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Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on June 09, 2006, 05:47 PM:
 
Last night, while bumping around a bulletin board about some health issues I've been dealing with for over a year, I was linked to another site for some information and it was there that I found something that was timely and a bit disconcerting, all at the same time. It may have played a contributing role in my dad's death, and I thought it important enough to pass along to the rest of you. A FWIW sort of thing...

Remember a few years ago when all the rage for lowering your cholesterol centered around omega-3 fatty acids and fish oil? The media made it sound like that stuff could do no wrong and everyone started taking it. That may not be a good idea for some people. For my dad, it may have been lethal.

It turns out that the omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish and fish oil affect the cells in the heart that are unstable by essentially shutting down their "automaticity" - the ability for them to generate an electrical impulse, or to receive, contract and send an impulse on to the neighboring cell, a critical part of the heart's ability to contract and move your blood. Recent studied in Britain have shown it essentially just shuts those cells down. Imagine you're a 66 year old man with a history of congestive heart failure where most of the millions of cells in your heart are unstable or compromised. At first, fish oil wouldn't be a big deal. Later on, as your blood levels of omega-3 acids gets higher, you reach a point where those unstable cells start to react, and the result is cardiac failure and eventually death.

At his doctor's recommendation, dad started taking fish oil to lower his cholesterol about 3-1/2 weeks before his death. In the two weeks immediately preceding his death, he began experiencing a lot of what is called syncope or syncopal episodes - fancy terms for blackouts. Throughout this time, he continued to take fish oil not realizing that the oil may have been shutting his heart down all the time. The end result was that he went to get out of bed on the 20th of April and blacked out and died when his heart failed and shut down for good. End of story.

I don't blame the doctor - these are very new studies and he wouldn't have known.

If you take fish oil and you suffer from unstable angina pectoris or congestive heart failure (CHF), you need to be getting with your doctor and ask him or her about this immediately so you don't leave a loving family behind, too.
 
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 09, 2006, 06:39 PM:
 
Lance, that is just one more example. There are many ways that medical science pulls us in certain directions only to jerk us back the opposite way, with a contradictory study, the following year, if not sooner. I don't know who or what to believe, any more?

Good hunting. LB
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on June 09, 2006, 08:43 PM:
 
i agree completely Leonard. I was a bit worried as a very young man because I am an eggoholic. I love scrambled eggs and lots of cheese. MMMM Scrambled egg burritos. It was certain to kill me years ago but now eggs aren't a BAD source or cholesterol.

Thank you Lance. My new diet consists of nothing more than quiting candy bars and pop. I have been taking lots of vitamins and supplements. Mega 3's included. My wife even bought these Omega 3 eggs. YUCK!!!!!! Dang things tasted like Salmon Egg Fireballs!?!? I quit the stuff.

Thanks again...you just might save a life with that kind of info. [Smile]
 
Posted by Andy L (Member # 642) on June 10, 2006, 04:58 AM:
 
I have high cholesterol, was insanely high. Runs in my moms side of the family.

First time I checked, it was 365. Doc put me on Crestor and its down in the 190-220 range at any given time now. Still on the high side, but pretty damn good. He congradulated me on my diet. I didnt have the balls to tell him I didnt do anything but take the pill.

It pretty much scares me to do any of the radical things that get recommended sometimes. Like LB said, it wont be a week and they will jerk you back to center, it seems.
 
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on June 10, 2006, 01:55 PM:
 
Omega-3's aren't all bad. But, according to these studies, and it's my understanding that they've (the studies) withstood peer review and were published in reputable journals, that taking fish oil with a history of congestive heart failure or unstable angina may be a not so good idea. As with any medical treatment, you and your dr would have to weight the potential risks versus the benefits. In the case of my dad, we'll never know for sure. But the anticipated response for a person experiencing an adverse reaction to the oil as descirbed in these articles would manifest itself pretty much as my dad's condition did. The saddest part for me is that when he started taking it, he was excited at doing one more thing to take care of himself so he could be around to "Poppa" my kids a while longer and since he'd been beating the odds for over eight years anyway. He was doing it to live longer and, in doing so, may have been lighting the fuse and we applauded his efforts and encouraged him to keep on keeping on. That makes my soul hurt, ya know?
 
Posted by The Outdoor Tripp (Member # 619) on June 11, 2006, 09:09 AM:
 
Thanks Lance, good information for us to have.

Think I'm cuttin' down on the fish sticks.

Any of that omega stuff in ketchup?
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on June 11, 2006, 11:21 PM:
 
ketchup...honkie salsa...YECKKK!!!

[ June 11, 2006, 11:21 PM: Message edited by: Locohead ]
 




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