And I am afraid the same thing will happen to me. he was 41 when he died which was 11 years ago last march. I am losing weight, but am still at about 320 lbs, which is down from 420 lbs a year ago, but i am also 6 ft 7 and have very big bones and am only 24 and know I shouldn't really worry to much about the actual heart attack, but to just keep getting my weight down. my mom's side has everybody alive and her parents lived to be in their 80's, which is a good thing for me as you get most things from your mom and not your dad. I am more active the last 5 months then I had been in the past i'd say 3 years, and am going to start doing even more as far as bike riding and all that. right now I play basketball about 4 times a week, and get a very good workout from it. i had an ekg at the doctors, and they said everything looked good there, as well as having my blood pressure checked every day at home by my fiance, and had a blood screen that came back with my cholestrol below 150(144 to be exact) triglyceride was at 69, hdl cholestrol is at 42 and my ldl cholestrol is at 88. I feel like this is just an awakeing for me from my dad(sounds crazy, but I believe in things like this) and I am not going to ignore this anymore and do what I have to do to make myself better. But a question I have is what typr of tests should I take just to make sure I am 100 percent, and that I don't have a slight blockage, or anything like that. Because of my age, most doctors don't feel it necessary, but they aren't talking about their own lives. I just know that if i had these done, and they came back normal or even showed something, that I would be able to get a plan together and not be so in the dark about this. anybody have an suggestions?
Hi Again and Welcome to HealingWell! 
It would seem that you are very knowledgable and that you're on the right track here with your health. I understand completely about the concern with your health, especially with loosing your Dad at such a young age. I'm very sorry for that.
Playing basketball is a wonderful sport and I know you're getting a lot of exericise doing that, but I also know that you are probably taking a lot of breaks? and stopping to rest? That's where walking or biking come in and can offer you more of a continuous cardiac workout.
I know this is very hard, but you need to really start focusing on you and your life right now, so you can move forward. What my suggestion to you right now is to go to your Dr. and express to him/or her what your thoughts and concerns are. Do you have insurance? They do have a CT scan that can check for blockages, and this may be an option for you. It's a non invasive procedure. Ask about this and see what they say.
Keep me posted and let me know how you are doing~congratulations on that tremendous weight loss! WooHoo!!
Teri
"Because he is he and I am I."......E. V. Lucas
Please allow HealingWell to continue helping others by donating:
i have insurance through blue cross, but it is a ppo. my mom use to work with blue cross, and said most insurance companies won't cover it unless it is totally necessary. mine would be just for piece of mind, but i guess it won;t hurt to ask. i see my doctor again in about 2 weeks, or on the 13th of may, so i will ask then. my cholestrol came back good on all 4, so maybe that is enough for them to not have me worry about it for the time being, and to just worry about getting my weight down. but i will still ask and see if theres anything he can help me with as far as my concerns go, and if i really have anything to worry about. can people still have a heart attack with normal blood pressure, or maybe a tad high and low cholestrol?
Greetings, SFG. Sober is a good thing. Very good. Are you a friend of Bill W? Just curious.
As I understand it, high BP isn't the only symptom of a possible heart attack. There are many different things that can cause heart failure...and blood pressure is only one of the symptoms to consider.
Now this may seem like a strange way of lookin at things, and it's not intended to be a smart-ass comment. But healthy people die, too. It's just a fact.
So if you're doing what your doc tells ya and the test results seem to be within reason...well, if it were me, I'd just go on and do my best to enjoy life. Tell ya why I say this. I have several fatal, incurable, progressive diseases. Alcoholism is one of them. But I haven't had to drink for quite a while now...and it's allowed me to get to a point where I can enjoy my life sometimes. I say sometimes because I also have a fairly good case of Coronary Artery Disease that limits my activity...but I ain't givin up on life. And I ain't too worried about whether I'm gonna have another MI (I've had 3 plus quad bypass...and things are gettin worse as far as my coronary arteries are concerned.) And my father and his sister had Alzheimer's disease before they died (took my father down real quick) and I'm starting to see some of the same symptoms in myself. It's a little bit disconcerting.
