I originally posted this on the Pharma/TRT area because I was put on TRT for the second time 2 months ago and it was suggested this would be the better area.
Where does someone go for advice on diet and exercise that actually can help?
I have been an athlete my whole life and still had a Widowmaker with a 100% blockage of the LAD at 43 just months after winning the 2009 over 40 No Gi BJJ Pan Ams. The cardiologist who put the stent in me said BJJ was why I am still alive. I try to eat right but am prediabetic, overweight with a ton of injuries that limit my working out the way I would like. I often end up in PT because of triggering impingements from 7 bulging discs. I actually am starting PT on Wednesday this week.
After the heart attack as part of my cardiac rehab I was handed a pamphlet by the hospital dietician and it basically said eat a balanced diet and had the food pyramid and that was it. I am willing to research and try to understand what to do but everything I read is contradictory.
Then my cardiologist due to severe pain in my muscles and joint’s took me off Lipitor and put me on Repatha and 5 mg rosuvastatin. My total cholesterol went down to 50. He said he didn’t know it could get that low and he was the head of cardiology at the hospital! He also had me on Xarelto with it. When I read blood thinners and cholesterol below I believe 130 increased the likeliness of brain hemorrhage. I stopped it after reading that and my GP asking why I was on thinners in addition to low dose aspirin when I don’t have a clotting issue. She indicated it didn’t make sense.
My cardiologist at my request had my test checked and it turned out I had a level of 163. The Urologist I was sent to put me on TRT using Xyosted. At first it was 75mg a week and after two months I still felt like shit so he bumped it up to 100 Mg. After 9 months I suddenly had extremely high BP and was told to stop TRT. Two years later I have my BP under control with meds and exercise. I am now on 100 mg Test Cypionate intramuscular. I overall am feeling better right now than I have but because of my nagging injuries I am not able to exercise the way I need to make significant gains in my overall health and strength I am not a doctor and want to do the right thing but have no idea what that is!
Even though I work out, don’t smoke and am not a heavy drinker I had a heart attack younger than my father who had his first at 48 and died from one at 58. I always chalked his death up to his lifestyle. He smoked 2+ packs a day, was a recovering alcoholic was pushing 300 pounds his entire adult life and I never saw him do anything athletic in my life. I am 57 and am scared shitless I am going to die soon based upon family history even though I am trying to do the right things.
Sorry for the rant but I am willing to do the work to lose the weight and make myself healthier but have no idea what needs to be done at this point.
Prior to my most recent injury a typical workout was 3x a week 30-45 minutes doing a peloton spin class and a basic kettlebell workout. The kettlebell workout consisted of 3 round of 20 swings, 10 deadlift to upright row, 10 sumo squats,10 bent over rows, 10 curls, 10 overhead press and a 60 yard single bell farmers carry. In the spring to get ready for hunting season I would add 2-4 miles before work rucking 3x a week with a pack carrying 40lbs most days and once a week with 75lbs. I would also do 50 per leg step ups onto a folding chair with the 40lb pack.
I have 7 bulging discs. 4 in the neck and 3 in my lumbar and when working out I will for no apparent reason set off the impingement in my neck and lose all strength in my left arm to the point I can’t lift a gallon of milk for upwards of 3 months. Last year I woke up and couldn’t move my neck, After being in PT for 3 months I still have pins and needles down my right arm every day with numbness in my right pointer finger. The year before last I was in PT for 2 months for doing 25 pushups that caused a muscle spasm and lost all strength in my left arm.
The neck injury was from HS and College Football and Wrestling, I have had 100"s of stingers from hitting my head and shoulders against my opponents. It was so bad in college I wore 3 horse collars to minimize my head movement. Fortunately I blew out my knee the first time I played on AstroTurf at John Hopkins University because they were going to take straps to the two sides and the back of my head to further reduce my movement. I am convinced now I would be completely disabled if I didn’t tear my knee up. The lumbar disc injury was me being a knucklehead. I used to road bike up to 150 miles a week… In 2001 I went on a ride that was supposed to be 15-20 miles in February. It was a beautiful warm day that was about 70 degrees which is unusual that time of year in NJ. I felt so good I ended up doing a 55 mile ride. Unfortunately I hadn’t done that kind of mileage since October and I had a spasm in my back and literally felt my spine shift. I was in such bad pain it took me almost another hour to ride the final 3 miles.
This is why I asked what I asked because I know I need to keep working out and watch what I eat but my body breakdown issues have me scared shitless because every time they act up I digress both mentally and physically.
