Go Red For Women

Go Red For Women‘s goal is to reduce coronary heart disease and stroke by the year 2010 by 25%. They have worked hard to change the perception that heart disease is a “man’s disease.”  And it’s working! By teaching more and more women how to talk to their doctors about heart disease, they save thousands of lives every year. The good news is that heart disease is often preventable!

And in case anyone still believes that heart disease is only a concern for older women, they encourage you to read the inspiring stories  they’ve collected. Together, they make the case plain and simple: the time for action is now!

Women are speaking up about the No. 1 killer of women — heart disease. The good news is that by taking action, we can beat that statistic.

There are so many ways you can become an advocate of women’s heart health. Taking care of you is the first priority. Get empowered with the facts, find a community of support, make healthy changes to your diet and exercise. Start with the Heart CheckUp. Then speak up to your doctor about having a lipo-protein blood screening.

Spread the word to those you love — your neighbor, your friend, your mother or sister. When you speak up, you help save their lives.



Alternative Medicine

There are several alternative medicines that may be effective in lowering cholesterol and preventing some types of heart disease, including:

• Blond psyllium
• Coenzyme Q-10
• Flaxseed
• Oats and oat bran
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Plant stanols and sterols, such as beta-sitosterol and sitostanol

As with any alternative medicine, talk to your doctor before adding any new supplements to your treatment regimen. Even natural medicines and herbal supplements can interact with medications you’re taking.

Preventing Heart Disease

Certain types of heart disease, such as heart defects, can’t be prevented. However, you can help prevent many other types of heart disease by making the same lifestyle changes that can improve your heart disease, such as by:

• Not smoking
• Controlling conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes
• Staying physically active
• Eating healthy foods
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Reducing and managing stress
• Practicing good hygiene

Coping and Support

You may feel frustrated, upset or overwhelmed upon learning you or your loved one has heart disease. Fortunately, there are ways to help cope with heart disease or improve your condition. These include:

• Cardiac rehabilitation. For people who have cardiovascular disease that’s caused a heart attack or has required surgery to correct, cardiac rehabilitation is often recommended as a way to improve treatment and speed recovery. Cardiac rehabilitation is a program often divided into phases that involve various levels of monitored exercise, nutritional counseling, emotional support, and support and education about lifestyle changes to reduce your risks of heart problems.
• Support groups. Finding out that you or a loved one has heart disease can be unnerving. Turning to friends and family for support is essential, but if you find you need more help, talk to your doctor about joining a support group. You may find that talking about your concerns with others who are experiencing the same difficulties can help.
• Continued medical checkups. If you have a recurring or chronic heart condition, it’s a good idea to regularly check in with your doctor to make sure you’re properly managing your heart condition. Regular checkups can help your doctor decide if you need to change your treatment, and may help catch new problems early, if they occur. If you’re the parent of a child with heart disease, it’s a good idea to encourage your child to regularly visit his or her doctor to monitor a heart condition in adulthood.
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Tests and Diagnosis

The tests you’ll need to diagnose your heart disease depend on what condition your doctor thinks you might have. No matter what type of heart disease you have, your doctor will likely perform a physical exam and ask about your personal and family medical history before doing any other tests. Tests to diagnose heart disease can include:

• Blood tests. You may need to have your blood drawn and tested for substances in your blood that could indicate you have heart disease. Your doctor may check the levels of your cholesterol and triglycerides, blood cell counts, or other blood tests that might show there’s damage to your heart.
• Chest X-ray. An image is created by directing X-rays at your chest and positioning a large piece of photographic film or a digital recording plate against your back. The X-ray machine produces a small burst of radiation that passes through your body and produces an image on the film or digital plate. A chest X-ray shows a picture of your heart, lungs and blood vessels. It can reveal if your heart is enlarged, a sign of some forms of heart disease.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG). In this noninvasive test, a technician will place probes on your chest that record the electrical impulses that make your heart beat. An ECG records these electrical signals and can help your doctor detect irregularities in your heart’s rhythm and structure. You may have an ECG while you’re at rest, or while exercising (stress electrocardiogram).
• Holter monitoring. A Holter monitor is a portable device that you wear to record a continuous ECG, usually for 24 to 72 hours. Holter monitoring is used to detect occasional heart rhythm irregularities that aren’t found during a regular ECG exam.

Complications

One of the most common complications of heart disease is heart failure.

