as testing for Celiac, for magnesium deficiencies, for the different sizes of HDL and LDL cholesterol... for gene mutations... So, as far as can see, I have only one option... and that is to inform myself the best I can and go with that...

A year ago, when I had my vitamin Bs tested, my blood was sent to the U.S. (California), not even to Mexico City where Mexico's best University and medical schools are... Do you understand what that means? If they don't have the ability to test B1, B3 and B6 in Mexico, what type of medical services can they offer? Truthfully, what type of care will one receive?

And you turn all of this writing into the conclusion that I'm the one failing here? Explain to me; what in all that I've written you over the past 2 weeks put it into your head that my cardiologist is doing all that he can to understand what caused the heart attack and what could cause the next one?

As I said, it could have been caused by a sudden gingivitis inflamation that was occurring those two weeks. It could have been caused by general inflamation from an allergic reaction to soybean oil in the chocolate I ate that morning (and the night before) that caused the constricting of the heart arteries... But, he has absolutely no interest in how and why I have so many allergic reactions.

Why is it that I ALWAYS feel like I must spell it out for you letter by letter and you still throw it in my face? Watch "Lorenzo's Oil".  Lorenzo's parents were NOT doctors or scientists but they were forced to work and think that way because the people in their field (for political reasons) were NOT doing all they could for solving the problem. Is there something in what I just wrote that you don't
understand? 

Maybe in 1985, when I was diagnosed with ADD and put on Ridilin and felt optimistic for 2 weeks and said that I wanted to go to college and study microbiology and one day work for NIH on a cure for cancer, had you not responded horribly cruly and sarcastically, "today you want to be a doctor... tomorrow an astronaut, or a fireman or the president of the United States or a rock star!" and said, "well, I think you can be whatever you put your mind to..." maybe we would have avoided a lot of train wrecks and even this past heart attack."

Have a great vacation with those you don't have to tell how to live their lives.

And, by the way, what do you think Bruce would have said to Alan had Alan said to him, "Dad, one day I want to work in the White House..."? Do you believe that just anyone gets to work in the White House? And, yes, if you recall, Alan worked directly with Hillary Clinton when Bill was president...

If you heard another parent respond to their child exactly how you responded to me when for the first time I believed I could make it to college and be someone, don't you think you would have been horrified for the child? And how many concerns would have passed through your mind?

Afterall, my father had been the valedictorian of his Brooklyn College graduating class and then awarded the very prestigious Fullbright scholarship to Purdue University and became a very talented eye doctor.

WHY DID YOU HAVE SUCH THE NEED TO BELITTLE ME AND DESTROY MY SELF-ESTEME WITH SUCH HORRIBLE SARCASTIC COMMENTS?

What is wrong with you?


Saturday, March 28, 2015

Second Opinions for Avoiding Medical Malpractice...

What is a "second opinion" and what is a "medical malpractice"?  Must we pay for another doctor for a second opinion?  Must we await for someone to lose their sight or a vital organ or the ability for them to use their mind or for them to lose all of their money in surgeries and medication or for them to die and then for the court of law to determine against the medical practitioner for a truly bad medical experience to have been "medical malpractice"?  Must we live our lives that way?  Must we lose that time and that energy and that money and that life, if we could have done it differently?

I still have my gallbladder 9 years after having been warned that I must remove it to prevent a medical emergency.  Today I have an uninflamed gallbladder free of gallstones... no thanks to doctors; no thanks to pharmaceuticals; no thanks to a surgery I couldn't afford at the time.  

Today we went to the park to walk (Margarita ran the 3.1 miles Nicolas and I walked) and I started having pain in my left ankle and my right knee... similar to what happened 2.5 years ago I connected with my Vitamin D deficiency.  However, what I've been reading, and that Jenny mentioned a year ago, is that Magnesium is responsible for the synthesis of vitamin D into a usable hormone in the kidneys... We brought a blanket and books to the park. Yesterday I downloaded two E-Books from the ReMag website (the Magnesium "supplement" Jenny uses for her MTHFR gene mutation) and brought the one on Magnesium with me. Dr. Carolyn Dean MD, ND http://drcarolyndean.com/ explains that beta blockers, like Statins cause a deficiency in both Magnesium and
CoEnzyme Q10 (and I just realized that I didn't ask you to purchase that... what is most necessary in energy metabolism in the heart muscle; maybe I didn't find it without gluten...)  I'm going to look into the Beta Blockers and magnesium deficiency...

I'm also going to send you the e-book...  I suggest you read it just so you can have an idea what she says about magnesium deficiency and too much calcium.  There are a lot of doctors and scientists stating their opinions on Statins...  But, you must ask where they get their information for stating these opinions.  And why would they lie...? So many doctors from around the world explaining how they went from prescribing Statins to the decision to stop pushing statins on their patients... Opinions.  And they mention scientific studies published in very prestigious scientific journals such as "the doctors..." or "Lancet" or "The New England..." or... that claim negligent benefits from Statins and not enough for outweighing the side-effects...

But, when Pfizer earns $10billion per year just on Lipitor (what my cardiologist prescribed me), they have a ton of money for lobbying, visiting doctors and giving them a free lunch, paying publicity, bribing the FDA to look the other way (on exaggerations), giving nice gifts to research scientists and for altering outcomes and criticism of those outcomes... Afterall, when it is pharmaceutical, it is private business and they must answer to their shareholders... meaning that their stocks MUST rise.  This isn't just my opinion.  It is information repeated by many highly respected and awarded doctors, scientists and science journalists...  Opinion... Everyone has an opinion, even the scientists... even the CEOs of Merck... But, the question is, how much of those opinions are based on truth or based on need... for "towing the line", for being "politically correct", for increasing company value?  And, as I'm sure you will agree, I don't have the background for researching the truth behind what these highly respected people are saying... And, if we had to investigate all of the information that we read (for instance, in the newspapers) to believe that they are not leaving out information, warping information, exaggerating or lying, then we wouldn't open a newspaper EVER...  How can you verify the truth behind anything you read or hear?  


Because a style of healthcare is popular and followed by so many doctors, doesn't make it's the correct proceedure.  If you read the beginning of the Dr. Dean piece and if you read Gary Taubes and if you read Edu Erasmus (never cited by anyone of the new critics, which I find strange... or maybe they consider him old school) you will read the same thing:

In medical school "they" did not teach us health or nutrition (we know no more about what to eat than does the average person).  They just taught us illness.  And what they taught us is that illness has two treatments; 1) medication;
2) surgery.  


