wtf... :( : Cholesterol, Heart Disease Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#16 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 12:37

Ilikemice

Senior Member

Posts: 730

Plan: Paleo-ish general LC
Stats: 151/119/118 Female 64 in

BF:
Progress: 97%

Location: Middle Tennessee

Just adding my support and what others have said. The heart attack may have happened from damage done from before you LC'd and lost all the weight. But of course guess what gets blamed? Find out all the info you can from the cardiologist!

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#17 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 12:47

Syrah

Senior Member

Posts: 270

Plan: LC
Stats: 260/218/150 Female 67 inches

BF:Definitely!
Progress: 38%

Location: Ontario, Canada

Oh Candice, Candice.

I'm so sorry, and you were just so happy about your weight loss and winning the photoshoot. What an absolute bummer.

I think the others are right. Your husband is angry, understandably so. I once had a wise psych prof who used to say "There are only two reasons why people get angry. Only two. Either they are hurt, or they are scared." Your husband is scared. And he needs to lash out at something. Butter! But you know what, I'm guessing, down deep, he knows that isn't the problem.

I'm also guessing that if you hadn't lost the weight, and you had had a heart attack when you did, "they" would have immediately said:
1. you need to lose weight
2. eat low fat and good carbs
3. eat less move more.
And you might have just done that. Thank goodness you escaped that sentence.

You are a very determined person, we all know that. You will find out what the problem is, and you will do what you have to do to live a long and healthy life. Just like you licked your weight issue.

Rest, relax and be good to yourself.

#18 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 12:51

Candiflip

Senior Member

Posts: 3,614

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 228/156/140 Female 66 inches

BF:22%
Progress: 82%

Location: Langley, B.C. Canada

thanks all.. and thanks Syrah

The support here really is amazing

#19 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 12:52

Elizellen

Senior Member

Posts: 10,733

Plan: Atkins (DANDR)
Stats: 290/141/130 Female 65.5 inches

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Bournemouth (UK)

I am so sorry to hear you have had this nasty shock, Candice and am trying to send you lots of good thoughts as well as my prayers for a happy outcome.

The good thing is that your doctors are now on top of the situation and will I am sure do their best for you.

And as the others have said, at least you are now at a much more healthy state of body than before you started Atkins and will be much better placed to recover from whatever has happened.

My doctors and nurses told me last summer that if I had been at my original weight when my MM had been diagnosed I would probably not have got through the treatment I have had as well as I have (and might well not have survived at all!!) So your Atkineering will prove a benefit to your ability to get over this.

Remember that Dr Atkins was a cardiologist and so I am sure he investigated the possibility of the Atkins way of life affecting the heart.

Sending you lots of cyberhugs and good wishes across cyberspace!!

#20 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 13:14

jschwab

Senior Member

Posts: 6,378

Plan: Atkins72/Paleo/NoGrain/IF
Stats: 285/220/200 Female 5 feet 5.5 inches

BF:
Progress: 76%

I kind of find it insulting that people are saying your weight directly caused your heart attack. You were not that overweight and you appear very young. Lots of people have genetic issues that lead to heart attacks, even very skinny people. It seems like you really dodged something worse happening switching to LC, though. My friend just told me her uncle had 4 heart attacks in the 90's and went on Atkins and totally reversed his heart disease. You can do this!

#21 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 13:29

Brinethery Brinethery is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 1,387

Plan: 160g animal protein/day
Stats: 185/167/165 Female 5'10

BF:35
Progress: 90%

Location: Algona, WA, US

Hi Candice, I hope the doc will have some good news when you get your cholesterol/triglyceride bloodwork results back. I had a PE teacher in college and he was skinny and in good shape. He ate whole grains and stayed away from fat. He mentioned that his cholesterol profile was really bad and that he takes statins for it. He has the physique of a runner, so the high-carb/low-fat combined with intense exercise would make him a perfect candidate for bad cholesterol and increased risk of a heart attack.

I have a feeling that these heart issues were there before you lost weight but they were undetectable or the symptoms were so mild that you weren't aware of it? I've heard that heart attacks in women are much more unnoticeable than in men.

I hope you can make it through this tough time. That is indeed scary news.

#22 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 13:56

Candiflip

Senior Member

Posts: 3,614

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 228/156/140 Female 66 inches

BF:22%
Progress: 82%

Location: Langley, B.C. Canada

Quote:

Originally Posted by FowlFiend

OMG Candice. I am so sorry, it has to be a terrible shock. There are so many causes of heart attack, until some tests and work comes back, no one can even make an educated guess.

PLEASE rest and try to find some peace of mind and patience to wait for the results of your tests.

Added a link w/ stats for you:
http://www.medtees.com/womensheartdisease.html

thanks, just had time to read the link.. wow, thanks for posting

#23 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 14:00

amomathome amomathome is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 27

Plan: atkins-modified
Stats: 225/213/150 Female 66 inches

BF:
Progress: 16%

I am so sorry for what you are going through. I would like to speak to a different aspect of your situation. I also have a very dear husband who makes light of all health symptoms. And I tend to give him MORE credence than I do my own experience... to the point where I wound up in the ER for an emergency appendectomy. So I am guessing you are like me, in the fact that you listen to your dh's opinion over your own. But it's important that you no longer do that (I know this is hard!) If it concerns you, seek medical help. (yes, my dh felt guilt, and your dh may also... and it's easier to blame butter, etc). But it is up to us to know our own bodies. I sense that you have come to know yourself much better through this journey... so believe yourself. If you aren't feeling "right" insist that you see a doctor. My intention is to be supportive and empowering with this post, in NO way condeming. I wish you good health!

