Re: Plavix (is my doctor a quack?)

From: oreo123 (oreo123_at_comcast.net)
Date: 11/28/04 

Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:10:33 -0500

Here it is in a nutshell....

No family history of heart disease no stroke. At 49 I had blocked right
coronary artery heart attack... Male, non smoker, 5'8" 180 pounds. Arrived
too late and just cath'd. Placed on lipitor, folic acid, lisinopril, toprol
(originally metoprolol)... Three years later - Sept 04 had stress test and
cath'd. Placed 3 stents. One artery - left side - had gone from 40 to 80
percent blocked in 3 years and was stented. Other stent was from heart
attack which was now closed to 90 percent. Plus another stent downstream.
Was placed on plavix. Then almost 3 weeks ago had a stroke. Had double
vision and then left side went numb. Regained left side - vision is still
double. Placed on cumodin. In hosp they found hole between heart chambers
that 20 percent of us have. They looked at legs for clots and found nothing.

Here are chol numbers before 3 stents installed and before the stroke... Yes
I modified diet intensly but we are not discussing that here. Well yet.
5/28/04 Friday.

B.P. 100 over 64 and heart rate was 56.

Chol 111 <200 mg/dl

Trig 65 <150 mg/dl

HDL-C 42 >41 mg/dl

LDL-C 56 <100 mg/dl

Risk factor 2.6 0-5.1

PSA .43 0 - 4.0 ng/dl

And 4 years ago not fasting these were the numbers...

total 239
hdl is 39

ratio is 6.1

I cannot understand why I had a stroke while being so good with diet and
meds. One more mistake was not having long term disabilty insurance as I am
, well was, self employed.

I had someone tell me yesterday that doctors get a commission from drug
companies for placing someone on drugs. Is that true? Supposedly that was
reported in AARP.?

"outrider" <outrider@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:1101660823.375044.247370@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> {Top posting to follow Ed's preference.}
>
>
> Oreo said he had a stroke after he had been taking the medications. We
> don't know that the medications lessened or prevented anything. All we
> *know* is...he was taking the meds. He had events.
>
> Those meds do indeed have potential for side effect. But presumably
> Oreo chose to take risk of those side effects because he hoped they
> would lessen or prevent events. Apparently, he rolled the dice and
> seven went home with some other guy.
>
> Yes. Oreo could have posted to smc in a rare booze, debauchery and pork
> chop free moment. We only know what he's told us. And he's told us he
> had normal cholesterol leves and no family risk. He had his heart
> attack--one of the more than 50 per cent who do with no risks--and all
> the subsequent events with a normal cholesterol level and a truckload
> of meds.
>
> Zee
>
>
>
>
> Ed Mathes wrote:
>> Where in his post did he describe "side effects"???
>>
>> Where did he mention stroke? I think you are mixing up the posts of
> Phillip
>> and Oreo123.
>>
>> The problem with all these posts is lack of information. We have no
> idea
>> what their medical history is, their blood pressure, their weight,
> smoking,
>> diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, other risk factors. Did he
> take the
>> medication as prescribed? What was the result of that treatment?
> Was his
>> blood pressure at goal? Cholesterol reduced? Did he have carotid
> stenosis?
>> Atrial fibrillation? Cerebral aneurysm? Did he flip a clot, pop a
> plaque,
>> dissect an artery, or have an aneurysm leak?
>>
>> How old is Phillip? Oreo123 says he is 53.....you are trying to undo
> a
>> something that took a lifetime to occur in just a couple months.
>>
>> Having a heart attack then being treated kind of puts the cart in
> front of
>> the horse, don't you think? How about trying to prevent the heart
> attack to
>> begin with?
>>
>> Secondary Prevention Trials with specific statins show they reduce
>> events.....REDUCE not eliminate. Trials with specific ACE inhibitors
> show
>> they REDUCE, not eliminate events. Trials with BETA BLOCKERS show
> they
>> REDUCE, not eliminate events. Exercise, weight loss, diet, blood
> sugar
>> control, blood pressure reduction, cholesterol control, all REDUCE,
> not
>> eliminate risk of events (re: Jim Fix).
>>
>> Zee, heads up...not everyone who takes a specific medication has
>> "devastating side effects"......
>>
>> Ed
>> "outrider" <outrider@despammed.com> wrote in message
>> news:1101621655.373984.98420@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>> > {Top posting to follow Oreo's choice.}
>> >
>> >
>> > But this is terrible. Why are we given these drugs if they prevent
>> > nothing? You had a heart attack. THEN you were put on drugs which
>> > presumably were meant to prevent further incidences, only to have
>> > another incident requiring three stents installed, and THEN a
> stroke
>> > from a blood clot in the brain.
>> >
>> > What did the meds--aspirin, toprol, folic acid, lipitor,
> lisinopril,
>> > which all surely must have devastating side effects--do apart from
>> > enriching the coffers of their respective pharmas?
>> >
>> > I am so sorry these things have happened to you. You deserve
> better. We
>> > *all*
>> > deserve better.
>> >
>> >
>> > Zee
>

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