I’m 56. At my weight, I should have diabetes, edema, heart disease....like other guys I know at my weight.
I think because I was an athlete until my late 20s, maybe that helped..or genetics.
But my luck won’t hold out.
I wonder though...I gained a lot of weight all at once and then didn’t gain or lose now for 15 years.
Does staying the same fat weight make things worse or just stay the same?
Like if a fat person like me doesn’t gain wight or lose for 5 years..does diabetes risk increase even if no weight was gained?
Something I ponder in my deep thoughts :)
About 15 years ago I was told during a routine exam by my primary care doctor that I had heart murmur, which came as a complete shock to me.
After getting referred to cardiologist, I was told I had a Bicuspid Aortic Valve, which is genetic and passed down from one of my parents.
Fast forward to early March of this year, during a routine exam my primary care Doctor told me the heart murmur had changed based on what they were hearing and ordered an Electrocardiogram, when the results came back, I was diagnosed with Severe Aortic Stenosis, this set off a chain of events that lead to Open Heart Surgery on June 21, 2024.
I had my aortic valve replaced with a pig valve, the bicuspid valve combined with the stenosis caused an aortic aneurysm in the ascending part of the aorta, that had to be cut out and repaired, on day 2 of recovery in Cardiac ICU, I went into Stage 3 heart Block requiring a permanent pacemaker to be implanted.
The single best thing I did in recovery was Cardiac Rehab which started about 2 months after surgery, it was 24 1-hour sessions of supervised exercise at the hospital, my anxiety over the function of my heart went away and I realized the harder I exercised, the better I felt, at the end of the rehab, I asked for recommendations of a local gym to join, the YMCA was recommended, I joined at the nearest location to my home, I’ve been going 3 times a week and working out even harder than in Cardiac Rehab.
I say all this to bring up something about Aortic Stenosis not mentioned in the article, I was told before my surgery to think of someone putting their finger over the end of a water hose, the pressure of water coming thru the hose is increased a lot, this is what happens to someone suffering from Aortic Stenosis, this added pressure often times creates an aneurysm in the Aorta itself, which is what happened to me.
If you are suffering from any of the symptoms of aortic stenosis, get referred to a Cardiologist and have an Echocardiogram to determine if you have aortic stenosis and to what degree the stenosis has progressed.
You could also be suffering from a Bicuspid Aortic Valve which is causing the stenosis, Bicuspid Valves affect approximately 2% of the American Public, of the people with Bicuspid Valves, 80% will need surgery at some point in their lives.
Of the 80% who need surgery about half will need open heart surgery to repair everything.
The surgeon who operated on me, told me the story of John Ritter the actor from the 70s who was in the Sitcom Threes Company.
He had an undiagnosed Bicuspid aortic Valve his entire life which led to an aortic aneurysm which eventually dissected, after getting rushed to hospital for an apparent heart attack, when the doctors realized he wasn’t suffering from a heart attack but an aortic dissection, he died before surgery could be performed.
Aortic Stenosis is nothing to play around with, often times a person suffers from very mild or no symptoms, aortic aneurysms usually don’t produce any symptoms until it’s too late.
Thanks for posting all of these medical articles.
Research fasting and insulin resistance.
The cure for all this crap.
The medical industry does not push it….it does not make them money.