Congestive Heart Failure

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Congestive Heart Failure

 

 

In an average lifetime, your heart will beat two and a half BILLION times.

 

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the end product of any of a number of

cardiovascular diseases that can degrade the heart’s ability to pump blood

efficiently. Much has been written on diagnosing congestive heart failure but

rather less is known about treating it. This is because broken hearts are tough

to fix. A diagnosis of CHF means that it is too late for nutritional

prevention. The horse is long gone by the time most people decide to shut the

stable door. But nutritional intervention can still greatly help a damaged

heart.

 

In the past, drugs such as digitalis or one of its ilk were often given to

strengthen and to some extent regulate heartbeat. Vasodilators (blood vessel

opening drugs) are given to improve cardiac output and relieve backed-up blood

from blood vessels throughout the body, especially in the lungs. Fluid buildup

(edema) is commonly treated with diuretic drugs.

 

It may be possible to naturally augment, or perhaps substitute for, these

pharmaceutical drugs.

 

Vitamin E

One of the body’s most powerful defenses against free radical damage is the

antioxidant vitamin E. The natural form, d-alpha tocopherol, can also be

cautiously used to strengthen and regulate heartbeat. An initial dose of

vitamin E would be only about 50 International Units (I.U.) daily. This is

roughly equivalent to 50 milligrams (mg). To avoid any possible risks of an

asymmetric heart contraction, patients with congestive heart failure need to

start small with vitamin E. Doses may be gradually increased under medical

supervision. For additional information, it is most worthwhile read any books by

Drs. Wilfrid or Evan Shute

( http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_shute.html ). If their books are hard to

find, try an interlibrary loan at any public library.

 

Thiamin

Some congestive heart failure is actually caused by thiamin (vitamin B-1)

deficiency. 25 to 50 mg with each meal might be worth a therapeutic trial. I

think a thiamin-containing 50 mg " balanced B-complex " tablet each meal would be

even better.

 

Common Sense

No added salt. No alcohol. No smoking. If overweight, lose it. No kidding.

 

Herbal Diuretics

It may be possible to use herbal medicines to reduce swelling due to retained

fluids. There are no fewer than 180 herbs with diuretic properties listed just

on pages 53-54 of John Lust’s The Herb Book. (NY:Bantam. 1974. ISBN

0-553-13082-X). I am not suggesting that you take 180 herbs. I am suggesting

that you read up on your options before committing yourself only to drugs.

 

Selenium

Selenium deficiency can cause a congestive heart disease called Keshan disease.

100 to 300 micrograms (mcg) of selenium daily would insure against this. In

addition, selenium works to help your body recharge and efficiently reuse its

vitamin E.

 

Magnesium

The role of magnesium in normal heart function is tremendous. Profound

magnesium deficiency causes muscles to underfunction, malfunction or not

function at all. Several hundred of your body’s most important biochemical

reactions depend on this mineral. " The synthesis of all proteins, vital cell

nuclear materials such as nucleic acids and nucleotides, lipids, and

carbohydrates require ionized magnesium (Mg ++). " (Williams, SR Nutrition and

Diet Therapy, Seventh Ed, St. Louis: Mosby, 1993, pp 230-233) Even most, ah,

" healthy " adults fail to get the US RDA of magnesium, which ranges from 280 to

400 mg for adults. These figures are elemental weights: just the corn, not the

can. Most magnesium supplements are compounds of magnesium with something else.

The weight of the " something else " is often obscured in dosage recommendations.

That is why Melvyn Werbach, M.D. cites studies that advocate daily dosages of

2,000 mg of magnesium per day for CHF. (Textbook of Nutritional Medicine.

Tarzana, CA:Third Line Press, 1999, pp 273 and 275.) The elemental quantity is

significantly lower than that. Green vegetables and whole grains contain quite a

bit of magnesium. Pinto beans, almonds, and especially figs are oustanding food

sources.

 

Of the oral supplements, magnesium aspartate or magnesium orotate may have the

best chance of getting into cardiac muscle cells. These forms of magnesium are

rarely found on store shelves. Your doctor may be able to have them compounded

for you by a cooperative pharmacist, or you might find them with an internet

search. Intravenous administration of magnesium may be necessary in more

serious cases of congestive heart failure. Have a test ordered to check serum

magnesium. Most doctors don’t. It is even better to check myocardial magnesium

(Textbook, p 275). This is because the amount of magnesium in the heart muscle

cells may be considerably lower than in the blood.

