What’s all that sighing, moaning and groaning about?

by Carolyn Thomas    @HeartSisters

blue eye abstractWhen I first saw exhaustion described as the leaky emotion of chronic illness, it reminded me of something else. (This happens to me a lot, by the way, a fizzy stream of consciousness that bubbles ideas around my cranium like pinballs until one finally settles in with a *plink*).  The plink this time was that, along with the chest pain, exhaustion and the damned relentlessness that can so often accompany episodes of my refractory angina (or many other symptoms of chronic illness for others), there’s another response I’ve only recently begun to learn about.  

And that’s the sound of soft little moaning, groaning, or sighing noises.

Continue reading “What’s all that sighing, moaning and groaning about?”

Are your sleep problems linked to increased heart disease risk?

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?”