Health Encyclopedia for Family--Guide to Preventing and Treating Heart Disease

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Features: Preface
Thirty-three years ago in autumn was an unforgettable day. Because I wanted to know my physical condition, I underwent a blood test at the hospital. The results showed that my blood test values were outside the normal range, and that I had high cholesterol. At that time, a medical journal in the United States had published news that risk factors for atherosclerosis were gradually gaining attention. In fact, in my family, the previous generation did not live to be 70. My father passed away at 65, and my mother died at 67 after suffering from angina for many years. In reality, if my mother had had access to the nitroglycerin that people are familiar with today during her illness, it could have been treated, but such medication was not available in Japan at that time. Since I did not know my parents' cholesterol levels at the time, I privately believed that I would not live a long life either. However, because I was young at the time, I did not feel the actual threat and did not feel desperate. By chance, I began a three-year study abroad in the United States in 1962. At that time, the United States was in an era of economic prosperity and confidence under President Kennedy. The hospital where I studied was a renowned educational hospital known for its delicious meals for resident interns. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs with bacon, lunch and dinner were hearty meat dishes with ice cream, and during family outings on holidays, we often ate grilled food. Living in this dietary environment for three years, upon returning to Japan, I conducted a detailed blood test on myself. To my astonishment, my cholesterol level had been 260 mg/dL before, but at that time it had risen to 430 mg/dL. From then on, for the past 30-plus years, my family has strictly controlled the consumption of egg yolks. However, I have always loved eggs, especially omelets, so my wife would often remind me, "If you live to be 80, you'll definitely get to eat!" So, on a daily basis, I could only look at the omelets placed in front of the family altar. Not to joke, even with such care, my cholesterol level remained stubbornly high, fluctuating between 300 and 400 mg/dL. After returning from the United States, I worked at a public hospital as the head of the cardiovascular department. At the age of just over 40, I did not feel any abnormalities in my heart or related organs. I was completely immersed in my work and career, even working on holidays at the hospital—truly "working tirelessly." If I had fallen ill at that time, by today's standards, it might have been called "death from overwork." In the early summer of 1973, when I was 48, one morning while going to work, I felt a pain in my heart as if it was being torn as I walked toward the second-floor room. The symptoms disappeared after a while, and I calmed down within two or three minutes. I realized it was angina, but I did not expect the disease to come so quickly—it was much earlier than I had anticipated. While waiting for the clinical staff to arrive, before the diagnosis began, I had an electrocardiogram done. It showed a slight depression in the ST segment, but this was not a record from the time of the symptom onset, and it did not provide any significant information. After completing the routine tests, in the afternoon, I took time to have an exercise tolerance electrocardiogram. During this test, I had to walk up and down a special small staircase for observation. The exercise tolerance test lasted for about two or three minutes, and while going up the stairs to the second floor, I experienced the same angina as before, and the test was interrupted. To take an electrocardiogram, I lay down on the bed face up...[more content]