What is Cardiovascular Disease?

As defined by the Mayo Clinic: “Heart Disease describes a range of conditions that affect the heart, which includes”

- Blood vessel disease, such as coronary artery disease

- Irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias)

- Heart problems you're born with (congenital heart defects)

- Disease of the heart muscle

- Heart valve disease

Many of these are directly related to Atherosclerosis a condition that develops when a substance called plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries. This buildup narrows the arteries, making it harder for blood to flow through. If a blood clot forms, it can block the blood flow. This can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Let’s discuss the most common cardiovascular issues

Heart attack

A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked by a blood clot. If this clot cuts off the blood flow completely, the part of the heart muscle supplied by that artery begins to die.

Stroke

An ischemic stroke, which is the most common type of stroke, occurs when a blood vessel that feeds the brain gets blocked, usually from a blood clot. When the blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, some brain cells will begin to die. This can result in the loss of functions controlled by that part of the brain, such as walking or talking. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel within the brain bursts. This is most often caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure. Some effects of stroke are permanent if too many brain cells die after being starved of oxygen.

Heart failure

Heart failure, sometimes called congestive heart failure, means the heart isn’t pumping blood as well as it should. Heart failure does not mean that the heart stops beating — that’s a common misperception. Instead, the heart keeps working, but the body’s need for blood and oxygen isn’t being met.

Arrhythmia

Arrhythmia refers to an abnormal heart rhythm. There are various types of arrhythmias. The heart can beat too slow, too fast or irregularly. Bradycardia, or a heart rate that’s too slow, is when the heart rate is less than 60 beats per minute. Tachycardia, or a heart rate that’s too fast, refers to a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute. An arrhythmia can affect how well your heart works. With an irregular heartbeat, your heart may not be able to pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs.

Heart valve problems

When heart valves don’t open enough to allow the blood to flow through as it should, a condition called stenosis results. When the heart valves don’t close properly and thus allow blood to leak through, it’s called regurgitation. If the valve leaflets bulge or prolapse back into the upper chamber, it’s a condition called prolapse.

What is the driver behind Cardiovascular Disease in todays America?

Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract: SOURCE

“Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors with high prevalence among adult populations and elevated costs for public health systems worldwide. Despite the lack of consensus regarding the syndrome definition and diagnosis criteria, it is characterized by the coexistence of risk factors such as abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure, a prothrombotic and pro-inflammatory state, insulin resistance (IR), and higher glucose levels, factors indubitably linked to an increased risk of developing chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The syndrome has a complex and multifaceted origin not fully understood; however, it has been strongly suggested that sedentarism and unbalanced dietary patterns might play a fundamental role in its development.”

The five pillars of Metabolic Syndrome:

Breaking Down the Pillars

“If you exhibit any 2 of the 5 pillars for Metabolic Syndrome, your risk for a heart related event sky rockets”
– Dr. Gary Brecka

Visceral Fat – Abdominal Obesity:

Abstract: SOURCE

Dysfunctional visceral fat plays a key role in the initiation and maintenance of chronic inflammation, liver steatosis and subsequent systemic insulin resistance that primes the body for development of metabolic syndrome.

2. Insulin Resistance:

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that helps glucose in your blood enter cells in your muscle, fat, and liver, where it’s used for energy. Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t easily take up glucose from your blood.

Abstract: SOURCE.

“The major purpose of insulin is to regulate the body’s energy supply by balancing micronutrient levels during the fed state. Insulin is critical for transporting intracellular glucose to insulin-dependent cells/tissues, such as liver, muscle, and adipose tissue. Any imbalance in exogenous energy supplies results in the breakdown of fats stored in adipose tissue and eventually accelerates insulin secretion.”

3. Low HDL Cholesterol

"Cholesterol is not the enemy. Your body needs cholesterol to make hormones, cell membranes, and brain cells. Without enough cholesterol, your testosterone levels would drop and your sex drive and function would plummet. Your cell membranes, which are made of cholesterol, couldn’t function properly." - Dr. Mark Hyman

What is HDL?

