Is it the flu or the common cold?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

I’m writing this from my deathbed. Well, okay, maybe not quite as close to death as I actually felt yesterday, but I have been really, really ill. After four feverish, sweaty, pain-wracked days in bed, sick as a dog, this morning I dragged myself into a  steamy shower and felt almost human again. For a few minutes, anyway, until I collapsed in an exhausted heap in bed. At first, I was calling this affliction a cold, but it appears what I actually have is the flu (or influenza). Here’s what I’ve been learning about what happens when heart patients face these nasty bugs:  Continue reading “Is it the flu or the common cold?” →

Why “NO” is a complete sentence

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 20 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

With apologies to Nike, I’d like you to consider this new maxim: “Just DON’T do it!”  Don’t say YES to every request, demand, invitation, obligation, favour or opportunity out there.  Oh, you can go ahead and say YES to things you really love (good coffee with friends, a bike ride, an afternoon nap) but for anything that you really don’t absolutely need to do, there’s a useful word for you to contemplate using, and that word is NO!  Continue reading “Why “NO” is a complete sentence” →

Top 25 recommendations for treating anxiety

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 14 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Few things in life are as anxiety-producing as being told you have heart disease. Many heart patients become hypervigilant, on high alert to every new twinge that may or may not signal the start of another cardiac crisis. Is this something? Is it nothing? Should I call 911?  Even if symptoms are fleeting and benign, debilitating anxiety can remain.  And most remedies for easing these distressing feelings come in a pill bottle. But are there other treatments for anxiety that are as good as – or perhaps better than – pharmaceuticals? It turns out that, according to patients themselves, there very well may be.

Alexandra Carmichael is the co-founder of CureTogether, a site that collected patient-reported health data. I was intrigued by one of their reports called “6,100 Patients With Anxiety Report What Treatments Work Best”. Where did this data come from? Alexandra explained:

“Members have been anonymously sharing symptoms and treatments for three years. We analyzed the data into infographic form to make it accessible.”

According to these crowdsourced data, here are the top 25 treatments for anxiety that thousands of other Real Live Patients – not drug reps for Big Pharma – say have worked for them:   Continue reading “Top 25 recommendations for treating anxiety” →

Empathy 101: how to sound like you give a damn

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

During the first follow-up appointment with my (now former) family doctor a few weeks after surviving a heart attack, I noticed something unsettling right away. First, she seemed utterly preoccupied with her own possible part in missing some magical sign that I’d been at risk for this surprising cardiac event. She reviewed lab test after lab test while I sat there watching her claw through a thick file (no electronic charts there!) of my lipid and blood pressure results going back years. It struck me that this follow-up visit was somehow all about her – not about ME at all!

Hey! Remember me? The one who actually had the frickety-frackin’ heart attack?   Continue reading “Empathy 101: how to sound like you give a damn” →