Heart Healing with EECP

Instead of a good night’s sleep I had a heart attack, the beginning of a trip down a medical rabbit hole. The unexpected pain under my breast was unfamiliar, not my occasional diaphragm spasm. It was a real wakeup call.

The initials EECP (Enhanced External Counter Pulsation) were totally unfamiliar to me when this journey began, but within two weeks I had learned of the only non-invasive way to overcome heart disease, finding a unit less than 30 minutes from my home. This treatment is both FDA and Medicare approved and has been used at the Mayo clinic for over a quarter of a century.

Admittedly, I should have gone to the ER immediately instead of grabbing my iPad to research what happened. Curiosity (the curse of a writer) overcame the not-truly-alarming discomfort. I did take myself to the ER early the next morning when my journey began in earnest. “I think I had a heart attack,” I began and with a bit of guarded skepticism. Quite quickly I had IVs, and an ambulance ride to the University of Utah’s Cardiac unit in Salt Lake City. My cardiac catheterization was one day later with no further invasive treatment (stents, angioplasty or bypass) needed. Grateful doesn’t begin to express my gratitude.

Home the day after that, I began a deep dive into treatments and alternative treatments. “There must be something else I can do was my silent mantra.” I quickly found a lot of information that lead me to EECP. It did sound a bit too good to be true, but it’s been Medicare and FDA approved for years.

As great luck would have it, I discovered a business offering EECP in Draper, UT. EEDP Thrive is only half hour from home. It’s literally two right turns off Hwy. 15 to their office at 1111E. Draper Parkway.

On the first appointment, fully clothed, I was positioned on a table not unlike one typical for a medical exam. With the machinery enclosed in the table, three leads of an electrocardiogram were placed on my trunk, with three large blood pressure cuffs connected to the machine Velcroed around my calves, thighs and buttocks. I am told the results of the treatment are the same as if I ran five miles. (Oddly, it doesn’t sap my energy – making me beyond thankful this is available.)

The technician then turned on the unit contained in the table underneath me and somewhat noisily the treatment begins. Gently the contractions of the cuffs, synched to my heartbeat, increase. The one-hour treatment rhythmically pushes blood upwards, designed to improve blood flow throughout the body with the purpose of increasing improved cardiac function and promoting improved blood flow throughout the body. 

Once the treatment begins it is truly possible to fall asleep as the sounds become familiar. The pulse of the machine is somewhat regular (depending on potential movement of arms which can change the meter). It sounds not unlike a small barking dog without the annoying high pitch.

All in all, it’s the results that matter, healing my heart is the goal. Every cardiologist has a different way of working and prescribing treatment for a patient, mine included. This wasn’t on the menu of care my providers presented. It was in listening to a Docu-Series on heart health that EECP was mentioned. I could barely believe my ears as an MD who has also integrated homeopathic practices into his work was discussing post heart attack options, named EECP specifically.

A deep dive on the internet kept me fascinated as I read about this therapy. Its non-invasive approach is a positive for me, as a daily two-mile walk was already part of my recommended program. Of course there were prescriptions, and a healthy diet to be continued for the rest of my life if I want it to be long. I am not, however, a big fan of simply taking a pill to solve any problem. I want to put out the fire (so to speak), not cover it with smoke so the fire cannot be seen or stopped.

And, so I happily receive one-hour treatments where I’m plugged into an EKG, with an oxygen saturation monitor on my finger as the technician checks for the continuity between machine and heartbeat and I’m connected for the jiggle the machine produces. I think of a James Bond -based description. I’m being shaken, not stirred. I am excited to see what comes from those “five-mile walks” completed as I lie comfortably on a table listening to a book. 

Clinical studies have shown EECP is also helpful for those with diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cerebrovascular disease, long Covid, stroke, arterial disease, lung disease, kidney failure and erectile dysfunction, not just those of us who have experienced a heart attack.

My treatment is comfortable, and – more importantly, helping in my journey to strengthen my heart. I’m also enrolled in a cardiac rehab program at the nearby hospital to help achieve the best possible results – a healthy heart.

Please join me on this journey with more about EECP.