About 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. On average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds.
Stroke kills more than 137,000 people a year. That’s about 1 of every 18 deaths, making stroke the fourth leading cause of death.
Americans will pay about $73.7 billion in 2010 for stroke-related medical costs and disability. (1)
On average, every 4 minutes someone dies of stroke.
Last week, on Christmas day, my wonderful, kind, one of a kind Mom became a part of this statistic for the second time, thankfully not becoming one of 137,000 deaths that occur due to stroke each year.
I am MAD, and I am planning to do something about it. However, I want you to be a part of my plan.
I am Smarter Than Your Doctor
A few years ago an acquaintance of mine was toying with the idea of going plant based, but her doctor talked her out of it. He told her that not everyone can do it, and that it was not for her. She came to me asking my opinion. I had to disagree. For some reason it upset her very much.
“Are you saying that you are smarter than my doctor?” she exclaimed.
“When it comes to nutrition and health, yes I am,” was my response.
Now, if you are a doctor, or have a good doctor in your corner, do not get upset. Let me explain.
It takes about 11 years of schooling to become a general family practitioner, and longer if one desires to specialize in a specific medical discipline.
During all of that time spent in school, most doctors get little or no training in nutrition. When nutrition educators from more than 100 medical schools were asked to describe the nutrition instruction offered to their students, the researchers from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill learned that while almost all schools require exposure to nutrition, only about a quarter offered the recommended ~25 hours of instruction. In US three-quarters of the nutrition instruction in medical schools is not specifically identified as nutrition in the curriculum (2). Simply put, medical doctors study medicine: diseases, medication, surgery and medical care–NOT NUTRITION, and are not qualified to give nutrition advice!
I, on the other hand, spent the last nine years of my life doing nothing but studying nutrition and health. I can justifiably say that I am smarter than most medical doctors when it comes to nutrition.
Having worked with hundreds of individuals via private consultations and Body by Plants program, I have come face to face with the fact that doctors should not dispense nutritional advice too many times, and have been often sadden and outraged just how little medical doctors know about nutrition, and even more so, how infrequently they are willing to admit it. Often, instead of referring their patients to qualified specialists in the field, such as nutritionists, they freely dispense uneducated advice, leading their patients to a lifetime of medication.
As much as I have been bothered by this for years, I have become fed up and outraged by it in the last few days. My outrage started with the fact that the ER doctor could not properly diagnose my Mom’s a stroke, symptoms of which seemed obvious.
Let me take a breath for a moment.
Is it a Stroke or Not?
On Christmas day my Mom decided to take a nap before heading over to one of my sister’s for a family dinner. Hubby and I went elsewhere, so, we found out the details of Mom’s stroke from my sister, who has been caring for Mom for many years. When she woke up from her nap, she thought she slept through the night and woke up the day after. She was a bit disoriented, and her speech slowed. My sister, who knows my Mom better than any of us and lived with her through her first stroke two years ago, knew that something was amiss. She quizzed her and made her do a few things to determine what was going on, and very wisely decided to take her to the hospital.
After a long wait in the ER and numerous tests, they finally were told that it was not a stroke, but an infection, and send Mom home with antibiotics and a blood pressure medication. The day after Mom seemed to be doing a little better, while still was not fully herself. We expected that if it was an infection she would start feeling better. But she did not. The day after, while we were out of town, I received a text that Mom was back at the hospital. More tests and scans followed, and she was admitted with a diagnosis of having had a stroke. The diagnosis took THREE days!
Why Medicine Does NOT Work
Doctors know medicine, so, they are now giving her more medicine, while they can give no promises or guarantees that they would work. Attending physicians and specialists seem to disagree on what the best course of treatment is at this point. But not one of them told her that she needs to change her diet or lose weight to get better or to stay alive. They simply give her more of what failed her already.
Aspirin is Risky!
My Mom took a daily aspirin for years before having her first stroke, along with blood pressure meds, at her doctor’s recommendation. Yet it did not help her prevent the stroke.
While doctors advise aspirin to prevent cardiovascular events, science and reality have proven that it is a fool’s errand. It does not work!
What is certain is that, as with any drug, aspirin comes with side effects.
A meta-analysis that looked at the safety and efficacy of aspirin included nine trials with a total of 102,621 patients. 52,145 patients in these studies took aspirin; 50,476 patients either took a placebo or served as controls. The analysis showed that aspirin did not result in a significant reduction in myocardial infarction, stroke, ischemic strike, or all-cause mortality. Taking aspirin was associated with an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke and a 62% increase in major bleeding events.
