[A Year in Reflection 5/18/17]- As I observe the one-year anniversary of checking myself into a local emergency room, I am still looking for answers. The days and months that seemed to be flying by me are now coming full circle. Little did I know back then, that I would be leaving the hospital as a different person. My world would be turned upside-down and inside-out.
Flashback- Three days after checking myself into the ER and an angiogram later, the doctors discovered a 99% blocked left anterior descending artery, AKA the Widow Maker. I was 32 years old with no major family history of coronary artery disease and a non-smoker with good cholesterol and blood work. In the past three months, I had 3 misdiagnoses. The first was common heartburn. The second was GERD gastrointestinal esophageal reflux disease, and the third was anxiety. I was told the anxiety was due to “working too hard” and to seek a mental health specialist. Medical professionals made decisions based upon probabilities like being an overall healthy male with a physically fit exterior. It all unfolded like a perfect storm with these misdiagnoses. Have a look for yourself at my blood work from 2017 before my diagnosis and stent placement and labs from after going vegan and medications (8/2017). SIDE NOTE- please, please, please advocate for yourself, it might just save your life!
(5/18/17- Before stent placement/blocked artery)
(8/18/17- After stent placement)
Now the dust has settled, and at the age of 33, I have embraced MOST of my new lifestyle, but I am left at a monumental crossroad with a set of decisions that will impact my life in terms of the quality and overall longevity. NOT FUN. My health decisions will never be made solely based upon gut intuition, but based upon analytics, second and third opinions and what I have learned through my research and own experiences. Within this medical profession, there are thresholds and procedures that are standard protocol. For example, when someone receives a stent due to a blocked artery, there is a set of medications they must go on immediately. I went from not taking any medications and thinking I was fit as a fiddle to being prescribed hardcore pills. It is very hard to accept and embrace the rationale behind each medication. My medications prescribed were as follows for 1 year:
- Aspirin – for life
- Brilinta – used to lower your risk of having a stroke or serious heart problems after you have had a heart attack or severe chest pain.
- Lipitor – statins, which are medicines that lower blood cholesterol levels.
- Metoprolol –controls high blood pressure and angina but does not cure them.
This past year, I have been religiously taking my prescribed medications and it feels as if I am becoming a shell of my former self in ways that I can’t explain mentally and physically.
My body has felt as if a truck hit me every morning. Trying to continue my normal weight-training regimen has been a painful struggle at several levels with my overall strength being less than half of what it used to be. Another prevailing struggle/side effect worth noting has been the shortness of breath I’ve had to contend with throughout the year. This symptom seemed to have subsided the longer I have been on the medications, but I believe that it’s just a product of my body getting used to it. Never the less, it is still noticeable when I exert myself with a cardiovascular activity.
I have also had excessive joint and hip pain that I have never felt before and my bones seem to arbitrary pop and snap (rice crispy treats style). It’s almost as if I feel like an aged 70+ year old that has withstood a lifetime worth of use and abuse, but still in the body of a 30-some-year old. It’s true insanity.
I recently brought these issues to the attention of my cardiologist and was given a full scale A-Z blood test. I have provided the results in order to be more transparent and hopefully help others that are struggling. A few days later, I was called by my cardiologist and told to stop taking my statin (Lipitor) immediately and stop exercising. The cardiologist explained to me that my CPK levels (Creatine see blood test chart) in my blood were very high. In layman’s term, the levels showed that my muscles were breaking down or deteriorating due to the Lipitor. Exercising with these high levels can do permanent damage but I was told to not worry because this is a common side effect for Lipitor and they will have me on a new statin very soon. — But I was worried, tremendously worried.
(side affect from Lipitor)
The cherry on top with all these preventive medications is that they are getting filtered through my liver. The truth is, I’m too scared to do the research on what can happen to the liver after decades of filtering medications. I can understand the justification for a 70 or 80-year old man, the greater of the two evils kind of thinking, but for a 33-year old man with my whole life ahead of me, that’s a different story. I will be the first one to admit, it is not easy to go against the grain of modern day medical professionals and choosing not to adhere to their professional opinions. Truthfully, it’s damn right scary, but at the end of the day, you have to be your own self-advocate.
My hope, and what I was initially lead to believe, is that my doctors would fine tune the unusual nature of my heart disease and give my 12 months and counting plant-based diet some credibility or credence in the overall equation of my future life. Sadly, regardless of what doctor I have talked to or sought out professional advice from, my diet did not seem to affect the overall equation in my life going forward. Continuing with my theme of advocating for myself and staying proactive, I have made two new and exciting appointments. The 1st is at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Hazen Stanley, Preventive Cardiology at the end of June 2018. The 2nd is with a holistic/functional doctor at Cardea Health in East Aurora, NY also at the end of June 2018.