However, I still have a lot of things that I wanna do in my life. I still haven't gotten over 200 mph on the salt flats...and if I can remember where they are, I hope to get there and do that in the next few years. :)
Bottom line (for me and only me) is that I'm gonna keep suitin up and showin up and doin what's in front of me no matter what. And if my BP is a little high this morning (it is)...well, I'll keep takin my meds and doin what I can. I've got to get a fuel pressure regulator for my 63 Nova to see if we can get that great big carburetor to stop sprayin raw gas every where. Bad for the paint job. :) Anyway, I'm just gonna keep on keepin on. I hope you can, too. Not to mention not havin a drink today. This really helps.
Best regards,
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
As I understand it, high BP isn't the only symptom of a possible heart attack. There are many different things that can cause heart failure...and blood pressure is only one of the symptoms to consider.
Now this may seem like a strange way of lookin at things, and it's not intended to be a smart-ass comment. But healthy people die, too. It's just a fact.
So if you're doing what your doc tells ya and the test results seem to be within reason...well, if it were me, I'd just go on and do my best to enjoy life. Tell ya why I say this. I have several fatal, incurable, progressive diseases. Alcoholism is one of them. But I haven't had to drink for quite a while now...and it's allowed me to get to a point where I can enjoy my life sometimes. I say sometimes because I also have a fairly good case of Coronary Artery Disease that limits my activity...but I ain't givin up on life. And I ain't too worried about whether I'm gonna have another MI (I've had 3 plus quad bypass...and things are gettin worse as far as my coronary arteries are concerned.) And my father and his sister had Alzheimer's disease before they died (took my father down real quick) and I'm starting to see some of the same symptoms in myself. It's a little bit disconcerting.
However, I still have a lot of things that I wanna do in my life. I still haven't gotten over 200 mph on the salt flats...and if I can remember where they are, I hope to get there and do that in the next few years. :)
Bottom line (for me and only me) is that I'm gonna keep suitin up and showin up and doin what's in front of me no matter what. And if my BP is a little high this morning (it is)...well, I'll keep takin my meds and doin what I can. I've got to get a fuel pressure regulator for my 63 Nova to see if we can get that great big carburetor to stop sprayin raw gas every where. Bad for the paint job. :) Anyway, I'm just gonna keep on keepin on. I hope you can, too. Not to mention not havin a drink today. This really helps.
Best regards,
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
Hi SFG, I am only 42 and had a 80-90% blockage. Only family history was my grandma in her 60s that had CAD. My ekg and blood tests were normal, but lucky the ER doc decided to do a stress test with nuclear study and that's when they decided something was wrong and did a heart cath. If they wouldn't have found it they said I would have had a massive heart attack due to where it was. Maybe you could get them to do that test on you. At least you are on the right track with the weight loss and diet. If you have any problems or symptoms of heart attack though get to the ER like I did. Your pretty young though. Get out there and enjoy life to the fullest. It's too short to sit around worrying. Barb
Funny that the nuclear scan worked for you. More better I should say very fortunate. I've had 2 instances where the scan and ekg have shown absolutely nothing, yet all the other symptoms (BP, angina, echocardiogram) have all been abnormal and the doctors have told me that I didn't have heart trouble. I know I keep harping on this, but I'm repeating it for SFG's benefit. Point being, that each case is different...or so it seems to me in a highly unscientific study of random anecdotes.
However, I think there's a moral here: it's not a good idea to put too much faith in only one indicator. That's for my own benefit, too. I can look at my own high BP, but if I don't look at some of the other things, (angina, reaction to vasodilators, SOB, etc) I'm only seeing part of the picture of my own condition.
Btw, SFG, it took an angiogram (cath procedure) to determine that I had (and still have) major blockage in my coronary arteries. It's better after the bypass, but it's not nearly as good as the doctors had hoped for...or I, for that matter.
So hang in there...we'll make it thru another day.
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
However, I think there's a moral here: it's not a good idea to put too much faith in only one indicator. That's for my own benefit, too. I can look at my own high BP, but if I don't look at some of the other things, (angina, reaction to vasodilators, SOB, etc) I'm only seeing part of the picture of my own condition.
