Month: July 2009

Can exercise trigger a heart attack?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Last winter, I heard about four men in Ottawa – ages 45-72 – who had heart attacks, all on the same afternoon and all while shovelling snow.  Despite news reports like this, it is not true that Ottawa men will do just about anything to get out of doing their chores.

Nor is it true that exercise all by itself will trigger a heart attack.

According to Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Sharonne Hayes:

“All heart attack patients have had an underlying condition that caused the attack.”  

Most heart attacks, in fact, are 20-30 years in the making.

About half of all heart attack survivors, however, mistakenly blame the attack on one specific event – such as extreme exertion.   Continue reading “Can exercise trigger a heart attack?” →

An open letter to all hospital staff

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

hospital

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Dear hospital employees,

After a particularly bizarre experience undergoing a treadmill stress echocardiogram at your hospital recently, I decided to do something that I have never done before.  I called the Cardiology Department manager to complain about her staff.  (Incidentally, a recent opinion survey of international travellers found that Canadians were #1 in only one category:  “Least likely to complain when things go wrong” – so you can appreciate that lodging an official complaint is a fairly Big Deal here!)

In my best PR fashion, I told the manager how distressing the appointment had been for me because of the behaviour of the two cardiac technicians in the room.  Continue reading “An open letter to all hospital staff” →

Food trends: why we eat the way we do

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

Some anthropologists believe that the evolutionary pressure that led to bi-pedalism (walking on two legs) was just our hairy ancestors’ adaptation to a changing world that required more far-reaching travel in search of food.

We’ve been obsessed with searching for food ever since those hairy ancestors took that first upright walk and dug up some lovely potato-like tubers for dinner.

The trouble is that food trends in the Western world have strayed so far from what our bodies actually need that our heart health is now seriously compromised by what we put into our mouths every day. read more about how food trends have changed

Female cardiologists chat about heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

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by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Only 7% of the world’s cardiologists are women.  Pity.  In these two videos, you’ll get an opportunity to eavesdrop on some of the best of this elite group as they discuss ‘The Heart of a Woman’.

UPDATE FROM CAROLYN: Sadly, neither of these films are still available. Instead, I invite you to watch a remarkable little film called “A Typical Heart“ (about 22 minutes in length), a documentary exploring the deadly disparity between male and female heart disease, through the lens of healthcare professionals, researchers, patients and their families. I was honoured to be one of the eight female heart patients interviewed for this film. 

♥