HDL stands for High-density lipoprotein. HDL transports cholesterol from the peripheral tissues and vessel walls to the liver. Doctors refer to HDL as "good” cholesterol for this reason. The liver then flushes it from the body (remember the liver is your detox center )

LOW HDL increases your risk of Heart attack and stroke

***Houston… We have a problem***

*8 out of the 9 doctors who write the National Cholesterol Guidelines receive money from the pharmaceutical industry and two-thirds of all medical research is funded by those pharmaceutical companies.*
***The market for statin drugs is over $25 billion per year and is the largest drug company in the world.***
***Source: Dr. Will Cole***

4. High Triglycerides

What is a Triglyceride?

Triglycerides are comprised of fatty acid molecules that enter the bloodstream from the liver or diet. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need to use immediately into triglycerides. The first place that fat builds up in the body is in the blood, in the form of Triglycerides, As triglyceride levels begin to rise it makes the size of the cholesterol molecule smaller, as cholesterol gets smaller in particulate size it becomes more dangerous.

The Formula That Never Changes…

*High Triglycerides + Low High Density Lipoprotein + HIGH Low Density Lipoprotein = HIGH INCREASED RISK of a cardiac event or stroke*

5. Hypertension

What is Hypertension?

The medical definition of Hypertension is quite simply high blood pressure. When blood pressure is HIGH the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls is too high, which in turn makes the heart work harder to pump blood.

What is the most common type of Hypertension?

The most common type of Hypertension is called Idiopathic Hypertension. In medicine anytime you hear the words ‘Idiopathic’ it simply means ‘of unknown origin’. This is crucial in our understanding of the diagnosis of idiopathic hypertension, because what your doctor is really saying is “we don’t know why your blood pressure is high” and yet, they will prescribe you a pharma-based pill anyway.

When someone is diagnosed as hypertensive, doctors will typically prescribe a beta blocker, ACE inhibitor, or calcium channel blocker, these medications typically target the heart.

How can a doctor prescribe these medications if they don’t know the root cause that is driving your hypertension in the first place?

Root Cause Thinking Cap

Real Life Scenario

I had a client present as hypertensive; however, this client had normal Heart Sounds, Lung sounds, EKG, EEG, Dye contract study, Cardiac cath. These tests show us that nothing is wrong with the heart. Their physician placed them on a beta blocker. Beta-blockers reduce the activity of the heart by blocking the receptors that adrenaline binds to. This relaxes and widens blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more easily and lowering blood pressure and heart rate. However, this does not FIX the ROOT, it only treats the symptom (hypertension). Over time this places more strain on the heart, not to mention beta-blockers are laced with some heavy side effects.

This client presented to me with classic Idiopathic Hypertension, he was a young male (mid 30’s) and was taking relatively good care of his body. The first thing we did was address the obvious:

1. Stress levels (cortisol is a killer)

2. Diet

3. Exercise

4. Daily lifestyle

Next, I looked at his bloodwork, the answer was in plain sight with a blood marker called Homocysteine.. Homocysteine is an ammino acid formed from the incomplete metabolism of the methionine. B6, B12, and folate deficiencies cause methionine to be converted into homocysteine. This marker can point to inflammation. High homocysteine gives us insight into a deficiency in the body.

In the case of high homocysteine, this is usually linked to the MTR gene mutation; which makes it impossible to lower the homocysteine levels in your body. The MTR gene mutation makes it impossible to metabolize homocysteine, and the result is that it increases in the body and drives inflammation through the roof.

Inflammation by definition is “a condition in which part of the body becomes reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful, especially as a reaction to injury or infection” (Oxford dictionary) If we know that the presence of the MTR gene mutation makes the methylation of homocysteine impossible and we further know that high homocysteine drives inflammation and we finally know that inflammation is a condition in which the body SWELLS…. how does this connect to the client’s hypertension?

Root Cause Answer:

This client’s hypertension was being driven by high homocysteine levels in the blood, this knowledge gives us insight into understanding that as the homocysteine levels rose, they were SWELLING his arteries. When the arteries began to vasoconstrict we were taking a fixed and closed system (63,000 miles of vessels) and demanding that the same volume of blood go through a constricted vessel…. As a result his blood pressure skyrocketed.

