4 replies to this topic

[Michael Rian]

Good Day to you all,

 

My 85 year old Grandmother is about a month into her recovery from a Massive heart attack/Heart Failure.  She has had 2 stents placed into her heart.  She is now at home and doing very well in her recovery.  She is taking a few medications, like Carvedilol, Ramipril and a couple other ones which the names escape me at the moment.  Her doctor has recently asked her to try supplementing Iron, which I will be picking up sometime soon, and I was wondering which other supplements would be beneficial for her health and well being?

 

I was thinking perhaps a B complex and Fish Oil?

 

I was hoping that you knowledgeable people could help me out with some advice and insight, other from my googling abilities.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thank you very much.

 

Michael

[timar]

B complex and fish oil certainly won't hurt. Make sure the B complex has a high level of vitamin B12 (at least 100 mcg) as the absorption of B12 is often dimnished in old age (an economic option for a multivitamin containing sufficiently high levels of B vitamins are for example the LEF Two-per-Day).

 

Although there are promising interventions demonstrating an impressive regression of atherosclerosis with a low-fat plant-based diet, I don't think such a diet would be appropriate for someone above the age of 80. At such an advanced age, protein requirment becomes increasingly important for maintaining muscle mass and tissue repair. However, she should eat fish, lean meat, plenty of fruits and vegetables and restrict saturated fat.

 

The best evidence for a simple nutraceutical intervention is for L-carnitine. This may be particularly suitable for your grandmother as endogenous carnitine synthesis decreases with age, yet cartinine is crucial for repairing tissue damage from the infarction. The recommended dose would be 1 g of acetyl-L-carnitine twice a day. Although not strictly necessary, she may derive further benefit from additionally taking 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid, which works synergistically with the carnitine.

 

300 mg of CoQ10 would be another promising supplement, although the evidence for that is not not as good as for carnitine.

 

Edited by timar, 15 September 2014 - 09:15 PM.

[shadowhawk]

It depends on what brought on the heart attack.  Look up Life Extention's list regarding supplements as a great starting point

[niner]

Does she have any signs of congestive heart failure?  (swelling, water retention)  If so, she might benefit from taurine.  1000-1500mg/day would be reasonable.   I concur with Timar regarding carnitine.   I'd also consider ubiquinol.   A lot of us use C60-olive oil.  I don't tend to recommend it to random people because it's so new, but if I were in her condition, I'd be using it.  MitoQ is another possibility.

[Michael Rian]

Thank you all very much for your generous, knowledgeable advice.  I really appreciate all the fantastic information you all have provided in this thread.