Congestive Heart Failure

[brokenknee]

@ teejk, I think they have been pretty thorough, I have had a stress test, electrocardiogram, ultra sound, angioplasty, MRI and I think a few other test I can't remember.

 

[TnAndy]

Not medical advice, but check out Co-Q10 and CHF. I take it religiously.

 

[teejk]

@ teejk, I think they have been pretty thorough, I have had a stress test, electrocardiogram, ultra sound, angioplasty, MRI and I think a few other test I can't remember.

Ok...was just wondering...my problems (at age 54) turned out to be in the legs....function of #1 too much time at a desk before employers became aware of that "crimp" the old office chairs used to cause in the leg veins #2 I smoked #3 Heredity...every male in my lineage has had leg circulation issues. If it's in the legs your heart works harder and you will have problems with excess fluid. I got the balloon on one leg that worked for a while. I remember my cardio specialist talking about it and delaying any treatment until "those guys are finished mucking everything up". Gave me great confidence...they don't even trust each other...

 

[brokenknee]

Ok...was just wondering...my problems (at age 54) turned out to be in the legs....function of #1 too much time at a desk before employers became aware of that "crimp" the old office chairs used to cause in the leg veins #2 I smoked #3 Heredity...every male in my lineage has had leg circulation issues. If it's in the legs your heart works harder and you will have problems with excess fluid. I got the balloon on one leg that worked for a while. I remember my cardio specialist talking about it and delaying any treatment until "those guys are finished mucking everything up". Gave me great confidence...they don't even trust each other...

Not tied to a desk, but can spend a lot of time driving during the day. Tomorrow will spend about 7 hours driving for two separate appointments that will take less than 1/2 hour each. But that is the nature of my job. Never did smoke, I was always to cheap, best thing my parents did (both smoked) was complain about the cost of a pack of cigarettes all the time. Yep, as stated earlier the heredity thing is the number one thing that is getting me. That and I should have taken better care of myself when I was younger.

 

[teejk]

Not tied to a desk, but can spend a lot of time driving during the day. Tomorrow will spend about 7 hours driving for two separate appointments that will take less than 1/2 hour each. But that is the nature of my job. Never did smoke, I was always to cheap, best thing my parents did (both smoked) was complain about the cost of a pack of cigarettes all the time. Yep, as stated earlier the heredity thing is the number one thing that is getting me. That and I should have taken better care of myself when I was younger.

The age old adage "if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself"...about 10 years ago my employer changed out all the office chairs to the "ergonomic" ones that cost about $1,000 each. I guess the science was conclusive that proved the health risks with sitting in a chair that put pressure above and behind the knees (I equate it to a kinked garden hose that with time will form blockages even if unkinked). I'm retired but a friend works for a company where the office computers shut down every hour and require the workers move around for a few minutes. I know you specifically said "no advice" but if they haven't tested your legs yet (a series of blood pressure cuffs up and down) you might want to ask. Your legs carry a lot of blood and fluids and work the hardest to return it to your heart to recirculate the blood and pass the fluids to your kidneys. If that's all been looked at, then I guess you have some good docs. You did mention weight so maybe work on that (I went from 210 to 158 in a few months but even the docs said 158 was too light for my build...imagine hearing that from a doc!).

 

[Streetcar]

My father was diagnosed in his early 70s and died of a stroke at age 80.
For him the best treatment was diet and as much exercise as possible. His friend that did not exercise progressed much faster in his disease

 

[dmccarty]

My wife's grand father had CHF for 10-15 years before he died. The family always said that the average lifespan after the diagnosis was five years so he did very well. They are supposed to have changed his diet. I only was around at holidays so I don't know what he ate before CHF or after and he did go walk in the mall every day. They think the diet change and the walking was why he lived past the five years.

I have been talking about walking over on the diabetes thread. Last year, work gave us an incentive to use a FitBit to track our steps. They want us to walk 5,000 steps each day which is not hard to do at all. I know aim for 10,000 steps a day and since I started the 10,000 step goal in the middle of January, I have only had one day where I got less than 10,000 steps. Even then, I did over 5,000 even though I had a bad head ache. The nice thing about a 5,000, 10,000, whatever step goal, is that you can do it here and there during the day. I still end up walking at least once or twice for 20-30 minutes each which I think is important. I certainly don't get my heart rate up near my max but some exercise is better than none. I also ENJOY walking which I can't say for any of the other work outs I have done...

One does not have to use a Fitbit, any old pedometer works, and one can keep track of the steps on a piece of paper or spreadsheet. Or one can count how many steps are taken per minute a few times and go by how long you walk. Tracking the steps/miles does help me walk.

Later,
Dan

 

[JRobyn]

Take the ominous statistics with a grain of salt (not literally). You can see just from the posts on this thread that it is common for CHF to be first diagnosed for those in their 70s and 80s. So a remaining life expectancy of 5 years is not far from the "averages" even without any medical issues (like you suggested in post #8).

I do not have CHF. Leukemia is my challenge. Just a few years ago my kind was a quick death sentence, yet here I am, 3 years later in some sort of remission that the doctors can't really explain. All the statistics still reflect experience from the past. I can say that better scientific understanding of the underlying factors has prolonged the prognosis, as has good doctors and improved pharmaceuticals. Certainly reasonable adjustments in diet and activity can have a positive impact. But you nailed it in your first post IMHO, when it is your time, it is your time. So enjoy the blessing of each and every day as if it was your last.

 

[murphy1244]

Take the ominous statistics with a grain of salt (not literally). You can see just from the posts on this thread that it is common for CHF to be first diagnosed for those in their 70s and 80s. So a remaining life expectancy of 5 years is not far from the "averages" even without any medical issues (like you suggested in post #8).

I do not have CHF. Leukemia is my challenge. Just a few years ago my kind was a quick death sentence, yet here I am, 3 years later in some sort of remission that the doctors can't really explain. All the statistics still reflect experience from the past. I can say that better scientific understanding of the underlying factors has prolonged the prognosis, as has good doctors and improved pharmaceuticals. Certainly reasonable adjustments in diet and activity can have a positive impact. But you nailed it in your first post IMHO, when it is your time, it is your time. So enjoy the blessing of each and every day as if it was your last.

Welcome the CLL club, did you do chemo?

 

[teejk]

Take the ominous statistics with a grain of salt (not literally). You can see just from the posts on this thread that it is common for CHF to be first diagnosed for those in their 70s and 80s. So a remaining life expectancy of 5 years is not far from the "averages" even without any medical issues.

I do not have CHF. Leukemia is my challenge. Just a few years ago my kind was a quick death sentence, yet here I am, 3 years later in some sort of remission that the doctors can't really explain. All the statistics still reflect experience from the past. I can say that better scientific understanding of the underlying factors has prolonged the prognosis, as has good doctors and improved pharmaceuticals. Certainly reasonable adjustments in diet and activity can have a positive impact. But --- nailed, it IMHO, when it is your time, it is your time. So enjoy the blessing of each and every day as if it was your last.

I still have the scars from the bone marrow "harvest" for my brother that developed adult on-set leukemia...that was probably 25 years now. He's been through **** with the effects of radiation and chemo (diabetes, cataracts, etc.) but he's still kicking after all these years and in general loving life. He was a "guinea pig" and one of 2 survivors from a group of 12...I understand that things have improved a lot since that time. So you are correct...statistics don't always reflect advancements in treatment. And you are also correct "when your number's up you gotta go". The old Schlitz commercial said "You only go around once in life...grab for all the gusto you can".