When The Heart Gives Out

On June 16, 2000 my husband Doug went to the local emergency department because he had severe chest pains. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, he had a massive heart arrest. The doctor on call diagnosed it as a blood clot that hit his heart. She administered a new drug known as a bolus thrombolytic which works extremely fast, faster than the commonly used clot-buster drugs. Doug had no idea what was happening to him. Although he never lost consciousness he only barely recalls that he was transferred to Thunder Bay Regional Hospital by helicopter.

Two days later, I received a telephone call from a cardiologist in Thunder Bay stating my husband had another massive attack caused by clots and had been administered the same drug. Later he was transferred to the Heart Institute at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. There, apparently, he had an angioplasty.

When Doug returned from Ottawa, 20 days after his heart attack, I was horrified by his appearance. He looked as if he had been rescued from a concentration camp. He was severely dehydrated, had lost approximately 10 kilograms in less than three weeks and his skin was hanging on his bones. He was so confused that he could not understand what anyone around him was talking about. His blood pressure was too low for me to get a reading. His hands and feet were like blocks of ice and nothing could warm them. I silently questioned why they had sent him home in such a condition. He was very unsteady on his feet and had to be guided out of the hospital.

Too Many Pills

I was given two pages of prescription drugs to be filled for him 13 in all. They had been faxed from Thunder Bay and my husband had been told absolutely nothing about these drugs, not the side effects or what he had to avoid while taking them. He had only been told to avoid stress and follow the written instructions.

I read through the mountain of paperwork explaining the list of drugs, banned foods and products to buy which our one and only supermarket does not stock and a restricted fluid sheet. He was told to weigh himself daily and record
his weight.

The Heart Institute had laid a massive guilt trip on him. They told him he had been eating too much fat and salt. They didn't ask him about his lifestyle or eating habits. They showed him x-rays, which take a highly trained technician to interpret and told him his heart was filled with plaque. According to the information I was given by the doctor in Thunder Bay, his front heart muscle had been damaged by a series of blood clots.

My husband had always had a healthy heart. We know this from numerous tests he has had over the years prior to check-ups and surgeries. He has seen so many doctors that if he had a problem, someone would have told him.

For the first week after he arrived home, my husband constantly expressed the wish to die because he felt so ill. He could not do any of the physical activities he loved and which were the foundation for his quality of life. He was losing weight at a rate of half a kilogram per day. It was agony for me to watch this, so I persuaded him to ignore the literature and drink lots of water to counteract the diuretic pills and reduce the dehydration. I also bought him potassium supplements.

After most of his pills ran out a few weeks later, he began to feel much better and was feeling warmer. His blood pressure rose to a normal level. He began to eat as he had before the arrest. His weight stabilized, but he was still painfully thin.

I was very concerned about his emotional state. He often exploded in bursts of anger at me. Also, he was far more forgetful than he had been before and he was so confused he could not co-ordinate many of the pieces of information he was given. Then I read an article in our local newspaper about the drug he had been given at the hospital. It has a 25 per cent higher risk of brain hemorrhage than drugs that are commonly used. The article stated that random trials had shown this new drug was no more effective in stopping deaths and preventing second heart attacks than the standard drugs, but is far more dangerous. I began to suspect that the two administrations of this drug had damaged his brain and resulted in the loss of memory and other cognitive abilities.

My husband knows how I've benefitted from herbs, vitamins and minerals--substituting these for the prescribed drugs I was given. He would like to substitute supplements, but is feeling pressured by doctors not to do so. He is on two drugs now; one is a blood thinner, the other aspirin-based. One doctor wanted him to take a cholesterol-reducing drug but my husband did not fill the prescription. The side effects are scary, a 44 per cent chance of cataracts, diabetes and cancer. Reduce cholesterol and die of something else, or go blind.

Beware Of Experts

Doug never expected to find himself with a damaged heart--he's worked so hard to keep himself healthy. He has seen four doctors since he returned from Ottawa. Family and case histories are never referred to. He is never given any choices. To them there is only one way to treat a "heart case." Doctors seem oblivious to the stress they are creating by their indifference.

We know that there is no connection between fat and cholesterol. Fat is not the cause of heart disease, it's guilt by association only. Many people who are on low-fat eating plans have high cholesterol readings. No one explains this. No one explains why vegetarians have heart attacks, cancer and arthritis, diseases which are supposedly caused by eating meat and fats.

Doctors never test blood for homocysteins which cause plaque build-up in arteries because there is no drug on the market to lower these. They turn to their prescription pads to deal with everything, relying upon the ignorance of most patients and their need for an "expert" to take care of them.

Herbs and foods can be used to control cholesterol and reduce blood clotting. Magnesium and coenzyme Q₁₀ are invaluable in strengthening the heart. My husband was told in writing not to take any supplements. Starving the body of essential nutrients and fluids is criminal and lethal. How can we recover from illness if we are deprived of the proteins, supplements and fluids of which our bodies are composed and which we need to rebuild damaged organs?

Progress Report

As of February 2000, Doug is doing well physically. In the months since his heart attack, he has gained 10 pounds and is gaining strength every day. He takes vitamins and minerals and only two drugs, neither of which has any negative side effects. Doug is active doing repairs both inside and outside the house.

"But he is not as agile as he once was. He cannot exercise as he once did," says Rosemarie. "He has accepted that he might never be the same person he was before June. "

Mentally Doug is not faring well. The damage inflicted on his cognitive and intellectual abilities by pharmaceutical drugs is irreparable. His short-term memory is unreliable. "He cannot remember a telephone number long enough to write it down even if he has a pencil in his hand."

Rosemarie has spoken to two of the doctors her husband consulted since he came home from Ottawa (eight in all). They both made light of her suggestion that the drug had caused his brain damage. One said that Doug was an old man and that she would be as forgetful at his age.

"I am his age," she retorted, "and studying for my second university degree."