I have still been doing my planks, curls, bent rows using a chair instead of standing because it’s putting too much strain on my Hamstring and Glute pull as well as the shoulder exercises. I haven’t done the KB swings, squats or farmer carries. As far as diet I eat 2500-3000 calories a day based upon my calorie tracker. The day before yesterday I had 3 cups of coffee with milk in the morning, lunch was Venison chili with black beans and a Chobani Greek yogurt. For dinner I had 3 beef taco’s with shredded cheddar, some salsa and black olives. When I got back from the archery range I had a protein shake with a cup of blueberries and 2% milk. Total calories according to the app was 2726 and my Macros were 30% carbs, 44% fat and 26% protein. Most days I am nearly equal on the macros. Yesterday I had the chili again, about a cup of leftover steamed broccoli, two cups of coffee, a clementine and a Chobani Greek yogurt for a total of 617 calories 54% carbs, 17% fat and 29% protein. Dinner I had a bowl of spaghetti, with chopped chicken breast, broccoli and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil. I later had a protein shake with 3 strawberries and 3/4 cup of blueberries.
Six weeks ago I weighed 292 yesterday morning I weighed 279. I was 264 the week I screwed up my leg.
It sounds like your tight neck and tight traps Spasm and crank down on your vertebrae and disks and spine and cause nerve issues in your arms.
And your tight low back, hips, glutes and hamstrings spasm and crank down on your lower spine and cause problems for your back.
A simple, basic explanation could be that the muscles that pull your shoulders “down” are weaker than the muscles that pull your shoulders “up.” This puts tension on your neck instead of your lats.
And the muscles on the back side of your body are stronger and your abs and hip flexors are weaker. This puts tension on your low back and not your abs.
I think you made a great choice avoiding all moves that shrug your shoulders “up” like upright rows, and ruck walking.
And I think it was smart to stop doing stuff like squats, farmers carries and swings where you could over-extend or overarch your lower back.
In their place, you could focusing on stuff that like lat and mid back work that will pull your shoulders “down” and take tension off your neck. And ab and hip flexor work that will take tension off your lower back.
I want to get stronger and lose the fat. In 2015 I fell through the steps in my house due to rusted nails from Hurricane Sandy flooding my home. I was 2/3 the way up to the next floor when I fell. I was in PT for 10 months and until I was cleared to have an epidural I was on the verge of crying walking the dogs around the block. After the epidural I was able to do a combination of Yoga and exercises the PT gave me to strengthen my core while also stretching my hips with an emphasis on my Psoas. Whenever my lower back acts up I know I haven’t done enough of kettlebell swings, planks and the other exercise’s I was given in PT and within 2 weeks the pain has been gone. I wish I could say the same about my neck and shoulders.
This has helped but I haven’t done any chest exercises in years because just a few pushups can trigger my impingements. I am sure I have significant muscle imbalances from archery due to drawing a bow back with my right arm and to shoot properly my lats, rhomboid and traps are all engaged. If I feel it in my shoulder or bicep I am drawing incorrectly. The left arm isn’t doing this pulling and only holding the 7 pounds of bow up while transferring most of the drawn weight into my skeletal system with some minor tricep work. A competition is 60 arrows and when practicing I could shoot 200 times several days a week.
My original post was frustration with both my body and massively contradicting information from doctors to health experts. For instance my shock when my cardiologist combined two medicines that got my total cholesterol so low he said he didn’t know it could go that low. The fact that he had me on a blood thinner when I read that having total cholesterol lower than about 130 increases the likeliness of a brain hemorrhage and my family doctor at that time questioning why he had me on a blood thinner in addition to the low dose aspirin. Having been in and out of PT from injuries that happened when I was a teenager and no one telling me how to work around it and only being told don’t bicycle or do BJJ ever again! They were my two passions plus archery which is adversely being affected by my injuries. These things have literally made me afraid to try any kind of strength training that may trigger it and have me in PT again.
I never lifted seriously in my life but as a Junior in HS I could squat 550 for reps. There is nothing like feeling an Olympic bar flex starting around 400lbs. I never tried to squat heavier after the one time I needed a spotter when the gym I worked out at had the AC go out on a 95 degree August day. There were two guys that played football for Michigan State that I asked to spot me. They said they would. I passed out and neither of them made an attempt to grab the bar. Fortunately I fell backwards and bounced my head off the bar. When I woke up I got in both of their faces and yelled WTF was that. They both whined they weren’t going to throw out their back. Then why the hell did you offer to spot me? That being said my bench was weak as hell because I already had tons of stingers in my left shoulder. I benched 225 for 2 reps once in my life. Other than that day I never exceeded 205. I would deadlift my 66 VW bug and turn the car around in each direction in circles.