And another thing you will read repeatedly is that ost medical schools are highly funded by the pharmaceutical corporations; that they have a vested interest in the medical students learning about using the drugs they sell.  And, since magnesium and other natural means of maintaining health canNOT be patented, there is no money in that for the pharmaceuticals.  What's most important is that curing the patient is bad for company revenues and stock building...  Health does NOT sell.  Illness sells, especially if you can keep the person alive and medicated... for a lifetime.

"Ross, you are hypertensive.  Hypertension is for life.  It has no symptoms.  Meaning that you can feel perfectly fine and still be on the verge of having a heart attack.  So, this means that you must take medication for managing your hypertension... FOR LIFE." 


That's what the cardiologist told me 2+ years ago.  Who taught him that mantra and why?  The most recent cardiologist told me that I am NOT hypertensive.  Who's wrong?  


The most recent cardiologist told me I must take Aspirin for the rest of my life.  There is a whole lot of information that claims that Aspirin therapy actually is unrecommendable due to its risk of causing hemorages and peptic ulcers... Now, if you think about FAP/Gardners and our risk of cancer in the stomach or the duodenum and if you understand that having stomach ulcers greatly increases your risk of developing cancer... must I continue?  But, there are medications for the peptic ulcers, such as proton pump inhibitors, that also greatly increase stomach cancer in FAP patients...

And, no, this is not opinion.  This is based upon scientific research. No, it is not my scientific research.  I'm not a research scientist... But, I spend much more time looking up scientific research than do you and, I imagine many doctors, since they don't have the time.  I don't have the option.

But, what has occured is that all of the doctors with whom I've visited over the past year (1 cardiologist, 1 gastroenterologist and 1 endocrinologist) have claimed that my understanding of diet and health has greatly improved my health in ways the don't see with their patients...  If it had been up to them, I would have been on a whole bunch of unnecessary prescription drugs, although they claim that they wouldn't change a thing I've done with my research based diet over the past year.  But, truthfully, it is not up to them.  It's up to me.  It's my body and I will protect it from the irresponsibility of a doctor. 


Do you think that's being unreasonable?  But, how many times have you heard about asking for second opiniones?  How many times have you read about medical malpractice? Isn't it correct that what I'm doing is "getting a second opinion" for avoiding the best I can "medical malpractice"?

Remember, I still have my Gallbladder...

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The 4 causes of Atherosclerosis... and cancer... and...

1) Stress

2) glycation of LDL cholesterol (sugar coating), 

while glycation is most prevalently caused by too much glucose in the bloodstream (see cataracts and brittle corneas), glycation also called AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-Product) is caused by smoking, smoke, smoked food, grilling your food and slightly burning what you fry or bake...  The toasted crust of bread causes AGEs and the browning of meat... You could worry about caramelizing onions.  However, the sulfur in onions and garlic helps gather the oxidized or glycated molecules and transport them to the liver or kidneys for processing...  So, it is very important that you eat lots of onions and garlic (that includes leeks, shallots, chives) if you are concerned that your protein or oil may have been ever so slightly burned...  (smoke factor in oil)

3) Oxidation of LDL Cholesterol

4) chronic inflamation

The issue isn't with cholesterol.  It is with what it is you are doing that causes the cholesterol to change...  and that causes your body to not transport the damaged cells or the damaged molecules (the altered cholesterol) out of the body or that causes your body to cease being able to reconstitute the oxidated LDL cholesterol... that's where anti-oxidants come into play.  You didn't know that oxidized cholesterol can be de-oxidized?

In the U.S. you can test your blood for amount of oxidized LDL cholesterol and for sizes of LDL and HDL cholesterol; what causes damage to the endothelial cells of the arteries (atherosclerosis) are small LDL and HDL particals...  

In Mexico, we can't test for oxidized cholesterol, nor can we test for their sizes.  And bring me a cardiologist that understands this and/or cares a diddle...  

And let the battle begin...

We are now entering into a very personal battle of understanding and explaining...  It's about perceptions of responsibility, carelessness and timing...  My uncle Henry, the marathon runner developed heart problems that didn't kill him, because he was killed by a drunk driver...  But, when you tell people that you had a heart attack, the immediate thought is that you are unhealthy... or irresponsible or careless...  Look up "Caballo Blanco" and how he died... He was an ultramarathoner and the hero in the wonderful journalistic piece "Born to Run"... He died of a certain form of heart attack, in the middle of his daily run.  They found him dead with his running shoes on, sitting alongside a stream...  How old was he? 56? 

What happens if my body was in the process of clearing the plaques from my arteries and one of the plaques broke off and blocked the small heart artery causing the heart attack?  The proponents of the plant-based diet show in their animation of arteriosclerosis and sudden heart attacks that what causes the heart attack is the sudden breaking away of arterial plaque causing the obstruction...  They say you can be VERY healthy and suddenly die in the street...  Nice scare tactic.  But, I don't know if they are so wrong about scaring us into becoming vegans.  The question is, how accurate is their science?

If you look through the scientific studies and look through the internet, you'll find many different political-dietary groups attacking the medical tendency towards leaning so heavily on synthetic/chemical (pharmaceutical) solutions to organic problems...  Each political-nutritional group points their finger at their competitor for dietary-scientific reason.  However, each also claims that their diet protects the patient from having to use Statins and that Statins can be avoided or should be avoided... if you follow their diet...  

The moment we become dependent upon chemical medicine for resolving organic issues within our bodies, we cease placing our complete attention upon what we ingest...  You may disagree saying that I take statins and I follow the Mediterranean Diet.  And I may ask you, "Do you truly know what consists of the Mediterranean Diet?  Do you truly understand what it means?  How often do you 'cheat'?"  And, if your statins and blood thinners are doing most of the work and why you pay so much for them, must you also intentionally consume natural or whole foods that also lower your cholesterol or triglycerides and that naturally thin your blood?  If you are taking supplimental anti-oxidents, must you also drink pomegranate juice?  I will be cooking with fresh turmeric in most of my dishes from now on.  Do you know about turmeric?  Do you know about Nopal Cactus Paddles and Prickly Pears?  Did you know that Turmeric and Prickly Pear and their nopal cactus paddles compete for the world's greatest natural anti-inflamatories and blood thinners?  And, not only are they such, the red prickly pear has the highest level of the anti-oxidant Betalain found on earth...  So, what will it be; diet or prescription?  What is more reliable and what is safer?  Of course you can't know if you don't do the reading... And it helps so much more if scientists not connected with the pharmaceutical companies are researching and publishing on the subject and you can find their articles in the National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine...

