By Dr. Jeremy Fischer, a naturopathic doctor practicing in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.
Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. Thus I’ll be talking in the article about what can be done about it. We’re talking about heart attacks, atherosclerosis, angina, and stroke, but also associated disease such as arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and intermittent claudication. You may know that certain lifestyle factors have been established as the main causes of most cardiovascular heart disease. Thus, we can prevent most of the burden of heart disease by maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, exercising regularly, and eating minimal to moderate amounts of lean meats, and plenty of non-starchy vegetables.
I have personal experience with heart disease in the family, and most of my readers probably do as well. Both my grandfathers suffer/suffered from heart disease, and one died before I was even old enough to form good memories of him. The other still loves to eat huge steaks as often as he can, topped off with sides of mashed potatoes. Did I forget to mention vegetables? No, because there usually aren’t much. All this despite having had cardiac bypasses, multiple drugs to control his blood pressure and high cholesterol. He is also pretty sedentary. Here we have a recipe for disaster. I challenge you to consider the changes he could possibly make, and start implementing them in your own life.
But once you HAVE heart disease, is it too late? The good news is that we have many studies showing that many types of heart disease can be improved and even reversed. Energy and quality of life can be improved or restored. Drugs can often be discontinued. At Vitality Integrative Medicine, our approach is multifactorial – we first of course need to address the lifestyle factors that got you where you are currently. Thus, a thorough review of diet and exercise patterns, and continued guidance in this respect, is key. This helps stabilize your condition and prevents you from losing the gains that can be achieved from the other treatments employed.
Once that’s in place though, there are more aggressive, yet quite safe, treatments that can help restore normalcy in your vessels. This includes oral supplements, IV therapy, and EECP. IV therapy using a nutrient called phosphatidylcholine helps to remove cholesterol deposits from atherosclerotic plaque, and has been shown to reverse atherosclerosis. Another IV therapy, called EDTA chelation, helps to remove calcium and heavy metals which have been inappropriately deposited in the walls of your arteries. EDTA therapy has been studied at the National Institutes of Health and was shown to decrease cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.
A well-studied treatment called EECP (enhanced external counterpulsation) actually has been shown to help the heart regrow new blood vessels, thus resulting in a natural bypass around occluded atherosclerotic arteries. This has been shown to be very effective in the treatment of angina. It’s surprising to me that this treatment is not recommended by all cardiologists to their patients, given the tremendous benefit it has. Especially since it’s completely non-invasive, and very safe.
I hope this article has inspired those with heart disease, and those with family members who suffer from heart disease, to the possibilities that exist for greatly improved health. There is no time like the present to start making positive changes. If you would like more info about the therapies employed in my office, please call me at 424-278-4325.
I’m Dr. Jeremy Fischer and I practice integrative medicine in Los Angeles, including the areas of Beverly Hills, Burbank, Encino, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Van Nuys.
In good health,
Dr. Fischer
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