Many of us know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. We may even know that women account for 47.1% of deaths related to heart disease. But when I speak to corporations and other organizations nationwide about heart health, it’s clear that many important questions remain. Here are three questions I’m asked most frequently:
This February–American Heart Month–is an excellent time to learn the answers to these questions and to take action. |
Here are five things you need to know and do to take better care of your heart:
- Learn the symptoms and risk factors.
A recent study of female heart attack survivors found that most remembered experiencing sleeplessness and fatigue within the month before their heart attacks. And while it’s not a classic risk factor, stress is starting to look like it may play a role in heart disease, and who among us is not under some kind of stress? African American women may be especially vulnerable, and have an even higher risk of death from heart disease since a recent study found that they may produce less of the chemical nitric oxide, which is needed to improve blood flow for coping with stressful situations. - Discuss any symptoms or concerns with your doctor at your next visit, or schedule that physical that you haven’t quite found time to get around to.
If you don’t get answers and solutions from your doctor, seek a second opinion. Some doctors were trained when heart disease wasn’t a woman’s issue, so they don’t know what to look for in women and may mistake your symptoms as simply being something else. What your doctor doesn’t know can hurt you, so it’s important for us to be proactive in our own health care. - Get your cholesterol checked.
It’s a simple blood test. If your total cholesterol is above 200, your doctor may prescribe a cholesterol-lowering statin drug. Statins are considered so beneficial for most of the population that some doctors only half-jokingly suggest that we should put them in our water. Statins are available only by prescription, and can be expensive. - Consider other tests or a more sophisticated cholesterol screening to identify your good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol levels.
For example, when I was in the hospital with a 95% blockage of my artery, my good and bad cholesterol levels were just fine, so we did a special screening to separate out the components of the bad cholesterol to see if one was out of kilter and the rest were masking it. That wasn’t the case, and my cholesterol was fine. Such anomalies have led doctors to wonder about the reliability of cholesterol as a marker of heart disease. Newer tests, such as Homocystene and C-Reactive Protein, hold great promise for identifying heart disease risk, but are not yet widely in use. - Learn which tests will tell you whether your symptoms are heart-related.
Your doctor can administer a simple and quick EKG (electrocardiogram). If it’s abnormal, as mine was, the next step is a stress test with ultrasound. Stress tests are more expensive, but also more telling, and are not invasive. If a stress test indicates a problem, the next step is probably cardiac catheterization, which is highly reliable, but also invasive. For this, the doctor places a tiny slit in the artery in your upper leg, inserts a catheter into the artery, and pumps in dye to watch the blood flow via a special screen. (Don’t worry, you’re under anesthesia and won’t feel it.) It was through this process that we identified my blockage. There are other tests as well, but these are the most common. - Stay up-to-date on the latest in heart health research.
Yes, I know it’s hard to do–you have too much on your plate already. My complimentary e-zine can help you keep up with the latest research, and there’s a list of great health and medical resources on my site as well.
The life you save may be your own, and lots of people need you. Happy Heart Month!
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Sounds very interesting.
Spike, you are awesome! Love your perspective, thanks for sharing.
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