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Heart Health

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tech/a

No Ordinary Duck
Joined
14 October 2004
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59,105 kg,6'1

Male
Smoked on and off for 35 yrs
Always training jogging cycling and gym.
Never drank.

Noticed leg pain in calves after walking 5 or so kms
Same when jogging. Shortness of breath when beginning
Training which remains manageable through training ---- thought that
The remnants of smoking --- gave up 5 yrs ago.

Turns out calf leg pain is one of the most common early indicators
Of Heart disease. With. Cholesterol level life long of 3.8 hasn't changed in
10 yrs this has come as a huge wake up call!

I've decided to have every test known to man and determine what
The level of damage is firstly.
Then the program to repair, stop and or avoid future damage.
While diet is ok---no fast food,I know sugar is my no 1 enemy.
So to portion size. I need to lose 20 kg.

But it's the low cholesterol yet strong symptoms of lack of oxygen
And blood flow to leg muscles that has me baffled.

I guess all will come out in the following weeks as blood tests/stress tests and
Whatever else is served up----fills in the picture.

I thought I'd post this up as I thought I was/am as fit as a mallee bull.
Aching legs---thought everyone suffered from that!

Lost a couple of mates from Heart disease--not that keen on joining the group!
 
Glad to hear that you are getting some tests done.

Most blokes don't bother to get regular check ups until something goes wrong.

It is very important to get regular checks ups men! Especially after age 50 and imperative at 60 onwards.

The first signs of old age (>50) often scare men but not enough to make them go and see/talk to someone (it will come good - no worries).

The first setbacks won't kill you but recovery will be harder. Early detection, from regular checkups, helps recovery and prevention. Putting off checkups will only make things worse.

Diets will change as we get older and better food (less fat/less sugar) will happen gradually.
Smoking and heavy drinking are killers and should be avoided completely if you want to live longer and better.

Adequate exercise is another matter. It is too easy to become sedentary. The less you exercise the harder it is to exercise and therefore you do less exercise and so the downhill spiral continues.

Plenty of exercise will overcome a bad diet (excluding smoking and drinking) but a good diet will not overcome a lack of exercise.

Hope all goes well with your checkups tech/a
 
I wish you good results and health, tech, a wise move, to have the docs check you out.

gg
 
Well good luck Tech, very curious as well to see how you go. Is there a history of heart disease in either side of the family?

I have some concerns as well but am 13 years your junior. Need to get back on the bike, cut out more alcohol and stay off the bloody gaspers for good!

Diet isn't too bad, but a title high in salt (Asian).

Anyway, hope your ok, keep us posted and thanks for sharing.

CanOz
 
Sounds like you're taking all the right steps Tech.

Reducing that BMI looks a good first step. My MD has me on a complete sugar prohibition, he wishes. It's damnably difficult.

I'm not a smoker but don't see a problem with, in moderation (for medicinal purposes) a Dr Coopers. My MD isn't too keen on that either, but I said, I want to gain health, not lose the will to live.
 
Champex the solution for me --- easiest thing I've done.

Mothers, ---- brother and sister both died of heart attacks.

Nothing otherwise mum and dad in 80s

Training for true grit in May.
 
Good on you tech.

But you weigh 59,000kg?

For those of us with sugar addictions, I can highly recommend stevia. Seriously, check it out.

I've beaten my coke addiction thanks to it.getting it out of my coffee and tea made a massive difference.

I had my third knee op in January and I'm probably less than half your age, so I'm having to make some pretty drastic changes otherwise I'm heading that way!
 
chops_a_must said:
Good on you tech.

But you weigh 59,000kg?
Click to expand...
I had to think about that one too, but I think it's age,weight.

I gave up sugar in beverages last year and don't miss it now. I do however still eat sweets occasionally. Definitely no Coke, but I used to drink it as a youngster.
 
tech/a said:
59,105 kg,6'1

Male
Smoked on and off for 35 yrs
Always training jogging cycling and gym.
Never drank.

Noticed leg pain in calves after walking 5 or so kms

Lost a couple of mates from Heart disease--not that keen on joining the group!
Click to expand...

Go and get your heart sliced up, Heart CT scan will cost less than 500 bucks.
 
tech/a said:
But it's the low cholesterol yet strong symptoms of lack of oxygen
And blood flow to leg muscles that has me baffled.
Click to expand...
There are other reasons for reduced blood flow to lower limbs.
Don't assume you have heart disease before you get results from tests.