The tattoo on my left wrist is my heartbeat + longitude/latitude coordinates of where I blacked out from lack of blood going to my brain due to a 99% blocked LAD artery. The envelope represents new hope and the next chapter.
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. — Hippocrates, father of medicine, 431 B.C.
This quote alone has and still gives me strength and optimism. It has played a factor in my diet by cutting out any and all animal proteins within it. But even after going vegan, there is still room for doubt and concerns based upon the unusual factors now surrounding my coronary artery disease. This all happened regardless of being an overall healthy individual that enjoyed to exercise and stay active.
In a nutshell, I am a medical liability. I understand that doctors are just humans like the rest of us and we often follow the path of least resistance. The question is, at what point are they in the wrong ethically if the protocol they are following is outdated or flat out manipulated because of revenue?
Within the eyes of pharmaceutical companies, I am the “proverbial American golden goose”. The floodgates have opened for hardcore medications with medical justifications. As for my plant-based diet, the outside of the box thinking within the medical profession is a red flag. Especially one with documented cardiac issues, which makes me a medical liability. In the medical world, this is a win-win for everyone including the primary physician, cardiologist, surgeon, pharmacies and of course the drug companies. It seems like a victory for everyone except me. But I am not looking to maintain the problem, I am looking to prevent it from ever happening again.
(Yet another confusing wrinkle..why my cardiologist would deem me obese and having high cholesterol when neither of these are true or ever have been true. Checkout my blood test for yourself.
I will close this chapter of my life by bringing it full circle and making my struggles and health problems transparent to the public, thus the formation of WHITE GLOVED VEGAN. The White Gloved Vegan mindset is to emphasize the benefits of removing animal proteins at any level a person is comfortable with. It is a brand that roots itself as a “positive reinforcement only” stigma and judgement free zoneAfter reading my thoughts, please do not think that I am tearing holes at the inner fabrics of the medical model. My stent placement saved my life and I am forever grateful to my surgeon. The overarching message that I am pushing is that there is a good chance that we all will have some sort of medical problem within our lifetime and just know that there is always an opportunity for self-advocating and it can make all the difference.
Sincerely,
Alexander Miller / WHITE GLOVE VEGAN CO-FOUNDER
Always remember to fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose and thank you for following my/our journey wherever it may lead.
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Powerful reaD. Thank you for your transparency. Best wishes.
We both thank you for your kind words!
Hi Alex,
I work in the medical profession in Buffalo. THere is a local cardiologist that is also a strIct vegan . If you are interested in his name. Pleae contact me.
Wow, great! We will definitely be contacting you!
Thank you for Sharing your medical journey. I also control disease through a restricted diet. It is been eight years as I continue on this path.
I can’t imagine what your going through but good for you for taking your health into your own hands! I’ve been vegan for a year now and while I don’t have any life threatening health issues I do have chronic digestion issues and eczema. I have recently came across the Medical Medium , Anthony Williams and just finished his first book. I HIGHLY recommend reading his books, going to his website, reading his blog posts, and listening to his radio shows. He has helped 100s of thousands of people heal from more chronic and mystery symptoms and illnesses I think you might benefit greatly from his information! Especially if you are already vegan a lot of the things he suggest to do won’t be as huge of a switch! I’ve been following his protocols for about a month now and have never felt better in my whole life!
Hi Susie, Thank you so much for commenting. We will definitely check him out, sounds very interesting and right up our alley! Good luck on your journey!
You’re wise to advocate for yourself and continue seeking out new information. Doctors are trained to avoid lawsuits, which means adhering to the standard of care in the field… so, rather than using critical thinking and looking for new research, they follow outdated guidelines for their own protection. Someone in your position who is so outside the norm is in a particularly tenuous place, because you don’t really fit into the established models of care. Keep advocating for yourself, keep seeking out new opinions, including those from physicians and researchers who are perhaps a bit outside of the mainstream medical establishment, and use your own research and good sense to figure out what is worth actually incorporating into your life. I hope you find a path forward that makes you feel more optimistic about your direction and more in control of your life.
Hi Katherine, that is so true in all that you have said and we thank you for your words. You have summed up everything that Alex was looking to convey in his blog post perfectly. We both know this will be an uphill climb but we are prepared to do it together. Alex and I both thank for your comment!