Drugs working miracles...

Hello all.

First, a revelation. Just over a month ago my GP put me on some drugs (medication) as a preventative measure following some scans which showed I had heavy arterial calcification. He put me on:
statin;
micro-asprin;
ramipril;
metformin (to stop me going from glucose intolerant to full diabetic).

So, I thought this was normal 'chuck drugs at it' policy, and took the pills without much further analysis.

I walk a lot (well, a lot for someone with one leg, anyway). A fortnight ago a blister stopped me walking, and today, blister-free, I went out for a walk up a local hill and back. And the difference was amazing. Previously, I had been stopping half-way up, not breathless or in pain, just tired, which I put down to old age, fatness, one-leggedness, and general unfitness. But today I walked all the way up the hill without stopping, and felt I could have done it again and again.

And all it can be is the drugs, unless the new boots I was wearing are made of magic. Any medical experts' opinion very welcomed - can they work that quickly? Have I been deprived of oxygen for years without knowing it?

Second, a comment on the UK's otherwise pretty good health service. I saw a cardiologist about the calcification of the arteries, and although he is arranging a MIBI scan (eh?) he didn't seem too bothered by the high calcium scores, on the basis that as I haven't got any symptoms of heart disease, there's not much they can do for me. No, we haven't got Heart Disease Prevention programmes here. They seem to leave it up to us, as individuals, to live healthy lifestyles or not!

Best regards.

Allen-UK, London.

That's great news, Allen. I am very happy for you. I was thinking that you are a young man? Around 30? If so, I wonder why calcium has formed in your arteries, so early? I am ignorant on this subject, but I think it is much more common in older people. I may have a bit, and have not been told about it. I am 53. I will say that "stable plaque" usually is stable because it has a calcium cover. "Unstable plaque" does not. It is soft and volatile. It is much more likely to errupt and cause a heart attack. We know this information is just from what I have read from, over the years I have been trying to learn about CAD/heart disease, Erskine knows the true skinny.

Regarding your medicine, probably the most fast acting for you would be the Ramipril (ACE inhibitor) and the Metformin. The Ramipril dilates your arteries a bit and lowers your BP. I have taken it for almost 3 years. Most MI survivors take an ACE inhibitor, because the NIH has it in their treatment guidelines, as one of a few post MI medicines.

Awile back I would have had the energy to study Metformin in detail for you, and see if it could work that fast....., but I have studied it because my daughter is taking it also. I think it has time to have taken affect for you. Doesn't it reduce the bodies requirement for insulin? I could brush up on it....I know that it is one of the few medicines you have to stop the night before an agiogram or cath.

Hey the heart disease prevention program here is only through education, which is not a requirement to learn, unless they have it in the high school science books, lol. I wish they would send the smoke police by my place, and force me to stop. The sicker I get, the more stressed I am, and I have an even greater urge to smoke. It is insanity.

You are really a "superguy" for showing all how to exercise, when it may seem impossible. A shining example for all with one or two legs :) I can't exercise for a bit, but if I get the chance I am going to.

Keep on this good run of health!

RJ

Post Edited (Aldo) : 2/24/2006 9:01:21 AM (GMT-7)

OH ALLEN ! if you have magic boots please tell me where i can get some, LOL. Sounds like your doing the right things Allen, and it is up to us to keep our selfs as healthy as possible before we get sick. Of course things happen and we still become ill. If i knew i was going to be this sick at 52 i would of done alot of things differently, but i didn't and now i'm paying a high prise for it. Keep up the good work. DELTA

Right you are Dreamgirl.  There are some people that are healthy and have practiced healthy habits all their lives and still have been stricken with a life altering disease.  So, is it just a roll of the dice?  Genetics?  Most likely.  Who knows. 

Hi dreamgirl,

I take Effexor XR at 225mg as an antidepressant.  My psychiatrist has given this one in hopes that it will help raise my blood pressure.  I do have a lot of trouble sleeping in spite of the muscle relaxer that I take Zanaflex 4mg 3 tabs and the Ambien 10mg at bedtime.  This is mostly due to my Multiple System Atrophy disease.  I wake up about every hour and toss and turn.  It is frustrating.  I have been having some hallucinations which is normal with this disease also when my blood pressure drops. So when this happens I do have a lot of anxiety.  I tend to worry and stress about it often.  I try to come at it from a logical frame of mind as I have had so much training to do so but there is always something in the back of your mind that tells you different.  You know what I mean?

I usually try to go to bed around 9pm and I read a book until my meds kick in (about 15 minutes or so).  I have been thinking of getting one of those sound machines from The Sharper Image.  Have you seen them?  They have different relaxation sounds. Yeah my medication list is long I could probably open my own pharmacy. LOL!  I was on Ativan 1mg about 10 yrs ago due to stress induced sleep disorder.  I wasn't sleeping at night and had been up for weeks, this was in my last year in college and I was doing an internship at a mental health center so I was working alot.  It helped a little.  I think that I just quit taking them though and finally things smoothed out for me.  I don't know it was a long time ago.  Have you talked to your doctor about it not working?  Maybe he could put you on something else.

Thank you dreamgirl.... Yes I like my time at night too.  I have to give my cat Normandy his bedtime treats and then he lays on my chest (all 21 pounds of him) and purrs up a storm for a few minutes while I pet him before he goes off to prowl the house and cause a ruckus.  I think I probably snore too, I wake up every morning with a sore throat.  I know my ex snored so I don't guess it bothered him too much.