To make a long story short, I had a heart transplant very recently. My old heart was in horrible shape (6% Ejection Fraction) and beyond repair. The cause they are not too sure but believe it is chronic instead of viral, meaning this is something that has been there for a few years not just a virus i picked up recently. Because I was young, in shape and ate well my body compensated but there came a point when I fell sick and everything went downhill from there till the transplant.
Anyways, I was already small to start with (5’9", 175 lbs my max) but have lost 40 pounds since then. Because of the anti-rejection drugs, I have to limit cholesterol, saturated fats, sugar, salt, fluid intake, caffeine, alcohol. I stayed positive the whole time in the hospital but now, not even 1 week out of the hospital, it is hard sometimes. I also fell on an article where they discussed life expectancy for heart transplant patients and it wasn’t too positive. Plus I got a call from my ex which is never good
Anyways, I used to follow the bodybuilding lifestyle and visited the forums frequently. The supplements I took were only protein, creatine, multi-vitamin and fish oil. During a few weeks this summer, just before I got sick, I started taking Abs+, BCAAs, Greens+ and Power Drive to lose a little fat for the summer. No steroids. I had been training for 2 years. I am not blaming the supplements just thought somebody would ask what I was taking.
Anyways, does anybody have any experience with this or any kind of info that could help me. These forums have always been helpful to me in the past so I figured I would take a chance. Thanks.
No advice for you man. If the muscle gains are too hard to put on now, maybe you will have some fun focusing on strength?
As a side note, I have to comment on any thread that mentions Greens+. It should NOT be taken. Even T-Nation has officially apologized for ever recommending it. Not your fault I know. I got suckered in too once. When I strangely lost my sex drive after taking it 30 days straight I did a search and found the disturbing information.
[quote]Thomas Gabriel wrote:
No advice for you man. If the muscle gains are too hard to put on now, maybe you will have some fun focusing on strength?
As a side note, I have to comment on any thread that mentions Greens+. It should NOT be taken. Even T-Nation has officially apologized for ever recommending it. Not your fault I know. I got suckered in too once. When I strangely lost my sex drive after taking it 30 days straight I did a search and found the disturbing information. [/quote]
There was a big thread where TC and JB went back and forth about this. It was in the debate of the article that TC wrote that. JB proved with research in the thread that greens+ was in fact very good for you.
just wanted to wish you all the best, surround yourself with good people, laugh as often as you can and stay with T-Nation.
To tell you after reading your post i was lost for words after what you have been through, stay strong.
I cannot offer any diet or exersise advice but I would like to tell you this
My next door nieghbour is 85 he was in hospital for 16 weeks to have a triple heart bypass, when he came out he too had lost a lot of weight 20% in fact.
He looked so frail I didnt expect him to recover, but I am happy to say that now just over a year on he is almost back to his original weight and is doing great, in fact I think his is out the back gardening right now (Iwould help him but is cold)
So I just wanted to say stay strong stay positive and I am sure you will be suprised at how well you get back to fighting fitness so quickly.
Does the hospital not offer you a dietician to see to help you recover? or would you have to pay for their services in Canada?
Don’t rely on statistics for your life expectancy. They are based on 10 year old data, and the transplant procedure and the anti-rejection drugs have improved significantly since then.
Just check the adverse reactions or drug interactions of every drug you are taking, before you start taking any supplement. Don’t drink grapefruit juice, it interferes with the CYP enzymes in your liver, that metabolize your anti-rejection drug coctail.
I do know that these drugs interfere with bone metabolism, causing bone thinning. No better cure for this than weight training. But then again, I happen to think weight training cures just about everything.
Just start back slow, go easy. And best of luck to you. You are a miracle of modern medicine. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
