Rush Is Right? What You Can Learn from His Chest Pains

Rush Limbaugh, health icon? Better known for skewering Democrats and middle-of-the-road Republicans and some innocent bystanders, too, the popular but controversial radio commentator loves cigars, hates exercise (except golf), and says he ate steak dipped in butter on his latest diet. But when chest pains sent Limbaugh to a Honolulu emergency room in late December, we realized "El Rushbo" has lessons to teach you -- and himself -- about staying alive.

"I experienced pain in my upper left chest like I had never felt before," Limbaugh reported as he left The Queen's Medical Center on New Year's Day. The cause? Possibly an artery spasm, he says; tests reportedly found no heart disease or signs of a heart attack. Rush returned to the airwaves January 6 -- but hold on. This case isn't closed. Like millions of, ahem, overweight, middle-aged guys, Limbaugh needs to take his heart health very, very seriously. No more denial (it ain't a river in Egypt, big guy; what you had could be foreplay for the big one, and we're not talking a presidential run in 2012). Or, as we say, if you don't change, you are preop (at best).

After all, heart disease doesn't care whether or not you've got 30 million listeners. It's the No. 1 killer in the United States and Canada. And if what Limbaugh experienced was an artery spasm, that's nothing to take lightly. That painful tightening of a blood vessel in the heart further boosts heart attack risk.

Our Rx for Rush and everyone else who wants to stay healthy? Here's what the loudest voice in conservative talk radio did right -- and where there's room for improvement:

• Heart attack symptoms? Call 9-1-1, pronto. Limbaugh did this. Take his advice if chest pain strikes: "Don't mess with it," he said at his press conference. "Turn it over to professionals right off the bat. Don't tough it out." Truth is, just 1 in 5 people get to a hospital within an hour of the start of heart attack symptoms -- a dangerous delay that means more heart damage and a 6 to 8 times higher risk for death. And 33% of people never live to tell about their big one.


• Watch your waist. Rush dubbed himself "El Blimpo" and "Mount Rushbo," but he dropped 90 pounds last year. Brilliant move: Extra weight, a big waistline, and age (he'll turn 59 on January 12) make it likely that heart disease and/or type 2 diabetes, not to mention back pain and hip and knee arthritis, will visit him.


• Mind your saturated fat intake (that means 4-legged animal fat as well as palm and coconut oils). We're less enthusiastic about the low-carb, high-protein diet Limbaugh followed. He says it included a large sirloin paired with small quantities of vegetables twice a week. Yes, it worked for weight loss. But a high-protein, low-carb diet harms blood vessels (including those of the heart) by decimating an army of specialized stem cells (progenitor cells) that keep artery walls healthy and flexible. Four thumbs down from us. Our point: Check out what's in your weight loss program. YOU, not the company providing it, are responsible.


• Know what you do on your diet. Limbaugh has said he took herbal supplements as part of his weight loss diet. Although we don't know what they were, weight loss supplements in general can be duds or downright dangerous and promote arterial spasm.


• Give up the stogies! Rush considers a good cigar "a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life." But cigar smoking boosts heart disease risk by 27% and doubles the odds of cancers of the mouth, throat, and lungs. Most importantly, it makes it more likely -- a lot more likely -- that the plaque you have (you do have it; see below) will rupture and kill you.

One more big lesson for Rush and all YOU readers: You can't "test to health," you have to live to it, because our tests just aren't that good. In other words (since we're running out of room), an x-ray of the heart's blood vessels (an angiogram) may show that the plaque you have isn't significant. That seems good, but the dangerous fact is that, many times, the seemingly innocent bits of plaque can rupture and kill you, even though you had a "good" angiogram only weeks before. So even a good test result means you still can work on getting the plaque out.