Over the last 2 months my dad has been dealing with extremely high blood pressure and is likely going to have a heart stent operation within a few days. He's been on cholesterol medications for almost 20 years. His own father died of heart problems in his 50s, one of his brothers has had multiple bypasses, and the other brother died a few months ago of an unexpected heart attack. I'm not immediately concerned about losing my father - my dad is the youngest of his brothers at only 50, plus stents are fairly routine and he'll come home the day after the operation. Losing his brother this year plus his own recent struggles has motivated him to take action in his life. But I am starting to come to the realization that it's possible my dad may only have 5-10 years to live. Especially now that I have kids, this is a little hard to process.

Has anybody else had friends or family members with heart problems? Or deal with heart problems yourselves? I'm only 28 but clearly heart disease runs in my family. I'm built more like my mother and so far have always had normal cholesterol and blood pressure, but I'm now a little anxious that perhaps I will face these health challenges too. I've always been pretty lean, but I don't exercise as much as I used to, and my eating habits aren't particularly praiseworthy.

5/11/2011 1:03:48 PM

yeah my grandfather had a pretty massive heart attack about a decade or so ago, and following that he had a bypass, and is on blood pressure meds.

dad doesn't go to the dr, so unsure what his BP is looking like.


Back in Dec, I had somewhat of a wakeup call when I went in for a physical, they told me I should exercise & eat right to bring my BP down because I was close to being hypertensive, which increases cardiac disease.

So now I'm watching that shit closer, I'm only 32 and I have a lot of things I want to accomplish still.

5/11/2011 1:13:44 PM

Just keep in mind, heart disease is typically multifactorial. This basically means even though you might have a genetic predisposition, your environment also plays a big role in the development of the disease. Some heart conditions are straight forward when it comes to genetics being the sole cause (i.e., aortic dissections in Marfan syndrome), but most cases are a little fuzzier.

So my advice would basically be to take every step you can to ensure your heart stays healthy, an to have more frequent surveillance since you have a family history..

5/11/2011 9:05:45 PM

my paternal grandfather had several multi bypass surgeries

he lived to the cantankerous age of 81

prolly would have lived longer but he stubbornly tried to change a tire on his car in 95 degree heat....didnt make it through that heart attack.

you have to make the lifestyle modifications the docs recommend if you have heart disease.

5/17/2011 6:18:39 PM

my dad had his stent surgery today. it went great from what we can tell so far. the artery they were fixing was 90% blocked, we got cool before and after photos too

5/17/2011 10:07:44 PM

My granny had a stent put in a few months ago, and i swear she was acting twenty years younger just a few weeks out.

5/17/2011 10:13:49 PM

It is certainly not out of the question to live a long, unencumbered life following a heart attack. A family member of mine had a heart attack in his 30s that should have killed him. He had a young family at the time and took the experience as a big wakeup call. He wasn't even in bad shape. In fact, he was probably in the best physical shape of his life when he had his heart attack. Genetics and diet were the likely culprit. He became and is to this day extremely vigilant with diet and exercise, seeing a physician regularly, and being extremely compliant with medications. He is almost 60 now and still going strong. There is no reason to believe that anyone else with the same set of risk factors couldn't have the same outcome.

5/17/2011 10:21:44 PM

^^^good to hear

my family has a history of heart disease on both sides. all 4 of my grandparents had it, though not until late 60s/early 70s (ages not decades). i just got back results from bloodwork and my cholesterol is a little high, but down from a year ago. i attribute this to exercising and being mindful of what i eat. i'm 26 and it's odd that i think this way now, but it's never too early to start building the right eating and exercise habits. i ballooned up for a little bit after college (beer) but decided to be proactive in the health department, as i am reminded constantly that it only gets harder as you age.

[Edited on May 17, 2011 at 10:28 PM. Reason : ]

5/17/2011 10:28:30 PM

I forgot to give an example of how much lifestyle moderation matters...

My grandma died on his 10th heart attack when he was about 55 years old. After his 9th, the doctor told him if he cut out all the fried food, pack of Marlboro reds a day, and 2 pots of coffee a day, he would add 15 years onto his life easily. He told the doctor if he was going to die, he was going to die happy and that meant with his fried chicken, reds, and coffee. I will never blame him for being so blunt because he was one of the few completely genuine people I have ever known, but it's a key example to how much that lifestyle plays a factor...

5/17/2011 10:46:48 PM