Hi all ... just looking for some non-medical feedback. 13 months ago I had a heart attack and an emergency 5-way bypass. My weight is nearly 360 (actually not too bad ... I lost 5 lbs on day 1!). Additionally, I have diabetes (glucophage, not insulin) ... and I think I love the Atkins diet. It's really exciting to find something that I really think will work for me .. I have hopes for a healthy life again ... like many other people, I saw the plan covered on the Nightly News.. and it seems to be a good fit. It feels right.

Anyway, I called my Cardiologist, who's vacationing with his wife for a week, I spoke with my Pulmonologist (I also have asthma, now under control), and my PA (Physicians Assistant ... a walking font of knowledge and patient handling skills... The Pulmonologist said this morning that the Atkins was probably fine, just keep your doctor's appraised, have blood and other tests done regularly ... just good "horse sense" answers..left his office feeling great. My PA's nurse called me, and said that Patty (the PA), said "absolutely not!" "Not with your cardiac history and diabetes" ... and, I really really want to stay with Atkins ..
Again, my Pulmonologist is away (actually he's in Las Vegas ... maybe I should call him there....naaaah.

Anyway, anybody out there have first hand knowledge of Atkins with a heart condition (which is really on the mend..no bad damage)..

I'm nearly 60 and partially bald. LOL...true though

Help!!

SteveF

Hi Steve,

If you read this thread you may feel reassured.

Also, if you go to our Diabetes Forum, you'll find many folk whose diabetes is under much better control since starting a low carb eating plan.

I wish you all the very best!

Rosebud

Steve, I'm sorry to say that if anyone had a heart attack following a low-carb way of eating, I'm sure they would have come back at least to warn us.

The problem is that the uneducated don't have a clue about low-carbing is and isn't. But, we know better, don't we?

Throw out all refined products, get plenty of fresh proteins, vegetables and excercise, and you will have found the fountain of youth!

One book you may enjoy reading is Dr. Bernstein's Diabetic Solution. You will fear no more.

Karen

Rosebud and Karen...thank you both for your reply, good words and good wishes.

For the first time in years, the Atkins has motivated me...I'm on day 3, and have been very very happy with the results so far. As an example, my blood sugar which has been in the 190's each morning, seems to settle itself in the 120's ... this after only THREE DAYS!! And though I can't weigh in here at home (scale doesn't go high enough), have to do it at the health club I've now visited all three days..my pants do feel looser this AM.

I've been spending a lot of time reading here, thanks for that thread by the way ... I'm going to stay with this.

Hopefully my cardiologist will be in my corner, too.

Thanx again,
Steve

Steve,

I don't have any experience doing Low Carb with diabetes or a heart condition BUT I wanted to wish you well on your way to better health; It sounds like you are on the right track with those blood sugar readings.

Did you ever make it to the Diabetes Forum here? I'll bet you will find a lot of help/support there as well.

Take good care!
Leslie

Steve-

Welcome and happy lcing! If you haven't yet, get the new version of Dr. Atkins book. I do believe he discusses diabetes in some depth. According to my doctor the controlled carbohydrate approach to eating was originally developed to help combat diabetes-so you are on the right track.

I do know that my cholesterol and triglicerides dropped like a rock in two weeks after starting this way of eating (woe).

Hopefully, your doctor will be supportive as well. Perhaps when he gets back from vacation you will have improved results to show him!

Paleoanth

Steve!

Welcome and enjoy your new way of life!

I see 3 different physicians and 2 of the 3 said they agreed with the LC WOE....hmmm I wonder if the fact that they all are or were Duke docs?

Anyway....personally, my total cholesterol might have gone up significantly (non-fasting....getting fasting done Monday)....but my triglycerides went down by more than 50%! (fasting 424 to non-fasting 201!).

My doc (the one that was not for Atkins ) wanted me to go on cholesterol lowering medications but agreed to a 3 month trial of letting me try with diet and exercise to lower my numbers without it.

