Do patients have a “happiness set point?”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

How happy are you? Dr. Art Markman, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote this in a Fast Company essay:

“People seem to have a happiness set point.(1)  Generally speaking, in the weeks and months after a significant positive or negative life event, you tend to return to roughly the level of happiness you had before that event – that’s the set point. It doesn’t mean that events can’t have a long-term influence on how happy you are – just that the best predictor of how happy you will be several months after either a major positive or negative event is how happy you were before it happened.”
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The most frightening cardiac symptom

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

The chest pain. The shortness of breath. The freakish pressure radiating up to the jaw or down the arm. All of these can be signs of a heart attack or other cardiac events..  But for Martie, a 46-year old heart patient diagnosed with Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), her worst symptom was described like this:

“The most prominent symptom I had, which kept getting stronger and would not go away, was the little voice in my head telling me this was NOT normal. It is my one piece of advice to all my friends. Listen to that voice in your head!”              . Continue reading “The most frightening cardiac symptom” →

When patients worry about being judged

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 24 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

I’ve been thinking about the time earlier this year when I (briefly) listed my condo for sale – before changing my mind about leaving this tiny perfect apartment. Basically, inviting prospective buyers into your home boils down to asking strangers to judge you.

In a way, that little real estate experience reminded me of what many patients living with a chronic yet invisible illness like heart disease share with my readers:  feeling judged by others.

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Patient “stories” vs. medical “reports”: The Patient Experience Library

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

If a doctor speaks up when something goes terribly wrong at work, it’s called an incident report, but when a patient speaks up when something’s gone wrong, it’s a complaint. Words do matter, and listening to what patients are telling their doctors is important. The incident report is an example of what healthcare professionals will accept as admissable evidence based on their learned experience, while the patient complaint is too often seen as merely anecdotal, based only on lived experience – so it’s considered to be inadmissable evidence.  Continue reading “Patient “stories” vs. medical “reports”: The Patient Experience Library” →