Healing Heart Disease Naturally: Holistic approach for total well being

Together

1

Introduction

Shyam Aggarwal, a 45-year-old businessman, woke upone morning with a constricting feeling in the chest. After a while, as the pain subsided, he passed it off as a bout of indigestion and went to work as usual. A few hours later his secretary found him collapsed over a cup of coffee, with a cigarette burning a hole through the papers on his desk.

Shyam was moved to a hospital where an ECG revealed a heart attack. A few weeks later a thoroughly shaken Shyam was back at work. He could not believe that he had a heart attack and was totally confused as to what he should do about it. His doctors advised him to have a bypass operation immediately or otherwise he could have another attack any moment.

Rather than being railroaded into surgery he called in a senior cardiologist for a second opinion who told him that as for now, medication would be enough. Later, if he required it, an angioplasty would be enough. He decided to wait and learn more about heart disease by reading on the subject and talking to a doctor friend, who told him about the possibility of reversing his heart disease using a programme of diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. He gave him an article describing the Ornish programme. His cardiologist burst into laughter when Shyam broached the subject of reversing his heart disease with a programme of diet and exercise and said it was a waste of time.

Shyam’s doctor friend encouraged him to try the programme he had nothing to lose and at worse it would decrease the chances of another attack. Shyam went to work on a programme similar to the one in this book. A few months later he went back to see the cardiologist who had initially recommended the bypass surgery. His cardiologist could not believe the changes in Shyam’s thallium stress test, which showed a reversal of the earlier abnormalities, and admitted that there was no need for any intervention at present. Three years on Shyam is back to playing tennis and swims for an hour daily.

Ramesh, a 42-year-old teacher, started feeling breathless whenever he walked a short distance. He ignored this until he also started getting chest pain. A former basketball player, he could not believe that there could be anything wrong. His doctor made a diagnosis of angina pectoris and prescribed medication and asked him to have an angiography to determine the severity of blockages in the arteries of his heart. Ramesh was mortally afraid of medical procedures and said that he would rather leave his life in God’s hand and refused to have an angiography when he heard that there was small chance of serious complications.

Ramesh consulted Dr Nishant, a holistic physician trained in this approach, who had earlier helped him to give up smoking using hypnosis. Dr Nishant had observed that Ramesh was ambitious, power hungry and would get angry at the slightest provocation, simmering for days on end. Dr Nishant educated him of the link between personality and heart disease, starting him on the Pritikin diet and deep hypnotherapy to modify his personality.

Within two weeks, Ramesh noticed that his chest pain had nearly vanished and that he could walk longer distances without discomfort. Within two months Ramesh was able to walk three miles at a brisk pace. A year later his exercise stress test was nearly normal and his physician allowed him to start playing basketball again. Six years later Ramesh is happy and content with no apparent evidence of heart disease.

REVERSING HEART DISEASE

Till a few years ago, it was believed that once you had heart disease it was not possible to reverse it. However recent studies pioneered by Dr Dean Ornish indicate that it is possible to reverse coronary artery disease by a combination of diet, personality and lifestyle changes. Using sophisticated imaging techniques, he has shown beyond doubt that it is possible to physically reverse the blockages in the coronary arteries. This is not in just isolated cases but over 90% of the patients who stick to his programme demonstrate these changes, saving patients from the risk, trauma and cost of surgery while reducing the risk of a future heart attack to a greater degree than conventional medical treatment.

However, the Ornish programme is not for everyone as it is difficult to follow and requires one to make major changes in diet and lifestyle. It is time consuming requiring about two hours a day for meditation and exercise. In addition, patients need to attend four hour group meetings twice a week and eat a fat free diet. Many patients find it difficult to stay with the programme unless they are part of a group. But the dramatic advantage of this programme is that over a period of time the arteries continue to open up, compared to angioplasty or surgery, where the arteries tend to narrow again over the time.

The Ornish programme is designed to be administered by a team of highly skilled doctors, dieticians and psychotherapists. Unfortunately, there are very few people in India with the skills needed for this purpose and there are many unqualified people practising psychotherapy and healing which is not a regulated profession like medicine. In addition, the Ornish programme is not well adapted as a self-help programme, especially the stress management and personality modification component.

The programme outlined in this book has been designed to enable one to make the necessary healthy lifestyle changes oneself. It is also easier to fit into one’s daily life and will enable you to regain your health and well-being. This is not a substitute for medical treatment. It is designed to supplement your doctor’s treatment to help improve the quality of your life and reduce the chances of a recurrence. Always remember that it is necessary for you to follow this programme in conjunction with a medical doctor. If in doubt please follow your physician’s advice and get a second opinion from a qualified cardiologist.

Changing the quality of your life is the most important aim of this programme. When people discover that they have heart disease, they often get anxious, depressed and in many cases restrict their life. They stop going out and become preoccupied with their health. Some feel that they are living with a time bomb in their chest and become afraid of enjoying life. This programme will help change this and bring more joy and flexibility into your life.

Mind-body healing is one of the new advances in the behavioural sciences. Using psychological techniques, it is possible to positively influence or even cure many physical disorders. There is plenty of research going on in this field and new techniques are being developed every day. This field is gaining acceptance from the orthodox medical practitioners as well as practitioners of alternative medicine.

Cancer is one of the first diseases where the mind-body approach has become popular. Dr O. Carl Simonton, a radiation oncologist, is one of the pioneers in this field. In the 1970s he developed a programme of therapeutic Mental Imagery and psychological change for patients with incurable cancer. Patients in his programme lived twice as long as patients who only received conventional medical treatment. More than the prolongation of life was the improvement in the quality of life that his patients reported. A few of the patients declared to be incurable had a complete regression in their tumours and are alive and well many years after.

