Tag: cardiac research

Cardiac research: more fun facts

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Do you have a book in your life that you keep opening just for the pure delight of reading it again? I am that obsessed with the book called The Exquisite Machine:  The New Science of the Heart, published by MIT Press. In fact, I keep this book beside my favourite red chair so it’s always handy for re-reading random chapters. I’ve been doing this ever since veteran cardiac researcher Dr. Sian Harding wrote the book in 2022, and I can also say I haven’t felt this way about other books I love.  So I can’t resist sharing with you some fun facts about our hearts and the research I’ve learned about from Dr. Harding’s work:    . Continue reading “Cardiac research: more fun facts” →

Stents vs. bypass surgery vs. TRUST

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas     ♥    @HeartSisters

In 2018, Dr. Dhruv Khullar warned his colleagues at an American Board of Internal Medicine conference that patients need answers on three dimensions of trust:

  1. Competence: “Do you know what you’re doing?”
  2. Transparency: “Will you tell me what you’re doing?”
  3. Motive: “Are you doing this to help me or yourself?”        .     .

Continue reading “Stents vs. bypass surgery vs. TRUST” →

Our cardiac meds – in real life, not just in studies

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 20 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

If you – like me – have had a heart attack, you are now likely taking a fistful of medications each day, everything from anti-platelet drugs to help prevent a new blockage from forming inside your metal stent to meds that can help lower your blood pressure or manage your LDL cholesterol numbers. All of these cardiac drugs have been studied by researchers before being approved by government regulators as being safe and effective for us to take every day.

But one particular study on this subject published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology(1) has raised a unique point:

”    Little is known about the benefits and risks of longterm use of cardiovascular drugs. Clinical trials rarely go beyond a few years of follow-up, but patients are often given continuous treatment with multiple drugs well into old age.”  

Continue reading “Our cardiac meds – in real life, not just in studies” →

Yale Heart Study asks why we wait so long before seeking help in mid-heart attack

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 27 Comments

Did you know that even when experiencing textbook heart attack symptoms (like my own chest and left arm pain), people wait an average of four hours before seeking medical help?  The tragic irony is that heart patients who do best are those who can be treated within the first hour of those initial acute symptoms.

Heart attacks are dangerous and scary – so why do so many of us suffer silently for hours (and in many cases, far longer?)  This treatment-seeking delay behaviour concerns many researchers, including Yale University’s Dr. Angelo Alonzo. He told me:

“Ask people what they would do if they had a heart attack and, of course, they’d all  insist they would seek care immediately.  Sounds easy!  But in reality, few people actually do drop everything to get help.”    Continue reading “Yale Heart Study asks why we wait so long before seeking help in mid-heart attack” →