 

A great deal of information about magnesium will be found at

http://www.mgwater.com and in the work of Dr. Hans Nieper, M.D.

(listed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_nieper.html ).

 

Potassium

Potassium deficiency is associated with congestive heart failure, and is

connected with magnesium deficiency, mentioned above. Low potassium can cause

erratic heartbeat (heart arrhythmia). A non-technical way of increasing dietary

potassium is to eat lots of easy to digest fruits, and juiced vegetables. They

are loaded with potassium. Nuts, whole grains and legumes (beans) are good, too.

4 ounces of almonds contains a whopping 800 mg. Brazil nuts have almost as

much.

 

Co-Enzyme Q10. This is very important.

One of the best things about Co-Enzyme Q 10 is that it is harmless, having no

negative side effects or contraindications of any kind. No physician or

hospital can make a case against taking it. The down side is that it is pricey.

But then, so are heart transplants. Clinical studies and patient reports that

show success with Co Q 10 usually use somewhere around 400 mg a day, divided

into several doses. 35mg/day or 50 mg/day simply will not work.

 

" I have had patients with such severe CHF that they were waiting for a heart

transplant. After taking CoQ10, they no longer needed a transplant. " Jullian

Whitaker, M.D. (Health & Healing, December 1997. http://www.drwhitaker.com )

 

If there is higher praise than this, I have not yet seen it.

 

Amino Acids

As a rule, I am in favor of getting amino acids from protein foods in ones diet.

With really sick people, a case can be made for amino acid supplementation. In

Werbach's Textbook of Nutritional Medicine, the case is indeed well made.

 

Dr. Werbach recommends L-Arginine at a daily dose somewhere between 5,600 and

12,600 mg because it " causes peripheral vasodilation and improves cardiac

output. " (p 273). The benefit to patients was an increase in " the distance they

could walk in 6 minutes, and the rate of blood flow during exercise. " Arginine

is normally considered by dieticians to be a " semiessential " amino acid,

necessary only for growth. It is possible that growth includes regrowth,

strengthening, and repair of cardiac muscle. Eggs, cheese, whole grains, and

legumes (beans) are good food sources. Peanuts are absolutely loaded with

arginine, containing three times as much as meat does. You’d need to consume

roughly a twelve-ounce can of peanuts a day to get in the middle of the dose

mentioned above. Chew nuts well for best absorption. That, or consider

supplements. Or do both.

 

Taurine is an amino acid normally made in your body from another amino acid,

methionine. Methionine is found in eggs, cheese, beans, nuts, and whole grains.

Brazil nuts have over twice as much methionine as meat, ounce for ounce. Extreme

stresses to the body (hospital food, perhaps?) can cause taurine deficiency.

(Desai TK et al. Taurine deficiency after intensive chemotherapy and/or

radiation. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 55:708, 1991.) Taurine

appears to help regulate heartbeat. Dr. Werbach mentions a doseage of 4,000 to

6,000 mg/day.

 

The amino acid L-Carnitine is also made in your body IF (and, to quote Ed

Sullivan, this is a " really big " IF) you consume plenty of methionine, lysine,

vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), niacin, and vitamin C. (Iron is also necessary; adult

men do not need to seek after iron.) Most people, especially the elderly with

chronic illness, do not get nearly enough of those three vitamins. This study

recommends 2,000 mg of L-carnitine daily, specifically for CHF: Ghidini O,

Azzurro M, Vita A, Sartori G. (1988) Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of

L-carnitine in congestive heart failure. International Journal of Clinical

Pharmacology, Therapy and Toxicology 26: 217-220.

 

Large amounts of supplemental Creatine, still another amino acid that your body

normally produces, may help strengthen heartbeat. As creatine phosphate, it is

involved in supplying energy to power muscle tissue, especially cardiac muscle.