So how did we fix it?

I put this client on a layered protocol, but specifically for the Hypertension I placed him on Trimethylglycine, (TMG) which is an ammino acid originally derived from sugar beets. TMG drops homocysteine in the body and when homocysteine drops, inflammation drops.. and when inflammation drops, pressure returns to normal. The problem was never his heart, it was simply his bodies inability to methylate (convert) raw materials properly. We also confirmed his MTR gene mutation which gave us further confirmation that his hypertension had nothing to do with the heart.

Find the root. Heal the root. And the symptoms will disappear.

Abstract: SOURCE

***What if your hypertension has nothing to do with your heart?***

How does Modern Medicine Address Cardiovascular Health and Metabolic Syndrome ?

If you are exhibiting multiple pillars on the metabolic syndrome chart your doctor will probably assess your lipid panel and suggest a Statin prescription drug. Statins are a class of drug that lowers cholesterol (specifically LDL) but they come with nasty side effects

- Leaky Gut

- Mood disorders (many people on statins also start taking SSRI’S)

- More susceptible to infection loads

- Weakens immunity

- Weakens cell recovery

- Fatigue

- Retards healing

- Hormone disruption

Cholesterol is not a fuel source. It is instead a construction material, we build cell walls, membranes and hormones from it. Furthermore, there is not ONE study out there that proves that LDL on it’s own is linked to decreased cardiovascular health. Statin’s address LDL. When using statin’s, we cover up the root cause with a band-aide and simultaneously create issues in other places in the body. Modern medicine also likes to treat cardiovascular issues with Beta- Blockers, Calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, which as we previously discussed may also not be treating the root cause but instead, simply relieving a symptom all while taxing the heart for a crime it is typically not guilty of committing.

Why don’t doctors discuss the root cause?

Most doctors are not trained in medical school to see the root cause, they are trained that 1+1=2. ALWAYS. When it comes to the body 1+1 can equal 4, 8, 16 or 50. It requires a deep understanding of the connectedness of the human body and how something seemingly unrelated can be a driver for dysfunction. In the case of heart disease and stroke, doctors are often so focused on the pharma aspect, that they completely ignore the patient as a WHOLE. Remember, true healing happens when Body, Mind and Spirit are working together in harmony and balance.

Root Cause Perspective on Cardiovascular Health

“Part of my training was learning how to refer patients to cardiologists for heart problems, gastroenterologists for stomach issues, and rheumatologists for joint pain. Given that most physicians were trained this way, it's no wonder that the average Medicare patient has six doctors and is on five different medications.”
– Dr. Mark Hyman

Root cause healing happens when we look at our heath from a micro and macro perspective. It takes intuition and advocacy to stand up for your autonomy even when a doctor can’t see you as a whole. Root Cause Healing is about analyzing your body from the perspective of body, mind and spirit. Chronic illnesses and autoimmune illnesses do not have to be managed instead they can be eradicated. Medicine is not pharma, true medicine is about healing the body, mind and spirit permanently not placing a client on a pill to manage their ailment until the next problem arises. The goal for everyone should be longevity and high quality life in a body that is able to love them back.

It Starts With Foundations!

When I begin working with a new client, we discuss many things that help me understand the underlying reasons behind their individual health concerns. this is especially true of heart disease and stroke because this killer is a LIFESTYLE disease.

Here are some key questions to begin asking of your own health

1. How much are you eating? And more importantly what are you eating?

2. How is your stress level?

3. How much time are we spending on screens daily?

4. What are we consuming each day from an energy perspective?

5. What does our daily exercise look like?

6. What does our daily joy level look like?

7. How is our sleep?

8. Are we inspired in our lives?

9. How are our relationships with others? With self?

10. Do you have a meditative practice that inspires you and allows you to hold space for your emotional and spiritual needs

As always,

Be well and Live in Good Medicine

-A

Heart Disease and Stroke, the Number 1 Killer in the US Today

Heart attack

Stroke

Heart failure

Arrhythmia