Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

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

Does your hospital have a Women’s Heart Clinic yet? If not, why not?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥   @HeartSisters

teacup-heartFocused Cardiovascular Care for Women is the name of an important report about women’s heart health published in February of this year. One of the report’s highlights (or lowlights!) was that very few if any hospitals actually offered focused cardiac care specifically for women before the year 2000.(1) One reason for this may have been that, as the report’s authors explained, “the concept of Women’s Heart Clinics was met with hesitation from many cardiologists.”

Yes, you read that right, ladies. Until recently, even the very idea of establishing a heart clinic devoted to the unique realities of the female body was not warmly welcomed by the very physicians you’d think would be most supportive.  Continue reading “Does your hospital have a Women’s Heart Clinic yet? If not, why not?” →

Pregnancy complications strongly linked to heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

My pre-eclampsia baby Ben, age 2, with his Mum, visiting Yellowknife, NWT, Canada

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” →

Social isolation/loneliness is hurting your heart

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  @HeartSisters

heart-1244507_1920 copyIn the last few years of her life, my siblings and I had reached the point where we knew it was time to move our elderly widowed mother into a residence for seniors. Already showing signs of dementia and no longer safe to remain on her own in her large home, she had become increasingly miserable. She didn’t want to change anything, however, and we worried that she would hate this disruptive move into her new two-bedroom assisted living suite.

So we were thrilled shortly after her first week there when she excitedly told us about the nice new people she’d already met, all of the fun group activities scheduled each day, and the red blouse she had picked out to wear to the annual Valentine’s Day party that the staff were organizing later that week. She seemed to be happier and more alert than she had been in a long time.

Preventing social isolation is particularly important, not just to those moving into seniors’ homes, but to every aging Baby Boomer no matter where we happen to live – and particularly because of the startling link between social isolation, loneliness and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Continue reading “Social isolation/loneliness is hurting your heart” →

How two cardiologists discovered Type A

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 12 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 6.27.14 AM

Taken from the desk of a patient who suffered a fatal heart attack while rushing to catch the 5:43 pm train*

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

Back in 1959, cardiologists Drs. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman submitted a research paper to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Their study was accepted and published; it suggested a correlation between coronary artery disease and those living with “overt behavior pattern A” – a link the co-authors claimed was as significant as smoking, cholesterol and high blood pressure.(1)  Their subsequent best selling book Type A Behavior And Your Heart in 1974 prompted further studies by other researchers, and soon “Type A personality” became a popular term in our everyday conversations. The name described people who exhibit personality traits like hostility, impatience, competitiveness, drive, perfectionism and an unhealthy dependence on external rewards.

But it turns out it was a sharp-eyed secretary in their medical practice who first brought this potential link to their attention. Continue reading “How two cardiologists discovered Type A” →