The Hidden Causes of Heart Attack and Stroke was written not only to help you minimize your risk of heart disease and stroke but also to benefit individuals who have already experienced prior events. The information will help you become a more informed, empowered patient. You will very soon become intimately familiar with diagnostic blood tests that for the first time in medical history are able to guide your doctor in identifying many of the inherited mechanisms that even now, may be silently threatening your life and eventually your children’s, as co-inheritors of genetic heart attack and stroke risk factors. The good news is that once these mechanisms are identified, many can be rendered harmless and mostly by natural means.  Whether or not you have experienced a previous heart or stroke your newly acquired knowledge will prove helpful as you interface with your doctor. If however, you assume you can take a backseat role by simply saying, I trust my doctor to do the right thing, you may be disappointed.  Much of the  information you will be presented will not be routinely applied in doctors’ offices possibly for many years. Can you or I--or our families--afford to wait? You are the guardian of those you love, should you not become a knowledgeable advocate in your own family’s healthcare?  

 The Hidden Causes of Heart Attack and Stroke will be your guide in helping you present your case intelligently and knowledgeably. You may not as yet be aware of it, but heart disease or stroke will ultimately affect every one of us. If not directly, then indirectly, through our parents, grandparents, spouses, our children or dear friends. Unfortunately, one out of every two deaths in our country will be attributed to some related form of heart disease--and no one is immune.   Experience may have taught us a great deal about our particular business or our favorite hobby.  In each we know exactly what constitutes good instruction and good business practice.  However, when it comes to the most important aspect of our lives, our health, most patients are inhibited and intimidated because of a lack of knowledge causing us to refrain from asking even the basic questions.  Reticent of appearing stupid, we just nod our collective heads indicating, “whatever you say doc.”  Sound familiar? We are struck with “white coat fever.”  It is my sincerest hope that after absorbing the information you will be presented in this book, gathered from some of the most applauded and respected sources, you will become very aware of your own cardiovascular system and will have learned much of the relevant medical terminology. You will feel much less intimidated and able to ask well-informed, intelligent questions about diagnosis and prevention. The information is not meant to alarm you; the only thing that should be alarming is walking around with an undiagnosed, untreated time bomb in your body. We are taking on the number one killer in our nation, and no holds are barred. You have a huge stake in this fight. Why, in this day of advanced technology and science,   should something as miniscule and seemingly insignificant as a tiny clot of blood be allowed to destroy an entire family’s happiness?  Why in this day of modern medicine should this intruder be allowed to steal a father, grandparent or mother away from her children without even so much as a warning?  How dare this enemy be allowed to invade your life or mine!