From the category archives:
All the more reason to really, really emphasize life style changes to reduce the risk of a heart attack. from the article: Patients taking 80-milligram doses of Zocor were more likely to develop myopathy, a type of muscle pain or weakness, than those on the 20-milligram dose. FDA suggests new limits on cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor [...]
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Ten years to wait for this research to come to fruition? How about taking some of the billions from the money from the TSA/airport security and putting it to heart research. People apparently fear terrorism more than heart attacks…. Guess which one is more likely, by about 10,000 to one odds, if not more…. from [...]
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It has been a continuing theme of this Heartcurrents blog that psychology is often left out treatment for heart disease and heart issues. “Mindfulness meditation” has been gaining traction in psychotherapy as a means of reducing stress, anxiety, and depression — issues that always need to be dealt with for anyone who has experienced a [...]
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Your have to wonder why the findings from the 2007 COURAGE study that stents were no more effective than optimal medical therapy have not been put into practice. from the article: Most patients with stable coronary artery disease who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention are not being treated with optimal medical therapy, and the publication of [...]
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from the article: The addition of stents did not improve the ability of optimal drug therapy to prevent heart attacks and death in patients with stable CAD. When Should Stents Be Used in Coronary Artery Disease? COURAGE Study Challenges Use of Stents in Stable CAD Patients Richard N. Fogoros, M.D Updated May 23, 2011 If [...]
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from the article: The results are part of a string of studies that suggest that what doctors thought they knew about cholesterol may be wrong… . New York Times Study Questions Treatment Used in Heart Disease GARDINER HARRIS May 26, 2011 WASHINGTON — Lowering bad cholesterol levels reduces heart attack risks, and researchers have long [...]
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from the article: Our results demonstrated improved clot properties and decreased thrombin [a clot promoter] formation after treatment with the fish oil capsules. Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help Heart Patients With Stent May 26, 2011 (HealthDay News) — Combining omega-3 fatty acids with blood-thinning drugs may reduce the risk of heart attacks in patients who’ve [...]
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from the article: We now know that CAD is about far more than just blockages. CAD is a chronic, progressive disease that tends to be far more widespread within the coronary arteries than is implied by the presence or absence of actual blockages. Plaques are often present in arteries that appear “normal” on cardiac catheterization. [...]
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from the article Curiously, hospice care seemed to extend survival for some patients; those with pancreatic cancer gained an average of three weeks, those with lung cancer gained six weeks, and those with congestive heart failure gained three months. The lesson seems almost Zen: you live longer only when you stop trying to live longer. [...]
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From the article: People often say, ‘I want to get rid of all my bad (LDL) cholesterol,’ but the fact is, if you did so, you would die,” the Texas A&M professor adds. “Everyone needs a certain amount of both LDL and HDL in their bodies. We need to change this idea of LDL always [...]
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Today’s post continues reviewing information about interval training….
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Disclaimer: Intense exercise increases the immediate risk of a heart attack. In the long run, both regular and intense exercise decreases the risk of a heart attack, Research is suggesting that high intensity interval training — what runners for years have called “fartleks” (which means “speed play” in Swedish) — is the most efficient way [...]
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From the article: More body fat doesn’t always mean greater heart risk. It’s where you carry the extra pounds. Patients with bulging waistlines, as measured by either waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio, had a higher risk of death. They were 1.7 times as likely to die during the follow-up period as those with normal waist [...]
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The Rose Bower from the “Legend of Briar Rose” by Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1890 Buscot Park, Oxfordshire Heart Attacks in the Morning Are More Severe
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From Memories, Dreams and Reflections It seemed to me that I was high up in space. Far below I saw the globe of the Earth, bathed in a gloriously blue light. I saw the deep blue sea and the continents. Far below my feet lay Ceylon, and in the distance ahead of me the subcontinent [...]
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Whac-a-Mole From the article: Call it “Whac-a-Mole Cardiology:” yes, an angiogram or ultrasound may identify a series of blockages, but we still can’t predict which one will pop its head up out of the hole so we can bang it over the head with a stent. More evidence about just how important it is to [...]
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From the Mayo Clinic 96 Minutes and Counting… Marathon CPR Saves a Life! March 4, 2011 Joel Streed After a workout, Howard Snitzer stopped to pick up groceries for dinner and instead fell to the sidewalk with a massive heart attack. The volunteer response in Goodhue, Minnesota and the surrounding community was remarkable. More than [...]
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When I was recovering from a severe heart attack, I desperately wanted to be fixed. I read everything I could about what to do — nutrition, exercise, supplements, meditation, visualization, stem-cell therapy — it may all have been useful, but it didn’t get to the core of the matter. The best books I read during [...]
