Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Are your sleep problems linked to increased heart disease risk?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

When one of my Heart Sisters posts was picked up by MedPageToday’s popular blog Kevin MD.com in December, I was thrilled by the response that this article attracted. But one of the most intriguing reactions came from Dr. Steven Park of New York City.

Dr. Park is a sleep specialist and author of the book Sleep Interrupted.

In the 20+ stories from the women I interviewed for my original article (How Does It Really Feel To Have A Heart Attack? Women Survivors Answer That Question), he spotted many whose early cardiac symptoms matched those typical of undiagnosed sleep disorders.   Continue reading “Are your sleep problems linked to increased heart disease risk?” →

Do you know the new heart health guidelines for women?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

Consumer Reports Health has released an alert about new guidelines for preventing heart disease in women, identifying certain risk factors that are especially important or unique to women, and some preventive measures that are not useful, including some supplements.

For example, the guidelines, provided by the American Heart Association, say there’s no reason to take supplemental doses of antioxidants such as vitamins C or E to prevent heart disease. Continue reading “Do you know the new heart health guidelines for women?” →

Pregnancy complications strongly linked to heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 18 Comments
My pre-eclampsia baby Ben with his Mum

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

When I was about eight months pregnant with Ben, my first baby, I was diagnosed with something called preeclampsia. This is a serious condition affecting about 5% of pregnant women, identified by symptoms like sudden spikes in blood pressure, protein in the urine, severe swelling, and headaches or vision problems. It’s also women’s third leading pregnancy-related cause of death. Preeclampsia is clinically described as:

“…a disorder of widespread vascular endothelial malfunction and vasospasm that occurs after 20 weeks’ gestation”.

Whenever you see the words “vascular” or “endothelial” or “vasospasm” in the same sentence, you know you’re likely talking about the heart. And although preeclampsia typically goes away after pregnancy, its diagnosis may well be an early indicator of underlying heart conditions that may simmer for decades. In fact, studies now show that pregnant women who develop preeclampsia have more than twice the risk of having a heart attack or stroke later in life.

And that is what happened to me.   Continue reading “Pregnancy complications strongly linked to heart disease” →

“Stress creep”: are you like the frog in the pot of boiling water?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

Guest post, originally broadcast on WBFO Radio by Dr. Elvira Aletta:

“I’m sure you’ve heard that if you boil a pot of water and throw in a live frog, that frog will hop right out, saving his life to croak another day. If, on the other hand, you place a frog in a pot of cold water and turn the heat up slowly, that frog will stay in the pot. The frog will not jump out.

“Instead, he will slowly get used to the increasingly hot water until it boils to death. Truth or urban legend? To prove it, I’d have to cook a live frog – and that’s not going to happen! It sounds true,  so it should be because of what it teaches us.   Continue reading ““Stress creep”: are you like the frog in the pot of boiling water?” →