lipitor

[labeng]

Hello!

Some of you may or may not remember me, I haven’t posted in any of the forums for quite some time. I had 2 level Prodisc Surgery back in November of 2003. I had an experience a little over a year ago that I would like to share, anyone with high cholesterol should read it. I apologize ahead of time for it being a little lengthy.

Prior to my back surgery in 2003, I had my pre-surgical physical. At the time the doctor told me that I was very healthy but my cholesterol was quite high, I don’t recall the exact numbers now but the total was in the neighborhood of 280 or so. I brushed it off, I was about to have major spine surgery and my cholesterol was the least of my concerns at the time. Besides, I was totally against taking any kind of statin drug because of a few articles that I had read claiming that high cholesterol was mainly a medical community conspiracy and that it wasn’t necessarily bad for you.

In May of 2007 I had a physical and again I was lectured about my cholesterol, this time it was 299 in spite of my efforts at a healthy lifestyle. The doctor essentially scared me into finally start taking Vytorin. I was 49 at the time and years ago my father had bypass surgery when he was in his mid fifties, I did not want that….no way!

A few months later, (Aug. 2007) I was on the treadmill warming up into a speed walk. I had been doing 5 mile race-walking 4 days a week. After around a mile into it I realized that I didn’t feel right, I can’t explain it really, other than I just didn’t feel right. No pain or anything like that, just a sensation of not being well. It wasn’t enough to make me stop but I was concerned. This happened a few more times so I went to the doctor and explained it. He examined me and said that I was in great shape. My blood pressure has always been low, around 105/65 and my heart rate at rest is 50-54. He said that he wanted me to go to a cardiologist anyway and get a stress test since my cholesterol was high for some time and also because my father had heart disease.

I had gotten a referral from a family member that works at Hoag Hospital here in Newport Beach. I was fortunate to get an appointment with one of the most respected cardiologists here in the area. I went 15 minutes on an average 9-minute treadmill stress test. And even at that, my heart rate never did get up over 150, 2 minutes after the test was over it was back into the 70’s. I felt fine during the whole test. After looking at the results, he said that I have a great capacity for exercise and that my heart is in great shape. So I left there figuring that it would be the last time that I would ever see him.

A few weeks had gone by and I continued with my regular exercise regime. Once in a while I would get that same sensation of not feeling right but I learned to quit worrying about it since I had a clean bill of health. Then one Friday afternoon, while I was working on the computer, I started getting a pain in my left chest that would sometimes go up into my neck. It would last a few seconds and then fade away, then return a few minutes later and do the same. We had plans of driving to Arizona the following morning, which included a 4-hour drive across the California desert. Suddenly I had visions of being out in the middle of nowhere and having a heart attack! I discussed it with my wife and that evening we decided to go over to the hospital and have it checked out, just in case.

I have to tell you, there is no such thing as waiting in the ER when you say “chest pain” Within 3 minutes I was hooked up to tubes wires and hoses, I had a portable xray machine taking pictures and people drawing blood from both arms. All of this while being drilled by various doctors and nurses on how I was feeling and what the exact symptoms were. They slapped a nitro patch on and by that time the pains had subsided. After 4 hours of tests, the ER doctor came in and said that everything was perfect, EKG, chest Xrays, and enzymes, nothing wrong. So we left the hospital and I was embarrassed, I felt like the boy who cried wolf, I was starting to feel like a hypochondriac

I had explained that Friday night of chest pains and the ER to my family doctor. He told me that I need to stop thinking about heart attacks, that with all the talk of cholesterol, statin drugs and stress tests, It may have been psychologically induced pain. He said: “you have an athletic heart, stop worrying about it. Go home, relax and have a glass of wine”.

