WTF is my body doing...surgery THEN 3 stents???

jumanajane

Hi all. A couple of weeks ago I flew to the UK for a Gynae op. It all went very well and the hospital were amazing in NOT giving me any dextrose as per my request and the kitchens sent their chef to find out exactly what I could eat and were great! So far so good.

I got discharged and after a couple of days felt well enough to have a drive and a walk. No problems. 2 days later we went for another drive and after walking a short distance I suddenly started getting this crushing pain in the center of my chest....angina! I knew this as I had similar 3 years ago and had a stent fitted. Colour me puzzled! At the time 3 years ago the Cardiologist was surprised as all 'his' markers were great....cholesterol, BP, blood sugar etc.

The following day the same thing happened. I had been given heparin injections to take everyday until my flight back to Dubai. I checked the data sheet and it said chest pain was one of the side effects. Still, I contacted the Consultant and he called me into the hospital and checked everything including doing and ECG. All fine so we agreed it must be the heparin.

Next day we tried again and as soon as I had even taken 20 paces it started!!! This time I felt really unsteady and unwell so went to A and E straight away. The next day I was sent for an angiogram and.......3 more stents had to be fitted!!! A far from easy experience as it was traumatic achieving the placement.

I had been asked if I was diabetic....I said No(I have never been or even IR)....when I was admitted I hadnt eaten anything for about 10 hours and hubby brought me a flapjack!!! All he could find.....shortly after they came and did my blood sugar and it was 6.8! Not surprised BUT the nurse wrote...denies being diabetic on my notes!!!

The day after the angio I was told I could be discharged. They had taken blood for cholesterol panel and hs-CRP. My cholesterol came back fine!!! The Consultant had no idea what my levels were yet still told me to take a statin....NO WAY!! She was not amused...but as she had come to see me the day after my angio and told me....'we hope to get your angiogram done this afternoon!!!!!' I really had no respect for her already so didnt give a jot about upsetting her!
My hs-Crp was 8 which is sky high BUT this was also done after the angio and as its a marker of inflammation in the arteries I'm not surprised.

So, now my lovely low carbers.......seeing as yet again all my markers are good including having lost 15kg (33lbs) as well......why the hell have I had a further 3 stents needed especially as my arteries were clear 3 years ago apart from that one place????
I am so puzzled not to mention upset as I have worked sooooo hard to avoid all the conventional things that medics consider high risk factors.

I have so much respect for the knowledge on this forum that I am really hoping someone here can help explain or point me in a direction to find out why and what I can do to prevent more.
2 weeks ago I was taking no drugs at all having been taken off them as my blood pressure etc was so good....now Im back on 5 and resisting more!!!

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you the full story!

wabmester

Sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad you're OK.

As far as causation, I don't think it's very well understood yet. The risk markers mostly come from population studies and may or may not apply to individuals.

Inflammation is a known causative factor, so your CRP is a concern. No idea what it should be given your surgery.

The other thing to look for is arterial thickness and plaque formation. They can do a simple ultrasound test to give you an idea of your risk. It's called CIMT.

It takes years to accumulate the plaques, so it would be unlikely to be caused by a recent diet change. AFAIK, it's the combination of high LDL and inflammation that leads to plaque formation. Low-carb usually addresses the inflammation component, but not the LDL.

jumanajane

Thanks wabmester. Im going to get my CRP retested when Im back in Dubai and its had a chance to calm down. I have been LC predominately since 2003. I had 2 cardiac ultrasounds...one in 2006 and one 2012 and they showed normal thicknesses. The angio 3 years ago only showed 1 area of thickening..99% which was the area stented with 30% distal to that. That was one of the areas stented now as it was at 60% but the 2 new areas are a puzzle. 1 was 95% and 1 70%. That much in 3 years????? My LDL has been fine all the way through along with the rest of the cholesterol.
I thought LC did address the LDL as in the particle size changes from small and hard to big and fluffy?

carlsoda

Wish I could help...our bodies certainly do peculiar things! Have you had your LDL particle size checked? I just found out my crp test came back high and lots of conflicting info on the Internet....like don't eat any full fat milk products I wish you the best of luck when you get home and find out what is going on. Sounds like the dr. u had isn't very competent.

wabmester

jumanajane wrote: »

I thought LC did address the LDL as in the particle size changes from small and hard to big and fluffy?

That's true. The LDL pattern changes, and that is thought to be protective. But some theories say it's more a matter of how many LDL particles you're exposed to over time, and the particle count probably doesn't go down with LC.

Here's a picture that attempts to show the mechanism of plaque formation. If nothing else, it gives you an idea of the complexity.

nicsflyingcircus

jumanajane wrote: »

Hi all. A couple of weeks ago I flew to the UK for a Gynae op. It all went very well and the hospital were amazing in NOT giving me any dextrose as per my request and the kitchens sent their chef to find out exactly what I could eat and were great! So far so good.

I got discharged and after a couple of days felt well enough to have a drive and a walk. No problems. 2 days later we went for another drive and after walking a short distance I suddenly started getting this crushing pain in the center of my chest....angina! I knew this as I had similar 3 years ago and had a stent fitted. Colour me puzzled! At the time 3 years ago the Cardiologist was surprised as all 'his' markers were great....cholesterol, BP, blood sugar etc.

The following day the same thing happened. I had been given heparin injections to take everyday until my flight back to Dubai. I checked the data sheet and it said chest pain was one of the side effects. Still, I contacted the Consultant and he called me into the hospital and checked everything including doing and ECG. All fine so we agreed it must be the heparin.

Next day we tried again and as soon as I had even taken 20 paces it started!!! This time I felt really unsteady and unwell so went to A and E straight away. The next day I was sent for an angiogram and.......3 more stents had to be fitted!!! A far from easy experience as it was traumatic achieving the placement.

I had been asked if I was diabetic....I said No(I have never been or even IR)....when I was admitted I hadnt eaten anything for about 10 hours and hubby brought me a flapjack!!! All he could find.....shortly after they came and did my blood sugar and it was 6.8! Not surprised BUT the nurse wrote...denies being diabetic on my notes!!!

The day after the angio I was told I could be discharged. They had taken blood for cholesterol panel and hs-CRP. My cholesterol came back fine!!! The Consultant had no idea what my levels were yet still told me to take a statin....NO WAY!! She was not amused...but as she had come to see me the day after my angio and told me....'we hope to get your angiogram done this afternoon!!!!!' I really had no respect for her already so didnt give a jot about upsetting her!
My hs-Crp was 8 which is sky high BUT this was also done after the angio and as its a marker of inflammation in the arteries I'm not surprised.

So, now my lovely low carbers.......seeing as yet again all my markers are good including having lost 15kg (33lbs) as well......why the hell have I had a further 3 stents needed especially as my arteries were clear 3 years ago apart from that one place????
I am so puzzled not to mention upset as I have worked sooooo hard to avoid all the conventional things that medics consider high risk factors.

I have so much respect for the knowledge on this forum that I am really hoping someone here can help explain or point me in a direction to find out why and what I can do to prevent more.
2 weeks ago I was taking no drugs at all having been taken off them as my blood pressure etc was so good....now Im back on 5 and resisting more!!!

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you the full story!

As a nurse, I just have to comment that if it's not in your medical history and the Dr or nurse asks about a medical condition, allergy, whatever... and you answer in the negative, it gets written up as "denies".

For example, if we ask a patient if they have thoughts of self-harm and they answer in the negative, it gets written up "Denies thoughts of self-harm".

It is not a judgement that you are in denial, it is a statement of the question and your negative answer.