Category: General

We are participating in an clinical trial using this device.  Read more HERE. To inquire about participation in the trial please call us. Current Studies: Acute Cold / Flu: Reduction in cold related symptoms and recovery support Chronic Fatigue: Improvement in energy and focus Chronic Lyme Disease: Improvement in mental focus and clarity Epstein Barr Virus: Improvement in overall well-being Hepatitis C: Improvement in general well-being and focus

Great article. The three main problems masters athletes need to get screened for are plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis), electrical disturbances (arrythmia), and unhealthy changes to the wall of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). One thing that the article failed to mention is the importance of prevention through detailed screening. EKG, stress echo and calcium scoring can be used to evaluate whether an athlete needs to back off on exercise. Conventional medicine is not great at this type of screening because it is geared toward intervention once the problem has occurred! My masters athlete workup fills this need.

A heart scan is a very useful way to individualize a patient’s care in my patient population. The heart scan and coronary calcium score are terms used interchangeably. It allows me to see the burden of plaque in the coronary arteries and helps determine risk along with other testing. One thing I like about heart scans is that often it is the first wake-up call for a patient. This leads to a further workup and can go a long way in preventing cardiovascular events. How to Interpret a Heart Scan/Calcium Score By definition having a positive coronary calcium score means that you have coronary artery disease. However, the amount matters, especially over 400. Calcium scoring has been found to be more accurate at predicting risk than blood tests. A heart scan tells you how much calcified plaque you have as well as which arteries are affected. Risk increases as the calcium score gets higher but there’s a catch. It’s the rate of progression that matters more. A rate of progression greater than 15% is too high. There is another catch that makes understanding calcium scoring hard. In some cases the healing process leads to more calcification. This is not always...

Here is the abstract from the latest study of intravenous chelation therapy. The authors conclude that it is an effective and safe treatment.  Am Heart J. 2014 Jul;168(1):37-44.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2014.02.012. Epub 2014 Apr 2. EDTA chelation therapy alone and in combination with oral high-dose multivitamins and minerals for coronary disease: The factorial group results of the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy. Lamas GA1, Boineau R2, Goertz C3, Mark DB4, Rosenberg Y2, Stylianou M2, Rozema T5, Nahin RL6, Terry Chappell L7, Lindblad L4, Lewis EF8, Drisko J9, Lee KL4. Author information Abstract BACKGROUND: Disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) reduced adverse cardiac outcomes in a factorial trial also testing oral vitamins. This report describes the intent-to-treat comparison of the 4 factorial groups overall and in patients with diabetes. METHODS: This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial multicenter randomized trial of 1,708 post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients ≥50 years of age and with creatinine ≤2.0 mg/dL randomized to receive 40 EDTA chelation or placebo infusions plus 6 caplets daily of a 28-component multivitamin-multimineral mixture or placebo. The primary end point was a composite of total mortality, MI, stroke, coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for angina. RESULTS: Median age was 65 years, 18% were female, 94% were Caucasian, 37% were diabetic, 83% had prior coronary revascularization, and 73% were on statins. Five-year Kaplan-Meier estimates...

Evidence suggests that increased blood viscosity is an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic heart disease and its complications (Becker 1993). Blood behaves more like a solid at low speeds but behaves more like a liquid at fast speeds. Blood behaves much like ketchup coming out of a bottle. Once you get it moving, it really moves fast. When the heart is resting between beats it becomes more viscous (thick or solid), and then when the heart pumps blood through the body it becomes less viscous. Another analogy is the viscosity of summer- versus winter-grade oil. Summer-grade oil is made to be more viscous because heat makes the oil thinner. Winter-grade oil is less viscous because oil becomes thicker in cold temperatures. You want the right grade of blood—not too thick or thin. To find out if you have thick blood, get a blood viscosity test. Atherosclerosis does not develop in random locations. This is because of differences in the turbulence of blood flow and blood viscosity. The frictional forces of blood create something called “shear stress.” Shear stress refers to the arterial damage caused by thick blood or very turbulent blood flow (Becker 1993). I believe, as do some of my...