Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Cardiovascular Help and Hope

LIFTED AND EDITED FROM ANOTHER SOURCE
Here are my bad numbers: My blood pressure is 109/70 and that is at the doctor's office. So I am nervous, waiting for my cancer blood tests results. I've seen it as low as 90s over 50s. My pulse runs as low as the 50s sometimes. Whadayamean bad numbers? Those are athletic type numbers. That is the problem.
My LDL and total cholesterol are high. This is probably due in large part to heredity. AND MY LACK OF CV. Exercise that is. I have wondered why I can't get my cholesterol numbers where I want them. I have given up. So I asked my oncologist what I could do. My BP and pulse are so good. What could I possibly do better? I hike I bike I play tennis I do tai chi. I think nothing of climbing a thousand vertical feet.These are all great aerobically. My last oncologist would have nothing to do with discussing Lipid Panels. But this new friend told me to do 30 minutes of CV most days and eat almonds.
Isn't aerobics as good as CV? For some things yes. For some things aerobics is better.
But for flushing the arteries of LDL, moderate cardiovascular exercise is the only way to go. I never realized that I could be in good shape with a dangerous arterial flow issue.
Luckily my LDL is the large buoyant kind. Or the good bad kind. Yes now there is not just good and bad cholesterol but also good and bad bad cholesterol. Got it? Here, it's easy. Divide your triglycerides by your HDL (or if you prefer divide HDL into triglycerides). If that number is 2 or less you are good. Less than 2 supposedly means large buoyant LDL (good) instead of small dense LDL (baad). My verry bad numbers are 240 total and 170 LDL. My HDL is a little lower than I would like, as over 60 is optimal. My triglycerides are very low (probably thanks to aerobics). Anyway my triglyceride to HDL ratio is very good. I'm large and buoyant at 140 lbs.
Here's the thing: I think that my blood pressure and heartbeat are so low that I do not pump the the cholesterol out of my arteries. "Why should we move even if we are buoyant?" they say. Well I don't like their attitude. I don't want an over abundance of any LDL and so now they will get moving with 30 minutes of cardiovascular moderate exercise most days, I hope. For me, at 60 years of age, that means a consistent pulse of 88 to 112. To get this formula subtract your age from 220. This leaves 160 for me. 55% to 70% of 160 is my moderate CV exercise number FOR A HALF HOUR STRAIGHT. One should not be able to carry on a conversation at a moderate exercise pace. I've worked much harder than this temporarily on a vertical climb or on a mountain bike, but not for 30 minutes straight.
I will try to blow the LDL away. Hope it works.
Oh yeah, almonds. Did you know that what you eat doesn't have as much to do with your cholesterol numbers as you think? I do not even eat an average of 1/4 the healthy amount of cholesterol per day on my "anti-cancer" diet. My stupid liver is making the stupid stuff just like all of our stupid livers. Give the liver a brain will ya? It's so important that it could use one. So my liver is no doubt over producing. Oh yeah, almonds. 1 ounce unsalted per day. They block LDL production. Not cashews buddy.
I hate almonds. I love cashews. I hate moderate cardiovascular exercise. I love aerobics. Oh well, do what you are told.

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

A New Morning Then the Same Old B.S.

I remember telling my original oncologist that I always felt better when I left his office than when I had come in. But of course those were the early days of just being glad to be alive, you know what I mean, when everything smelled like new flowers and fresh strawberries. The euphoria for me lasted about 6 months I guess. I was just thinking that the new oncologist doesn't fit into the same mold, for all of his worth. It's not him, but unfortunately it's me. As I try to make my benchmarks the hum drum of life persists as in pre-disease times. I do not think that a day goes by where I don't feel lucky to be alive, but it sure doesn't compare to the first 6 months of new life. The survivor's bane (and I'm not even one yet).

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Health Facts-Did You Know?!