Well, less than 3 months later I am 23 pounds lighter, taking less than half the anti-inflamatory med, have cut my HRT by 1/4, and have stablized my blood sugar. The only negative so far is my cholesterol is higher....and it's over 300! But...that was not a fasting reading...and I'm reading more and more about cholesterol not being the problem, tryglcerides are the bad guys!

Check with your doc....request a trial period. You might want to bring some info with you....nothing extensive, maybe a short article about a study or a sample of your intake and activity? It doesn't have to be 3 months, set up an appointment to have a recheck in about 6 weeks. If you've not had a check and lab work done recently, I'd ask for that to be done asap. (You want to know what your current levels are, so you can see your progress.)

Keep us informed! And post on here any time you need help or support....and buy the book...and read it thoroughly....the more informed you are the better!

Hi Steve!

I haven't had a heart attack, but I am a nearly 41 year old diabetic and I've been able to get off both my Glucophage and my blood pressure medication following low carb.
I've been low carbing for over 18 months and recently my doc sent me for a Thallium stress test. The result was that I appear to have no coronary artery disease at all.
Definitely check out the diabetes forum as well as the cholesterol/heart disease forum. I think you'll find a lot of very helpful information in both.
Congrats on your success so far!

A history of Coronary heart disease and Diabetes.
His numbers are improving. slowly.. as he really hasn't made the full commitment to live "without bread" at this point.
But its a beginning.
And My sister and I love him dearly..and would never have suggested that he try anything like this unless we felt the science can back it up.
Good Luck to you!
Poofie!

PoofieD, CindySue, Paleonth, Yesican ...(lol..what a group of names, lol) ... I thank you for sharing your stories and your support... I'm on day 4 1/2 now - and so far, I haven't cheated once...I even bought some Iced Monster Cupcakes for the grandkids ... and didn't even think of anything else in that bakery case (well, I thought about it), but resolve won out ... and I left.

Fourteen months ago I was on the Interstate near our home. I felt a heart attack coming on (I was drenched in sweat, and had not feeling in either arm) - though I though that left arm pain or the more classic symtoms would precurse a heart attack ... believe me, when it hits though, you just know! I bailed off the Interstate on an offramp which thank God was right there. I pulled immediately onto the shoulder of the offramp, onto the grass, (lol...the city is still suing me for that...and they are going to win...small price to pay!), anyway, I had my cell phone and called 911 ... and then I passed out. The fire rescue crew that found and resusitated me advised me in the emergency room that another couple of minutes and they could not have revived me at all. That evening, close to midnight, I had an emergency 5-way bypass ... and according to my wife, the doctor's told her I was "touch and go" ...

I thanked my nerosurgeon recently for saving my life, his answer was classic .. "I didn't save your life, Steve, God did. I just did the surgery". Classy answer.

Obviously, I made it ... but I still weigh the same as I weighed on October 30, 2001 ... the day my heart attacked me.

It's not that I'm so embarrassed by my weight ... sure it's uncomfortable and I'd prefer to be slim ... but I've lived with it for so many years, I've developed a very well infra-structured denial system ... But, I have to stay alive. My wife and I have been happily married for 38 years (or 39, lol ... I never remember), have two wonderful adult children who don't ask for money ... two life-affirming grandkids (did you ever hear that Grandchildren Are God's Gift To You ... For Not Killing Your Kids) ... a loving family, decent friends, fair financial success ... and I'm as unhappy as can be. What the Hell has stopped me so many times for keeping weight off. (I've lost more than 100 pounds twice in the last 10 years ... both times by near-starvation dieting)..and of course, I celebrated the weight losses at really good All You Can Stuff In Your Mouth Buffets.

Then I heard about Dr. Atkins ... through the tv coverage last week ... read his $24.95 hardcover book, and have spent hours and hours lurking around this site.

The Diet ... and this way of life feels right.

I'll start a journal soon, I think...but in the meantime, I've got to go out to Baker's (one of the good supermarket chains here in Omaha), and find something low carb that I can make for dinner...my wife's at some meeting tonight, and all I can find here is lot's of frozen dinners, Graham Crackers, fruits galore, oatmeal (that I'm going to miss), some really good bread that I got a few days ago (PreAtkins) and one of those great bread places that lure you in only to fill you up with carbohydrates.

