Posted on 10/02/2006 9:15:49 PM PDT by neverdem
ROME Every patient in the cardiac care unit at the San Filippo Neri Hospital who survives a heart attack goes home with a prescription for purified fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acids.
It is clearly recommended in international guidelines, said Dr. Massimo Santini, the hospitals chief of cardiology, who added that it would be considered tantamount to malpractice in Italy to omit the drug.
In a large number of studies, prescription fish oil has been shown to improve survival after heart attacks and to reduce fatal heart rhythms. The American College of Cardiology recently strengthened its position on the medical benefit of fish oil, although some critics say that studies have not defined the magnitude of the effect.
But in the United States, heart attack victims are not generally given omega-3 fatty acids, even as they are routinely offered more expensive and invasive treatments, like pills to lower cholesterol or implantable defibrillators. Prescription fish oil, sold under the brand name Omacor, is not even approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in heart patients.
Most cardiologists here are not giving omega-3s even though the data supports it theres a real disconnect, said Dr. Terry Jacobson, a preventive cardiologist at Emory University in Atlanta. They have been very slow to incorporate the therapy.
The fact that heart patients receive such different treatments in sophisticated hospitals around the world highlights the central role that drug companies play in disseminating medical information, experts said.
Because prescription fish oil is not licensed to prevent heart disease in the United States, drug companies may not legally promote it for that purpose at conferences, in doctors offices, to patients or even on the Internet.
If people paid more attention to guidelines, more people would be on the drug, Dr. Jacobson said. But...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Appreciate the info- thank you.
Red Alaska canned salmon. $2.09 a can here and really tasty in dishes.
Tons of items on the market. Do you have a Trader Joe's by you? Or any health food or drug store. Whole Foods.
Try getting one of the most important minerals to the heart there is (so I've read), in RDA quantities, Potassium.
3.5-4.7 GRAMS. Funny (not ha ha) how the FedGov has limited suppliments to 99mg.
I'm not taking 47 tablets a day.
Go to Home Depot or Lowes and pick up a 40 LB bag of Potassium Chloride by the Morton salt company made for water softeners (+20yr supply). Use some dedicated clean tools to powderize the small block and take 1/4 teaspoon 3 times a day with food to get ~4.5 grams of potassium.
If you have a current heart condition or are not 100% sure it's OK with your doctor to switch to potassium chloride from sodium chloride you may kill yourself. It's supposedly why the FedGov has limited the suppliments to 99MG each tablet.
But without enough K, you are slowly killing yourself over years and years.
I order the majority of my supplements from lef.org because I trust the quality of their products.
Readily done. Needs no prescription.
You should already be doing that anyway.
I'm giving Bogie (probably about 50 lbs) 1 1/2 grams Ester C twice a day as well as the glucosamin at the same time. I crush it and mix it in with yummy food.
Good luck. These old dogs are important to us. To show to what lengths we're going, we must go on a long trip to our grandson's wedding. We are taking our motor home instead of flying just so we can take Bogie with us. He's blind and we have no one that can take care of him.
.....That's a pretty stiff dose......
Not really. I take 2,000 mgs perday. You work up to it gradually.
It's nanny state to think that anyone other than youself should be more concerned with your health than you are. What any sensible person would do is investigate the subject and bring it up with their doctor, not wait until the doctor brings it up with them. Like any professional doctors have a million things on their mind and tend to fall into patterns when treating cases.
My kids' pediatrician didn't get the memo that she's not supposed to recommend fish oil. She has both my kids on it because "it's good for just about everything."
We use Carlson's lemon-flavored in the bottle since they can't swallow those huge capsules. Hubby and I take it, too.
You might like this thread;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1538433/posts
St. John's Wart medline;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=10454050&query_hl=8&itool=pubmed_docsum
As far as I know, only dark wines contain large amounts of resveratrol. Pinot Noir wines from grapes grown in cool climates have the most; i.e. Pinot Noirs from southern france, Oregon and New York.
Thnx. I didn't know you could get it from Lowes, I been paying like everybody else for 99 mg tabs.
Potassium and magnesium are similar in that the body needs it in the cells, but doesn't like it in the intercellular fluids. So you kind of have to overdose on it a bit.
I know if I take a bit too much Mg, it's like taking too much Vitamin C. I get to sit on the porcelain throne for awhile.
You can also get it from salt substitutes. I use NaCl rarely, and only in sea salt form.
If I use "salt", it's usually Morton salt substitute.
"salmon"
I don't like salmon so I'll have to check the other alternatives!
I've just been been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was told to take 500 mg of magnesium to alleviate the side effects of synthroid, such as anxiety and racing heart.
personal bookmark and bump
Great discussions here as I am looking for alternatives to the meds I am on: Zestril, Norvasc, Toprol XL (all previous for HBP) & Zocor. Any FReeper thoughts welcomed...
Yes, every bottle of fish oil out there is full of omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.
Of course the NYT managed to focus on the company who took the same ordinary fish oil, jumped through the FDA hoops, and now charges about $300 for what you can get on store shelves for $10.
Increase exercise as tolerated and talk to your doc.
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