Posted on 06/24/2008 9:33:46 PM PDT by neverdem
Apart from its sadness, Tim Russert’s death this month at 58 was deeply unsettling to many people who, like him, had been earnestly following their doctors’ advice on drugs, diet and exercise in hopes of avoiding a heart attack.
Mr. Russert, the moderator of “Meet the Press” on NBC News, took blood pressure and cholesterol pills and aspirin, rode an exercise bike, had yearly stress tests and other exams and was dutifully trying to lose weight. But he died of a heart attack anyway.
An article in The New York Times last week about his medical care led to e-mail from dozens of readers insisting that something must have been missed, that if only he had been given this test or that, his doctors would have realized how sick he was and prescribed more medicine or recommended bypass surgery.
Clearly, there was sorrow for Mr. Russert’s passing, but also nervous indignation. Many people are in the same boat he was in, struggling with weight, blood pressure and other risk factors — 16 million Americans have coronary artery disease — and his death threatened the collective sense of well-being. People are not supposed to die this way anymore, especially not smart, well-educated professionals under the care of doctors.
Mr. Russert’s fate underlines some painful truths. A doctor’s care is not a protective bubble, and cardiology is not the exact science that many people wish it to be. A person’s risk of a heart attack can only be estimated, and although drugs, diet and exercise may lower that risk, they cannot eliminate it entirely. True, the death rate from heart disease has declined, but it is still the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 650,000 people a year. About 300,000 die suddenly, and about half, like Mr. Russert, have...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
References, please?
"Hint that you will die for any reason?" Death is a certainty. What are you talking about?
Redd Foxx used to tell a joke about smoking: “Some folks don’t smoke cigarettes ‘cause they’re scared of dying of lung cancer; some folks don’t eat cheese or eggs ‘cause they’re scared of heart attacks; some folks don’t eat pie or cake ‘cause they’re scared of diabetes. They gonna feel like damned fools one day lying in the hospital dying from nothing.”
If I ever get to my target weight, I do plan to “yo-yo” in that sense! I don’t think holding yourself to within five pounds of your goal weight counts as a “yo-yo.”
By “yo-yo,” I meant of course crashing and losing 35 pounds, stuffing and gaining 40 back, slowly losing 20, creeping back up 15, crashing again for 20. . .
Low Carbohydrate diets also increase HDL.
Best of luck to you. I have been overweight in my life and I have been fit as well. Right now I am getting pretty fit. I am eighty pounds below my lifetime maximum and probably only 5 or 10 over ideal. I am going to trim off some more fat, build up a little more muscle, and then try to stay below a +5 pound ceiling over ideal from here on out. I really think I might have figured it out for good this time. There’s at least some advantage to getting older and being bored with making the same old mistakes.
Just an observation of those I know on statin drugs. These side effects are very common. We have a friend who became wheelchair-bound because of statin drugs. His symptoms are the most severe but muscle pain is very common. Friends on statin drugs complain about muscle pain but won’t even consider that it might be the drugs.
actually, that’s not true...earlier studies indeed showed this, but later studies, using much higher dosages, do not.
On the other hand, they keep lowering the cholesterol level to treat, which is nuts.
Me? My cholesterol could be treated under new guidelines, but since my HdL and LDL are fine, I just stay on my high salt high fish organic Filipino diet.
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