Btw, SFG, it took an angiogram (cath procedure) to determine that I had (and still have) major blockage in my coronary arteries. It's better after the bypass, but it's not nearly as good as the doctors had hoped for...or I, for that matter.
So hang in there...we'll make it thru another day.
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
hi Sober For good
First of all let me say i am so sorry yu lost your dad
but you seem to be doing the right thing but in some cases numbers can be good adn you can still have a SCA (sudden cardiac Arrest) and I have lost both sets of my family mom by 60 dad's by 65 and my twin brother 3 days before he was tio turn 43 back in 1999 and I have had two heart atacks and on 7 different medicines each day and some people here are on more. please geta neuclear scan and a echo for most of us know if you have not had a heart atack the EKG will only show trouble while yu are experiencing the paijn but please ask for a necular stress test keep active no smoking no drinking lose the weight like yuo are doing and also keep up with everything too and watch those trans fats and foods fromt he bakery and deli and no white foods subsitute whte foods with whole wheat bread and brown rice whole wheat noodles too but please press on with yuo doctor too ok and keep us informed too.
I am a Survivor and acting very active to stay in shape too I have 13 lbs to go from 33 adn i am doing it slowly though.
Heidi
Heidi
Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle
Plato
Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings
have trouble remembering to fly.
Mighty hands are guiding me to protect me
from what I cannot see
I am a SURVIVOR :)
all of this sounds very scary, and honestly kind of a hopeless battle. seems like its just cheaper for people to die, so doctors don;t do the necessary tests to find problems, but instead do the less costly test. does anybody know what kind of coverage a ppo has on these type of tests. btw, im 24 years old and don;t know if any doctor would even prescribe a test like this for me. will my family history play a part in weither or not they give me the test. my dad, and his brother died of a heart attack and both had i believe arthcloritic heart disease, or hardening of the arteries. any feedback would be awsome.
I must have missed something somewhere. Did I miss a post? Do you have any symptoms?
Jay
Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.
T.S Eliot
Wel, SFG, here's the way I see it. I work on cars a lot...whenever I can, anyway. It's a hobby of mine. I've also spent a lot of years troubleshooting computer hardware and software. So I've done a little bit of problem analysis and correction. In a way, the body is similar to a car...or at least I see it that way. It takes in air and fuel and voids exhaust....and there are various systems that are somewhat analogous in the two systems.
But I'm not just tryin to draw an parallel between the two. I'm tryin to view an approach to problem identification and resolution. I can look at a given system and generally make an assessment about its operation...be it a computer, a car or my own body. Not always 100 percent accurate, and the body's about a bazillion times more complex than a car. However, if I'm concerned about a particular portion of either system's operation, I can make certain observations. Some are easy: check the oil, take the blood pressure. Some are more difficult: tear the motor down to see if the bearings are worn; do an angiogram to see if the arteries are diseased.
In either case, it makes more sense to do the simple tests first. Check the oil, look at the exhaust, listen to the motor runing, take it for a test drive....I'm sure you can see parallels in testing the body. Now if any of these tests show abnormalities (blue smoke in the exhaust, a knocking in the motor, leaks or drips somewhere...) then it's time to look into that area a little further. If the coolant is leaking from a hose, I'm sure not gonna tear down the motor. And if all the simple tests seem to be normal, then I sure wouldn't jump in and start tearing things apart. There's a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Of course there are all sorts of corollaries to this, such as the racer's adage: "if it ain't broke, then break it and then make it better." But that ain't what we're tryin to do here.
Same holds true with the practice of medicine. Check the vital signs. Then ask about symptoms. Then maybe a blood test or EKG. If the tests show an abnormality, then it indicates where to examine more closely. However, if there are no symptoms and the vital signs look acceptable, there's no reason for further testing.