Dr.Werbach cites studies that indicate that persons with CHF have a deficiency

of creatine in the heart muscle itself, and that daily doses of 20,000 mg/day

" improve cardiac function… physical strength and endurance. " (Textbook of

Nutritional Medicine, p 276)

 

All quantities mentioned above should be divided up into several smaller doses

throughout the day. I would add vitamin C, about 4,000 to 10,000/day (or to

bowel tolerance) both because of its antioxidant properties and also because of

its role in amino acid synthesis. I also suspect that since the heart prefers

fatty acids for fuel, a long-standing deficiency of essential fatty acids causes

deterioration of heart muscle. Lecithin, fish, and primrose oil are sources of

essential fatty acids. http://www.doctoryourself.com/lecithin.html

 

If these natural options do not speak strongly enough to you, bear in mind that

 

1) there is no drug cure for congestive heart failure; and

 

2) the pharmaceutical drugs given in an attempt to cope with the condition have

many side effects; and

 

3) the excerpt (below) from an article by the National Institutes of Health is

quite depressing. When you’ve finished reading it, you may want to read the

above information once again. Brace yourself; here we go:

 

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

National Institutes of Health Data Fact Sheet:

Congestive Heart Failure in the United States: A New Epidemic

 

An estimated 4.8 million Americans have congestive heart failure (CHF)… Half of

the patients diagnosed with CHF will be dead within 5 years. Each year, there

are an estimated 400,000 new cases.

 

CHF is the… most common diagnosis in hospital patients age 65 years and older.

In that age group, one fifth of all hospitalizations have a primary or secondary

diagnosis of heart failure.

 

Visits to physicians' offices for CHF increased from 1.7 million in 1980 to 2.9

million in 1993. More than 65,000 persons with CHF receive home care each year.

In 1993, an estimated $17.8 billion was spent for the care of CHF patients…

 

The magnitude of the problem of CHF is large now, but it is expected to get much

worse…

 

Incidence of CHF is equally frequent in men and women, and annual incidence

approaches 10 per 1,000 population after 65 years of age. Incidence is twice as

common in persons with hypertension compared with normotensive persons and five

times greater in persons who have had a heart attack compared to persons who

have not…

 

Survival following diagnosis of congestive heart failure is worse in men than

women, but even in women, only about 20 percent survive much longer than 8 to 12

years. The outlook is not much better than for most forms of cancer. The

fatality rate for CHF is high, with one in five persons dying within 1 year… CHF

remains a highly lethal condition. With the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme

(ACE) inhibitors as a possible exception, advances in the treatment of

hypertension, myocardial ischemia, and valvular heart disease have not resulted

in substantial improvements in survival once CHF ensues.

 

The death rate for congestive heart failure increased most years between 1968

and 1993. These increases are in contrast to mortality declines for most heart

and blood vessel diseases. In 1993, there were 42,000 deaths where CHF was

identified as the primary cause of death and another 219,000 deaths where it was

listed as a secondary cause on the death certificate. The death rate for CHF in

1993 was nearly 1.5 times higher in black men and women than in white men and

women).

 

(An ideal) drug (to cure CHF) might improve the heart's pumping ability, open

clogged arteries, and prevent tissue damage from free radicals, a byproduct of

the body's metabolic processes. Free radicals are thought to contribute to the

development of atherosclerosis.

 

Investigations also are being done to improve heart transplantation for CHF

patients. In some cases, a heart transplant is the only possible treatment.

However, such patients face a shortage of donor hearts. A possible solution to

this critical shortage may be the use of a heart from other animals. Called

xenotransplantation, this procedure once was made difficult because of the

rejection of the heart by the CHF patient's immune system. However, new

technologies have been forged that can overcome such a barrier. For example,

scientists have been able to alter genes in the heart of a pig to diminish the

immune system reaction in a baboon. Scientists still need to discover how to

turn such genes on and off to prevent human rejection.

 

(The full text of this article, with graphs and charts, is posted at

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/CHF.htm )

 

September 1996

U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service

National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

P.O. Box 30105, Bethesda, MD 20824-0105

(301) 592-8573

 

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You can see why I get a lot of letters asking about natural treatment for

congestive heart failure. Most people appear to have found very little reason

to believe that there are serious options for persons with this serious disease.

But there are. Back to the top of the page?

 

 

Copyright 2001 and prior years by Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren Street,

Holley, New York 14470 USA Telephone (585) 638-5357

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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