Heart Attack Again
As I was having dinner with a friend a few weeks ago in Jakarta, he was telling me that he was traveling with his brother in Singapore when he had a sudden hunch that he has to go back to Jakarta as soon as possible.
He didn’t know what was the reason but he just knew that he has to go back.
The staff in the Singapore Airlines downtown office and at the airport told him that it us almost impossible to take the flight he wanted but he just insisted on standing by for the flight.
True enough, he managed to get on that flight and the moment he touched down in Jakarta, he received a SMS informing him that his very good friend has died.
I then asked him what did his friend die of and guess what?
Heart Attack!
I have been hearing too many incidents of people dying of heart attacks and it is getting real scary.
I was told that his friend is a very active sportsman and never had any health issues and everyone is puzzled why did he die of heart attack?
Is it because of high cholesterol? High triglycerides? Low levels of HDL cholesterol? Or is it because of high levels of homocystein?
We would not know because the man has already passed on and if you are right now reading this, may I suggest that you do the following:
Check your cholesterol levels
Check your triglycerides levels
Check your homocystein levels
In one of my post, I mentioned of a book called “What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutrition Medicine That May Be Killing You?” by Dr. Ray Strand who mentioned that one third of people who died from heart attacks died from high levels of homocystein.
So, make it an effort to check your blood so that you know to lower cholesterol or lower homocystein if it is too high.
Eugene and 
Dave S. CIMT Specialist 11:24 pm on January 4, 2009 Permalink
It is very scary to see so many people who are seemingly healthy (and young)die suddenly of a heart attack.
In most cases, these heart attacks are caused by soft plaque ruptures (no symptoms, no abnormal diagnostic tests, and few or no risk factors).
There is a viable solution to identify if you have soft plaque building in your arteries (regardless if you are in shape and hav no elevated risk factors).
It is called a Carotid IMT ultrasound test. This test measures the inflammation in the innermost layers of your carotid arteries (neck). Its non incasive and will detect the earliest signs of structural vascular damage (pre-disease and early disease). Your physician can then treat you clinically, rather than waiting for you to have an event, or become so clogged (moderate and advanced disease)that its time for surgery.
this test is becoming more readily available to consumers and physicians, but with all new procedures-the medical establishment is slow to catch on.
Eugene 9:09 am on January 5, 2009 Permalink
Thanks for the information Dave.
That is interesting to know what can one do to find out if he or she is in great risk of having heart attacks. I believe besides testing it, it is important to take note as well to address the concerns of high cholesterol, high triglycerides and high homocysteine level with a natural supplement called Bios Life:
http://www.howcanigethealthy.com/healthblog/healthy-cholesterol/