SteveF

Listen, this is probably going to sound snooty or something. But, IMOHO, your PA (and I'm sure he is a very nice, well meaning person) isn't the one you should base this decision on. Do you know how much schooling you have to do to become a PA? My husband was going to become one just a few years ago and I was so surprised to find out that it's only a TWO YEAR PROGRAM. If your cardiologist and pulminologist are one board (hey, Dr. Atkins is a cardiologist, that counts right?) then I would side step the PA's advice. He is proabably like a lot of RNs - they know what they've been taught and they can regurgitate it on queue but they aren't really in the habit of ... well... I'll just leave it at that.

Please, if you are reading this post and are an RN or PA, please don't be offended. I know there are always exceptions to every generalization.


Heather

Heather .. thanx for the response. Yesterday, my cardiologist came back into town, and as I'd left a message with him, he returned my call last night.

I was under the impression that he was vacationing in Las Vegas, (that's where he usually goes)...however, he told me he had just spent the last last 5-days in Chicago ... at the AMA Cardiologist yearly meetings, or the Cardiac some kind of meeting..and the Atkins diet was the main thrust of the conversation.

Though Dr. Atkins did sponsor (and pay for) the newest research study on the Diet ... neither my doctor (who is a Fellow in the American Academy of Cardiologists), is board certified as a cardiac surgeon also ... basically someone who's got all the right credentials ... he said the overwhelming opinion of these cardiologist was that there was nothing "contra-indicative"..I love doctor's use of the language, there was nothing "contra-indicative" in the Atkins results. It's possible his group is going to do an "about-face" on high carbs/low fat ... he likes the Atkins diet..but he said, "Steve, I'm still old-school enough to advise you that I personally would not eat red meat and bacon every single day...break it up with chicken and fish...but go ahead with Atkins".

He wants to see me next Monday to do some blood-work, I would assume finding a baseline for HDL, LDL and blood sugar levels (I'm also non-insuline depentdent diabetic)...but he's on board... Grenn light, go with it.

As far as my PA is concerned, though she's a PA-C (board certified in internal medicine), and was an RN before she became a PA ... I agree with you ... though I love the woman, she a fabulous diagnostician and has the very best people skills I have ever seen in a health-care pro ... she didn't give me the answer I wanted. AND, now that Cardio as well as another doctor I see (actually a pulmonologist, who usually isn't questioned about this sort of this), both agree to do it.

And I'm doing it...and I love the diet ... this morning I was at the airport and had a cheese omlette with bacon, and for lunch I went to a good Indian restaurant, had the grilled chicken, left over the saffarin rice, didn't eat the great oven bread that they serve ... didn't tough the salad or the yoghurt-based dips...just chicken ... and I feel GREAT!! (My blood sugar which was in the high 190's-low 200's a week ago is stablizing in the 130's).. And the only thing different that I'm doing is staying away from carbs.

Good Thanksgiving - even without the stuffing

Steve

This is very interesting to me about the cardiologist's conference. A few years ago my grandfather (in his 80s) decided to go on Atkins and I was appalled!! I was so sure it was going to kick him directly into the grave. He has a long history of serious heart trouble. Numerous bybass surgeries, etc. He lost a lot of weight, didn't gain it back and ... well, he's still driving us all crazy as I write. My Grandmother has diabetes and refused to go near the whole thing. She's just been put in a home after a serious stroke and is not expected to live. Hmmmm..... my prediction... the medical community IS about to make an about face on this... and it's about time.

Heather

I was a nurse.. Okay.. Only an LPN..and knew Dr, and PA's.. the whole gamut.
I am to the point that what we have been doing in america hasn't worked, so I question everyone... LOL
So.. question away, its our lives and we PAY these folks for services.
Its time they learned that we make the decisions and they get to play along..if they can play nice :-)
Steve.. good luck with turning the house around to low carb. it does take time, but its worth the effort.
There is Donald on the board, he is a mentor..and does his cooking.
There is Richard and since he is alone.. he does his cooking..
So.. there are GUYS here for support..

