Wednesday, November 24, 2010
No More Heart Disease!
Renowned Heart Expert Shares His Secrets
Heart-Related Problems and Live:
Pain-Free Drug-Free Stress-Free Special Health Update
By Christopher Ruddy
Newsmax CEO
Concerned about your heart?
You should be . . .
Heart disease is the No.1 killer in America. And this is true for not only men but also women.
In fact, heart disease kills more women each year than all cancers combined. And yes, that includes breast cancer.
But what really shocked me was this: Nearly one-third of ALL U.S. deaths are because of heart disease!
The American Heart Association has identified major factors that put you at higher risk for developing this killer. Obviously, some can be changed or modified, and some can't.
So please indulge me for a few seconds. Check off all of these known risk factors you and your loved ones have:
- Increasing age — Those 65 and older make up more than 83 percent of people who die from heart disease.
- Heredity and race — Children of parents with heart disease are at higher risk to develop it themselves. And certain non-Caucasian races are also at higher risk.
- Male gender — Men not only are at higher risk of heart attack but also have attacks earlier in life.
- High blood pressure — This condition increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, and congestive heart failure.
- High cholesterol — As I'm sure you know, this increases your risk of coronary heart disease.
- Physical inactivity — A sedentary lifestyle puts you at higher risk.
- Obesity and overweight — If you have excess body fat (particularly belly fat), you are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke — even if you have no other risk factors.
- Tobacco smoke — If you smoke, your risk of developing coronary heart disease is two to four times higher than a nonsmoker's.
- Diabetes mellitus — This disorder seriously increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, particularly if your blood sugar is not well controlled.
- Stress — Your response to the stress in your life also may be a contributing factor.
- Drinking too much alcohol — This factor not only can elevate your blood pressure and lead to stroke or heart failure but also can contribute to many other problems for your heart and other organs.
If you're anything like me, you may have checked off a few factors from this list.
Now, one of the things I've learned here at Newsmax is how interested readers like you truly are about heart disease.
And clearly, as you can see from the sad statistics above, you should be.
Yet when one of my editors told me about a renowned local heart doctor who had a massive heart attack — and lived to tell about it . . .
I Looked at Him Like He Was Crazy
Meet Dr. Crandall
He received his post-graduate medical training at Yale University School of Medicine and did a cardiology fellowship at Beth Israel Hospital and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Upon relocating to Palm Beach in 1993, he established the Duke University Cardiology Program affiliated with the cardiology division of Good Samaritan Hospital.
Dr. Crandall has conducted a number of research studies and clinical trials and published his research in several prestigious medical journals.
He is married and the father of two sons. He is also the board chairman and Founder of The Chadwick Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to building clinics and orphanages around the world with a message of love and hope. He established the foundation in memory of his late son.
Descended from seven generations of ministers, he now ministers to his patients through his expertise as a cardiologist and prays for their healing through the power of God.
But it's the truth.
Dr. Chauncey W. Crandall is a most unusual doctor — with a most unusual story.
As a heart doctor who has led heart transplant programs and even created heart disease in the research lab, you'd think he would know a heart attack when he experienced one.
But when he arrived at LaGuardia Airport in New York en route return home after a speaking engagement on heart health in 2002, Dr. Crandall felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. As he rolled his bag into the airport, the pain intensified.
Yet Dr. Crandall didn't think the problem could be his heart. After all, he was only 48.
He didn't smoke, he wasn't diabetic, and he had no family history of heart disease.
The pain went away when he boarded his plane to Florida. But when he arrived, the shoulder pain returned, and with it a little pressure in his chest.
However, the pain disappeared by the time he got home.
That night, when taking his two boys to the beach to look for sea turtles, he couldn't go 12 steps without severe chest pain. He didn't want to tell his wife, Deborah.
As he went through a differential diagnosis in his head, he kept telling himself it couldn't be heart disease.
The next morning, he felt fine and decided the pain must have been a fluke or the result of stress.
Deborah runs in the morning, so Dr. Crandall decided to test his condition by walking along behind her.
But he couldn't even make it to the end of the driveway without severe pain.
When his wife returned, he told her, "Deborah, you have to take me to the hospital. I've got a heart problem. I don't know why, but I do."
He was screaming in pain by the time he was on the table in the emergency room.
He Had What's Called the 'Widow-Maker'
Three major arteries feed the heart, and the main one is called the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. It runs down the middle of the heart to feed the bulk of the muscle.
The widow-maker lesion is a blockage — called a stenosis — at the very beginning of the artery. It shuts off the whole arterial bed that feeds most of the heart, and it usually results in death.
That's why his pain was so severe.
Dr. Crandall's entire heart was crying out for blood — but it couldn't get any. His LAD was 99 percent blocked.
He had emergency heart surgery and received two stents. That's when his life changed. He realized from this episode that, if he wanted to continue making a significant contribution to this world, he had to take better care of his own health — particularly his heart.
So at that critical time in his life, he prayed for the healing of his own body: "Lord, heal my heart; keep it strong so I can go the distance."
