tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640470443420164863.post3925504816668929967..comments2024-03-26T10:26:51.288-04:00Comments on Jim Leff's Slog: 2017 Was GreatJim Leffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007232702717055047noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640470443420164863.post-80010976420718620782018-01-02T14:06:01.867-05:002018-01-02T14:06:01.867-05:00That's better written, thanks. But I'm som...That's better written, thanks. But I'm someone who was at death's door, and who now runs up steps without a care in the world. So there's nothing that can make me come around.<br /><br />Over-prescribed? Well, sure. What medical miracle isn't? Side effects? Yes, but remarkably rare. Perhaps I simply happen to be the best-case scenario for this treatment. Cool by me. You can't imagine how grateful I am to have had it.<br /><br />Meds may indeed be actuarily more useful for non-emergency cases (i.e. cases less suited for stents than mine was). But even there, the feeling of NOT KNOWING if your heart works - whether it will support a given exercise load, whether a bit of angina is actually infarction, whether you're going to DIE if you run for a bus - is very, very bad psychologically. And your heart is way more important than your spleen or femur, so this really COUNTS.<br /><br />My heart's fricking bulletproof. I'm vastly less likely to have a heart attack than the average person on the street, including highly-trained athletes. I'm not just patched up, I'm superman. Without this confidence and security, I'd feel like a medical victim. It would deeply affect my life and perhaps even my health. The confidence is not represented in actuarial data, but it makes a diff, not just to emotional well-being, but physical, as well. <br /><br />Anyone who's had any scary heart stuff will tell you: not trusting your heart is a bad way to live. And, conversely, being 4 years post-stent and feeling great and symptom-free and running up steps like a gleeful child is un-fricking-believably great and miraculous.<br />Jim Leffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00007232702717055047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640470443420164863.post-5717576163285953642018-01-02T13:48:08.418-05:002018-01-02T13:48:08.418-05:00http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/stents-sh...http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/stents-show-no-extra-benefits-for-coronary-artery-disease.htmlNeal Parmesanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01287568005878888358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640470443420164863.post-20024440041216503522018-01-01T16:00:59.780-05:002018-01-01T16:00:59.780-05:00Reads like a pile of muddled, smeary, fuzzy-minded...Reads like a pile of muddled, smeary, fuzzy-minded bullshit. Scraping at bits of non-optimality, commerciality, and random new age anti-med yadda yadda to conjure up the illusion of some sort of coherent upshot. <br /><br />Not every patient needs or is improved by any given treatment, duh. Antibiotics helped humanity beyond reckoning, and we've gone downright berserk with those (which should in no way cast doubt on their usefulness). But to dispute the efficacy - the miraculousness - of stents and angioplasty is too dumb for even most dumb people to swallow. <br /><br />Jim Leffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00007232702717055047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4640470443420164863.post-46604507392992396492018-01-01T15:46:38.133-05:002018-01-01T15:46:38.133-05:00https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archiv...https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/11/22/are-stents-scam.aspxNeal Parmesanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01287568005878888358noreply@blogger.com