I got a problem and it's very disappointing. Diagnosed with heart disease January 25, I had a stent procedure. Sixty grand and it didn't work. (Or I've plugged up another artery.) Here's what a stent looks like.



I'm plugging up again. Went to ER two weeks ago. Now on a more aggressive therapy. Added blood pressure med now, I'm on a more strict diet and I am taking several supplements. (Think alternative medicine.) I hope I can reverse this.

They want to do another catheterization and it is scheduled for December 27. Heck, I'll be dead or fixed by then. Plus, I don't want to do it if at all possible. I will if I have to. But I want to try to reverse it. (Some research shows you can.)

If I have to have coronary bypass surgery, that could cost a quarter of a million dollars! And I have no insurance. I guess the state hospital would do it.

But maybe I can reverse it.

My questions:

1. Do you know anyone who has had a stent put in? Have they had no problems again and if so, how long ago was the stent procedure? If they have had problems again, what did they do? Another stent? Coronary bypass surgery? Alternative medicine treatment? (Hey, call your friend if you don't know! S/he probably would like to hear from you anyway!)

2. Do you know anyone who has had coronary bypass surgery? (Same questions as above.)

Thanks for responding. This will give me an informal feel for how many people have further problems. I read one place where it said that 10% of people with stents plug up again. Another book I read said it's 30-40%. My informal asking around is running higher than that. The docs don't tell you that!

And now there is a controversy over whether drug-coated stents (like mine), which were supposed to be BETTER than uncoated stents are actually WORSE.

I realize that a stent is a patch and does not cure heart disease. I have done pretty well this year with lifestyle changes but now, they must be radical if I am to beat this.

:::

Please think of people in your life who have had stents or bypass and let me know if they have had to have another stent or bypass surgery.

P.S. Also, if you know of anyone who decided against stent / bypass surgery and chose something else, what was it and how did they do?

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

[This message has been edited by SemiLiveMusic (edited 10-19-2006).]

Bill, sorry to hear about the complications. Email Gary Diamond, he knows a LOT about this stuff.
Call me if I can help.
DonM

Okay, but that's not what I asked. I wasn't seeking advice, although I enjoy reading all comments. Or maybe you're saying he might know some real world numbers.

I simply wanted people to tell if they know anyone who has had a stent or bypass and how have they done. Like you know Hank's wife. She had a stent put it, a few months later, had to do it again, months later, she had to have bypass surgery. I know another lady who had a stent and months later, it plugged up and she had to have bypass. My dad had bypass, six years later, bypass again, and a few years after that, a stroke. I know two men who have had stents and no problems but they have only had them in a couple of years.

There are some alternative medicine docs who say stents and bypass surgery flat out are not worth it except in a small percentage of cases where they must be done. And one of the biggest money machines ever built. Much of mainstream medicine promotes stents / bypass as routine and the only options.

I'm hoping to get a decent amount of responses from this forum and another forum so I can get more real world examples.

Know anyone else other than Mrs. Hank?

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

[This message has been edited by SemiLiveMusic (edited 10-19-2006).]

Bill sorry to hear this.....Gary is the one to talk to hes experienced in the medical field....I have many clients who after having a Stent put in have had no problems, & are up and about normally quet soon, but everyone is different...thank goodness for modern medical technology today.
Hope it all goes well for you.

Good Luck

Bill,

The percentage of failures with stents is relatively low, particularly if the stent is the newer type that is medicated. The older stents were not medicated and required that the patient take blood thinners, some with nasty side effects, for the rest of the lives. The new ones allow the patient to take Plavix and aspirin, and in most instances the Plavix only has to be taken for 3 to 6 months, but the aspirins are forever.

Stents are for those individuals with early onset of coronary artery disease and made it possible to open those blockages without cracking open their chest and doing major surgery. Bypass surgery, which essentially is a procedure where a piece of vein from the patient's leg, or the mamory artery, is installed in place of the blocked coronary artery. While the procedure has really improved over the past few decades, it's still major surgery.

As for reversing the condition, that's really not possible. Most patients with significant coronary artery disease got that way from a high-fat, high-cholestoral, high-carbohydrate diet. You can change your eating habits and slow, and possibly stop any advancement of the condition, but nothing will reverse the damage and artery clogging that has taken place. Keep in mind that the artery clogging process takes lots of years, and once the arteries are narrowed down to where the blood cells have to line up in single file for the blood to flow to the heart muscle, a single, tiny clot could cause that flow to cease. This is why it's so important to stay on a regimen of aspirin, and Plavix if prescribed.

The only way to determine if you have a blockage is cardiac catherization. While you can have a heart scan performed, the test is not all that accurate, especially in women. I should know. Just last week my wife had a stent put in here left, anterior decending coronary artery, a very important vessel that was 90 percent blocked. Ironically, we both had heart scans done in July and her scan report said her coronary arteries were completely open. Apparently, sometime between last October and this past September, when she had to get an EKG for a preoperative evaluation to have her knee replaced, she had a heart attack. Her regular doctor missed this entirely, and fortunately, the anesthesiologist picked it up the day before surgery. Had she undergone general anesthesia for the knee should could have went into cardiac arrest and died on the operating table.

She's home now, went back to work just five days after the stent was put in place, and with luck she will be able to have the knee replaced in January.

Hope this is of some help Bill,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

There are MD's and researchers who disagree with you. Are you familiar with Dean Ornish? He wrote a book about reversing heart disease about ten years ago.

In our studies we found that even severe heart disease often begins to reverse when people followed the lifestyle and diet recommendations in our program. In fact, 99% of the patients were able to stop or reverse the progression of heart disease by making the diet and lifestyle changes I recommend. We published this in JAMA in 1995 and also in 1998.

Source

There are other docs who say it can be reversed but he's probably the most famous one. Do you feel totally confident in your statement, Gary? Thanks for your response.

BTW, this week, I read a study that questioned using the drug-coated stents. That they may be WORSE, not better. More research is needed but it was a surprising report.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Bill,

I had a minor heart attack on June 19th of this year. I had 2 stents put in one artery. Last week I had a stress test with a heart scan and so far so good.

My father, who is 71, had a heart attack 6 years ago. He had a stent put in. He had always excecised religiously but he had a poor diet. He immediately changed his eating habits to a very low fat diet. He's had several heart caths. since including one just 2 months ago. There's been no progression of the disease.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Bob

No progression of disease but several caths? Why has he had several caths, Bob?


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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Bill,
I had a hear attack in May of 2001 and had 5 stents put in; 4 in one artery and one in a smaller, lower artery. Six months later I had to go back in for what everyone thought was a scar growing on the stents. Turned out the stents were fine, but I had developed another blockage at the intersection of my main artery that would not permit another stent or catheterization. So I had double by-pass surgery. Two years ago I was sent in for failing a stress test. The results were a false positive. My stents are fine and there is no scarring from the bypass.

Reversing cardiovascular disease is definitely possible, but only over the long run. Take your meds and work on your diet and exercise; that will help. And go get the catheterization - we would miss you if you were wrong.

Wow, I didn't know they could do that. What's the deal there, did you have a really long continuous area of plaque?

I am also surprised you plugged up in another place within six months. Although, I know of one doc/author who says that the procedure itself is damaging itself. That threading that catheter through your arteries and moving it around and doing stuff can damage the artery and cause lesions. Which can become blockages. I dunno but that's what he says.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000