Another few weeks went by, it was in late October, and it was around 4:30 in the morning when I started my workout. About 2 miles into my warm up on the treadmill, my chest suddenly felt very tight, not painful, just real tight. I was breathing normally for that speed but wasn’t getting satisfied, like as if I were up real high in altitude. I stopped right away, it scared me. As soon as I stopped everything went back to normal. I called and made an appointment with the cardiologist who I thought I would never see again. He set me up for another stress test but this time they would do an echocardiogram before and right after getting off the treadmill. He said that it would definitely show if there were any sign of strain on the heart.

So a week later I did the second stress test and again passed without any indication of a heart problem on their equipment. During the test I told him that I could feel that sensation of not being well but everything looked good on the EKG so he had me continue on. When it was over I told him that I didn’t care what the tests revealed, I knew something was not right. I am very in tune with my body and I just knew something was wrong. He gave me the option of having an angiogram, which would show 100 percent if there were any cardiovascular problems. I thought about it but not for very long, I knew it would be the only way to prove me wrong. So the angiogram was scheduled for the following Friday, Nov. 16th.

They gave me a tranquilizer and numbed the area in the groin where they go in. I could not directly see the monitor at that time; he had it turned directly at him so he could see it better as he was fishing the catheter up the artery. He told me that it was in place and that he was going to send in the dye that would fill up the cardiac arteries and make them visible on the monitor. I heard him say: “that’s not good”. He turned the monitor towards me and I could now see all of the arteries, he pointed out a 90-95% blockage right at a bifurcated intersection in the left anterior descending artery. They refer to it as the ‘widow maker’ He asked how I was feeling, I told him okay. He said that he couldn’t put in a stint because of it being in the middle of the bifurcation. He said that because of where the blockage was, being that it was so high up and feeding such a large section of heart, that if I were to have a heart attack, I would die. Possibly even right then and there in the hospital. Essentially I was lying there lucky to be alive. He said he feared a massive heart attack at any moment.

I could see the look of surprise on his face as so many things went racing through my mind, he was as shocked about it as I. They immediately took me up to the ICU and put me on a nitro IV drip. They babysat me until the following morning at 6:00 AM when they did an open-heart bypass, they bumped the scheduled patient for that morning to the next day. The surgeon discussed the operation with me beforehand. They couldn’t do a minimally invasive bypass because of size and location, which could end up being more risky than an open-heart approach if the bypass had failed.

Even though I suspected that there was something wrong after passing every test, this caught me completely off guard, this I was not expecting. I thought that at the very most, maybe he would find a small narrowed artery that medication could solve. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be having emergency open-heart surgery at age 49. Horribly scary, I will say though at least it all happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to think and worry about it too much.

No one knows why such a severe blockage could not be detected by all of the tests, or why I felt great most of the time. Fortunately I was persistent, I knew there was something wrong. I realize that I am lucky to be here writing this today. I also realize that had I listened to that first doctor that told me that I needed to go on statins almost 6 years ago, I may have escaped having my chest split open like a lobster! It’s been proven that an LDL in the 70’s can actually reverse the effects of atherosclerosis caused by cholesterol.

I wish that I did not have to take statin drugs because there is no question, there are side effects and it can be damaging to the liver so it must be monitored properly. I realize that because of some of the side effects, some people can’t tolerate them. But many people can tolerate them. Listen people, if you do have high cholesterol, you need to get it down! Do not wait like I did! Do not brush it off and think “that won’t happen to me” Diet and exercise alone is sometimes not enough if you are genetically high. Do what you have to but get it down, don’t wait!!!

Regards,
Larry

[ans]

Larry, I hope that you are OK now. What you went through is truly scary.

When you had your scares, did the ER docs take your cardiac enzymes e.g. troponin levels to determine if you were having a heart attack?

I agree with you to take this seriously. Not working out is almost enough to have me risk a one/two level fusion as I'm over 55.