Heather.. good to see you here. I hope to be like your grandfather someday,...around to drive em all nuts as long as I can have my mind and my health..its all good..and a gift!
Poofie!
PS.. the real name is Nedra..
Poofie is what my dad calls me.. LOL

I had a triple bypass in March of 2000 (and they wanted to do five, but two were too small for surgery). I have had diabetes since 1997. Here's my story:

Around 1991, my husband was told he would have to stop donating blood because his triglycerides were too high. He was sent to a specialist at a prominent medical university. The specialist encouraged him to begin a low-fat lifestyle, then turned to me and asked what I was doing there. I had just been there to accompany my husband, but I got the lecture, too.

I've been fat all my life. My mother put me on my first diet at age 5 and things have progressively worsened from then. Before she died (of diabetes & heart complications), she told me that she only did it because of pressure from my thinner relatives (uncles who thought they knew it all and told you so).

For over ten years we tried the low-fat way. I never lost any weight from a rather strict regimen. In 1997, I was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure - found when the eye doctor noticed damage. My blood sugars were fairly well-maintained with glipizide, but my blood pressure kept spiking higher and higher. I finally had a heart attack and triple bypass in March of 2000.

Even after the heart attack, my health was continuing to fail. My (new) doctor was giving me more and more meds every visit. In March of this year (2002), he told me there wasn't anything more he could do for me. I was likely to die within two years.

Discussing matters with my husband on the way home, we considered three options. My husband had lost 5 lbs with the Slim-Fast diet plan over the previous 7 months and thought that would be the healthiest way for me to go. I had a friend who had gone through the stomach stapling (twice) and that, though scary, had given her good weight loss. I had another friend who had been on Atkins for a few years and lost about 40 lbs with it.

I don't like artificial shakes/bars, etc. For me, the Slim-Fast plan and stomach staplings sounded like torture. On the other hand, I've always preferred meats to sweets. To be honest, Atkins seemed too good to be true - a possible hoax - but I had to try SOMETHING or die. I was actually concerned that Atkins would hasten my death, but received permission from my doctor to try it for JUST ONE MONTH. He was certain I would be back on another plan as soon as I saw the flaws in low-carb eating.

In the first two weeks, I lost 15 lbs. Yes, it was water-weight (as EVERYONE pointed out), but some of it stayed off in the second two weeks. Plus, my edema all but disappeared. And, after one week, I went off of my diuretics and half my heart regulator pills (Metoprolol). I also went to the hospital for a bp check and had a reading of 138/87 - an impossible number.

Back at the doctor's, I told him about the bp reading. It seemed strange to him that my bp was so low that day, confirmed by the hospital, when it was so high this very visit. He went to re-take the bp that had been taken by the nurse and discovered that his nurse had been using the wrong size cuff on me. My bp had been artificially read as too high for MONTHS because of a, forgive me but I know this is why, lazy nurse. It turns out I was not as close to death as we thought.

But, after that scare, those results, and the feeling that I FINALLY knew what to do - how to lose weight - how to take care of myself in a manner that worked - how could I go back? It WASN'T MY FAULT I WAS BIG! That was such a powerful moment for me, to realize that I'd been misled, given the wrong tools.

I've been on the plan for 8 months and have lost 54 lbs. I feel better and happier than I have in decades. People still stare and comment, but I don't take it seriously anymore because I know I'm doing something about it. I'm finally on the right path. It is almost a new religion for me to educate anyone I can, get the message out to all those people like me who just need the right information to change their lives. Bless Dr. Atkins and every other scientist who sticks to the truth against the entire world.

In the 8 months I've been on this diet, my blood pressure has gone from 195/155 (and similar readings) to 135/90 (Monday of this week). I'm still on some meds, including glucophage, but stuff's gettin' better all over. Every day is a gift.