Logique said:
Sounds like you're taking all the right steps Tech.

Reducing that BMI looks a good first step. My MD has me on a complete sugar prohibition, he wishes. It's damnably difficult.
Click to expand...
Has he explained specifically what sugar is doing to you? I know it's fashionable to blame sugar for everything. A few years ago it was fat that was the most evil.

but I said, I want to gain health, not lose the will to live.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
I've never been overweight, exercise a lot and mostly eat with regard to good nutrition, emphasis on lots of vegetables, salads, small amounts of protein, minimal carbs, never fry anything or eat take aways, but I'm damned if life is meant to be utterly about denial. e.g. when fresh asparagus is in season, make a meal of it, but have it with of butter and seasonings.
Eat the best quality food you can afford.
Buy top quality chocolate. I'm happy with just one, but dip it into whipped cream.
Small indulgences make life enjoyable.

A friend of mine died recently. Lung cancer and Hodgkins Lymphoma, the cancer having spread through most of her body. She never smoked or drank any alcohol. She avoided salt and sugar. Ate healthy diet and exercised regularly. Had a calm disposition. Despite all this she had high cholesterol for most of her adult life, and then the cancer.

It has much to do with our genes. My father ate what seemed like dreadful amounts of fat. He would drink down a whole 600ml bottle of cream as if it were milk, daily. Ate fatty cuts of meat, never removing the fat.
Had perfect cholesterol and blood pressure and was never overweight. Very physically active.

tech/a said:
Champex the solution for me --- easiest thing I've done.
Click to expand...
Induced a psychotic suicidal depression in one of my friends.

Good luck with the weight loss, Tech.
Soon the obese person will be the new normal. I can't believe how fat so many people are!

Thanks for sharing your situation. It's a worthwhile topic for discussion. Hope you'll keep us informed.
 
well take care, hope you will be able to fix the lot and be back 100%
we need you here!!!
 
qldfrog said:
well take care, hope you will be able to fix the lot and be back 100%
we need you here!!!
Click to expand...

Err no problems just symptoms
I'm running 40 k and riding 70k a week so
Hardly debilitated!

Thanks anyway for the best wishes everyone
I'm really curious as to these aching legs
And thought it worth making the symptom
Known----I'd never heard of it.
 
tech/a said:
............I'm running 40 k and riding 70k a week..................I'm really curious as to these aching legs.
Click to expand...

hhmmm, you're not getting any younger you know. Might there be a relationship between the your age and the amount of exercise?
 
59,105 kg,6'1

Male
Smoked on and off for 35 yrs
Always training jogging cycling and gym.
Never drank.
Click to expand...

Me..... 53 yrs old //// 92Kg 6'1
Male
Never smoked.
usually only have a couple of drinks on the weekend.
Had lots of stress over the years though.
Never exercise except for work which has always being quite physical.
Blood pressure has always being perfect.
Don't get regular checkups yet and healthy (touch wood)

Most of my life I had an average weight of 105kgs went up to 130kgs at one stage.
4 years ago made the conscious decision to look after myself better.
I realized I was having around a dozen cups of tea a day / 2 teaspoons of sugar /cup =24 teaspoons sugar/day
So cut sugar down to 1 t/spoon/cup then half then 0. Went to low fat milk and cut down portion size slightly.
I never ate much bread or drank soft drink so that part was easy. I still eat whatever I want but concentrate on quality not quantity.

I wonder whether exercise such as your doing tech really helps that much as we get older.
Getting tests is good practise though.
 
tech, as a trader my guess is you spend a fair amount of time sitting at your desk on the puter.

How do you rest your legs. For many years I had your aching legs and it was found that I tucked them tight under the chair. Happens unconsciously because we are eager in looking at the screens and tension builds up at times but we forget to relax back out.

After becoming aware of this I spread my legs apart and out under the desk, also learned to think about being less tense, deep breaths now and again and the problem went away.

Your cholesterol in fact does not seem too bad, mine was around 8 at one stage with very high blood pressure thrown in. But once onto it all have now come good. Of course I had other health issues as well, prostate cancer and servere depression too, but once you tune (as you are doing) in I am sure you will live a long a fruitful life.

And we need you champ
 
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