And it's not just the cost of the tests. I'll give you an example. The angiogram. In my opinion, this is the one way to see how the blood flows around the heart and detect coronary artery problems. But there are some problems with "just doing it." First, it's invasive. That is, the procedure involves invading the body with a foreign object (a catheter and a contrast medium, etc.) Invasive testing is usually not done until all the non-invasive tests have been exhausted...or if the symptoms are such that it seems to be an immediate necessity. Another thing about doing an angiogram is that every time it's done it builds up some scar tissue around the area where the catheter is inserted. The doctor had a hell of a time getting the catheter into my femoral artery the last time I had this procedure done. And that's only the 4th time I've had the procedure. So I wouldn't wanna have this done every year just to check things out. I'd run out of places that they could stick the cath. And maybe one time an artery would burst during the testing (it does happen) and "goodbye, Charlie."
So there are reasons that we can't always go in and have things checked at the most granular level...whether it's a car or a human body.
Now from what you've stated, all of your tests have shown normal results. In a case like this, most doctors won't do invasive testing based solely on family history. If I were to have invasive testing for all the maladies that my family members have experienced, I'd be chopped up into little bits and examined under a microscope. I'm not saying this to ridicule you, but rather to illustrate that my father and aunt suffered from Alzheimer's disease before their death. And the only way to positively diagnose Alzheimer's (that I know of) is to do an autopsy. I'm not quite ready for that.
Once again, I'm not a doctor, so I'm not qualified to give advise on issues such as this. But I can tell you what I'd do if I were in your position. I'd keep an eye open for symptoms, check my BP regularly, have annual checkups and ask to have the cholesterol level looked at, try to eat a relatively healthy diet, get some exercise and most important of all, enjoy life. If any of the tests or symptoms start to indicate an abnormality, then further testing can be done to find the cause.
That's my nickle's worth....for whatever that's worth. :)
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
But I'm not just tryin to draw an parallel between the two. I'm tryin to view an approach to problem identification and resolution. I can look at a given system and generally make an assessment about its operation...be it a computer, a car or my own body. Not always 100 percent accurate, and the body's about a bazillion times more complex than a car. However, if I'm concerned about a particular portion of either system's operation, I can make certain observations. Some are easy: check the oil, take the blood pressure. Some are more difficult: tear the motor down to see if the bearings are worn; do an angiogram to see if the arteries are diseased.
In either case, it makes more sense to do the simple tests first. Check the oil, look at the exhaust, listen to the motor runing, take it for a test drive....I'm sure you can see parallels in testing the body. Now if any of these tests show abnormalities (blue smoke in the exhaust, a knocking in the motor, leaks or drips somewhere...) then it's time to look into that area a little further. If the coolant is leaking from a hose, I'm sure not gonna tear down the motor. And if all the simple tests seem to be normal, then I sure wouldn't jump in and start tearing things apart. There's a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Of course there are all sorts of corollaries to this, such as the racer's adage: "if it ain't broke, then break it and then make it better." But that ain't what we're tryin to do here.
Same holds true with the practice of medicine. Check the vital signs. Then ask about symptoms. Then maybe a blood test or EKG. If the tests show an abnormality, then it indicates where to examine more closely. However, if there are no symptoms and the vital signs look acceptable, there's no reason for further testing.
And it's not just the cost of the tests. I'll give you an example. The angiogram. In my opinion, this is the one way to see how the blood flows around the heart and detect coronary artery problems. But there are some problems with "just doing it." First, it's invasive. That is, the procedure involves invading the body with a foreign object (a catheter and a contrast medium, etc.) Invasive testing is usually not done until all the non-invasive tests have been exhausted...or if the symptoms are such that it seems to be an immediate necessity. Another thing about doing an angiogram is that every time it's done it builds up some scar tissue around the area where the catheter is inserted. The doctor had a hell of a time getting the catheter into my femoral artery the last time I had this procedure done. And that's only the 4th time I've had the procedure. So I wouldn't wanna have this done every year just to check things out. I'd run out of places that they could stick the cath. And maybe one time an artery would burst during the testing (it does happen) and "goodbye, Charlie."
So there are reasons that we can't always go in and have things checked at the most granular level...whether it's a car or a human body.
Now from what you've stated, all of your tests have shown normal results. In a case like this, most doctors won't do invasive testing based solely on family history. If I were to have invasive testing for all the maladies that my family members have experienced, I'd be chopped up into little bits and examined under a microscope. I'm not saying this to ridicule you, but rather to illustrate that my father and aunt suffered from Alzheimer's disease before their death. And the only way to positively diagnose Alzheimer's (that I know of) is to do an autopsy. I'm not quite ready for that.