But, I can assure you of one thing:  Your doctor promotor of Statins and Beta Blockers and Blood Thinners has not looked this up on the internet and has not read the articles found in the National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine.  So, who is wrong?

What is the battle?

Where do we go from here?  How do we go from here?

And it always seems that I cut the writing short.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

navegating a possibly imaginary mine field...

It has been assumed that the heart attack was a frightening experience or that I find myself in a scary situation... Or, better yet, I'm scared.  Truthfully, I don't feel that way... Worried is a better descriptor of my experience.  Worried about what?

Ok.  Let's look at this closely.  What does the heart attack mean for me?  What does it mean for Margarita.  Before the heart attack, what was occuring in our lives...?

Truthfully, you've gotta look closely at the heart attack... primarily away from the science or medicine of a heart attack.  The actual experience... the significance.  For some reason, with the heart attack everything changes.  If it occurred once, now it can occur again.  And what does that signify if it occurs again?  What we don't understand is that from the very first day of our lives, the heart attack could occur for the first time.  Looking at today's statistics, we should understand that it was imminent and about to occur at any given time, especially after the age of 30.  Why didn't we live our lives preventing the heart attack then?  And, now that we had it, it could re-occur at any given moment?

Do you know how the heart attack will be caused?  By having sex with my wife... Too much excitement...?  By suddenly becoming angry? By having decided to eat eggs this morning?  I just saw a video promoting a plant-based diet that Bill Clinton is following that claims in the beginning that it has nothing to do with whether or not you are healthy or whether or not you have high levels of cholesterol in your blood.  You may have perfect blood tests and look perfect.  But, today you ate a hamburger and something tilted a scale suddenly and the saturated fat from that hamburger combined with your egg breakfast a few hours earlier created a massive clot unexistent a day earlier and BAM! you are dead on the sidewalk between the lunch counter and your office...  

Are you scared now?  Maybe if you saw the video and how they display the data... And, yes, they have very famous Ansel Keys era scientists explaining their theories...  

But, do you believe that becoming vegan will remove the possibilities from my mind?  Afterall, your liver produces most of the cholesterol that enters your blood stream.  You could have been born into a vegan lifestyle and still experience hypercholesterolemia...  and die of a heart attack at the age of 44...  
No, I'm not scared.  I'm worried.  I'm worried about all of those hidden land mines (that were always there) I must avoid, although they are invisible... Many may be imaginary... Many may be real...  Imagine that; an imaginary hidden landmine...  And what if you step on one of those?  Just a philosophical joke...

When I had my heart attack, I had just returned to Guadalajara from the Pacific coast... from the wonderful tourist/beach town of Sayulita, state of Nayarit an hour north of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco...  We had been eating purely fish for 2 weeks now... Encountered wonderful hiking trails for 3 hour hikes in the jungle in the hills along the coast and discovered hidden beaches.  It was marvelous...  Since Mexico was hit by a very rare March cold front, the weather was incredibly comfortable.  The bungalow we rented was very cozy.  I don't remember sleeping so well for 6 nights.  As you know, floating in the ocean greatly relaxes the body.  So, why would I have had a heart attack the day after returning to Guadalajara?

All of my blood tests have me extremely healthy at the blood-lipid level.  Even the cardiologist said that my numbers were perfect and that he doesn't know anyone who dropped so much triglycerides, cholesterol and pounds in a one year period... and probably the same diet that removed me from classification of hypertensive is what enabled me to survive my first heart attack...  

But, that's just it:  "First Heart Attack"...  Am I scared of the second?

When I had that first one, I did 72 push-ups, 20 llantitas and then ran 3 miles smack in the middle of the unknown crises... I did have suspicions... But, I didn't have that type of pain or heart palpitations that I recall...  I thought it was an alergic reaction...   and then became impatient; why I decided to do the push-ups and wheel abdominals...  

I want to do those push-ups today... But, I've gotta watch my step...  At any given moment, especially in the morning, I could have another heart attack.  And I will have that on my mind until the end of my life.  Is that scary?  No.  It is worrisome...  

What was the cause of the first heart attack?  Truthfully no one truly knows...  So, how can we prevent the second one?  

And, yes, we could say that it was caused by and abstruction... But, do we know if it was caused by arteriosclerosis plaques or by the sudden inflamation of the tissue around that small coronary artery?

Yes, my bp was higher than I would have liked it that morning.  But, not THAT high... it wasn't in the red.  It was around 140/100...  I've had it much higher than that and for a prolonged period of time.  After doing the push-ups and wheel abdominals it dropped ten points.  Before removing the refined carbohydrates, wheat and industrial vegetable oils, January 2014, my bp rose above 160 or 170 and caused edema of the lower extremities... or more...  For a year now, I haven't experienced edema.  In fact, I've probably removed most my silent inflamation...  Why did I have a heart attack now and not then?  

Could it have been caused by an infection that possibly originates from the suddenly reappeared gingivitis, that had disappeared in late 2013 when I started drinking chlorophyl and reappeared a few weeks ago?  The immunology #s appear in my blood tests for 15 months now... generally hinting towards leukemia or bone marrow cancer.  I've experienced much fatigue over the past 2.5 years.  But, I don't see the signs of cancer...  Just the confounding immunology numbers (Low or high Leukocytes, Neutrophyls, Monocytes low Immunoglobulin M, basophilia)...  

No, this is not paranoia.  I have all of the blood tests to back my concern.  It is frustration and worry.  And if I don't take this medication or suppliment?  And what if it had and has nothing to do with one or the other?

If you injure your leg horribly and it cannot be returned to health... no problem.  You live with that.  But you don't die from that.  If you injure your heart...

If you injure your heart...  

It seems that now anything can become a hidden landmine.  And I don't believe it matters if it is imaginary or not.  

Power struggles and conflicts of interests... back to the isolation chamber

Look, the Effient is for preventing a medical emergency with the stent... it is to prevent coagulation in the stent... The statins are for decreasing cholesterol production by the Liver... If Magnesium functions in the same way, yet decreases other medical risks, why not take the Magnesium? Afterall, 80% of Americans have a deficiency in Magnesium at the same time as an incredible increase in the related chronic diseases "of affluence"... But, who has a deficiency of Statins? It seems to me if "they" had their way, they would convince the U.S. government that, in order to prevent heart disease, children should be placed on Statins. Afterall, the plaque build up and the poor diet habits begin in childhood... I don't believe that "he" ate a hamburger or KFC and suddenly created a medical emergency.  However, deficiencies and toxic build-up along with plaque build up (not due to cholesterol but to LPa, VLDL, Calcium and oxidized LDL, the lack of sufficient HDL (or the right type of HDL) for transporting oxidized LDL and excess of LDL back to the Liver to be converted into bile...) gradually cause medical emergencies...