Over the years, many more effective and advanced mind-body healing techniques have been developed. The pioneering work of Dr David Cheek M.D utilises hypnotherapy to treat gynaecological and physical disorders. Mind-body healing is now being used in the treatment of a variety of chronic ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, ulcers, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain and skin disorders. Patients with psychosomatic diseases are now routinely being offered mind-body healing at some of the better medical centres across the globe.

2

Understanding Heart Disease

The aim of this chapter is to help you understand the medical aspects of heart disease. It is very important that you understand your illness, because only then will you be able to take an active role in healing yourself. It is important to know a bit about the circulatory system to be able to understand the illness.

In medicine, new discoveries are being made all the time. Therefore be prepared that your doctor may give you information at variance with what is written here. For example, new research may show that certain procedures are no longer as effective as they are made out to be. Safer procedure may be discovered, new drug discoveries may revolutionise the treatment of heart disease.

It is always a good idea to get a second opinion – especially if you are confused or have any doubts. It is always a good idea to get a second opinion before undergoing an angioplasty or bypass surgery. It is important you choose a doctor with whom you feel comfortable. Your doctor should be willing to discuss and explain things to you.

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

The blood supplies the body with nutrients and oxygen and carries away the waste products of metabolism to the organs of excretion. The blood is moved to the tissues through a network of intricate channels called blood vessels.

The heart is a pump that pumps blood along these channels through the body. The blood from the heart is first pumped into the aorta, the main blood vessel of the body. The aorta then divides into a network of increasingly smaller blood vessels that go on to supply various parts of the body. The small arteries further divide into smaller vessels called arterioles. These arterioles then divide into millions of thin-walled vessels called capillaries that supply blood to tissue and cells.

Fig. 1 - Circulation of Blood

The capillaries rejoin to form veins that carry back the blood from which the oxygen has been used, through the veins back to the right side of the heart. From here, the deoxygenated blood is pumped into the lungs where it is oxygenated and then sent into the left side of the heart.

Blood is supplied to the heart muscle by the coronary arteries which arise at the base of the aorta. There are three main coronary arteries that break up into smaller branches, each of which supplies a small area of the myocardium (heart muscle) with blood. The branches of the coronary arteries break up into smaller vessels called arterioles that finally divide into even finer vessels capillaries. It is through the walls of these capillaries that oxygen and nutrient substances diffuse into the heart muscle cells.

Each coronary artery supplies a particular part of the heart with small areas of overlap. In cases of sudden block of a coronary artery, the muscle supplied by it is damaged permanently. If the blockage develops slowly, often the capillaries from adjoining areas grow into the area starved of blood. This is called development of collateral circulation and is more commonly developed in elderly people who exercise moderately. When there is a total blockage to a coronary artery with a well developed collateral circulation the extent of damage to the heart muscle is minimised. Younger people usually have fewer collaterals and are more likely to die from a first infarct than an older person.

Fig. 2 - Coronary Arteries

CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

While it may appear that modern medical science knows the real cause of heart disease, actually this is not true. So much is still being discovered so that anyone who studies the subject in any depth will realise that what is known is the pathology (changes in structure and functioning) but not the cause. Heart disease is a multi-factorial illness in the sense that there are a number of factors that come together to cause a problem.

There is little doubt that physical factors such as a high fat diet and/or the lack of exercise are contributory factors in coronary artery disease. One must remember that the emotional factors are equally if not more important. There are numerous epidemiological studies of groups of people who have a high fat diet, are sedentary and smoke but have much lower rates of heart disease than people from other communities with similar habits. The crucial factor that seems to protect these people is a Type B disposition, low levels of stress and a stable and close social network.

In most cases of coronary artery disease, it is the deposition of cholesterol, a fatty substance in the wall of the artery that causes the problem. The deposition of cholesterol in the arterial wall is called atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis. The fatty deposits in the arterial wall are called plaque or atheroma. The fat deposits lead to a narrowing of the lumen of the artery and a reduction in the amount of blood that can flow through the vessel. More important the deposits of LDL cause inflammation and swelling in the walls of the artery and this leads to rupture of the plaque and formation of a clot at that point. The extent of blockage is not a very good indicator of the risk of having a heart attack in the near future as the incidence of heart attacks is high in people with 30-40% blockages. This is because the plaque may be soft and there may be greater inflammation, while the plaque in an artery with 90% block is likely to be harder and less likely to rupture if there is less inflammation. It is important you know this as some doctors use the fact of a high percentage of blockage to railroad people to have an angioplasty or bypass surgery immediately.

Fig. 3 - Atherosclerotic Artery

One should also be aware of the fact that some patients who have had a myocardial infarction do not have significant deposits of cholesterol in the walls of their coronary arteries, their problem is due to the artery going into spasm due to stress and psychological factors. Hence even if an angiography does not show any significant blockages, it is necessary to work on changing your response to stress, personality and other risk factors.

MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Any blockage to a coronary artery leads to damage and death of the muscle supplied by that artery. This is known as a myocardial infarction. Once the artery is blocked, the heart muscle in the area supplied by it dies within a short while due to lack of adequate oxygen and nutrients. The heart muscle does not regenerate after it has been damaged. Instead it is replaced by tough, fibrous, inelastic tissue. The total amount of contractile muscle is