Ok... So did he answer the question? How do you fit them all together into a single disease process? I feel like he left me hanging... But at the same time like the answer is that it's the inflammation of the epithelial wall. I had read that before... Somewhere... I think. Something about cholesterol repairing the epithelial wall and myelin sheath? ??
I found this very interesting since my dad has the plaque forming condition and has had a couple heart attacks that he was literally told that he shouldn't have lived from. So I guess his heart did the hibernating thing mentioned.

wabmester wrote: »

I don't think he's done yet, but my favorite bit so far:

Perhaps the single most important factor that can damage endothelial cells is this – biomechanical stress. By biochemical stress I mean turbulent blood flow, stretching and bending of the blood vessel, high shear stress, high blood pressure, rapid blood flow, points where the blood has to change direction violently.

To me, this explains the connection between high blood pressure and heart disease / strokes. The most turbulent flow is at major branch points in the coronary and carotid arteries. That's where plaques form!

Some recent studies have shown that aggressively lowering blood pressure has good results. They were targeting getting BP below 120/80.

Makes total sense. Of course my dad had high blood pressure back then. He even had a 100% blockage of the left side carotid in his neck and came out of it with no signs of damage. They said it had been mostly blocked for so long that he grew new paths for the blood to go around the blockage. That's when I knew my dads an alien! Lol
But seriously. He keeps surviving things he shouldn't have survived! He's indestructible!

Well, this obviously means that his current low blood pressure issue that has improved with magnesium and sodium should be carefully watched so that it never becomes a high blood pressure issue again. I can't imagine it would be very good to have that suddenly change. Not that I think it even could.

Wow! Interesting article on his findings! I find the growth of the epithelium over the clot fascinating! This explains why some heart stents don't function properly sometimes and the poor success of some balloon angioplasty! You can't just push it out of the way! It just plumped back up over time. Sometimes very quickly! Huh! I've always felt that high blood pressure had to effect the artery walls, but didn't really consider bifurcation as areas of concern! Got my old "cardiac nurse" brain working with that one (the heart was my "first love" in medicine)!! Thanks!

Saw a FB post of a new coronary procedure being performed that looked like a drimmel (sp?) type tool with a vacuum apparatus attached to catch the plaque particles as they are sanded from the artery wall! Looks scary! I wonder what they will find in the examination of the vacuums contents? I'm sure they have been testing the waste products. This could lead to a change in statin recommendations if they find these "cholesterol deposits" aren't cholesterol after all! I'm curious of what they have/are finding. Have you heard anything about this? Wish I could recall the name of the procedure!

He gets deep! Very interesting though! Vitamin C can prevent clot formation! Imo, it's an essential vitamin that I've been taking for years! I guess that's a good thing!

I've thought a lot about the hypertension issues causing damage (inflammation) at bifurcations particularly! Throwing in an elevated blood sugar with the high blood pressure (they usually go together anyway), it's a continuous shower of sugar crystals hitting these damaged areas, setting up a terribly vicious cycle! No wonder a great percentage of people with hypertension and diabetes develop heart disease!

This has been a thought provoking blog! Thanks @wabmester