Like statins, I've read about Metaformin... But, I can't say that I paid a ton of attention to Metaformin. Contraversial drug treatments for diabetes don't interest me... What interests me is preventing, controlling or curing diabetes by removing what exacerbates it... You wouldn't be at odds with me if I told you how I think Bruce should "treat" his diabetes... But, you would be at odds with me if I had told you to tell Aunt Annabel to ignore the idea of going on chemotherapy... or what I'm saying about my not wanting to take Statins since I can take magnesium, hawthorn extract, pomegranate juice, cacao, turmeric and a whole bunch of other things for improving the health of my coronary arteries...

I just had my blood tested for Homocysteine which is supposedly the greatest marker for arteriosclerosis... You can check that claim.  We'll see what "they" tell me on Friday.  On the 2nd I receive the results of my Electrophoresis of Lipids. I do not know if I'll be able to interpret it... and the cardiologist will be extremely offended if I send him it...

This is not about waging war. In fact, the tension is pretty damn discouraging for me... It is about creating "peace of mind"... This is how I learned to take care of myself. I know you feel it unfair that I rehash all of your wrong doings... It's not about that. I lived a life. And that life was lived in a certain form... partially due to how I as a little boy responded to the situation... greatly due to how others responded to that situation. You weren't there with us and Uncle Stan. In ways I wasn't there either since it was Seth's statement that made me realize that what I remembered happening to Beth (projection due to dissociation) had actually happened to me.  And, yes, I wonder how I was as that 4-year-old child that so greatly got on Uncle Stan's nerves, so much so to warrant his wrath and violence within the circumstances... I also wonder about how much pressure I put upon you with my needs and how you lost your patience under such circumstances... However there were many things said and done and ignored that shouldn't have been...

In the end, I learned to live alone and to only believe in myself...  You would say that I was let down by many people... But, there comes a time when you realize that you canNOT risk being let down by others... you cannot risk the laziness or irresponsibility of others... Doctors can be horribly irresponsible and lazy. Yes lazy...  to read the updated studies... years after having graduated from Medical School with their specialty... Not enough time for reading the new journals... the line of appointments... every time a patient takes up too much time with their questions and concerns... and now there are patients waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes after their appointment scheduled...

A year ago "they" debunked 60 years of Ansel Keys influenced public policy relating to saturated fats and cholesterol... Decades of the FDA ignoring science and directly or indirectly protecting the billion dollar vegetable oil industry and the trillion dollar cholesterol lowering pharmaceutical industry. This came out in the NYTimes... in February... And then Sweden changed its dietary guidelines regarding saturated fat, cholesterol and refined carbs... and said that they highly doubted, even with the science backing them (the scientists) up, that the U.S. would change its guidelines... Why is this important? Because most countries health departments follow the U.S. lead, even if they are incorrect.

In England it is prohibited to combine Beta Blockers with another drug because of the high risk of causing diabetes. That prohibition does not exist in the U.S. And that's why I ask, "Aproved by Whom?" It may not be so important that statins are the only treatment approved by the FDA, just as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are the only treatments approved by the FDA for cancer... Does that make them correct?

Read Gary Taubes "Good Calories;Bad Calories"... He touches on a ton of contraversy between certain research institutes and the FDA... How certain scientific research was blatantly ignored since the 70s only to resurface ironically as a slap in the face in February 2014. The book was published well before 60 years of bad science, bad medicine and bad policy was turned on its head and published in the New York Times...

I wasn't reading this for prevention of an imminent heart attack. I was reading this for understanding how to truly eat healthfully, increase my energy, decrease my inflamation and finally decrease my size and weight... Nothing to do with statins or metaformin...

Truthfully, I don't believe I'm an idiot. But, I've been so isolated for so long, especially in my youth... Sheri was so good at isolating me... that it is difficult for me to be socially acceptable and accept so easily as do you... I guess you've gotta try and understand the monster you made or leave him alone.


Well, that is how I generally see myself when telling people about the affects of... refined carbs, sodas, wheat products, energy drinks, proton pump inhibitors (for relieving one of the affects of their poor dietary habits)... metaformin so that Bruce can continue eating what he wishes...  Isn't that the same with Statins?  Put the junk in my mouth... the statins will remove it from my blood or liver...  The
Gastroenterologist who referred me to the Cardiologist prescribed me a proton pump inhibitor (Omeprazol that seems to be being dumped in Mexico; even Costco had a sale on it).  And I told him, "You've gotta be kidding!  I don't have esophagitis or a hiatal hernia and studies
on FAP/Gardners patients with Helicobacter Pilori in their stomachs have a very high risk of developing cancer of the stomach if they take a Proton Pump Inhibitor..."  That's why I'm the monster. But, tell me, Who is the idiot?  Where the hell do I get my information from?

And yes, I will probably die well before you would consider it my time... maybe in the next year (24% of survivors of AMIs die in the first year after their first heart attack...).  But, I refuse to be anyone's idiot or pawn.

The difference between remembering and forgetting... Actually written at least a week earlier...

We could erase all of our horrible childhood memories... and recuperate the best we can from specific traumas.  We can also forgive ourselves for how we may have treated people... and the friends we may have denied... or even forgotten that we had forgiven ourselves for something and that something had passed between us that must be healed...  Maybe everything healed socially politically and we accepted the developmental mishaps... and now we are content, healthy and happy... and what is our life is our life and what passed... well that was our life too...  what can you do?  And maybe we don't remember everything... and we find ourselves forgetting little by little.  And, every-once-in-a-while something or someone resurfaces...

or when least expected and least indicated... during the least stressful period of the healthiest possible lifestyle... a heart attack reminds us that maybe something was not understood about us... and the situation...

"Doctor, can you tell me what was left unturned... what is it that I missed?  My acute myocardial infarction is a thing for the elderly... about years of wear-and-tear... since my numbers have been great for a while now..."

"Patient, I'm sorry, but things aren't always what they seem...  It may not have anything more to do than who was pulling on your heart strings...  Sometimes science fails us and we must revert to Tarot or Astrology or Ouija.  Have you thought about contacting your father about why, at the moment of obtaining all he had dreamed for himself, all of that was suddenly removed? He was a man of science, wasn't he?  It seems you inherited more than just FAP/Gardners from him.  You inherited the tendency of losing everything the moment of seemingly obtaining true success with others..."

