Mayu Hanaue writes:
Mr. O, I want you to understand that
you are in a very serious condition. You have already experienced a heart
attack, and making things worse, you have too many risk factors, so far.
These are high blood pressure, overweight, lack of exercises, high LDL
cholesterol level, and smoking. These risk factors except for smoking are
closely related to each other. We will talk about these risk factors later.
The most important thing that should not be ignored is you are now sometimes
having sharp chest pain after dinner. This is a clear symptom of heart
disease. It indicates not only early atherosclerosis in your coronary artery
as is already diagnosed, but also severe narrowing of the artery and severe
condition of the heart as well. That means, you have a high possibility
of having another heart attack. So, I'll tell you what you should do if
you happen to have a heart attack, again.
Next time if you have heart attack, call an ambulance or get someone to
drive you to the hospital, or whatever, take the quickest way to the hospital,
and get medical treatment as soon as possible. Since a heart attack does
the most damage in the first 2 hours, how much damage your heart will get
depends on how fast you can get proper medical treatment. A delay can cause
permanent damage to your heart muscle or even death. So, I don't want you
to act like last time. Even if you just feel like heartburn, go to the
hospital, too. It could also be a symptom of heart attack for the people
who have a history of heart disease and have high blood pressure, like
you. And in addition, when you get to the emergency room, tell the doctor
clearly that you are having a heart attack to make sure that you can get
medical treatment at once.
Due to the seriousness of your condition, you have to start taking more
care of your health right now. Start with things you can do. To start with,
how about seeing a doctor and ask for advice from the professional point
of view. And I think it'll be better for you to consult him whether you
should take some medication to lower your blood pressure. Since your blood
pressure is too high and you need to lower it immediately. As I said first,
hypertension is one of the risk factors, and so is being overweight, lack
of exercise and high LDL level.
Adding to the medication, dietary and lifestyle change may help let these
risk factors go away. Talking of hypertension, reducing sodium intake in
everyday meals would be a help. What you have to do is, if you eat miso-soup
everyday, reduce it to twice a week. You may think that it's only a small
change and you don't expect a quick effect, but I want you to know that
even small changes in everday life will be a large change in the long run.
And alcohol, by taking it, arteries will be widened, and it will be one
of the causes of hypertension. So, you'd better prevent exessive alcohol
intake. And talking of lowering LDL level, it can be done by choosing the
right kind of food. LDL is high in saturated fats such as coconut oil.
So, you might try olive oil when you cook, because this kind of fat is
much better for you. Eat more fish than meat. Fat from fish is very good
for your body while too much of that from meat brings on arteriosclerosis,
which could cause a heart attack. This is because fat from fish contains
LDL cholesterol, but on the other hand, fat from meat contains high levels
of HDL cholesterol which is the main culprit of arteriosclerosis.
Physical exercise is another very effective way to get rid of risk factors
you have. Try to take more physical activity while you are in the company.
For instance, using stairs in stead of taking the elevator. And in your
case, I'll strongly suggest you to do some kind of exercises every day.
The exercise can be walking, jogging, or swimming etc. You can choose any
exercises you like, but mild and not too strong exercise would be better,
for exercise like that helps burning fat as energy effectively and also,
I don't think your heart is able to bear strong exercises. You can do exercises
before work or after work or whenever you like, but you must continue.
So, what do you say to starting exercise with twice or three times a week,
and then increase the frequency?
Now, let's change the topic to smoking. It was very good that you reduced
the amount of cigarettes you smoke in a day, but this time, it is better
for you to stop smoking completely. The walls of the arteries will get
thicker as we get older, but according to some research, cigarette smoking
accelerates the process which thickens the walls of arteries -- by more
than a decade. As you can see from this research, smoking is like increasing
the risk of heart attack by yourself. Also, there is other research that
shows the percentage of people whose major blood vessels narrow is higher
in people who currently smoke.
Lastly, once again, you have to recognize the severe condition of your
heart. Since your elder brother died of heart disease, you may have a genetic
factor, as well. And you are in the age bracket in which a heart attack
is likely to occur. You should keep these things in your mind and make
efforts to reduce your risk factors.
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