Before It Happens To You: A Breakthrough Program For Reversing Or Preventing Heart Disease

By Jonathan Sackner Bernstein and Kate Kelly

You hear about it all too often: an otherwise completely healthy person struck down by heart attack in the prime of life. The result of hidden heart disease--the first symptoms of which are slightly high cholesterol or blood pressure-this is the kind of tragedy that sends us running to the doctor for a physical. But today's medical guidelines don't indicate treatment for most; based on the cost-effectiveness of treatment for society, lifesaving medications are withheld for high-risk patients. It doesn't have to be this way.Under the Don't Die Young plan, concerned readers are screened for heart disease with a few doctor-ordered blood tests and, depending on the findings, treated with up to four medications: an aspirin, an ACE-inhibitor, a statin, and a beta-blocker. The scientific evidence for this strategy is overwhelming: The medications work, they stave off heart disease, and bring heart health back. Their use cuts an individual's risk of heart attack in half-even without starting an exercise program, or cutting back on saturated fats.Explaining the science as well as how to talk to doctors about their necessary involvement, Don't Die Young will help more people identify and treat their heart problems. Providing both a pound of prevention and treatment advice for those who already know they have heart disease, it will save lives.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073820918X
• ISBN13: 9780738209180
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Proactive health care

This is a clearly written, thought-provoking book that makes a compelling case for the proactive use of drug therapy to ward off heart disease. Bernstein's suggestions are practical and easy to follow, right down to advice as to how to discuss these ideas with a family doctor. A must-read for everyone who isn't content with the current state of reactive, status-quo health care as managed by insurance companies!

Exceedingly useful as a basic primer for healthy living

Before It Happens To You: A Breakthrough Program For Reversing Or Preventing Heart Disease by Jonathan Sackner Bernstein (Director of Clinical Re-search and Director of the Heart Failure Prevention Program at North Shore University Hospital in New York) is a straightforward guide to working with one's doctor and making healthier lifestyle changes for one's personal needs in order to keep one's heart healthier and less susceptible to problems such as heart attack or stroke. A no-nonsense account which is especially appropriate for non-specialist general readers of all background and occupations, Before It Happens To You is exceedingly useful as a basic primer for healthy living and highly recommended for community library Health & Medicine reference collections.

Very Informative, Usable Immediately

I found this book very easy and informative reading. For those of us just starting out in the "healthy heart" investigation, it seems to be a clearly written how-to manual of an "immediately usable" alternative. I personally cannot find the time to exercise as necessary to maintain a really healthy system, and along with at least a good diet this seems like a safe program with pretty immediate benefits. The challenge will come in presenting this to my doctor, but Dr. Sackner Bernstein has anticipated this with a great section on how to discuss it with your physician and how to be firm in the face of some expected skepticism. He has either provided proven data in the book that I can show my doctor, and/or has given some sources that I plan to use to make my case. I'm looking forward to getting these test done and seeing the benefits from the program. I've already recommended the book/program to some friends and they seem to feel the same as I do.

fast and easy

After years of asking is my blood pressure and cholesterol okay, finally an answer and what to do about it. Like my doctor always said, we are in charge of our own health. Don't wait for the government to worry about YOU.

Essential reading for anyone over 40

This is the book that the medical establishment didn't have the guts to write.Sackner Bernstein outlines in crystal clear language how a few common, proven prescription drugs can dramatically decrease your chances of dying from a heart attack (the #1 cause of death in the USA).This is a calm, focused, thoughtful book, with no hype, no vague promises and plenty of data. The author encourages you to share it with your doctor--the two of you should figure out if this is really for you.Forget about Atkins. If you really and truly want to be around for your grandkid's wedding, this is the book you need to read, and you need to read it now.Seth Godin