And what does this have to do with the difference between remembering and forgetting?

Ya know there are many forms of memory and lack there of and related repercussions.

Actually, the idea appeared in my head because I hadn't wished a happy birthday to a friend of mine on the 10th of March (for some reason I've had many female friends born on the 10th).  We were in Sayulita for a week for Margarita's birthday and I intentionally avoided the internet.  The 11th we drove back to Guadalajara.  And my younger sister's birthday, March 12th, I had my acute myocardial infarction (not all heart attacks were created alike)...  Low stress, normal cholesterol, normal triglicerides, 2 weeks of eating purely fish... months of high consumption of ground flaxseeds etc, much aerobic exercise for a year... much floating in the waves for 6 days...... If we could go organic we would...  Peace brother... Peace sister... Love is all we need la la la la la

But in all seriousness...  

Today I decided to ask the friend some questions.  Since if anyone knows the adequate responses, she does.  But, she has her own intense problems and responsibilities...  So, I apologized for missing her birthday that I never miss and explained what was going on... and then worried about how she may have responded to having been oppressed with the question.  That's where the idea entered about the different sides of remembering and forgetting... remembering and forgetting people...

Remembering and forgetting information... events... reasons... why why why... and no how how how...  Do you remember that week in Sayulita?  I only remember the week afterwards!

I spend my days researching/investigating... trying to remember what I knew before the event, although I didn't really take heart disease seriously over the past year... afterall, I was removing all of the risk factors and the signs and numbers...  People considered me the one healthy person here and the man with the answers and the information...  And now they're asking "how is it possible?"

"YOU OF ALL PEOPLE???!!!"

I spend my days researching/investigating... and fatiguing and laying in bed or on the couch... and wondering and worrying... and worrying about what the cardiologist don't understand... and what happens to the body when the pharmaceuticals, in the name of helping, they hinder...  But, the cardiologists aren't "allowed" to worry about that side... since they aren't truly train for thinking about health...  They are just high-tech mechanics...  And, yes, we need all types of mechanics in this world.  But, one must not confuse themselves with chemist or alchemist... and even less-so with healer or GOD...

Acute Myocardial Infarction... normally occurs with the elderly... It's related to the aging of the outside heart tissue...  the outside heart arteries...  Most "epidemiologic" studies focus on age groups above 50 years, although people have had AMIs as early as 25 years...

I stumbled across a study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24581071from Purdue University (where my father walked out on his Fullbright Scholarship) that links accumulated childhood misfortune and child abuse to increased risk of AMIs...

Friday, March 20, 2015

Speaking of Bullies in 1982...

trying to jog your memory... the same year Todd had everyone calling me "Poor Boy"... but different school year.  Now we were in 8th grade.  Because Todd's mother wanted Todd to have more time to study for his bar mitzvah the convinced Rabbi Abraham to give Todd my date (June 19th; the day before my birthday) and moved me to November, which was a horrible injustice you can not imagine.  Do you remember the cast on my wrist during my Bar Mitzvah?  Do you wonder why... what happened?  Did I bring it on to myself...

Ok.  One October day in English class, I don't know what had gotten into John Kalmbach's head to start playing as he did.  But, suddenly he started saying out loud, "Ross, what did you say about Mike's mother!?"  Mike Szmanski (neighbor of the Cohns) was a class bully; not the worst one.  But, for some reason he liked to start fights.  Hence, Mike got up from his desk and walked straight up to me... I trying to play calm... and said, "what did you say about my mom?"  I'm sure he said some other words.  But, truthfully, I don't remember other than the important details.  And I said, "Nothing. John's trying start things," and he responded, "I hope not.  Or else!"  and he walked back to his desk and his friends...  And then John does it again, "You've gotta be kidding Ross!  Mike's mother did WHAT?"  This time, Mike returns, pushes my chest and says, "TODAY after school, in back of Rodney Carr's house at 4:30.  You better not chicken out! or I'll have to come find you."  

If I didn't go to fight (and I had never been in a fight before.  I wasn't a fighter.  I didn't know how to fight), I would hear from everyone the following day.  So, I went.  And I broke my hand on his cheek bone... But at first I didn't throw a punch, just blocked his.  And he started to laugh and then snare... because I wasn't throwing punches.  

I didn't call attention to the bullies.  The attended towards me.  I spent my school days trying to avoid them.  Remember Hank Toyes; occasional friend, occasional bully.  Why did he have me as a friend and then, for some reason, pull "older-brother/Sheri pranks" like, pull Ross's hood off his coat and play keep away from Ross in the 4th grade Old York School playground.  And when Ross lost his patience at being used as a joke in Monkey-in-the-middle (one of Sheri's favorite games), Hank decided to show the friends in the circle how he could be like Rocky Balboa...  

But, you would later accuse me of making-up these things or even later on, of bringing them onto me...  Did I bring on dad's death and the Familial Poliposis/Gardners Diseases, and Uncle Stan's violence when my father was dying in Sloan Kettering or Sheri's horrible possessiveness and jealousy of me when I was born...  You're who said, when I was a baby, she would pinch me to make me cry.  Now, what did she do when you weren't observing?  Do you know what she did on the corner with Chris Love waiting for the school bus when I first started going to Old York School with her?  Can you imagine?  She did the same with Barry and then with Craig when Barry left...  She had this incredible need to control and ostracize... me.  

Do you know what growing up with Sheri was like?  You remember what Mrs. what's her name said Sheri did to scare away her daughter (our baby sitter) and Sheri's reasoning.  But, you can't imagine just how abusive Sheri was towards me.  And Sheri says that she doesn't remember anything bad between us...  And everyone believes her.  I must be inventing.  

As if it wasn't bad enough to lose my father suddenly, inherit his disease, have my mother how you were.  Do you remember how you were? Be deathly scared of Uncle Stan who beat the shit out of me when you left us with him while visiting dad before he died... Why would the uncle beat his brother's son when his nephew's father was dying in the hospital? And be picked on in school from age 8 (2nd grade) and ignored by the teachers who allowed the children to ostracize me in class and on the playground...  I complained to you.  And you accused me of inventing...  

Why so much accusation of me inventing?  Was I truly a lier as a child?  Didn't you say that I was a very tranquil/calm toddler?  So, when did I suddenly become a lying bastard?

But, it was something I brought onto myself... like the gang-rape victim...

