What is ANGIOPLASTY and STENTING?

This is what they did for me back in March 2009. This is a very clear picture of what the treatment consisted of.

Best wishes. 

Heart Attack 18 Months on

It was the 29th March 2009 when I had my fast ride to Vichy, France for my "stent" to be inserted. It took 45 minutes and I seemed to be hanging in all right for the ride.

Now I am under the supervision of my cardiologist in Nyon, Switzerland as this is where I am officially a resident.

We did reduce my medication by dropping the Plavix in the spring of this year, but in Early September I suffered a "mini stroke". This was diagnosed through a brain scan carried out in Cleremont-Ferand hospital.

My cardiologist the put me back on the Plavix as removing it may have contributed to this last event. The next step in my treatment is to have some tests done to determine if I need both Plavix and the Asprine Cardio. I will let you know when this test has been done.

Overall I feel very well (except for a bad throat this week), as well physically as I have been for many years. Hope you are doing well too.

Amazon has some good material about this condition.

Good luck.

Things are going well

Fitness fine and I feel good.

Thought that the following web site has a lot of interesting information, but I never really know what the Pharma companies are pushing. It is still worth looking at. Good luck.
Check this

New medication regime.

I have now been on my reduced medication regime for about four days.

So last night before settling down to sleep, checked my blood pressure. It was 11/7 with my pulse of 50bpm. Typically it has been 13/7 with 47bpm.

I feel lighter and more active in myself too. Either it is mind over matter or my system is responding well to the reduced level of beta blocker etc.

Health insurance and Visiting the Swiss Doctor

As my official residence is in Switzerland my health insurance required me to have my ongoing treatment followed by a Swiss Doctor. So I looked up the name of a cardiologist who examined my late wife and seemed very competent, and set up an appointment with him at his office in Nyon hospital.

I then contacted the hospital in Moulins where I had been treated after my attack, to get a copy of my medical file. This required a personal visit to the hospital Director's office with my passport and a wait of a few days for file to be prepared.

On my arrival at Nyon hospital and a short wait, in I went with my partner to see the Doctor. He was a perfect English speaker and was able to answer all my questions about the initial treatment and the medications I had been prescribed. The new information for me was the extent of other plaque deposits that exist and the effect of the medications I am receiving. The heavy dosage of satins are designed to help stabalize any additional fatty deposits in my arteries. The other medications help reduce the work my heart has to do.

On a second visit two days later he gave me an echo to see what all the pressures and flows are in my heart, to measure the thickness of the muscles and check that the valves are not leaking. All were well within normal parameters and I was declared fit!

All that remained was to get a new prescription for my medication which reduced my satins to 40mg and my beta blocker from 3.75 to 2.5mg. The plavix is no longer required.

So we will see how it goes from here. I feel very well and will let you know in a month or so.

Heart Attack Next Steps - Medication Long Term

Now that I seem to be functioning at a normal level, my thought have turned to the medication I am taking and their long term effect.

So far I have read that Satins can lead to a range of long term side effects. These include memory loss and muscle atrophy.

And beta blockers may lead to an increased risk of diabetes.

So my next set of research tasks is to look in to these matters and discuss them at some depth with the cardiologist.

I will let you know what I find.

One of the problems with this type of research on the internet is the impact on published data of the pharmaceutical companies. They want to keep the sales of medication high and this is not always best for the patient. Me!! and perhaps you too.