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Patient Profiles : Pat’s Profile

Pat’s Profile

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for publishing "Mike's Story" on your Web site. I have been looking for some input on this "natural bypass" approach and, until now, was unable to find out if this really works. Mike's Story is an inspiration, and I am also living testimony that exercise does make a huge difference.

For years, before I was diagnosed with intermittent claudication, I walked four miles every night after work and played tennis on the weekends - all pain free. For one whole year when my pain first appeared, I thought I had pulled a muscle in my right leg while mountain climbing.

The chiropractor I went to treated my back (I didn't have pain there, but the chiropractor insisted this was part of the treatment) and "dug" at the muscle in my right leg sometimes causing bruising, supposedly trying to treat my leg pain. My back got totally screwed up, my leg never got any better, and I decided after a year to take the bull by the horn and do something positive.

That was when I was diagnosed with intermittent claudication and vascular disease. I had an angiogram done on my leg and my artery from the groin area to approximately the knee is supposedly completely blocked. The doctor then suggested a bypass and was quite frank about telling me that I could have one leg considerably larger than the other because the possibility of swelling could be considerable. Being a female with still a good shape and my weight very much under control, I did not think I would like having one leg larger than the other, which would limit my taste for an attractive wardrobe.

So, in my search for the proper answer or better still an alternative treatment, I wrote my nephew who recently graduated from medical school. He suggested the "natural bypass" by exercising to the point of pain, stopping to rest, and then persevere on again. I took his advice, joined a gym and used the treadmill every day. I took up golf again so that on weekends I could get the extra benefit of walking the golf course. I go to the gym during my lunch hour at work or, if work interferes, I go immediately after work, - no excuses, I just go there (sometimes I have to play head games with myself, but I do get there)!!!!

But, like Mike, it has paid off, and just this past Sunday I walked two miles in a beautiful park near my home stopping only once to watch ducks frolicking in the pond. I was so pleased with myself; my mental outlook is so much brighter, and my tennis friends have become a little more threatened since I am now back playing tennis full steam ahead, hardly stopping at all!

Thank you again for publishing "Mike's Story." I am sure there are many other people who could benefit from his successes and who ultimately will have to face a decision to operate or not. I would say try the "natural" approach - walking, walking, and walking more. It has paid off. Mother Nature and God, hand in hand, have certainly worked miracles in my life. I am and will be forever thankful. And, thank you again for your informative Web site. I plan on digesting all the latest information you have on this potentially "killer" disease.