Accumulative Childhood Misfortune, AMI and a letter to my mother...

the accumulation of childhood misfortune also presents a lasting threat to cardiovascular conditions. Additive measures of childhood misfortune that capture child maltreatment, family structure, and the psychosocial environment have displayed a doseresponse effect: as the number of adversities a child experiences increases, so does the risk of heart disease and CVD risk factors

You found it strange that I found myself thinking about Todd Golub...  Don't you remember how he had the bullies and others call me "POOR BOY!" in 7th grade... When his mother Regina called to beg me to come to Todd's bar mitzvah (the 19th of June), he constantly got on the other phone and taunted me with his "POOR BOY" and the tone he used...  How could his mother have the nerve to continue asking me to attend the bar mitzvah.  Did she not have any idea how that chanting/taunting made me feel?  Why would I want to be next to that horrible person?  Do you not have any idea what it was like walking from one class to another hearing people call me poor boy?  I knew I was a poor boy...  He didn't have to say anything... For years I didn't want to bring friends to our house because we didn't have in the pantry what their parents had and I didn't have toys or games they had...  our furniture and carpets were horrible... And, no, I didn't blame you for that.  It was just a reality of the difference between how was our home and how was theirs.  And I also was greatly aware of the difference of having a living father and not having a living father...  Hank's parents were divorced.  But, there was money from his father.  He had his father visiting with him regularly...  And I know that this doesn't make much a difference in the end... No matter what I do, I will find myself HERE as I am, regardless of my intensions...  Yes, today is a bad day.  And no one can change it.  The damage was done.  And I'm not angry with you.  I don't believe you can escape the resentment...  I think it's something you must live with...  Everyone must take responsibility for why they receive certain slaps...  I won't lie to you.  I can't protect you from yourself.  I get tired and frustrated and I go away in order to be able to live the little I've created that's good in my life... to protect that from the negativity connected with others who, truthfully, never adequately helped construct my healthy life.  And then the heart attack...  And here we are.  communicating.  But, truthfully, I don't know how far this will go... I don't know if I will return to the health I knew of the past year...  I am almost certain I will be a certain form of geriatric at 46-years-old...  if they cause my liver to stop producing cholesterol...  That's what statins do; they destroy the liver enzymes responsible for producing cholesterol...

Did you go down the list of factors of childhood misfortune:

1) Death of Father
2) Female headed Family
3) Poor socio-economic Status
4)Childhood Abuse (uncle stan, Sheri, mother, peers)
5)Instable homelife
6)Insomnia
7)Disease (I was diagnosed at 12 and had my major surgery at 13)

Now, thinking about things you say the family believed or relatives said... What if this article was published in the 70s and you had Mary Beth and Henry read it...  What if you read it?  Wouldn't you all have approached me differently?

If these and other factors so greatly increase the risk of AMI, what other risks did they increase?  And I wouldn't be in a battle with "YOU" since at least 2006 and I wouldn't have found myself dedicating my damn blog to explanations in the hope of everyone suddenly understanding...  

But, now I had the heart attack (although healthy until Beth's birthday).  And now I stumbled across this article...  And now you and I are communicating.  And I know you worry about that day when I stop talking with you again.  Because it seems thats just the way I am.  Although I've ALWAYS warned or tried to explain why things were happening, giving the option of a different response...  But you are just a person... and you can only do so much or understand so much... and you have your own needs... AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST...

But, as you see, the past comes back to slap me in the face... to remind me that I can't escape it...  

It's funny, I'm a bastard... I was that way this time when your sister died... since I continued to ignore you and then I wrote very insensitive criticisms of you on my blog... and I could hear everyone calling me a bastard... You called me that when I was a small child... And, later on, when I became aware of the true significance of words, that it's true, I'm A BASTARD... and the study shows that that's where the AMI problems began; with my bastardome... with the death of my father...  and how that mother became when she became a young widow...  

What was life like as a BASTARD and a POOR BOY? 

I don't like going back there... But, we're trying so hard to understand the heart attack, since it makes so little sense within the circumstances... And now the article appeared

Childhood Misfortune and Acute Myocardial Infarction in Adulthood (an excerpt)

As stated in cummulated inequality (CI) theory, childhood is a particularly vulnerable period of the life course since it comprises a significant portion of cognitive, neural, and biological maturation (Maggi, Irwin, Siddiqi, & Hertzman, 2010). Research has demonstrated how childhood insults, such as parental loss, can alter biological functioning and neurological response systems (Luecken, 1998). Many physical ailments in later life still bear the imprint of childhood misfortune, illustrating its far-reaching grasp. Childhood misfortune can later manifest as adult obesity (Greenfield & Marks, 2009), cancer (Morton, Schafer, & Ferraro, 2012), and lung disease (Blackwell et al., 2001). Among the diseases studied in relation to childhood misfortune, the most pervasive in the United States remains CVD.

Investigating how childhood misfortune raises the risk of CVD has generally taken two approaches: analyzing unique or cumulative effects of misfortune. Among the commonly examined types of misfortune, such as Socio-Economic Scale (SES), poor childhood health, and a harsh family environment, many studies treat these as individual CVD risk factors (e.g., Beebe-Dimmer et al., 2004; Blackwell et al., 2001; Luecken, 1998). Although many of these childhood insults have independent effects, the accumulation of childhood misfortune also presents a lasting threat to cardiovascular conditions. Additive measures of childhood misfortune that capture child maltreatment, family structure, and the psychos2ocial environment have displayed a doseresponse effect: as the number of adversities a child experiences increases, so does the risk of heart disease and CVD risk factors (Dong et al., 2004; Felitti et al., 1998; Loucks et al., 2011).


Although many studies link childhood misfortune and CVD, we identified only a few that focused on AMI. O’Rand and Hamil-Luker (2005) have found that adults who experienced poor health, family instability, and low SES during childhood were at increased risk for AMI, and they extended their findings to show that childhood misfortune was more consequential for women than for men (Hamil-Luker & O’Rand, 2007). Whereas O’Rand and Hamil-Luker’s research identified how different clusters of misfortune raise AMI risk, Hallqvist and associates’ (2004) research focused on SES; they found that the life course trajectory of low SES, rooted in childhood, raises AMI risk in adulthood. These three studies paint a compelling picture of the influence of childhood misfortune on the risk of heart attack, but we draw attention to two notable risk factors that have not yet been incorporated in research on the topic.