Once again, I'm not a doctor, so I'm not qualified to give advise on issues such as this. But I can tell you what I'd do if I were in your position. I'd keep an eye open for symptoms, check my BP regularly, have annual checkups and ask to have the cholesterol level looked at, try to eat a relatively healthy diet, get some exercise and most important of all, enjoy life. If any of the tests or symptoms start to indicate an abnormality, then further testing can be done to find the cause.
That's my nickle's worth....for whatever that's worth. :)
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
Ray, some very good solid advice!
Sober for good, please reread this thread from the very beginning where you started the topic and then pay special attention to what Ray has said...we can live our lives as if a car wreck is around the corner, or we can live our lives as if we're reaching out and trying to just be the best we can be and by taking care of yourself the way you have started doing, sounds pretty much to me like a great start!
Be happy and best wishes for a healthy life! Please check back here as often as you'd like and ask any questions you'd like...as you can see, we have a lot of great people here that are ready to jump and help you any way they can. 
Hugs, Teri
"Because he is he and I am I."......E. V. Lucas
"Because he is he and I am I."......E. V. Lucas
"I Hope You Dance".............LeeAnn Womack
Please allow HealingWell to continue helping others by donating:
thank you so much ray, that helped me out a ton. all my tests, as far as cholestrol and blood pressure have come back fine. i don't have any symptoms, such as pain in my arms, nausea,lightheadedness or basically anything you mentioned. i do have a problem sometimes with getting full breathes or have a tight throat sometimes, but that only happens when i start to think about them or start to think of me dying of a heart attack, so i know it is my brain messing with me, and nothing wrong inside. i am learning that our brains are very powerfull in the way that we feel. if our brain wants us to feel like crap, then we feel like crap. but if we want to feel good, then we can feel great. i have had the proble with anxiety for about a month now, am am learing to control it. i don;lt have panic attacks, i just get to thinking of bad stuff and it scares me. but i am on medication right now for depression and anxiety, and know that i will get better. thank you so much though ray for your words. i never thought of it like this. i always have a glass is half empty look at things and it is nice to see someone, even with a known heart problem who is so upbeat. you are a true inspiration and hopefully i can get to where your thinking is it. it will just take some time for me.
And thanks to you, SFG, for the kind words. It's funny how our minds can be as powerful (if not more so) than out bodies in many ways. Stress is a good example. Stress will send my BP shooting way up there. And try as I might, I don't seem to be able to suppress the reaction...well, maybe a little bit, but it still seems to happen.
Yesterday I had some of the very best medicine possble. I got to DO something productive and actually accomplish something. I fixed a long-running problem of fuel leaks in my 63 Nova by putting a fuel pressure regulator in the fuel line...and got it running and moving under its own power for the first time in a coupla years. This was better than any pill, capsule or treatment. So the mind can work in the other direction, too.
I'm right there with ya on the depression and panic attacks. That's part of why I drank for almost 30 years. I was trying to medicate myself so that I wouldn't have to feel those things. It worked after a fashion for a while. But I found out that I'm allergic to alcohol: when I ingest it, I break out in handcuffs. :)
Now changing the viewpoint from half empty to half full is something I'm still working on. I've made some progress but I still have a long way to go. It's real easy for me to get into a negative, cynical, sarcastic, biting mood. What I've found is that this attitude seems to be intended to keep me from getting hurt by disappointment...but many times it causes the negative reactions that I was trying to guard myself against. Wonna them ol' self-fulfilling prophecies, I spose. I was a "half empty" person for most of my life. I'm pretty constantly working on changing that thru what I call "gratitude lists." I make mental (and sometimes written) lists of all the things that I'm grateful for...and without the "except for" clause. You know, "I'm grateful for my job...except for the pricks I work for" type of thing. I have to stop after "I'm grateful for my job" and leave it at that. That's another thing: gratitude is important to me in staying sober. I've never heard of a fella who got up and sincerely expressed his gratitude for sobriety...and then went and got drunk.
