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To: bvw
I'm a 66 year old male with some artery blockages that are risky for bypass. I have two blockages in the left coronary artery, one down near the bottom at almost 90%, and the other up near the top close to a "Y" junction at 70%.

About three years ago my chest pains were getting pretty bad, I needed my nitro near at hand at all times, I couldn't get too physical at anything or the pain would get real bad and stuff like that.My cardiologist sort of poo-pooed EECP when I asked him about it after seeing some information in the paper about it. He finally said it might be of some use to me.

I went through two series of EECP,one hour a day, five days a week for seven weeks...in other words fourteen weeks of it. Results? I have been free of angina for a little over three years now,I've been able to do some serious walking without gasping in pain and coming close to collapse.

EECP in my opinion should not be a last resort thing after bypass surgery,but rather a first effort in order to avert or delay surgery. My blockages haven't gone away,but I've grown new capillaries around them and they haven't gotten any worse. I may still have to face surgery someday or not... we'll see.

The only negative I can think of is that I also had an arthritic hip that I feel was aggravated by the pressure of the air cuff squeezing on it daily for fourteen weeks...so I had to have a hip replacement done about eighteen months ago,which was another good thing, I also needed back surgery for three squished discs, unrelated to EECP.

If I knew I was gonna live this long I would have taken better care of myself during my mis-spent youth!

As far as EECP is concerned,I say go for it.

2 posted on 10/05/2005 6:46:22 PM PDT by oldsalt (There's no such thing as a free lunch.)
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To: oldsalt

Thanks for the info. That's great that you were helped by EECP so much.


3 posted on 10/06/2005 3:17:19 AM PDT by bvw
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To: holdonnow

fwiw. Happy New Year.


4 posted on 10/06/2005 3:46:50 AM PDT by bvw
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