First, a risk factor that merits attention is family history of heart disease. Previous research shows that having just one first-degree family member with ischemic heart disease doubles the risk of AMI, and the risk elevates further with two or more relatives with heart disease (Bertuzzi, Negri, Tavani, & La Vecchia, 2003). We are unaware, however, of any studies on childhood misfortune and AMI that account for family history of AMI or any type of CVD, potentially leading to an overestimation of the effect of childhood misfortune on AMI. In addition to this confounding relationship, childhood misfortune could also moderate or mediate the relationship between family history of AMI and AMI risk. Regardless of the relationship, we build upon prior literature by incorporating family history of AMI into our analyses.


Second, a growing body of literature has revealed that child maltreatment raises the risk of multiple health problems in adulthood, from ulcers (Springer, 2009) to cancer (Morton et al., 2012). Childhood experiences such as household financial strain or living in a fatherless home may have lasting effects on health, but many studies also point to the long-term effects due to traumatic experiences. Child maltreatment is often a traumatic experience that activates a host of physiological, psychological, and social responses—from secretion of glucocorticoids to social withdrawal. Despite substantial literature suggesting that child maltreatment influences cardiac health, we found only one published study examining the link between child maltreatment and AMI (Fuller-Thomson, Bejan, Hunter, Grundland, & Brennenstuhl, 2012). The authors examined one type of maltreatment—sexual abuse—and reported that it raised the risk of AMI for men but not for women. Most studies of sexual


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abuse and CVD, however, report that women are at greater risk (e.g., Goodwin, & Stein, 2004). The current study does not include measurement of sexual abuse per se, but we are able to capitalize on an extensive battery of questions tapping both physical and emotional abuse. As such, we examine whether AMI risk is related to an overall measure of accumulated misfortune (including maltreatment) or maltreatment as a special type of early misfortune.


Mechanisms of childhood misfortune Many life course scholars contend that childhood misfortune triggers a chain of risks, where one event increases the likelihood of other negative events. Experiencing childhood misfortune may propel an individual toward risky lifestyles and behaviors that lead to poor health. Childhood misfortune has been shown to increase the risk of smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, and obesity, each of which may mediate the relationship between childhood misfortune and adult health (Brown et al., 2010; Felitti et al., 1998; Greenfield & Marks, 2009).


Felitti and colleagues (1998) developed a conceptual model that includes both health behaviors and psychosocial factors as potential mediators of the childhood-adult health relationship. Applying this model to childhood misfortune and heart disease, Dong et al. (2004) found that both health behaviors and psychological risk factors mediated the relationship, with the latter, psychological risk factors, producing a stronger mediation effect. Therefore, the mechanisms linking childhood experiences to adult AMI may extend beyond the adult health behaviors, social support, and SES trajectories already identified by Hallqvist et al. (2004) and O’Rand and Hamil-Luker (2005). Prior research reveals that anxiety, locus of control, and family strain are potential mechanisms. Previous studies have reported associations between childhood misfortune and risk of anxiety, low locus of control, and familial relationship strain (Irving & Ferraro 2006; Kessler et al., 1997; Loucks et al., 2011). Anxiety, low locus of control, and family strain have also been associated with increased AMI risk (Kubzansky, Cole, Kawachi, Vokonas, & Sparrow, 2006; Rosengren et al., 2004). Bridging together this research, we investigate psychosocial factors of anxiety, locus of control, and family strain as potential mediators that may link childhood misfortune to adult AMI risk.1.


Selection issues Selection processes are also important for the study of AMI. Although AMI is often considered a disease of old age, many AMI studies also identify cases of early onset – as early as 25 years old (e.g., Fang, Alderman, Keenan, & Ayala, 2010). Moreover, a Swedish study of AMI survivors found that approximately one-fourth of adults who had an AMI between the ages of 25 and 55 died within 5 years (Isaksson et al., 2011). In the US, women under the age of 55 have the highest AMI mortality rates (Vaccarino et al., 2009). This type of mortality leads to a selection problem when studying the effects of childhood misfortune on AMI risk in adulthood (people die from an AMI or other causes before they are eligible


1We investigated anxiety instead of depression because Kubzansky et al. (2006) found that anxiety, but not depression, predicted AMI. Moreover, Davidson et al. (2005) contend that the effects of depression on CVD are more reliable when using clinical depression measures rather than self-reported depressive symptoms. The MIDUS only measures self-reported depressive symptoms.


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to be surveyed). This is an important consideration because previous studies of childhood misfortune and adult AMI rely on samples of adults aged 51 and older (Hallqvist et al., 2004; Hamil-Luker & O’Rand, 2007; O’Rand & Hamil-Luker, 2005). By restricting the sample to persons 51 years and older, existing AMI studies may be underestimating the effects of childhood misfortune, especially if those who were faced with early disadvantage and heart trouble did not survive until late middle age. As Vaccarino and colleagues note (1998), limiting samples to older populations can lead to underestimating the prevalence of AMI at younger ages as well as the potential effect of childhood misfortune on AMI risk. To account for those earlier heart attacks, we use an age-heterogeneous sample of adults.


To extend the literature, we propose three hypotheses:


H1 Childhood misfortune is associated with greater risk of AMI.


H2 Health lifestyle factors will mediate the relationship between childhood misfortune and AMI.


H3 Psychosocial factors will mediate the relationship between childhood misfortune and AMI.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Otra peregrinaciĆ³n con CuƱado

sĆ­... Sayulita estuvo buenisima para nosotros... como vino el frente frio... hizo muy comodo para nosotros... Descrubrimos varedas en la jungla que nos llevaron a playas escondidas...   Jueves, creĆ­ estaba yo con una reacciĆ³n alergica a soya en unos chocolates regalado a Margarita por Socorro.  Empeze con dolor en el pecho y mĆ”s fuerte en la garganta y en la mandibula.  Dije a Margarita que duraria solo media hora... hice 72 largatijas rĆ”pidas, 20 llantitas y fuimos a Metropolitano... Se pasĆ³ un rato durante la corrida pero volvio antes terminar los 5 kms...  Fuimos a MixUp por unas peliculas y empeze tener nausea.  Pasando por Costco, tuve que pararme para acostarme atras... sentĆ­ horrible.  Casi no llegue a la casa.  En la casa tome mi presiĆ³n; estaba como la tuya 88/50 con ritmo cardiaco a 50...  La sigiente maƱana Viernes fui al Chopo.  Recibi los resultados en la tarde... y los leĆ­ 100% infarto...  Pudiera haber sido cancer... pero, por el AST alto, para mi, fue claramente un infarto... ni modo...  LlamĆ³ Margarita al gastroenterologo quien nos conecto con un cardiologo intervencionista en Sabado quien me dijo acaba de tener un infarto y hicimos una cita en el hospital para la tarde... para hacer una angiograma en que ponen en tĆŗ corazon (por el arterio de la muƱeca) tinta de yodo para hacer un medio de contraste para ver como estĆ”n los arterios... Pero, los muy tontos no me preguntaron si tuve una historia de alergias a mariscos... En el medio de procediamiento, tuve una reaccion (cuando estaban ellos aldrentro de mi corazon; estaba yo despierto para dejar de respirar cuando me pidieron) al yodo y mi cuerpo entro en espasmas sin control y mi pulso subio de 68 a 200 y despues perdĆ­ conciencia.  Cuando despirte en la habitaciĆ³n no pude ver por unas horas... Estaba yo contestando y mirando con ojos abiertos, per sin ver Margarita o la enfermera...  Y todavia, nos cobraron los $7,500 de medicamentos usados para quitar la reacciĆ³n...  Imagino, si hubiera muerto por su falla, hubieron cobrado Margarita todavia...