• Heart failure. Heart failure occurs when your heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs. Over time, the heart can no longer keep up with the normal demands placed on it. The ventricles may become stiff and don’t fill properly between beats. Also, the heart muscle may weaken, and the ventricles stretch (dilate) to the point that the heart can’t pump blood efficiently throughout your body. Heart failure can result from many forms of heart disease, including heart defects, cardiovascular disease, valvular heart disease, heart infections or cardiomyopathy.

Other complications of heart disease include:

• Heart attack. Coronary artery disease can cause a heart attack. Heart attacks usually occur when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood through a coronary artery — a blood vessel that feeds blood to a part of the heart muscle. Interrupted blood flow to your heart can damage or destroy a part of the heart muscle.
• Stroke. Cardiovascular disease may cause an ischemic stroke, which happens when the arteries to your brain are narrowed or blocked and too little blood reaches your brain. A stroke is a medical emergency — brain tissue begins to die within just a few minutes of a stroke.
• Aneurysm. Cardiovascular disease can also cause aneurysms, a serious complication that can occur anywhere in your body. An aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of your artery. If an aneurysm bursts, you may face life-threatening internal bleeding. Although this is usually a sudden, catastrophic event, a slow leak is possible. If a blood clot within an aneurysm dislodges, it may block an artery at another point.
• Peripheral artery disease. The same atherosclerosis that can lead to coronary artery disease can also lead to peripheral artery disease. When you develop peripheral artery disease (PAD), your extremities — usually your legs — don’t receive enough blood flow to keep up with demand. This causes symptoms, most notably leg pain when walking (claudication).
• Sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is the sudden, unexpected loss of heart function, breathing and consciousness. Sudden cardiac arrest usually results from an electrical disturbance in your heart that disrupts its pumping action and causes blood to stop flowing to the rest of your body. Sudden cardiac arrest almost always occurs in the context of other underlying heart problems, particularly coronary artery disease. Sudden cardiac arrest is a medical emergency. If not treated immediately, it is fatal, resulting in sudden cardiac death.

Heart Disease Facts

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2006 were in women.
• In 2006, a total of 631,636 people in the United States died of heart disease.* Of the deaths that year, 26%—or more than one in every four—were caused by heart disease.
• In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds. Each minute, someone in the United States dies from a heart disease-related event.
• At least 250,000 people die of heart attacks each year before they reach the hospital.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian Americans, heart disease is second only to cancer.
• In 2009, heart disease will cost the United States $304.6 billion.² This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.

^* For this fact sheet, the term “heart disease” refers to several different types of heart conditions. The most common type is coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease. For more information please visit the Center for Disease Control.

Preparing for your Appointment

If you think you may have heart disease, or are worried about your heart disease risk because of a strong family history, make an appointment with your family doctor. If heart disease is found early, your treatment may be easier and more effective. Eventually, however, you may be referred to a heart specialist (cardiologist).

Because appointments can be brief, it is important to be prepared with questions to ask your Doctor. Here is some information to from the Mayo Clinic to help you get ready.

What you can do

• Be aware of any pre-appointment restrictions. At the time you make the appointment, be sure to ask if there’s anything you need to do in advance, such as restrict your diet. For a cholesterol test, for example, you may need to fast for a period of time beforehand.
• Write down any symptoms you’re experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to coronary artery disease.
• Write down key personal information, including a family history of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure or diabetes, and any major stresses or recent life changes.
• Make a list of all medications, as well as any vitamins or supplements, that you’re taking.
• Take a family member or friend along, if possible. Sometimes it can be difficult to soak up all the information provided to you during an appointment. Someone who accompanies you may remember something that you missed or forgot.
• Be prepared to discuss your diet and exercise habits. If you don’t already follow a diet or exercise routine, be ready to talk to your doctor about any challenges you might face in getting started.
• Write down questions to ask your doctor.

Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions will help you make the most of your time together. List your questions from most important to least important in case time runs out. For heart disease, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

• What is likely causing my symptoms or condition?
• What are other possible causes for my symptoms or condition?
• What kinds of tests will I need?
• What is the best course of action?
• What foods should I eat or avoid?
• What’s an appropriate level of physical activity?
• How often should I be screened for heart disease? For example, how often do I need a cholesterol test?
• What are the alternatives to the primary approach that you’re suggesting?
• I have other health conditions. How can I best manage them together?
• Are there any restrictions that I need to follow?
• Should I see a specialist? What will that cost, and will my insurance cover seeing a specialist? (You may need to ask your insurance provider directly for information about coverage.)
• Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you’re prescribing me?
• Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take home with me? What Web sites do you recommend visiting?
• In addition to the questions that you’ve prepared to ask your doctor, don’t hesitate to ask questions during your appointment at any time that you don’t understand something.