The researchers concluded that for every 1000 people taking aspirin for five years, 2.9 events would be prevented, but 2.8 major bleeds would occur. In other words, there was no net benefit to be gained by taking aspirin. The results were consistent across several subgroups, which led the researchers to conclude that targeting specific populations for the drug would also be ineffective. Even subgroups with diabetes did not benefit from taking aspirin, a group that is often targeted for aggressive treatment to prevent cardiovascular events.
Aspirin in larger doses was just as useless as aspirin in lower doses. (3)
According to a new study, patients with several risk factors, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, do not benefit from taking a low-dose daily aspirin for the primary prevention of a cardiovascular event. There was no difference in the incidence of non-fatal heart attack, or death from cardiovascular causes between those who took aspirin and those who did not. There was a significant increase in risk of serious extracranial hemorrhage and gastrointestinal side effects.
The Japanese Primary Prevention Project (JPPP) included 14,658 patients who had no history of cardiovascular disease but did have hypertension, high cholesterol, and/or diabetes. The patients were assigned to take 100 mg of entericoated aspirin once per day or no aspirin, and continued to be treated for their other risk factors.
At the time the second analysis of the data was performed, the monitoring committee recommended that the study be discontinued due to the fact that aspirin as a preventative measure was useless and due to the increased risk of adverse events. The study was subsequently discontinued.
The risk of primary endpoint events was not different in any of the disease risk factor groups, and was not different for those with or without family history of cardiovascular disease. There were also no differences in aspirin vs no-aspirin groups based on demographic factors such as age and sex. (4)
A growing number of studies have concluded that aspirin should not be prescribed for primary prevention; so many, in fact, that even FDA finally issued a statement earlier this year that evidence did not support taking aspirin for primary prevention. (5)
Plavix
After Mom’s first stroke she was kept on blood pressure medication and placed on a much stronger blood thinner–Plavix. And it certainly failed her.
Plavix (clopidogrel) has been shown to cause recurrent ischemic lesions (6), increases gastric bleeding caused by aspirin (7); and comes with a huge list of side effects, such as: nosebleed or other bleeding that will not stop; bloody or tarry stools, blood in your urine; coughing up blood or vomit, chest pain or heavy feeling, pain spreading to the arm or shoulder, nausea, sweating, general ill feeling, sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body; sudden headache, confusion, problems with vision, speech, or balance, etc. I do not know about you, but the medicine that is supposed to prevent cardiovascular events comes with a list of side effects that sound like symptoms one would experience if she had one.
Aspirin and Plavix, a Deadly Combination!
It might seem to an educated person that if these medications fail and do not increase survival rate or prevent events they were designed to prevent, that we should not be taking them. However, a neurologist on Mom’s case suggested that she should take a combination of Aspirin and Plavix for at least a month. It seems that her doctors are even less educated in medicine than I am!
A new study suggests that these drugs, taken together, do not help most people and may, in fact, increase the risk of death, heart attack and stroke for people with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Dr. Eric Topol and Dr. Deepak Bhatt of the Cleveland Clinic were the lead researchers for the study, which involved 15,603 people in 32 countries. The results were released at an American College of Cardiology conference.
Everyone in the study took low doses of aspirin plus either Plavix or placebo and then were followed up for two years. Adding Plavix did not improve the health outcomes of the group overall. However, for the 20% of the group that had no signs of heart disease, the drug combination doubled heart-related deaths as compared to those only taking the aspirin.
The group defined as having no signs of heart disease included people with high blood pressure and high cholesterol – they just had not experienced an adverse cardiovascular event yet. By an educated definition, these people absolutely had signs of heart disease! (8)
“Plavix should not be used for prevention,” said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. (8)
Doctors routinely prescribe these drugs in combination to people rather than showing them how to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease through diet and lifestyle change. The article covering this story actually said, “doctors thought that the drug combination might prevent heart attacks waiting to happen in people with clogged arteries or risk factors like smoking, diabetes, and high cholesterol.” In other words, thousands of people have been taking this drug combo, not based on any clinical evidence that this was a good idea, but on an assumption that it might be.
Are Grapes More Dangerous than Plavix?
I know, I am ranting, but I have more!