Antes que empezĆ³ la reacciĆ³n, me sorprendio un comentario del cardiologo "sabes? no eres hipertenso... tĆŗ presiĆ³n es normal."  Imagino normalmente los hipertensos tienen una subida de presion cuando estĆ”n en la mesa de cirujia... Le dije que estaba yo tomando mucha linaza estos dĆ­as...

¿Que puedo decir?  Como sabes de diabetes y otras pedacimentos de salud, un infarto es un proceso de decadas... tal vez por geneticas... tal vez por demasiado estres prolongado... tal vez por decadas de descuido alimenticio...  Pero, es que mata 50% del poblaciĆ³n mundial...

En esto momento, no se como planear por un futuro para nadie, ni para mi...  Y que es mĆ”s triste para mi es que no se como planear para Margarita cuando no estoy... Ha hecho tantĆ­simo ella y merece mĆ”s...  Pero, desde Jueves, no existe nada de entusiasmo para comprar terrenos...  no es lĆ³gico pensar en las escuelas de los niƱos si pasa algo peor en San Marcos... La idea fue comprar 5 tareas de cafetal en tĆŗ nombre que devuelvarias poco a poco (o mucho a mucho)...  Pero, la "intervenciĆ³n" costo lo mismo que planeabamos para ti $107mil... y no se como voy estar en un mes... o si llego a 6 meses... pasan cosas... o tal vez solo es una forma de depresiĆ³n mia por no ver la salida... para planear buenas fantasias... como poner buena tierra en tĆŗ nombre...  Pero, ¿que hacer?

Tal vez no pasa nada mala en San Marcos, aunque es mi feria mĆ”s pesada que he dicho mĆ”s que una vez "si una feria me mataria, es San Marcos"...  Tal vez en Mayo nos encontramos entusiasmados... Tal vez recupero mi energia en 2 semanas...  Pero, no se nada.  Es muy temprano.

O demasiado tarde...

A letter to Dr. Jess Madden

I've been in contact with Jess for over a year now.  It was through her website that I finally understood the relationship between apple cider and alcohol that caused the same horrible allergic reaction; that I didn't have an allergy to apples or alcohol... That the connection between the alcohols and the apple cider is Sulfites... what is placed with the apples or the grapes or other fermentable fruits etc to control the formation of molds...  For years I had horrible reactions without understanding what was happening.  It was also through Jess that I understood that the issue of histamines or why some people find themselves taking anti-histamines through their lifetime is because those people lack a certain enzyme in their stomachs to metabolize naturally occuring histamines we obtain in certain amino acids in our diet.  Considering that Jess has battled with Celiac Disease and a constantly increasing array of issues with allergies since childhood and through medical school, I felt she was the most adequate person to ask how to approach the prescription of powerful pharmaceuticals for "reversing" arteriosclerosis and their risks...

Hi Jess, long time no communication.  Everything was going real well with the "diet" (off wheat products for a year now and my digestive tract is much different...  However, I've stumbled across ideas that if a person has problem with gluten, they probably will have problems with zein in corn... I mention this because my wife and I spent December at her family's home and on the road, where we found ourselves eating much corn tortillas and tamales and suddenly I found myself with very similar issues, as if the corn was mixed with wheat...

But, this is NOT why I write you today.  Thursday I had a heart attack... and I ran 3 miles in the middle of it...  Since I thought the pain in my throat and lower jaw was from an alergic reaction to soy in chocolates I ate in the morning (since "high quality" dark chocolate caused immediate headaches and joint pains in January, while I have no problems with pure cocoa beans), I didn't seek a cardiologist until Saturday, after receiving the results of bloodtests I had ordered on Friday that showed high AST and high Lactic Acid in my blood stream.  Saturday evening I had an angiogram done and had two stents placed in two of my heart arteries.  The artery that was blocked was the smallest of the arteries and the cardiologist said that it was too late to change that situation and that it really doesn't make much of a difference.  Towards the end of the placement of the stents, I had an allergic reaction to the Iodine placed in my heart for imaging...  My pulse increased from 68 to 200 and my body went into uncontrolable shivering/spasms... all because no one asked me if I have a history of allergies to clams...  I've eaten long-necked clams 3 times in my life and with the same horrible reaction...  It took them 30 minutes to control the reaction.  In the meanwhile I lost consciousness.  And when I came too afterwards, I couldn't see for a few hours...  Although the mishap was the falt of the doctors or the nurse who didn't ask me if I had alergies to seafood (a reaction to yodo in the image resonance ink supposedly is less than 10%, although this was the first time occurance for my intervention cardiologist), they still charged us for the cost of all of the medicine used to control the reaction.

Considering this mishap or the lack of asking questions before prescribing powerful drugs, I've put on hold taking any of the 4 drugs the cardiologist prescribed me yesterday...  One says, "not to be used if the patient has a history of asthma or respiratory problems"  But, the doctor didn't ask me if I was asthmatic (I was but supposedly ceased being diagnosable... my asthma has been called "Seasonal Asthma" and appears often in response to allergic reactions, like mold spores, dust particals and who knows what else triggers it...)  

Do you know anything about the risks of people using Statins and other drugs for arteriosclerosis who have a tendency towards allergies or who do not metabolize histamines adequately?  

As I'm sure you know, not taking the statins or the blood thinners or the platelet unstickers seems reckless on my part.  Then again, taking whatever drug prescribed by a doctor who I can assure you doesn't truly know all that's behind how those free samples given him by his pharmaceutical rep, also seems extremely reckless.

Ross