Question about Arginine

[brontosayros]

Hello Owen,
Greetings from Greece. I am 46 years old and I have suffered a heart attack in December of 2013. Never smoked, always athletic and with clean diet throughout most of my life. My LAD was completely blocked off and my right artery was 75% blocked. I had a double bypass surgery in May of 2014 (a mamary for the LAD and a leg vein graft for the right artery). Unfortunately, this March I suffered another heart attack and I had angioplasty (one stent) on my left artery. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of stent they put in. Trying to figure out why I had another heart attack since I was following my doctor's instructions dilligently when it comes to nutrition, medication and exercise, I started researching on the Internet and soon enough the name Linus Pauling popped up. Eventually, I stumbled on your website which I consider a great service to humanity.I have started on LP therapy since the beggining of September. My daily regimen is:

18 grams of vitamin c
6 grams of Lysine
500mg of Proline
150 Mg K2

I still take the drugs my cardiologist has prescribed me
Plavix 75
Carvedilol 6.25
Ramipril 1/2 of 2.5 mg
aspirin ( acetylsalicylic acid)

I was also prescribed Atovarstatin 40 mg which I have stopped taking after reading a lot about the negative side effects of statins. My cholesterol was around 240-250 when off statins and around 200 when on statins. I also had a carotid ultrasound recently and both arteries are completely clean - even although my heart arteries had been damanged, so much for the cholesterol theory....Anyway, my question is in regards to my vein artery (I guess the same problem I may have on the artery where they put the stent in). I have seen Johnwen repeatedly mentioning here that vein grafts are subject to neo-intimal hyperplacia and that one way to prevent that was by producing more nitric oxide in your body either by taking a nitrate drug or by taking argining and citruline. However, regarding arginine there is a John Hopkins study (L-arginine therapy in acute myocardial infarction: the Vascular Interaction With Age in Myocardial Infarction (VINTAGE MI) randomized clinical trial)) where people who had suffered a heart attack were being supplemented with l arginine and the study was discontinued because of some patients dying. Upon some more research on the Internet I found out there are some people who speculate that patients in the experiment were given a synthetic form of l-arginige that also included a carrier molecule called hydrocloride. Hydrocloride, they claim, upsets potassium levels in the bloodstream and thus can cause another heart attack. I wonder if you or Johnwen know about the study or can comment on whether you feel there are any safety concerns regarding arginine. There are no safety issues with citrulline as far as I know but then again citruliine has not been studied as much as arginine. SInce convincing my doctors to prescribe me a nitrate is out of the question I would like to explore the natural remedy route if there is no risk. I would appreciate your response or Johnwen's take on the matter since he is the one who has commented on the issue more than once.
Thank you and keep up the great work you do.

[Johnwen]

[ChuckArbogast]

I would suggest adding Serrapeptase 40,000 SPU units one time a day. This helps in the removal of dead tissue from the problem areas as while as helping clear the lungs.

Johnwen,
I can get Serrapeptase from Doctor's Best either by itself or with Nattokinase. Is there any added benefit to get it with Nattokinase?

Also, you recommend on 40,000 per day where I see you can get capsules that go up to 120,000 and they suggest to take that more than once a day. Is taking more than what you recommend pointless or is there benefit to taking more?

Thanks,
Chuck

[brontosayros]

Thank you Johnwen for your detailed response. Besides my PT therapy regimen and my medication I also supplement with
coQ10 -200mg, Magnesium aspartate 300 mg and fish oil 3 grams a day. I know from reading other posts here that you and Owen have said that vitamin c, lysine and proline don't affect blood thinning medication. I suppose the same goes for K2, althought I haven't found an explicit statement on this forum that this is indeed the case. Can you please comment on k2 and its interaction with blood thinners, if any? Now, I was wondering since i am taking two blood thinning medications (aspirin and plavix) along with fish oil and magnesium which are known to have mild blood thinning effects, would the addition of Serrapeptase cause any problems? On various sites like webmd and examine.com (although I cannot attest to their credibility) they state that taking Serrapeptase should be avoided if on blood thinners since it might decrease blood clotting and, therefore,might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding. Any thoughts on that? Would checking my INR give me an indication if all those meds and supplements taken daily don't cause a problem? Also, has anybody on the forum with heart disease taken serrapeptase and arginine? I would love tho hear their experience.

Thanks again

[Johnwen]

[ChuckArbogast]

[brontosayros]

Thank you Johnwen from the bottom of my heart. I sincerely appreciate your help. You are awesome as always.