You take care. - Allan

[Kathy]

This is such a scary issue, as I know lots of 'healthy people' (people who exercise, eat right, don't smoke and don't drink) who have had heart attacks. My father in law can not take statins and has to have stints put in at least yearly. He takes some other stuff, and is very healthy, yet his genetics are such that he has high cholesterol. With his history, I sent my husband a few years back to get his cholesterol checked (he was in his mid-30's, so I figured it was time). When it came back in the 230's, I was up his rear about his diet and getting it down.

Well, a couple weeks later, I had a physical and the dr. checked my cholesterol. I thought, I'm too young for high cholesterol, I was 25 at the time. Well, the results came back, and my cholesterol was in the 280's! I tried diet and exercise, I'm not over weight or anything. I couldn't get it down on my own. I also have a family history of high cholesterol, with both my mom and dad having it. I now take Vytorin daily and it has lowered it considerably. My hubby also takes Vytorin and it works for him too. I have tried periodically to get off the Vytorin and get it lowered, but it is always too high without it. I have tried herbal remedies, all to no avail. So, I just take the Vytorin. It's a hard choice to take it or not, with all the bad side effects; but the other side of the coin is a possible heart attack, heart damage or death... a double edged sword.

Larry- So glad that you are ok and are alive to speak about it! My uncle just suffered a massive heart attack two weeks ago and lived through it. Luckily, one of his sons had stopped by to visit and called 911. They said without his son there that he would have died. He is in his early 50's, skinny, healthy eater, active, a light drinker, and a non-smoker. Just goes to show that heart attacks don't discriminate.

Best of luck to all of you in making the cholesterol decision,
Kathy

[dshobbies]

Hi Larry,

It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry that you had to have what I've heard is a very hard surgery but am very glad you stayed with it. Often, we are our own best advocates and you knew something was wrong. It's your body, end of discussion.

I am glad to see your back is doing well and that all else seems to be fine. i hope you stay that course.

Dale

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

Your story is a classic one for heart disease in young males. Your persistence paid off though as most males would be in denial all the way to the grave with those symptoms. I also wish I would have taken care of my high cholesterol when I was younger. I have been on medications for years now but knew of my condition in my latter 20's. I am thankful my cholesterol and triglycerides are within a tolerable range currently.

Glad to hear you are doing well.

Terry Newton

[labeng]

You are right on Kathy, it is a double edge sword. I would also like to add that if anyone is taking a statin, to also start taking CoQ10 as a supplement, it can really help with muscle aches and it’s good for the heart. It’s an enzyme that your body produces naturally but taking statins will deplete it. I take 200mg/day. Sam’s Club or Costco is about the cheapest that I have found.

Allan, they did do all of those blood tests while I was in the ER that night but they all came back negative. I never did have a heart attack, there is no way I would have survived one. But it’s my understanding that even angina chest pain can be detected by the level of those enzymes….usually…..

I was pretty much back to normal in 3-4 months, but worked extremely hard to achieve that. I was in the cardiac rehab gym almost everyday. It really paid off though, that and being only 49 at the time made for a quick recovery. At 4 months out it was like it never even happened. I am at 15 months now and still feel great heart wise

I wish I could say the same for my back. Aside for some on and off facet pain over the years, which I managed quite well with occasional rhizotomies, my back has been pretty good….up until last June. I started having some new pain symptoms and have found out that my L4-L5 Prodisc is autofusing, which is causing stenosis. Not sure what I am going to do at this point, just waiting to see.

Regards,
Larry

[mmglobal]

Larry, thanks for posting. Your story hits close to home as I've been watching slightly high cholesterol for several years now. It's not high enough that they are recommending statins, but it's definitely out of normal range. Your story is a great wake-up call for me to take this all a little more seriously.

BTW, you'll find photos of Larry on the GPN pages from the Jan 06 GPN Party and the Sept 04 Zeegers Lunchoen and Party. I'm happy to say that in 2009 he looks even fitter. (A little more salt in the beard, but not as much as me!) You'll also find many other forum regulars and a bunch of oldies. (A few name changes... Utah back is now Annapurna. Feelinfine is no Nomorepain.)