Facts About Cardiovascular Disease:

1. It is the recognized number one cause of death in the world. Actually, Pharmaceutical - based medicine has been proven to be the number one cause of death in the US (see "Death By Medicine" by Gary M. Null, et al.)
2. CVD affects 81.1 million adult Americans (25.7% of the population) Source: Circulation 2/23/10
3. CVD causes 831,272 deaths per year (2,300 per day in the US alone)
4. CVD is more lethal than the next seven leading causes of death combined
5. There are 140,000 deaths per year in the US from strokes
6. Very few people know that the most common first sign of Cardiovascular Disease is a HEART ATTACK!

"One half of all deaths are caused by blood clots" Robert Flaumenhaft, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School

"The Big Question That Demands an Answer": Why, with all the "advances" in Modern Day Medicine with a myriad of old and new drugs as well as modern medical technology, is Cardiovascular Disease STILL the recognized number one cause of death???

Answer:

1. Inadequate Diagnostics: Most allopathic doctors only do common limited blood lab testing that does not address important causative factors of Cardiovascular Disease. These neglected blood tests (or calculations) that are often skipped include: Total Cholesterol to HDL Ratio (very important number for a patient's risk factor), Full Iron Panel including Ferritin (can be an important marker for inflammation, a major cause of Cardiovascular Disease), Full Thyroid Panel (chronic thyroid issues can be linked to Cardiovascular Disease), Fasting Insulin (blood sugar metabolism issues are associated with a very high percentage of Cardiovascular Disease patients), Cardio C-Reactive Protein (most important marker for inflammation destructive to arteries, yet seldom ordered by majority of doctors), Homocysteine (high levels are destructive to the Cardiovascular System, yet almost all allopathic doctors are unaware of this), Folate/B12 (a very common deficiency in most patients that is a significant risk to the heart).
2. Reliance on Pharmaceuticals that end up doing more harm than good. Like most chronic health conditions, Cardiovascular Disease is primarily caused by 3 things: Toxicity, Deficiencies, and Stress. Not only do drugs fail to address any of these factors but actually cause at least 2 of them. The greatest source of toxicity in our modern society comes from the overuse of Pharmaceuticals along with their dangerous side effects. Also, a little known fact about Pharmaceuticals is that they severely deplete nutrients in the body. Society as a whole suffers from "Nutrient Deficiency Disease", a major cause of most chronic health conditions, certainly including Cardiovascular Disease. If we believed what the medical field continues to tell us, ad nauseam, we would come to believe that we all had deficiencies of Lisinopril (blood pressure meds) or Statins (Anti-cholesterol drugs). Alas, there's just no money in it for them to try to teach us how to eat healthier, avoid stress, and practice healthy habits like regular exercise. Besides, the profit margins for pharmaceuticals is astronomical compared to natural nutritional supplements.

Common Adverse Effects of Three of the Most Prescribed Cardiovascular Drugs:

Lisinopril (ACE Inhibitor): Orthostatic Hypotension, chest pain, angina, palpitations, kidney issues (increase in Creatinine), dizziness, headaches, syncope, high levels of potassium, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, chronic cough.

Atenolol/Metoprolol (Beta Blockers): Fatigue, dizziness, Vertigo, lethargy, drowsiness, depression, wheezing, dyspnea, pulmonary emboli, GI disturbances, diarrhea, nausea, leg pains, arterial insufficiency, peripheral edema, stroke, and, not only the most dangerous adverse effect, but the highest incidence: HEART FAILURE (up to 27.5%)!!!

Statins (Anti-Cholesterol Drugs): liver damage, arthralgia (joint pain and swelling), muscle pain and spasms, insomnia, pharyngitis, hyperglycemia (diabetes), Peripheral Neuropathy (from demyelination of neurons), Rhabdomyolysis (deterioration of muscle tissue), Cardiovascular-related death (heart muscle damage).

***There are countless books published that feature studies proving that mass prescribing of statin drugs is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the public by Big Pharma, who have profited by billions of dollars and yet the scamming still continues!

What is Functional Medicine Center's Approach to Restoring Health to The Cardiovascular System?

We start by doing very thorough Diagnostics:

1. A very detailed Bio-Comprehensive Blood Panel that includes many tests that are not routinely done by most doctors, even Cardiologists (see "Inadequate Diagnostics" above)
2. Next we test the arteries for the "Stiffness Factor" (degree of Arteriosclerosis). The "Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity Test" is performed using the iHeart Internal Age instrument
3. The Endocardiograph (Heart Sound Recorder) is then used to test the Rate, Rhythm, and Tone of the heart to assess the function of the 4 heart valves (Mitral, Tricuspid, Aortic, and Pulmonic) . Abnormalities that show up in the graph analysis can be traced to malnourishment of the heart tissue from inadequate nutrient intake, toxicities (eg. pharmaceuticals), Leaky Gut Syndrome, and even chronic stress. Unlike an EKG that sends electrical impulses through the heart to detect any damage, the Endocardiograph is a highly sensitive microphone that can detect abnormalities in the heart valve function BEFORE there is damage.

How We Treat Cardiovascular Disease And Restore Optimum Health:

1. After we go over all the findings in our extensive Diagnostics Evaluation, we first guide our patients to a plan for healthy eating and encourage them to view these dietary guidelines as something they need to adopt as a necessary lifelong habits to maintain their optimum wellness.
2. Powerful nutritional supplements will be used to restore health to the heart and vascular system based on the results from the blood testing and the artery and heart instrumentation testing. When maximum improvement has been achieved as evidenced from subsequent test monitoring, we put our patients on certain nutritional supplements for Cardiovascular health maintenance
3. We also encourage our patients to get in the healthy habit of regular exercise emphasizing certain exercise activities that are especially beneficial to maintaining cardiovascular health. Just with the right type and consistency of exercise, we have seen our patients' iHeart Internal Age scores improve dramatically!