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When Tim Russert died unexpectedly of a heart attack, millions of Americans mourned his passing and wondered what he had been doing wrong. The answer is nothing.Unlike most people, Tim Russert got superb medical care. Although he suffered from high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, he was controlling them with blood pressure pills and a statin-type cholesterol-lowering medication.
Tim Russert also exercised vigorously almost every day. He passed a recent treadmill stress test designed to evaluate heart health.
According to the autopsy report, the rupture of plaque in one of Mr. Russert’s coronary arteries led to ventricular fibrilliation, an abnormal heart rhythm that resulted in sudden cardiac arrest. Such a heart attack is often so quickly fatal that even emergency care is not fast enough.
The American Heart Association says that roughly 300,000 other Americans will also die suddenly this year because of cardiac arrest.
Most people think that a heart attack evolves slowly with chest pain as the prime symptom. Mr. Russert experienced no such early warning.
Something very similar happened to James Fixx on July 20th, 1984. He died of a sudden massive heart attack at age 52 while running in Vermont. He had no symptoms, though he regularly ran 10 miles daily.
Mr. Fixx was the poster child for changing lifestyle and becoming more active. When he started running at age 35, he was grossly overweight and a heavy smoker. But his intense exercise program enabled him to lose 60 pounds and keep them off. He gave up smoking and became an apostle for jogging. His book, The Complete Book of Running, sold over a million copies. He was a vegetarian and advocated a low-fat diet.
People were as shocked with Jim Fixx’s death in the 1980s as they are today with Tim Russert’s tragic demise. The lesson is that there are no guarantees.
It still makes sense to quit smoking, lose weight and control familiar risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol. These are easy to measure and many can be treated with medications.
But there are nearly 250 other potential contributors to heart disease. One that is frequently overlooked is stress. It is very difficult to assess or treat stress, but it may be equally as important as cholesterol in determining heart health.
While covering the never-ending primary campaign, it is likely that Mr. Russert was under constant deadline pressure and that he was getting too little sleep. Certainly, he had a very high-stress job.
Another important risk factor is low HDL, or good cholesterol. This seems to have been a problem for Mr. Russert. Unfortunately, it is hard to raise HDL, although exercise can help somewhat.
We discuss those elusive risk factors, including triglycerides, Lp(a) and CRP (a marker of inflammation), along with natural ways to control cholesterol in our book, Best Choices From The People’s Pharmacy. It is available in libraries, bookstores and online at www.peoplespharmacy.com.
Jim Fixx and Tim Russert were both working hard to avoid heart attacks. Their tragic deaths remind us that there is still a lot to learn about keeping hearts healthy.
I guess you can't always depend on a stress test. I am 66 years old and since my dad died of a heart attack at age 59 I thought I'd better have a stress test. I did and it came out fine but then Russert had the test as well.
Maybe my getting the test was a waste of time. I have high LDL and take Lipitor ( 10 mg) every other day. My HDL is high, so that is good. I'm not sure taking a statin is good, the results of a study I read about said only 50% of fatal heart attacks were attributed to high LDL. Since Russert was under so much stress I wonder if that was the culprit, maybe people don't realize how much stress effects us?
I find it somewhat disingenuous to say there is no way to prevent heart attacks and that Tim Russert received the best of care. In fact, it seems he received typical conventional care, but the best of care.
It is fairly easy to raise hdl, by decreasing carb intake and increasing protein consumption. Lowering inflammation by the use of omega 3's is, from what I've read, much more effective than chemical statins.
If stress was his problem, then this should have been addressed, either by his workplace, or through supplements and techniques (meditation, yoga etc).
Exercise is of course important, but control of inflammation, which seems to be the problem with the plaque dislodging seems to be the major source of concern.
These can all be addressed without chemicals and conventional, drug related, symptom oriented "medicine".
As an emergency physician, I have done a lot of literature research over the last 6 years on lifestyle. What I have found, is a plant based, low-fat, no added oil diet is the best for preventing and reversing atherosclerosis.
I have done 4, four week lifestyle medicine classes, 4 days a week, 2 hours a class. I have, in 4 weeks an average of 7 lb weight loss, 25% drop in total cholesterol. Yes this is anecdotal, but I have put into practice the work of John McDougall, Neal Barnard, Dean Ornish, Hans Diehl, to name a few.
I have had people get off their cholesterol, blood pressure, antidepressant, arthritis meds. I have had people with nuclear medicine heart scans, which were positive for ischemia, normalize. This was all with about 80% carbs, 10% protien and fat. And it was easy. This diet does work, and it does stabalize the immature, unstable plaques that kill so many each year.
I have had irregular heart rhythm for many years. I am a female 55. I worry all the time that I will probably die from a heart related problem due to this condition. I there anything I can do for myself? I am not obese and do not have diabetes.
I'm a sixty six year old female who has always enjoyed good health. Seven months ago I experienced a strange feeling for a few seconds., where my memory failed and my speech became garbled. My doctor suspected a TIA and the carotid doppler showed normal blood flow and slight stable plaque. MY BP was elevated and I was placed on appropriate medication.
I'm not at all overweight, but blood tests showed normal thyroid, no diabetes and normal liver and kidney function. My cholesterol was borderline even though I really do not eat a lot of fatty foods. However, I decided to reduce my fat intake even further, eating red meat no more than 4 times a month, drinking fat free milk. increasing my fruit and veg and walking for an additional 30 mins per day. Mostly eating fish and chicken, no cakes or puddings and a few buiscuits.
Image my horror when I was blood tested last week and my cholesterol had risen from 6 to 7.6. I am on medication for anxiety and panic attacks as well as the BP stuff. Any suggestions for the the change - I'm now on statins!