Category: Cardiology 101

posts here focus on a variety of topics all about the heart and how it works

Study: statin drugs overprescribed for healthy adults

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

A study from Johns Hopkins Hospital may be very bad news for drug companies that make statin drugs for cholesterol management.(1)  Statins, of course, are considered the darlings of Big Pharma. I’ve heard cardiologists joke (at least, I think they were joking) that statins are so fabulous at lowering our LDL (bad) cholesterol that we should be putting the drugs into our drinking water.

Virtually all heart attack survivors are now routinely prescribed statins (whether they have high cholesterol or not) and there’s a major marketing push for docs to prescribe statins as cardiovascular preventive therapy for virtually all adults, particularly to reduce blood levels of the inflammatory byproducts called C-reactive protein. But the Johns Hopkins study lead investigator Dr. Michael Blaha has this important new warning:   Continue reading “Study: statin drugs overprescribed for healthy adults” →

Do you know what causes heart disease?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

When I gently scolded Kentucky cardiologist Dr. John Mandrola recently over his cheeky criticism of diet soda (he’s a bike racer, what can I say?), we began a subsequent exchange of emails that led me to his blog.  There I found the simplest, clearest explanation of heart disease that I have yet discovered – particularly on the role that inflammation plays in causing our cardiac events. With the permission of this cardiac electrophysiologist (thanks, Dr. John), I’m reprinting his essay here, including his Primary Prevention Strategies, or “what regular people call healthy living”:   Continue reading “Do you know what causes heart disease?” →

Carolyn’s jargon-free, patient-friendly glossary of weird cardiology terms

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 26 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Like any exclusive club, heart disease has its own jargon, understandable only by other members of the club, particularly by cardiac care providers.  For example, I remember lying in my CCU bed (that’s the Coronary Intensive Care Unit), trying to memorize the letters LAD (that’s the Left Anterior Descending, the large coronary artery whose blockage had caused my MI (myocardial infarction – in my case, the so-called ‘widowmaker’ heart attack).

To help others needing simultaneous translation of this new lingo in your own medical records, here’s a helpful list of some of the most common acronyms/terms/abbreviations you’ll likely find around the cardiac ward. 

LAST UPDATED:  June 2, 2025

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NOTE from CAROLYN:  This entire patient-friendly, jargon-free glossary (all 9,200+ words!) is also part of my book “A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease“ (Johns Hopkins University Press).   You can ask for it at your local library or favourite bookshop, or order it online (paperback, hardcover or e-book) at Amazon, or order it directly from my publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press (use their code HTWN to save 30% off the list price). Continue reading “Carolyn’s jargon-free, patient-friendly glossary of weird cardiology terms” →

Top 10 posts from Heart Sisters for 2010

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

2010 has been quite the year here at Heart Sisters! The little blog that began in 2009 after my heart attack simply as “cardiac rehab for my brain” has now published 257 articles, attracting over 100,000 visitors. New articles arrive here about every four days, depending on my health, and I never run out of emerging news about women’s heart disease, cardiac research, heart-smart recipes or heart-related trivia to write about!

The Toronto-based magazine More interviewed me this year for a February 2011 feature about Canadian women who have launched health-related websites, and a number of essays here have also been picked up by other much larger health sites, here, here or here, for example. Hundreds of people now follow Heart Sisters on Twitter, repost my links on their Facebook sites, or subscribe directly via email to receive updates on new postings.   Continue reading “Top 10 posts from Heart Sisters for 2010” →