PAD Diagnosis

n examination with a stethoscope, where your doctor is listening for a whooshing or blowing sound, can indicate atherosclerosis. High cholesterol levels that show up on blood tests suggest an increased risk for atherosclerosis. The following tests can also help diagnose atherosclerosis:

• Electrocardiogram (EKG): A test to record the heart’s electrical activity. It shows how fast the heart is beating, its rhythm, and can reveal signs of heart damage caused by coronary artery disease and signs of a past or present heart attack.
• Echocardiogram: This test uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart. It also yields information about the size and shape of the heart and how well the heart’s chambers and valves are working. Echocardiography can also reveal areas of poor blood flow to the heart, areas of the heart that aren’t contracting normally and previous injury to the heart muscle caused by poor blood flow.
• Computed Tomography (CT Scan): With this test you get computer-generated pictures of the heart, brain or other areas of the body. In the case of the heart, it can show narrowing of large arteries and reveal calcium build-ups in coronary artery walls.
• Stress Test: This is a test to show how long you can continue to walk on a treadmill as the speed increases and how fast your heart rate returns to normal after 30 minutes or less of exercise. A stress test can also reveal abnormal changes in heart rate or blood pressure, shortness of breath or chest pains and abnormal changes in your heart’s rhythm or electrical activity.
• Angiography: A flexible tube (catheter) is put in a blood vessel of the arm, groin or neck and dye that can be seen on an x-ray is injected through the catheter to the arteries. Then x-rays show whether plaque or a clot is blocking an artery, how severe the blockage is and the blood flow through the arteries.
• Ankle/Brachial Index: This test for peripheral artery disease compares blood pressure in the ankle with blood pressure in the arm to reflect how well blood is flowing.
• Doppler Test. These use ultrasound or sound waves. It can show how well blood is moving through the arteries.
• Magnetic Resonance Arteriography (MRA). This is a special type of magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) scan that can show how well blood is moving through the arteries.

Conventional Treatment

If hard science and patient benefit were central factors in determining treatment, these conventional procedures would be a rarity. But invasive cardiology has nothing to do with science. It has nothing to do with saving lives or improving quality of life. It has to do with money. These procedures generate more than $120 billion a year, a windfall that makes up approximately 45 percent of the total revenue of most hospitals! That’s why angioplasty and bypass remain popular, despite dozens of studies — not one of them showing that either of these procedures prevents heart attacks or premature death for the overwhelming majority. Even if you get one of these procedures, half of patients are clogging up their ‘new or improved’ vessels within six months of the operation.

The following medical treatments and procedures are likely to be recommended by your cardiologist:

• Angioplasty. This is done to open blocked or narrowed coronary arteries, improve blood flow and relieve angina. It may include installation of a stent (a small mesh tube) to keep the artery open after the procedure. According to findings from the COURAGE trial—the definitive study on elective angioplasty— eight of 10 patients who undergo this procedure are inappropriate candidates who would be better served by more conservative therapy. Even when the angioplasty procedure is performed without problems, the artery can narrow again months afterward. For instance, my father has this procedure done, but it did not hold and needed to be redone. It ultimately did nothing for his heart health. Narrowing of the artery post-angioplasty can be caused by blood clots occurring at or near the site of the treatment. Aspirin, heparin, coumadin, warfarin or combinations of anti-clotting drugs are generally used before and after the procedures to try and prevent this. Warfarin and coumadin were originally and still are used as rat poison. Oh, but it thins your blood so you should take it if you have heart problems.
• Coronary artery bypass grafting.  A surgical procedure that involves taking blood vessels from other areas of your body to “bypass” narrowed areas of coronary arteries in order to improve blood flow to the heart, relieve chest pain and, possibly, prevent a heart attack. This same procedure may be used to bypass narrowed or blocked arteries in the leg. This surgery is invasive and unnecessary. Simple dietary and lifestyle measures can completely reverse blocked arteries. My grandfather and uncle both had this procedure. It involved months of recovery with both speaking of never feeling the same again. The both entered into a slow, steady decline following the surgery. Studies show that you’re more than twice as likely to die from this surgery as you are from heart disease.
• Carotid endarterectomy. Surgery to remove built-up plaque from the carotid arteries in order to restore blood flow to the brain in an effort to prevent a stroke. This surgery can result in bleeding, infection, blood clots, brain damage, stroke or heart attack.
• Aspirin. Fire your doctor if he recommends taking aspirin to prevent heart attack. High cholesterol and heart disease is not caused by a deficiency of aspirin. Two decades ago it was shown in the Journal of the American Medical Association that aspirin provides no protective benefit. Eight other studies have shown aspirin more than doubles your chance of having a stroke. Aspirin also promotes age related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in seniors. So, why is this treatment recommended? A 1992 Lancet study funded by the Bayer Corporation (oh, the maker of aspirin!) concluded that aspirin reduced the risk of heart attack. The reason this study showed such great results is because Bayer provided the study with Bufferin, which contains magnesium oxide. Magnesium deficiency is rampant in our society, contributing to all kinds of health problems, including heart disease. It was actually the magnesium, rather than the aspirin, that showed such promising results.
• Low Cholesterol Diet. As soon as high cholesterol is diagnosed, you’re told by your doctor to go on a low cholesterol diet. Eeeeh. Wrong. This is dangerous advice. Without sufficient cholesterol, we cannot make our hormones or the membranes of our brain, heart, and other cells. Our brain is 25% cholesterol. It needs cholesterol to function. Without sufficient dietary cholesterol, you are more vulnerable to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. This is useless advice because the liver can make three times as much cholesterol in a day as you could eat. It makes 80% of our cholesterol regardless of dietary intake of cholesterol. The dietary staple shown to increase cholesterol is sugar, flour, and refined grains.

