Type 2 Reducing heart failure risk?

The medication in question?

Wouldn't go near it myself ... better ways to control / reduce weight

lorib64 said:

The ad was for Farxiga. I don’t plan on changing meds. I was just wondering if there is anything I can do to reduce heart failure risk.

Click to expand...

Reduce weight,dont smoke and exercise daily, walking is great for body and mind. I have over 31 years of experience with heart troubles, heart attack, quadriple by pass surgery and a couple of ablation procedures to solve heart rate problems. FYI, I follow the LCHF WOE.

Go slow, like 1 pound per week. Cut calories slightly, add exercise

Low carb eating works really at improving all factors of health.

Also, Ivor Cummins has a huge amount of info on https://thefatemperor.com/ and type in heart disease in the search feature you'll get info. Here's an example below

https://thefatemperor.com/ep-60-nad...-thru-understanding-ldl-and-the-risk-factors/

lorib64 said:

I should not have mentioned the ad in original post. It just got me to thinking what risk factors I have for heart failure. I don’t plan on taking a medication.

Click to expand...

On the contrary, I'm glad you did ....

lorib64 said:

I have type 2 diabetes. I just had a televisit with my dr today. My labs are normal. I take metformin and januvia. She said to keep things the same and come back in6 months. I feel fine.

I just saw an ad for a medication that is supposed to lower heart failure risk in people with type 2 diabetes.

What are some things I can do to help lower the risk of heart failure? I am overweight and have been working on losing weight.

Click to expand...

If you are happy to share with us the results of your tests we may be able to give you some pointers.

Risk of heart disease is linked with control of diabetes so HbA1c levels etc could give us a clue where you are.

Info from the Mayo clinic:-

Hi. To reduce weight and hence risk of heart problems, you need to keep the carbs down as these are converted to body fat when in excess. Think Carbs and not Calories and keep them down.

lorib64 said:

Hgb A1C is 5.3%. I am not sure how to convert that

Fasting glucose is about 120 mg/dL 6.7 mmol (dawn phenomenon )

Before lunch around 90 mg/dL or 5 mmol

I don’t eat a lot of meat.

Long before I was dx type 2 I had an 11 lb baby (5 kg). They did a glucose tolerance test which was normal, but they think I had undetected gestational diabetes.

My mother and siblings are not overweight and have type 2 also.

I take metformin and januvia.

My lipids are within the normal ranges but triglyceride is 150 mg/dL which is right in the edge.

Click to expand...

Great A1c number, how’s your blood pressure? I have a similar A1c, but im on a ace 2 inhibitor. I was on two BP medications just after diagnosis. I was able to drop one, and reduce the dosage on the other

lorib64 said:

I have type 2 diabetes. I just had a televisit with my dr today. My labs are normal. I take metformin and januvia. She said to keep things the same and come back in6 months. I feel fine.

I just saw an ad for a medication that is supposed to lower heart failure risk in people with type 2 diabetes.

What are some things I can do to help lower the risk of heart failure? I am overweight and have been working on losing weight.

Click to expand...

I love your rainbow btw!
Wise to be sceptical about meds and I think it is wrong that as as US citizen you're exposed to this marketing.
Your doctor says 'fine' but as you already know having insulin resistance leading to type 2 diabetes increases your risk. One thing you can do to know your actual risk is ask for a calcium scan (see Ivor Cummins /Fat Emperor as referred to in another post here) which will have a look to see inside your arteries as to the actual state of any heart disease rather than the proxy measures taken by the doctor such as lipid numbers.
Arterial disease is different to heart failure though and I think there responses here have been about the latter though improving your insulin sensitivity via low carb food and exercising muscles will help reduce your blood sugars and blood pressure and weight all of which will reduce your risk of both considerably.
If you wanted to read deeper Ben Bikman is an excellent research scientist who has written a great book around the topic: Why We Get Sick (and what to do about it). He is American too.

Dark Horse said:

Info from the Mayo clinic:-

Lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent heart failure include:

• Not smoking
• Controlling certain conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes
• Staying physically active
• Eating healthy foods
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Reducing and managing stress
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-failure/symptoms-causes/syc-20373142

Click to expand...

Mu mum had heart failure when she died ( but pneumonia was listed on her death certificate) she never smoked, non diabetic and worked part time as a nurse and cooked mainly from scratch, but she was a little over weight.

There are several different flavors of heart failure and they have different ways for control and reduction.

For some, it is valve problems, or timing problems and sometimes needs a pacemaker fitted, and generally requires reduction in BP. This is a physical problem and may require an artificial valve being fitted.

Another form is where calcification of the arteries reducing blood flow into or out of the heart. This one can sometimes require bypass surgery or fitting of stents. Avoidance requires taking steps to reduce the arteries furring up in the first place and carb reduction is probably worth considering.

Another form is where the heart muscle is weak. Not sure how to prevent this, but it is usually the one that comes with old age. Exercise probably works for this one.

Generally, it is good to reduce BP, exercise aerobically if you can, eat healthily, and keep blood sugar levels under control. The usual NHS advice is to go Low Fat, High Carb, but that is probably not a good strategy in light of recent scientific studies that demonstrated that lo fat diets do not actually protect. and hi carb can ruin blood sugar control. I follow Dr Aseeem Malhotra who is a well-known Cardiologist at Surrey Hospital and he uses a diet called the Pioppi diet named after the Mediterranean town that had the lowest heart disease in Europe, It is a Low Carb diet and I try to use it myself. My problem is the physical plumbing and switching variant and I have been replumbed but not yet rewired.