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Perhaps you would like to share your experience with heart disease. We would love to hear your stories.
Email us at share@meetwallysheart.co.za
Case Study 1
Case Study 2
Case Study 3
Case Study 4
Case Study 5
When George Govender looks back to the days before he had
his heart attack his main thought is of how the only person he was really
fooling was himself. On an average day
he would smoke 25 cigarettes, despite the fact that he kept promising his
family he would "cut back".
"When you're having a few drinks, your resolve to cut back
on the cigarettes goes out the window. I would tell my family I was going to
the gym, when in actual fact, I'd pop into the pub and have a few drinks with
friends. I started out each week with
good intentions but somehow I became a good liar.
"I did go to gym, although it became less and less
often. I thought I was fine as being
Hindu, I didn't eat much meat and wasn't really overweight."
It wasn't until Govender went for a routine medical that he
found his cholesterol was slightly above normal at 6*. "No one in my family had suffered from heart
disease before and once I was put on medication and my blood pressure was
normal, I thought I was back on track."
"I used to be a runner and would compete in 21km and 42 km
races. This was something I thought
could never happen to me.
It was only when chest pains, which didn't respond to
indigestion medicine, forced Govender to see a doctor that he was admitted to
ICU and realised he was having a heart attack. He was discharged two days later, after having an angioplasty* procedure
and a stent inserted. "I thought it was
great - that I was fixed up and the stent would sort me out."
But three months later when even greater pains gripped his
chest, Govender knew exactly what was happening to him. This time he had a by-pass and due to his
heavy smoking, his lungs also collapsed, keeping him in ICU for three
weeks.
Govender recalled that when he left hospital, he thought,
"Now I want to live and I have to change my life completely."
Today he attends gym regularly, has given up smoking and
watches what he eats and drinks, and has regular checkups - in fact, he's never
felt better.
If you have high total cholesterol, it is
important to know what type of cholesterol is high. It is better to have a
normal or low LDL and high HDL cholesterol than a high LDL and a low HDL. Your
doctor can perform this simple test.
When the blood cholesterol level is tested,
the total cholesterol, as well as the different types of cholesterol is
determined. It is necessary to fast for 10-12 hours before laboratory testing.
The following are target values:
Total cholesterol <5.0 mmol/l
LDL cholesterol <3.0 mmol/l
HDL cholesterol >1.2 mmol/l
Issued by The Heart and Stroke Foundation SA
For more information, please contact:
Jozi Donjeany, Simeka TWS Communications
Tel: (031) 2039800
Cell: 076 153 8286
Email: jozid@stws.adcorp.co.za
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