Metabolic Cardiology
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Joe's Metabolic Cardiology Success Story
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"Joe was nearly 60 when I first saw him in 1977. He was in bad shape for his age, with arteries so clogged that he lived on nitroglycerine to keep his angina at bay. His angiography results were worrisome to say the least – coronary arteries so narrow and diseased that bypass surgery had to be ruled out as a solution.
Joe was a treatment nightmare and his odds of living a long or comfortable life were slim. I share his story because, together, we found ways for him to age vibrantly, despite his poor circulation.
The traditional treatment three decades ago was to control Joe’s symptoms by slashing the oxygen demand on his heart with medications such as beta blockers, which hold down heart rate and blood pressure. A pacemaker guaranteed that we wouldn’t drop his heart rate too low with these drugs.
Being proactive patient, Joe asked me in 1980 about an alternative therapy he started researching - intravenous chelation. This therapy binds harmful substances like lead, cadmium and arsenic so the body can excrete them.
My recommendations on chelation have always varied from patient to patient, depending on the situation. I’ve seen it help several patients in the past who had angina, so, with that in mind, Joe and I discussed the pros and cons of this treatment as it pertained to his health situation. Ultimately, we decided that he should give it a try. Sixty treatments later he reported less chest pain and less of a need for nitroglycerine.
In addition, as I became increasingly interested in nutritional medicine in the mid 1980s, I started Joe on a multivitamin/mineral and antioxidant formula, as well as coenzyme Q10.
In 1987, Joe had another angiogram. Amazingly, it showed that one of his arteries was no worse than it was 10 years before, another artery was only slightly worse, and a third had actually improved. All of our efforts had helped stabilize his symptoms - a big accomplishment for a progressive disease like his.
Joe continued taking his supplements religiously and, several years later in the late 1990s, I added L-carnitine fumarate to Joe’s daily supplement routine. L-carnitine, like coenzyme Q10, is a substance your own body makes in order to turnover triphosphate (ATP), the basic fuel that gives your cells their energy.
These important substances decline with age and affect the ability of cells to carry out their specific functions. For ailing hearts, a shortage of these critical nutrients undermines the pumping action of the heart muscle. Supplementation helps restore energy and function to these starving cells, as well as to cells throughout the body. I also added fish oil and the enzyme nattokinase to help keep the blood thin and prevent clotting. In 2004, I added D-ribose.
With this program of targeted nutraceuticals, Joe’s health continued to improve.
Joe is now in his 90’s. Despite his advancing age and cardiac condition, and occasional stubborn shortness of breath, Joe’s overall quality of life has actually gotten better with age. I would even describe his progress as miraculous. Not only has he made it into his tenth decade against all odds, but he’s in much better shape than most of his counterparts.
I certainly can’t take all the credit for his success because Joe has contributed to his rehabilitation in a big way. He’s an exceptional patient with a positive attitude who walks two miles a day, follows a heart healthy diet, and has a strong spiritual life. To boot, he has a loving, supportive wife and strong friendships.
To me, Joe’s story represents two important lessons. First, it emphasizes the power of integrative medicine – using the best conventional and alternative medicine can offer. Second, it’s all about the power of personal responsibility. Joe wasn’t healthy when he started with me, but he resisted a passive “take care of me” attitude, made the effort, never gave up and became healthier as he aged. He added quality of years to his life… that’s what healthy aging is about."
Joe's story has been excerpted from: The Sinatra Solution: Metabolic Cardiology, © 2005, 2008 Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C.
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As a physician, I have seen people turn around who were in comas for weeks, when loved ones and doctors wanted to pull the plug and I would say, "don't pull the plug." I have had patients transferred to my hospital who were deemed terminal, where I would treat them differently, and they would recover and walk out of the hospital... even if patients have terminal metastatic cancer, I feel that if they are still breathing on their own, there is hope. As a physician, I always believe, as Yogi Berra said, "it's not over till it's over."
-Dr. Sinatra, as interviewed by Suzanne Somers in Knockout