Heroin is more effective and less expensive than morphine for pain (such as post-surgical pain).
One can be "regular" and constipated at the same time. Especially with IBS.
We all have 2 brains. One is enteric. No, not what you were thinking women.
There is such a thing as "Exploding Head Syndrome". Eureka, I've got it!
Although most IBS sufferers are women, irritable bladder in conjunction with same is more common in men.
If "practice makes perfect" the Chinese have been practicing medicine for way over 2000 years. They say concentration  should be on "rebound" pain.
It seems that not all bad (LDL) cholesterol is bad. There is large & buoyant (good) to acknowledge.
A "well differentiated" pathology grading is a hopeful consideration in a cancerous growth.
Cancer is not a hand-me-down disease. Only 15% is genetic. The rest is environment, inside and outside. A putrefying environment cannot be disease free.
Apples are probably the dirtiest fruit (containing the most pesticides & poisons), celery the vegetable. One cannot do without apples, buy organic.
Carnivores have short intestines. Humans do not.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Cancer-Here's How Nutrition Does

Before I get going: I learned something the other day on public radio. It's hard to see the expression on a mosquito's face.



Well I haven't made it yet but I haven't had to resort to chemotherapy or radiation treatments. I'm 2 1/2 years past the surgery for appendix cancer. I am and have been trying nutrition. Boring! I know it is but it's cheaper and less traumatic than some other Stage 3 treatments. I don't dismiss the standard treatments lightly. Mom and Dad both had good old chemo or some such thing. Their lifespan after drastic treatments was 2 years each. AND THE FACT IS WHEN CANCER COMES BACK AFTER TWO YEARS IT IS UNSTOPPABLE USUALLY. Well then you may be offered palliative chemo-not so unpleasant.
Some may find my diet very unappealing. I find chemo unappealing.

Here's a typical dinner for me so that you know how nasty I have to live:
Three (organic) Bean Chili
Garlic & Cheese Breads
Organic Lettuce With Extra Virgin Olive Oil & (organic) Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Quart Water Boiled & Chilled
1500 milligrams Chinese herbs (mushroom immunity formula)
2 Squares (70% (I love Lindt) cocoa) Chocolate
and vitamins: zinc (dosage 50), vitamin E (400), folic acid (400), time release vitamin C (500), selenium (200), multi-vitamin w/o iron, calcium & vitamin D supplement
Yep, boring. Everything I eat here is aimed at reducing inflammation. DID YOU KNOW THAT CANCER IS INFLAMMATION? I DIDN'T. MEAT CAUSES INFLAMMATION. Chemotherapy is not inflammation control either. I still can have a pizza or baby back rib occasionally. (At least I have been.)

Admittedly, I still haven't made it the standard 5 years. And why is that the standard? Does the health care system figure a person is broke enough at that point? Why not 4 years and 300 days? What a load.
A friend of mine had relapse after 7 years. 5 years as the standard did her wrong.

Okay, here's the biggest tragedy: A discussion between the oncologist and the patient about nutritional advantages and disadvantages vis-a-vis cancer almost never happens. As a matter of fact, I asked my doctor if I would see a nutritionalist. I like him but he acted like I wasn't speaking English. No nutritionalist I guess.
So I had to research all of  the dietary stuff myself while trying to manage the other traumatic things too.
So why do we have to go to an "alternative care" practitioner for nutritional guidance? (This will not usually be insurance covered either.) BECAUSE THE $ IS IN DRASTIC TREATMENTS. There is no money for mainstream medicine in good diet.

Almost every medical person I have talked to is baffled as to why I didn't get chemo. Like I missed something and I just must try it. They seem to think that my oncologist must have been asleep at the wheel. Well I like him because he said that chemo has side effects. I didn't tell him "Duh, I knew that". I just thought that chemo/cancer was like bacon/eggs. Didn't we all think that?

Don't just sit there. Look at these!
nutritiondata.self.com 
edibleevolution.blogspot.com/2009/06/anti-inflammatory-recipes-and-foods.html