Anyway, if ya ever read a post from me when my tail is draggin and I'm not too upbeat, you'll know that the other side has won over for the moment. Teri can tell ya that some days I'm not all happiness and light. :) But I'm better than I used to be and there's another entry for my gratitude list: "I'm grateful that I don't have to be quite as negative as I used to be." It helps.
I had a friend tell me that he felt as if he had spent most of his life in the ditch on one side of the road or the other. He went on to say that what he was trying to do is stay ON the road...and out of the ditch. He figgered that once he got a handle on that, he'd work on stayin in the right lane. :) Made sense to me.
One final thing. You're 24 years old...I'm 57. I've had a little head start on ya...both in having things get real bad...then having them get better...and changing my thoughts, attitudes and actions. I've also had 13 years of sobriety to work the 12 steps and try do deal with some of these issues. They've really helped me...and continue to do so on a daily basis.
The one good thing you have going for ya is that you're willing to come to a forum like this and open up a little bit. I didn't have that willingness at your age. I was determined that I was right about everything and didn't want to listen to anyone's advice. Typical alcoholic behavior. So if you can come here and take to heart the information that's provided, you're light years ahead of where I was at your age. I hope for a couple of thing for ya. I hope you ARE sober for good. I hope you don't have to follow in my footsteps and hit bottom in your 40s and then start all over again. But then at the age of 24, I never would have thought about calling myself "SFG", either. :) And I hope you can address the anxiety and depression so that you can find some fun in life. Honestly I don't think I found myself consciously admitting to myself that I was having fun (without drinking) until I was almost 50. It happens more often now that I'm aware of it.
So I send you my very best wishes and my email address is available here if you ever want to contact me off the forum.
Very best regards,
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
Yesterday I had some of the very best medicine possble. I got to DO something productive and actually accomplish something. I fixed a long-running problem of fuel leaks in my 63 Nova by putting a fuel pressure regulator in the fuel line...and got it running and moving under its own power for the first time in a coupla years. This was better than any pill, capsule or treatment. So the mind can work in the other direction, too.
I'm right there with ya on the depression and panic attacks. That's part of why I drank for almost 30 years. I was trying to medicate myself so that I wouldn't have to feel those things. It worked after a fashion for a while. But I found out that I'm allergic to alcohol: when I ingest it, I break out in handcuffs. :)
Now changing the viewpoint from half empty to half full is something I'm still working on. I've made some progress but I still have a long way to go. It's real easy for me to get into a negative, cynical, sarcastic, biting mood. What I've found is that this attitude seems to be intended to keep me from getting hurt by disappointment...but many times it causes the negative reactions that I was trying to guard myself against. Wonna them ol' self-fulfilling prophecies, I spose. I was a "half empty" person for most of my life. I'm pretty constantly working on changing that thru what I call "gratitude lists." I make mental (and sometimes written) lists of all the things that I'm grateful for...and without the "except for" clause. You know, "I'm grateful for my job...except for the pricks I work for" type of thing. I have to stop after "I'm grateful for my job" and leave it at that. That's another thing: gratitude is important to me in staying sober. I've never heard of a fella who got up and sincerely expressed his gratitude for sobriety...and then went and got drunk.
Anyway, if ya ever read a post from me when my tail is draggin and I'm not too upbeat, you'll know that the other side has won over for the moment. Teri can tell ya that some days I'm not all happiness and light. :) But I'm better than I used to be and there's another entry for my gratitude list: "I'm grateful that I don't have to be quite as negative as I used to be." It helps.
I had a friend tell me that he felt as if he had spent most of his life in the ditch on one side of the road or the other. He went on to say that what he was trying to do is stay ON the road...and out of the ditch. He figgered that once he got a handle on that, he'd work on stayin in the right lane. :) Made sense to me.
One final thing. You're 24 years old...I'm 57. I've had a little head start on ya...both in having things get real bad...then having them get better...and changing my thoughts, attitudes and actions. I've also had 13 years of sobriety to work the 12 steps and try do deal with some of these issues. They've really helped me...and continue to do so on a daily basis.