What to expect from your doctor Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may reserve time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Your doctor may ask:

• When did you first begin experiencing symptoms?
• Have your symptoms been continuous, or occasional?
• How severe are your symptoms?
• What, if anything, seems to improve your symptoms?
• What, if anything, appears to worsen your symptoms?

What you can do in the meantime It’s never too early to make healthy lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, eating healthy foods and becoming more physically active. These are primary lines of defense against heart disease and its complications, including heart attack and stroke.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease

A risk factor is a condition or habit that raises your chance of developing a disease. There are many risk factors that raise the risk of heart disease. Some can be managed and some can’t:

Risk factors you can’t control

• Age
• Family history (genetics)
• Race
• Gender

Risk factors you can manage

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• High LDL (low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol)
• Low HDL (high-density lipoprotein, or “good” cholesterol)

More Than 1 Risk Factor?

Your risk of heart disease increases if you have more than 1 risk factor. For example, if you have the following 3 risk factors, you may have a 6.2 times greater risk of developing heart disease than if you had none of these risk factors*:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
  

  Are you at risk?

The good news is there are ways you can help protect your heart. Work with your doctor. Address the risks you can manage, such as diet, physical activity, and high cholesterol.

Check out this video to see what the American Heart Association is doing to reduce heart disease.

AHA Video

HEART DISEASE: What is Heart Disease?

Heart disease is a generic term that describes many different problems affecting the heart. It can affect your coronary arteries, heart valves, and heart muscle and can also affect your heart rate and rhythm. Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans.

The most common types of heart disease are:

-       Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

-       Angina

-       Heart Attach

-       Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy

-       Arrhythmias

-       Heart Defects

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become hardened and narrowed. The arteries harden and narrow due to buildup of a material called plaque on their inner walls. The buildup of plaque is known as atherosclerosis. As the plaque increases in size, the insides of the coronary arteries get narrower and less blood can flow through them. Eventually, blood flow to the heart muscle is reduced, and because blood carries much-needed oxygen, the heart muscle is not able to receive the amount of oxygen it needs.

Angina:

Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when the heart does not get enough blood. People describe angina as discomfort, pressure, or pain in the chest, back, neck, shoulders, arms (especially the left arm), or jaw. Angina can be a warning of a heart attack.

Heart Attack

Some heart attacks are sudden and intense, where no one doubts what’s happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people aren’t sure what’s wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:

• Chest discomfort – Most heart attacks involve a discomforting feeling in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body – Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach.
• Shortness of breath – May occur with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs – May include breaking out in a cold sweat, feeling nauseated, or lightheaded.

Heart attack symptoms can be different for men and women. As with men, women’s most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

If you or someone with you has chest discomfort, especially with one or more of the other signs, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away. For more information about 9-1-1, please visit www.911.utah.gov/index.php.

Heart Valve Disease:

The heart has four chambers. The upper two are the right and left atria. The lower two are the right and left ventricles. Blood is pumped through the chambers, aided by four heart valves. The valves open and close to let the blood flow in only one direction. Each valve has a set of flaps (also called leaflets or cusps). When working properly, the heart valves open and close fully. A defective heart valve is one that fails to fully open or close. A person can be born with an abnormal heart valve, a type of congenital heart defect. Also, a valve can become damaged by:

• infections such as infective endocarditis
• rheumatic fever
• changes in valve structure in the elderly

Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy:

Heart failure is a condition in which your heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs. Key symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, a dry and hacking cough, weight gain, swelling, and fatigue.

Heart failure develops as a result of weakening of the heart muscle. This weakening is often brought on by other conditions that damage the heart muscle, including atherosclerosis, heart attack, high blood pressure, heart valve problems, and alcohol abuse. Heart muscle weakening and damage is often called cardiomyopathy, which literally means “heart muscle disease.” Cardiomyopathy can be classified as primary or secondary. Primary cardiomyopathy can’t be attributed to a specific cause, such as high blood pressure, heart valve disease, artery diseases, or congenital heart defects. Secondary cardiomyopathy is due to specific causes. It’s often associated with diseases involving other organs as well as the heart.

Heart Defects:

Although the term “heart defect” can refer to many different heart problems, it’s often used to talk about defects affecting the wall (septum) that divides the two upper or two lower chambers of the heart. Three of the more common defects are: Atrial septal defect (ASD), Patent foramen ovale (PFO), and Ventricular septal defect (VSD).