After my 3rd knee surgery in as many years 85,86,87 the doctor said no squats and I said no lifting since the squatting was the only lifting I liked and benching hurt my shoulder. That was until I got the kettlebells just before the pandemic. But again that is light weights and mostly HIIT and toning.
Because of my health issues I need someone that can coach me both on diet and strength training that won’t cause me issues and if I do trigger the impingements be able to help me right away as opposed to having to call and possibly wait weeks between an appointment with the orthopedist and seeing the PT. I don’t know if this even exists or where to go if it does.
Again sorry for the longwindedness and hopefully someone can guide me to what I need,
I take both clopidogrel (plavix) and low dose aspirin. Its called dual antiplatelet therapy. It is a very common and effective treatment to prevent aggregation of platelets and related problems.
If a GP doesn’t know this its best that he be referred to the cardiologist that prescribed it than to ask the patient.
I am sure she understands that and I don’t after reading about too low of cholesterol. My TOTAL cholesterol was 50 when I was on a combination of Repatha and 5MG of a Lipitor. My cardiologist who is the head of cardiology at my hospital didn’t know that Total Cholesterol could get down to 50!
That’s part of my frustration. I feel like a medical experiment and everything I read and am told by Doctors is contradictory!
The blood thinner may be an anti-thrombin. It’s a relatively newer indication to use it alongside low-dose aspirin, vs the long-accepted DAPT, but great data for CAD/ PAD patients.
Ok. I get this. I experienced an allergic reaction to a drug that was supposed to treat heart failure but actually made it much worse (acutely). Once that got cleared up, I was on the road to recovery after a heart attack involving 100% of the circumflex and 98-99% of the right coronary branches. Technically referred to as “A real doozy!”.
So, heres the method to the madness:
We’ll break this into two main categories.
Cardiovascular.
Musculo-skeletal.
From there we can parse it out into the particulars and address them individually.
In order of priority, lets start with cardiovascular, because your muscles and skeleton aren’t going more than 6 feet or so without them.
I swear, I met the most honest and humble MD in existence when my old gp retired.
He looked at me, looked at the chart and goes “Honestly, I don’t think there’s much I can do for you. If you have any aches or pains or need a flue shot, don’t hesitate to come in, but this is beyond me.”.
You could do well by dipping into the right pool of knowledge, or die by dipping into the wrong cool aide.
The sources I use are the AHA, Harvard, and Hopkins, all aproved reading by my cardiologist, to educate myself on the nature of the condition (which may be differentthan yours) and courses of treatment, of which there are many.
BUT! Believe it or not, some people on the internet are full of shit, and don’t have your best interests in mind.
On this very forum I’ve heard many different takes on heart disease ranging from the ever popular “Statins are bullshit” to “I CURE all of my patients with chronic heart failure” from a retired physical therapist.
So caveat emptor my man. I’m just a guy (welder by trade) willing to share my knowledge and experience, and hopefully get you headed in a good direction.
I get it. As far as the Xarelto and stopping it. I love my cardiologist! Frankly I trust him more than any doctor I have ever had. But it freaked me out when he said he wasn’t aware my cholesterol could get that low which lead me down a rabbit hole being curious about too low of levels and when I read about increased likeliness of brain hemorrhage. I was concerned but trusted him only too have my yearly physical a few weeks later and my GP questioning it freaked me out because she was confirming my fear of what I had just read.
Frankly in some regard I want to just be told to do this, this and this and we will evaluate in 3-4 months what needs to be tweeked. But like I said with my first post the frustration is everything I read and every doctor even give me conflicting information.
Yeah. A good friend of mine is an MD ++++, like endless qualifications. And even though he has actually taken many hearts, livers, and various other organs Out of people and put new ones in, successfully, He will not advise me on meds because he doesn’t want to create that kind of conflict. He just says “Talk to Dr. K.”.
He hates the internet.
All that being said…
What exercise are you doing right now for cardiovascular health?
I know there are some musculoskeletal problems, but first things first.
For the record, @TrainForPain had the #1 best recommendation with regular walking.
But if thats not possible at this point, we have to find what is.
Even “Nothing” is a good answer if its an honest one.
