Michael Breus - Energize!

T he two inspirations for this book were a cardiac event and a personal crisis.

On a balmy California evening a few years agoI was forty-nine at the timemy wife and I were out to dinner with two friends who, luckily as it turned out, were both physicians. After a trip to the bathroom, I returned to the table, feeling strange. When I sat back down, I tried to tune in to one of my companions who was telling a story, but all I could hear were muffled nonsense words, like the man was speaking in a foreign language in slow motion.

Somethings up, I thought.

All of a sudden, my peripheral vision started darkening around the edges. The voices got even weirder, and I thought I was having either a stroke or a heart attack. I broke out in a cold sweat, turned to my wife to say, I dont feel so

And that was the last thing I remembered. I fell out of my chair and, thanks to the quick reflexes of my friend who caught me on the way down, I didnt smash my skull on the tile floor of the restaurant.

After about thirty seconds, I regained consciousness. My wife was looking down at me. She later recalled, His face was as white as his teeth. I was terrified he was dead. One of my doctor friends was cradling my head, saying, Michael, come back. Michael, come back.

From the floor, I realized that Id been unconscious and had come to, but there was a big problem. My eyes were open, but everything was black. I whispered, I cant see, and I think I started to cry.

My friend said, Wait for it, just wait for it, and then, in a stunning flash, my vision snapped back, which was a huge relief, followed immediately by a powerful urge to throw up.

While I was out, my wife had called 911. Two paramedics were already on the scene (we were dining at a food festival, and fortunately an ambulance was parked just down the street). One of the paramedics ripped my shirt open and put electrodes on my chest to measure my heart activity.

I said, I think Im going to vomit. Ive got to turn over. Can somebody turn me over? The paramedics started to flip me on my side and then I had another blackout, the second heart stoppage in just several minutes.

When I regained consciousness the second time, I was on a gurney in the ambulance, speeding to the hospital. My wife was in the front seat with the driver, telling him how to get there faster (true story). As the paramedics wheeled me into the ER, a nurse appeared to hook me up to an IV. Im not a huge fan of needles and objected, but the nurse grabbed my arm and just jammed it in which triggered a third cardiac event in less than an hour. I passed out again. It was a long night.

The good news was that my heart activity was being monitored on an EKG by then, so the ER doctors could see what was going on. They discovered that I was dropping P waves. In the heartbeat, the P wave is the ignition. You know when you put the key in the ignition of your car and it doesnt turn over, but you pump the gas anyway and flood the engine? My heart was that flooded engine.

After a night in the hospital, my doctors and I theorized that I might have a genetic condition. My father had had significant cardiac issues, after all. The first thing I did when I got out of the hospital was call my friend and colleague Mehmet Oz, aka Dr. Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon. Dr. Oz referred me to the top electrophysiologist in the country at the UCLA Medical Center.

I arrived at my appointment with the heart specialist, fully expecting to be told that Id need a pacemaker like my father. But after some diagnostic testing, the doctor said, Michael, when you were in my waiting room, what was the average age of the people in there?

Id say probably sixty-five. Sixteen years older than I was then.

Youre right. Youre the healthiest person to come into this office in ten years, he said. I dont want to put a pacemaker in you. Its the most overprescribed surgery there is. You need to make lifestyle changes. I think this had a lot to do with anxiety and not taking care of yourself. You really need to look at your stress levels.

What the? But I was in great shape! At a healthy weight, I ran three 5Ks a week and took supplements for my health. I was living what anyone would consider an objectively healthy lifestyle. It wasnt like I was doing anything wrong. I wasnt a morbidly obese chain-smoking alcoholic. I was probably more physically fit than Id ever been.