Hi I am a newbie. I am a 58 yr old woman. In 1999 had a stroke. In 2005 had 5-bypasses. In August 2010 had a stent, then in December had another stent put inside of that stent. Read some of the info on this forum about the statins which I agree are not so good for a person. What about plavix (blood thinner)? I am on that plus two asprin a day. At present I weigh 139 lbs at 5' 2". However all the extra weigh is in my stomach and waist. Started Atkins just 13 days ago lost down from 143lbs. Dr. said needed Plavix to keep the stent from clogging up again. As I am writing this just realized that was told that with the one I recieved in August, then what caused the next one in December? Scared and confussed!

Well, my fiance just had a stent put in a couple of weeks ago after they found a blockage in one of the artery grafts (as in his bypass surgery) he had 11 years ago. Did your blockage develop inside one of your bypass grafts?

From what I understand, (and don't take this as gospel, you might want to investigate further or ask your doc) those grafts have a tendency to develop blockages. The surgeon told him they last about 9-10 years, the cardiologist told him about 5-6 (this was at different times) and his lasted 11 years! He had a four-way bypass, the other three arteries are fine. So we in no way attribute this last thing to his low-carbing, which he's been doing for about 8 years.

As far as the Plavix, all I know is it's not a statin, and there are some side effects to watch out for but I'm sure they went over that. They loaded up my boyfriend too.

Do you need to take the plavix forever or is it a timed med? Just wondering?

Plavix is a blood thinner. However, be aware that low carbing often works so well that people can wind up over-medicated... as you embrace this Way of Eating, be watchful of that, and enjoy feeling better!

I know I do.

Thanks for the replies. Yes the blockage was in one of my grafts, and I do think the plavix is just for a yr. I already am feeling better just after 13 days (more energy) thanks!

My husband was told he would be on plavix for life as it helps to prevent the blood from clotting on the stent - Since he received 3 stents 2yrs ago and was put on a low fat diet and gained 10lbs and is hungry all the time. I have jumped on the LC wagon again and am thinking he should give it a try?? But I'm scared it may cause more heart disease??

Which part of low carb dieting do you fear would put him at risk? LC corrects blood sugar, corrects serum lipids, corrects weight, also lowers C-Reactive Protein.

I'm sure Hutchinson or someone else has studies on the matter.

He has heart disease and I guess since his heart nutritionist put him on low fat diet - I just fear that a LC diet which is high in fat will cause more problems - it works for me but I don't have heart disease and he is only 51 now

I certainly understand that little "what-if" voice in your head when it comes to someone else - a parent, a spouse, a child, and especially someone with heart disease - what if this IS all wrong, what if I kill them..etc. But see my first post above.. my BF has high Lp(a) running in his family, father died of HA, sister is getting bypass TODAY...and he only had to have his bypass grafts repaired after a whole decade had passed (after LC'ing 8 years or so). He has been acing his treadmill tests and nuclear stress tests for several years and is very hale and hearty at 70. If he does die at least he is not suffering some degenerative disease and we both attribute it to the diet and his lifestyle. But I do undestand your concerns. I still get that voice every so often.

If you want some studies about fat/heart disease, I've collected some. BTW, and we all know heart dietitians would luuurve to put the entire world on some extreme low-fat diet.

This is the sad state of affairs, because low-fat pretty much implies "high carb" in response. It's sad to see doctors not looking at evidence that matters (you know, how France and Switzerland eat high amounts of saturated fat yet have some of the lowest heart disease rates), yet will gladly prescribe you a diet that has been shown to be overall inflammatory (via blood sugar rises, excess omega-6). It peeves me off to no end.

...

And their response to the resulting usual inflammatory status is a pharmaceutical one.

I know she strickly told him no eggs,bacon,butter fat of any kind mainly veggies, fruit, beans,fish,chicken breasts - well while I'm low carbing eating my eggs & bacon for breakfast while he has low fat cottage cheese - it just felt wrong

So we talked and I said lets both try atkins but yes that little voice in my head as to what if I'm doing more damage - I could just hear people she killed him with her high fat foods!!!!

I watched fat head and had him look at it also and just wanted him to feel comfortable eating this way - but it still seems as if we are swimming against the current eating this way while he has heart disease but if it actually helps it would be WONDERFUL because the other way wasn't working - his last stress test showed some more issues and he was put on a beta blocker now to try and control angina - he will have another stress test later this year - maybe it will show improvement??

Score one for pill pushing!

Joy:
FatHead is indeed a good way to start debunking the nutrionist's advice. My uncle had two heart attacks while on a low fat diet and a huge dose of statins (after the first one), so he decided to get a second opinion and he is now eating moderately high fat/low carb and has shown great improvement in all of his tests. He is now on 1/5 the dose of his statin as well, and his A1C went down immensely. Just a little anecdote.

Feel stupid, but what is FatHead? I'm a newbie.

http://www.fathead-movie.com/

Don't worry, we don't bite.