#24 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 14:06

Mama Sebo

Senior Member

Posts: 5,202

Plan: Keto, IF
Stats: 224/136/124 Female 64 inches

BF:44%/23%/20%
Progress: 88%

Location: Kenya-teleworking Austria

Hi Candice --just wanted to add to the others -- they've already said it all, still I'll put my two bits in. I think my husband would have reacted the same way -- anger with me through the butter as a way of addressing his own fear. I would just give him a hug and grin and bear it. Hopefully you will soon have your test results in hand to smooth things over a bit as well. But the whole situation must be very scarey for you too. Wishing you all the best.

#25 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 14:16

Ilikemice

Senior Member

Posts: 730

Plan: Paleo-ish general LC
Stats: 151/119/118 Female 64 in

BF:
Progress: 97%

Location: Middle Tennessee

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschwab

Sorry, I meant my post to come across as meaning before she switched from a nonLC diet to an LC one, not that overweight caused the HA. I tacked on the "and lost weight" as a happy effect of going LC. It changed the meaning.

#26 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 14:53

jschwab

Senior Member

Posts: 6,378

Plan: Atkins72/Paleo/NoGrain/IF
Stats: 285/220/200 Female 5 feet 5.5 inches

BF:
Progress: 76%

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilikemice

Oh, that makes sense. Folks were just putting the two things together

. It's all part of the OP's healing, huh?

#27 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 17:39

katoman

Counterweight

Posts: 1,664

Plan: VLC/Moderate Protein
Stats: 291/251.4/150 Female 63.25"

BF:72%/62.5%/26%
Progress: 28%

Location: NW Louisiana

Quote:

Originally Posted by Candiflip

Copy from from journal...

Well just got back from dr...
She said that my EKG shows I have had a heart attack.. to say I was in SHOCK is an understatement.. at that moment dh just started going OFF on all the butter I eat..(and I only have like 2tsp max a day) and even on the car ride home he seemed totally upset with me saying I eat way to much fat/butter.. I think for him, he did not know what to think either.. I think he was in as much sock as I was and some how found BUTTER a good 'blamer' kwim..so I find he directed this misplaced anger/frustration in the wrong outlet.. I really am in just complete shock..
Dr is sending me to cardiologist.. but like everything here in BC.. there is a long wait. I will not get a call for a couple of week to make appt.
She is sending me for blood work in the meanwhile.. cholesterol and fasting glucose are a few of the tests..

Really.. I don't even know what to say. I keep tearing up.. I thought I was healthy.. I've lost all these weight.. now this?? WTH! I have had dizzy spells and chest pains for years now.. I KNOW it is not Akins/low carbing..

Can butter do this to me?? I really don't think so.. but I have dh scolding me.. and then my EKG report saying I have had a heart attack.. And WTH.. how can I not know I have had a heart attack!?

Been there, done that. Now have an audible heart murmur from a permanently damaged heart valve. Symptoms were the shortness of breath where I felt that I could not breathe, like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the air followed the next day by such weakness as to believe I had come down with the flu or something. Wasn't diagnosed as having a heart attack until a couple months later when my regular doctor finally requested a visit to the cardiologists. It's not your diet.

#28 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 18:40

Altari

Senior Member

Posts: 736

Plan: Meats & Veggies
Stats: 255/167/160 Female 66 inches

BF:??/36%/25%
Progress: 93%

I'm so sorry, Candice.

Sometimes, these things happen. There's not always a reason. You could have been LCing since infancy, with perfect numbers across the board and a perfect body, and it still may have happened. Maybe some of those diversions made it worse, but you are too young to have "done this" to yourself. I often wonder how many young people have mild heart attacks/strokes and just never know it. Thinking about all the times I was suddenly dizzy and breathless and just needed to lay down...

As far as the EKG. My husband had one done when he was 20 for chest pains. He was stressed to the max and his chest was painful with every breath for far too long. He finally went in, and the initial test (I do believe it was an EKG) was abnormal. They feared something similar, but more tests revealed the pain was from stress and the abnormality was a benign condition. I'm not trying to foster false hope - just sayin' that an EKG isn't the most delicate tool. It can be wrong.

#29 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 18:58

Ilikemice

Senior Member

Posts: 730

Plan: Paleo-ish general LC
Stats: 151/119/118 Female 64 in

BF:
Progress: 97%

Location: Middle Tennessee

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altari

...but you are too young to have "done this" to yourself.

That's an EXCELLENT point..

#30 ^

Tue, Mar-01-11, 22:40

jschwab

Senior Member

Posts: 6,378

Plan: Atkins72/Paleo/NoGrain/IF
Stats: 285/220/200 Female 5 feet 5.5 inches

BF:
Progress: 76%

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilikemice

That's an EXCELLENT point..

That was my point, too - I wasn't so elegant. I was kind of wondering about the EKG, too - it seems like and awfully rough tool to use to make a diagnoss like that.