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Treating Heart Problems Naturally
by Jacob Teitelbaum MD
Heart problems are the major cause of death in the US. Although medications and surgery get most of the attention for treating heart problems, natural therapies can be highly effective.
There are several key types of heart problems. The major ones are:
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Angina and heart attacks.
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Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) caused by heart muscle weakness and manifesting as ankle swelling and shortness of breath on laying flat or exertion. Many researchers suspect a component of this is also occurring in CFS and Fibromyalgia.
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Heart valve problems.
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Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias).
For all 4 of these problems, but especially #2, both research and clinical experience has shown that several key natural treatments can improve heart muscle efficiency and improve symptoms. Unfortunately, most physicians are not aware of these studies because natural remedies are inexpensive and often cannot be patented. But you can use these treatments safely to feel much better in 6 weeks!
The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body. With heart failure, the muscle is weakening. With angina, there may not be heart muscle weakness, but increasing heart efficiency can decrease its work and therefore the tendency to chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms as well. Fortunately there are many natural ways to improve heart muscle function.
The key treatments for these heart problems that I use in my practice, including for abnormal heart rhythms and angina, but especially for congestive heart failure, are (in combination):
1. Ribose (Corvalen brand) - This powder that looks and tastes like sugar is a key to energy production in the body—including the heart. I recommend 1 scoop (5 gms) 3 times a day for 6 weeks, then twice a day. This nutrient is outstanding for heart disease and is the most important one. You will likely be amazed after 6 weeks on it! For a detailed discussion on Ribose, see "Ribose—to Turbo Charge Energy Production."
2. CoEnzyme Q10 (use Enzymatic Therapy or Vitaline brand CHEWABLE wafers—brand and form are critical for this nutrient). Take 200-400 mg/day (I would do 400 mg/day for 6 weeks then 200 mg/day). This nutrient is especially critical for anyone on cholesterol lowering medications, even if there is no heart problem,as these medications cause CoEnzyme Q10 deficiency, and this nutrient is critical for energy production. For a detailed discussion, see "CoEnzyme Q10 and Energy Production."
3. Magnesium 200 mg/day and B Complex 50+ mg/day. I would get this plus over 40 other key nutrients easily by taking the Energy Revitalization System vitamin powder and B Complex. Take 1 scoop a day, but if it causes gas or loose stools, you can decrease the powder to 1/2 scoop a day. I recommend that people take the dose that feels the best up to 1 scoop a day. This product is outstanding for overall well being. I would consider adding an extra 200 mg of Magnesium at bedtime (caution - in the rare patient with kidney failure, magnesium and many other nutrients should only be taken under a licensed Holistic Health practitioner's supervision. Magnesium can also cause loose stools). Magnesium not only increases your heart muscles strength, but also markedly decreases the tendency to abnormal heart rhythms. I recommend almost everyone be on this powder, as it is made to supply outstanding overall nutritional support. After several months on the powder, as you "fill your tank" nutritionally, you may find that a lower dose (1/2 to ¾ scoop a day) of the powder feels best.
4. Acetyl-L-Carnitine 500 mg 2x day for 6 weeks, then 500 mg/day is enough (and it can often simply be stopped). For more information, see "Acetyl-L-Carnitine."
Give these nutrients 6 weeks to see the optimal effects. The benefits for heart health are often dramatic! The products are readily available in most health food stores, websites, and at
www.Vitality101.com or by phone from 9 AM to 5 PM EST at 410-573-5389 or 800-feel-btr.
Used with permission from Dr Jacob Teitelbaum's free newsletters-available at www.Vitality101.com
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The study, published in the March 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, may demonstrate a link between mental stress and sudden cardiac arrest, which causes more than 400,000 deaths every year.
Arrhythmias, which are heart rhythm problems, happen because of a malfunction in the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate heart beats, according to the Mayo Clinic. The result is that your heart beats too fast, too slow or irregularly.
Some arrhythmias may increase a person's risk of stroke or congestive heart problems.
This study is relevant to people who have heart disease already, said study author Dr. Rachel Lampert, associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine.t
"Perhaps if we treat them with something like stress management or anger management, we may decrease the likelihood of arrhythmias," she said.
Previous research has shown that the rate of sudden cardiac death increases when the population is collectively stressed, such as during an earthquake or war, Lampert said.
Other studies have also shown that if you ask patients about what happened before a heart attack, they'll most frequently say they were angry, said Dr. Charles Raison, psychiatrist and director of the Mind/Body Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
"It is just indisputable that negative emotionality -- especially anger and misery, depression -- are terrible for your heart,"
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Researchers looked at 62 patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, devices that monitor heart rhythms and emit painful shocks in response to dangerous rhythms.
The patients were asked to describe a time in the previous couple weeks when they felt angry or aggravated, and were prompted with questions to describe the moment vividly. Researchers looked at the heart's electrical stability through a measure called T-wave alternans.
"Overall in the group, when we did the anger recall protocol, the group as a whole showed an increase in electrical instability," Lampert said.
Researchers then compared the top 25 percent of people -- those who showed the most instability -- with the others in the group and found that the the ones with the highest instability in the lab were 10 times more likely to experience an arrhythmia sometime in the next three years.
The idea could be used as a predictive test for people who are unable to take an exercise-induced electrical stability test, Lampert said.
More study is needed to see how the mental stress test relates to traditional exercise testing, said Dr. Eric Rashba, professor of medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, New York. Rashba was not involved in the study. The new test may be useful in combination with the exercise test, he said.
While this is an early study with a small sample size, it is the first time this type of anger or emotional stress testing has been shown to correlate with future arrhythmias, he said.
Exercise elevates heart rate much more than mental stress does, meaning the effects of mental stress on the heart may be caused by adrenaline impacting the heart cells, the study authors said.