The one good thing you have going for ya is that you're willing to come to a forum like this and open up a little bit. I didn't have that willingness at your age. I was determined that I was right about everything and didn't want to listen to anyone's advice. Typical alcoholic behavior. So if you can come here and take to heart the information that's provided, you're light years ahead of where I was at your age. I hope for a couple of thing for ya. I hope you ARE sober for good. I hope you don't have to follow in my footsteps and hit bottom in your 40s and then start all over again. But then at the age of 24, I never would have thought about calling myself "SFG", either. :) And I hope you can address the anxiety and depression so that you can find some fun in life. Honestly I don't think I found myself consciously admitting to myself that I was having fun (without drinking) until I was almost 50. It happens more often now that I'm aware of it.
So I send you my very best wishes and my email address is available here if you ever want to contact me off the forum.
Very best regards,
Ray
ChevyAsylum.com
i know that i am sober for good. 10 years was plenty of time to zone out, do nothing but get high, eat crap and watch tv. now it's time to take my life seriously and be something i know i can be. i have my cravings every once in ahwile to get high, but i know all it will do is set me back and i will have to start over again at day 1. next friday may 6th will be a month of sobriety. it seems like its been 6 months or so, but it's 1 day at a time for me. i also feel the weed was not letting me accept my reailty. my dad died of a heart attack or had heart disease which caused the heart attack, so i need to watch what i eat, excercise and take care of myself. i know i could continue how i was, and maybe live to be 40, but i want to be alive well into my 80's at least. i have given up fast food completely, which was hard to do but i know it's for the best. the last thing i need to give up is going to restaurants. when we do go, like say to chili's i get something from the guiltless menu, which is always low in saturated fat and fat overall, but im sure is high in sodium. i think if i cut that down to maybe twice a month, and make it a treat, i will be much better off. it's hard, and sometimes seems unfair as theres people out there who chain smoke, do dope, eat whatever and still live to be 85, then theres people like my dad who yes was overweight, but he also excercised, didn't smoke, didn'lt drink and was the best dad i could ever imagine and he is dead. life sucks sometimes, but it is what you make of it. if my dad could have his life over, i think he would be doing what i am doing now. so im not only doing this for myself, but for him too.
Good for you SFB. My dad was a drinker for many years. It ruined his life. He quit 2 years before he died. That was so nice to get to see the man that he really was down deep. He even got to see 4 of his grand kids before he passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 48. My mom died at age 38 from suicide. I try not to dwell on my problems of which I have many including money and tons of health problems the newest being heart disease at age 42. I was depressed for 2 weeks after and then decided I was really lucky that they found it and needed to start living again and be greatful for what I have. Look for the good things in life no matter how small they are. Barb
SFG, I'm sorry about your Dad.
I'm truly happy for you and how much you've turned your life around here and I know it's been very difficult for you. Please know that we're here for you!!
Hugs, Teri
"Because he is he and I am I."......E. V. Lucas
"I Hope You Dance".............LeeAnn Womack
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Barb, I'm just aching for the hurt you are going through and though the ages and circumstances are different for all of us, losing both my parent's within about a month of each other this past year has been a great loss for me to deal with, too. I can understand your pain and I just want you to know that I'm here for you anytime, too!!
With big Hugs, Teri
"Because he is he and I am I."......E. V. Lucas
"I Hope You Dance".............LeeAnn Womack
Please allow HealingWell to continue helping others by donating:
Teri, your such a sweet heart. I can't even imagine what you are going through at least I had some years between losing both parents. It has all made me a stonger person. I still feel I have a good life in a lot of ways. I like to look at the glass as half full not half empty and have always been that way. I just take one day at a time and enjoy every little thing. That's all any of us can do. You are great example and inspiration to all of us here. Take care. Barb
It is never cheaper to die. The expense to bury you combined with the bereavement days your relatives take to go to your funeral is way more expensive than staying alive. Nope. It is cheaper to live. Find another excuse.
Edit - You have posted to a thread from 2005 - I am going to lock this post down to prevent current members to add to a 6 year old thread.
Thank you for your understanding.
Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 2/24/2011 8:11:40 AM (GMT-7)