Ray Romano Lucky to Be Able to Put Stent in Heart Following Discovery of Blocked Artery

Opening up about his health issues, the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ star admits he has been been going back and forth with his physician for decades about his struggle with high cholesterol.

AceShowbiz –Ray Romano needed a stent put in after discovering he had an almost completely blocked artery in his heart. Opening up about his health issues after finding out he had a 90 percent artery blockage, the “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor revealed that doctors warned him it could have led to a heart attack.

When appearing on Marc Maron’s “WTF Podcast”, the 65-year-old comedian said, “I just had to have a stent put in, I had 90 percent blockage…I got kinda lucky that we found it before having a heart attack.” He additionally noted while he doesn’t “feel that old” in his mind, his body has been giving him “a couple of notices.”

Ray admitted that for years, he and his physician have been going back and forth. He explained, “I had high cholesterol 20 years ago, and my guy always told me, ‘Why don’t we start going on the statins?’ And every time, I said, ‘Let me do it myself.’ And I would go home, and I would eat right. Not vegan, but a little healthier, and get it down a couple ticks.”

Statins are medication used to treat high cholesterol and can lower the risk of a heart attack and stroke. While his method would lower his cholesterol from around 280 and a still borderline high 220, the actor would then “start cheating.” He added, “But then I’d go home and think I was hot s**t, I got it down already, and I’d start cheating, and cheating, and that was the cycle.”

Ray has since agreed to take the medication, and he immediately saw his cholesterol drop. He admitted, “If I could go back 20 years, I would have gone on the meds.”

However, Ray has since discovered he is pre-diabetic, after thinking he had everything under control. He said, “It’s hard for me to sustain that diet stuff, it was hard. Here’s the kicker: So I’m on the meds and it’s got me all down now, so I figure now I can enjoy and eat the food – my sugar level’s up now! I’m pre-diabetic.”

In early April, Ray revealed he had chest pains on the set of “Somewhere in Queens“, which he directed and starred in, and was struggling to sleep. He told Entertainment Tonight, “I called my agent at 1 in the morning because I couldn’t sleep, I go, ‘I can’t do it.’ Because – I’m not joking – I had to go to my cardiologist in New York and get on the treadmill and do a stress test because I was getting chest pains.”

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