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from the article: My philosophy about primary care is that the only person who has changed anyone’s life is their mother. The reason is that she cares about them, and she says the same simple thing over and over and over.” So he tries to care, and to say a few simple things over and [...]
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From the article: Research is indicating that mindfulness practices (exercises that increase present-moment awareness) are very beneficial to health and well-being, influencing a wide range of physiological and subjective states including: * Boosting the immune response in cancer and HIV patients. * Reducing pain in chronic pain patients, including sufferers of arthritis, back pain, and [...]
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From the article: A 2005 government survey found that just 11 percent of psychiatrists provided talk therapy to all patients. Even though research shows that medical costs are reduced if you have accompanying mental health treatment, the medical world continues to shift to drugs as the solution to life problems. Why am I suddenly thinking [...]
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Conclusion: Eat both Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Health & Prevention Two Sources of Omega-3 Benefit the Heart – In Different Ways In a small study supported by the California Walnut Commission, diets containing walnuts or fish both derived cardiovascular benefit – although each diet had a different effect on lipid parameters. Twenty-five adults with [...]
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Doctor’s Lounge 9th January, 2006 Use of amino acid supplement following a heart attack may be harmful according to the VINTAGE MI clinical trial. Use of the amino acid supplement L-arginine following a heart attack does not improve certain cardiac functions and measurements and may be associated with an increased risk of death, according to [...]
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The research article below suggests that by repetitively visualizing a food you are craving you can reduce the consumption of the food. This is a strategy that is a combination of “flooding” and visualization. (College students, of course, are not normal people and generalizing from this population to the population as a whole is problematic). [...]
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In the last week, the most frequently e-mailed New York Times article was the one below on self-compassion and weight loss. Clearly, it hit an important nerve in the struggle to lose weight. Yes. Compassion at all levels is important, and the article has some useful suggestions. However, the ability to treat one’s self compassionately [...]
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This is particularly good news for fruit flies. If I were a fruit fly I would want to live longer too. Medical News Today An Apple A Day Keeps The Grim Reaper Away March 4, 2011 Scientists are reporting the first evidence that consumption of a healthful antioxidant substance in apples extends the average lifespan [...]
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From the article “Research underscores the relationship between consuming tomatoes and reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, and other conditions. Tomatoes, The New Superfood Medical News Today 02 Mar 2011 – Eating more tomatoes and tomato products can make people healthier and decrease the risk of conditions such as cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, according [...]
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This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post, which was a media review of this article. It is a frustrating summary to read. (The full text costs $31.50. Hmm. A bit of capitalism here for public health. Clearly it is better to make money than save lives…). It does emphasize just how large a risk factor [...]
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What is wrong with this research? Here are the increased risk factors listed: Cocaine: 23% Air Pollution: 7.4 % Physical Exertion: 6.2% Coffee: 5% Alcohol: 5% Negative Emotions: 3% Heavy Meal: 2.7% Positive Emotions 2.2% Having Sex: 2.2% Smoking Marijuana: 1% Clearly,the safest thing to to is to smoke dope. Just because an event preceded [...]
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I am certainly hopeful that the research mentioned below is true, about 30% hopeful. However, once again “Correlation is not cause and effect.” Because heart patients who respond optimistically to these kinds of questions live longer does not mean that being, or trying to be, consciously optimistic is the cause of their living longer. Maybe, [...]
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Although at present I can find no research about increased risks from Plavix because of a trauma, this research about Warfarin suggests that it may be a problem. One is told to stop Plavix about ten days before surgery due to increased bleeding; this suggests that one should also stop Plavix ten days before any [...]
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“Heavy” Drinking Increases Risk After Heart Attack Even moderately heavy drinking is bad after myocardial infarction Richard N. Fogoros, M.D., July 04, 2007 Several studies have indicated that light usage of alcohol (one or two drinks per day) may help protect against cardiac disease. However, because alcohol causes so many medical problems, and because for [...]
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“The available evidence has established a link between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular disease and this may be causal. Without waiting for the resolution of causality arguments, one can start using serum uric acid concentration as an inexpensive cardiovascular risk marker.”
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While (LDL) cholesterol reduction used to be focus of heart disease prevention — and it is still important — it is looking as if inflammation is the critical commonality in disease processes that needs to be addressed. Yesterday’s post mentioned blueberries — particularly Alaska blueberries — as beneficial for heart nutrition. The article below is [...]
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This is interesting research, in that it focuses on factors affecting “healthy” people without known heart problems. Note that this can only be picked up by a Holter monitor, and that only one software program for the Holter monitor can do that. Hmm. Time for clinical practice to catch up with technology. I wonder if [...]
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