My Mom loves grapes and other fruit. However, her attending told her to stay away from them, because her glucose levels were elevated (making her pre-diabetic), and that he feared that because grapes are so sweet (“high in sugar”), they would put her over the line. The same doctor did not bother to ask her about the rest of her diet to see what might be causing her blood sugar to be elevated, he did not suggest that she should lose weight by changing her diet. Nope! He suggested that grapes are a danger to her and are to be avoided.
So, What Really Happened?
Since Mom’s last stroke, my sister lovingly nudged Mom to make changes to her diet. Mom, who is an extreme dairy lover and loves to treat herself to all things animal foods (meat, fish, etc.) and desserts, gave up a lot of those things on a daily basis, but still indulged in regular treats, and ate Veganaise* by spoonfuls, as if it were going out of style. It was supposed to be “healthier” after all. Right?
However, half way dietary changes just don’t work! As Dr. Pam Popper once so eloquently put it (I am paraphrasing):
A healthy lifestyle is like a combination to a locker–you have to have all of the numbers to unlock the door. You cannot just have two numbers and hope that it will work. You have to do the whole thing right in order to benefit.
So, making some changes, although they seemed great, did not work for Mom. Over the last round of holiday treats it seems that her body could take no more and, despite of the promises blood pressure meds and Plavix were making to her, it gave out.
*Veganaise is a vegan version of mayo and is very high in fat. While it may be okay for some people as an occasional treat, it should not be a part of a daily diet, and should never be a part of a diet of anyone with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or known cardiovascular diseases.
So, What’s My Plan?
I am not ready to see my Mom go or live a life bound to a hospital bed or become an invalid. I need her. My family needs her. And Sprout certainly needs her only living grandparent. In the next few days, as she gets discharged from the hospital, I am planning to completely revamp her diet. No more treats. No more half way dietary changes. Daily fitness and activity. Lots of water. And convincing the rest of my siblings to join me in this effort.
Knowing my Mom (stubbornness flows in our veins), I am only praying that she will not fight me too hard on this, and will allow me to help her live longer and healthier.
I have a plan to get her off all meds, if she complies, as we improve her diet and she loses weight (under her doctor’s supervision).
I plan to made delicious daily meals that will help her not regret what she will be giving up.
And, I want you to join me!
Becoming Heart Healthy for Life
With 1 in 4 deaths in the US happening due a heart disease, and 1 in 17 due to a stroke, most of you have someone in your life, just like my Mom, who has fallen prey to a cardiovascular disease, or you yourself might have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or even suffered a stroke or a heart attack.
However, it does not mean that you have to live in fear of dying from it.
There is a way to ensure that you live a long and healthy life. By now many studies and cases have proven that it is possible to prevent and reverse heart disease.
I want to teach you how you can do it for yourself, while I am helping my Mom do the same. I want to teach you everything I have taught numerous others who have gone through my program before and are now medication and fear free.
If you want your health bad enough, it is yours for the taking!
The only thing that stands between you and a life free of fear of dying and medication is your willingness to change. And what better way to kick off 2015, instead of making useless New Year resolutions, than to take care of your future by taking charge of your diet and health?!
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Share!
If you know someone who should take the same steps as my Mom, help me get them better by sending them a link to this post. Let’s make this world a healthier place one person at a time!
References
(1) http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/12/18/CIR.0000000000000152.full.pdf+html
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/
(3) Berger J, Lala A, Krantz M et al. “Aspirin for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Patients Without Clinical Cardiovascular Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials” Posted: 08/04/2011; American Heart Journal. 2011;34(3):115-124.e2. © 2011 Mosby, Inc.
(4) Ikeda Y, Shimada K, Teramoto T, et al. “Low-Dose Aspirin for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Japanese Patients 60 Years or Older With Atherosclerotic Risk FactorsA Randomized Clinical Trial.” JAMA Published online November 17, 2014. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.15690
(5) US Food and Drug Administration “Can an Aspirin a Day Help Prevent a Heart Attack?” May 5 2014 http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm390539.htm
(6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25529343
(7) Takeuchi K, Takayama S, Hashimoto E, Itayama M, Amagase K, Izuhara C. “Effect of rebamipide on gastric bleeding and ulcerogenic responses induced by aspirin plus clopidogrel under stimulation of acid secretion in rats.” J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Dec;29 Suppl 4:37-46. doi: 10.1111/jgh.12774.
(8) http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11807907/ns/health-heart_health/t/plavix-plus-aspirin-risky-combination/#.VKJjT14ADA
The post My Mother Had a Stroke | Here is What I Plan to Do About It appeared first on Vegalicious.