Wendy’s Recommendations for Natural Treatment

Modern medicine says that hardening of the arteries cannot be reversed once it has occurred. This is not true. With commitment to alternative treatments and changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can reclaim your health. On the flip side, I realize there are some people unwilling to make these lifestyle changes. It takes work and dedication — or they can’t afford treatments their insurance won’t cover. In these cases, conventional treatment may be the only answer to extend their life. I recommend making the following natural treatments to both lower the risk of atherosclerosis and reduce symptoms once it has manifested.

Lifestyle

• Exercise. Regular exercise helps maintain the health of the vessels leading to the heart. Exercise also can strengthen the heart muscle itself. Walking after meals, even just for 10 minutes, can reduce blood sugar after meals, and prevent further damage to the blood vessels.
• Stop smoking. Smoking oxidizes cholesterol, causing it to deposit in your blood vessels and contribute to atherosclerosis. This is the single most important change you can make to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. A great program is 14andout.com.
• Control blood pressure. While I don’t recommend controlling blood pressure by taking blood pressure medication, I do recommend all the suggestions in the brilliant book The Blood Pressure Hoax by Sherry Rogers.
• Control cholesterol. The standard tests for cholesterol are outdated. The standard cutoff for high cholesterol is 200, but healthy levels are different for many people. You don’t want your cholesterol levels too low either. Low cholesterol levels below 150 are associated with premature death and many, many health problems. The body needs some cholesterol. You want to look at the size of your cholesterol particles, not just the total cholesterol number. Most doctors do not look at this parameter, even though it is the only meaningful way to evaluate cholesterol numbers. You can have LDL cholesterol that looks normal, say 100, but you may have over 1,000 small LDL particles which are very dangerous. On the other hand, you can have the same LDL number of 100, and it may be made up of 400 large particles which cause no real health risk. HDL cholesterol is very protective — it cleans up oxidized LDL. LDL cholesterol is the culprit causing hardened and blocked arteries. It’s fine as long as it’s not oxidized, but it becomes oxidized with smoking, lack of physical activity, stress, industrial chemicals and a toxic diet. For more information on how to control your cholesterol and get to the root cause of the issue, listen to my podcast with Jimmy Moore, author of Cholesterol Clarity.
• Control diabetes. High blood sugar contributes to hardening of the arteries. Note that current research shows that statins (cholesterol-lowering medications) may, in fact, contribute to diabetes. I beg you to reconsider when your doctor advises you to take toxic medications like statins or insulin. You’ll be taking meds to control your high cholesterol, which cause diabetes, which in turn causes hardening of the arteries! Medications make people sicker quicker. Diabetes can be cured. You can also listen to this podcast I did on how to Heal Diabetes Naturally.
• Maintain good dental health. In a new study published in the British Medical Journal researchers found that people with poor oral hygiene had a 70 percent increased likelihood of developing heart disease compared to those who brushed regularly. Because gum disease can cause atherosclerosis, it is vital to brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss daily. Flossing breaks up bacteria colonies in the gums that can get into the blood stream and cause infection and inflammation in other parts of your body. Most importantly, be sure to have regular dental checkups and get your teeth cleaned every six months to remove plaque buildup. If this is not removed, you are very likely to get periodontal disease, which contributes to heart disease.

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