Some cardiologists have philosophized about Western civilization’s love-hate relationship with cholesterol. For what’s basically a form of grease, it’s certainly more valuable than gold. After all, to surgically by-pass a pea-sized morsel of cholesterol will set your insurance company back about $50K. In fact, this tiny amount of cholesterol lodged in just the right place can kill you with a heart attack or paralyze you with a stroke. So on one hand, here’s the food industry developing more imaginative ways to feed us salted fat, and on the other, the pharmaceutical industry creating cholesterol-lowering medications we’re supposed to gobble up like M and M’s.
Category: Cardiovascular Health
Arrhythmias
The steady lup-dup, lub-dup regularity of our heart’s pumping beat is reassuring, and we don’t mind it speeding up for exercise or slowing down for sleep, as long as its rhythm remains steady. Any glitch in that rhythmic throb, whether too slow or too fast, is called an arrhythmia.
Angina
An attack of angina, especially the first one, is a terrifying and life-changing experience. You’ve raced up the stairs or you’ve run to catch a train; suddenly an elephant is standing on your chest or a huge hand is squeezing your heart. Then you’re sweaty, lightheaded, and nauseated. You stop in your tracks; you wait; you pray you’re not having a heart attack. At last the elephant lifts his foot or the fist opens, the world slowly brightens, and slowly, carefully, you go home. (You really SHOULD go to an emergency room.)
Crestor: To Take or Not To Take
Click here for the Health Tip link. When drug research like the recent Crestor study makes headlines in the Chicago Sun-Times and the national media, I know I’ll be fielding questions from patients. The very day after the Crestor study, in fact, the perky Crestor drug reps arrived in my office, barely able to contain […]
Q&A: Vitamin E and Heart Attacks
Click here for the original post. Q: I just read in Consumer Reports that vitamin E doesn’t help prevent heart attacks. Is this true? If so, is there any reason to take E? A: As early as 2001, clinical studies around the world were beginning to cast some doubt on the effectiveness of vitamin E […]
Vitamin D and Your Heart
I’ve written quite a bit on the beneficial effects of vitamin D, from building bones and helping with fibromyalgia to preventing cancer–click here and scroll down on the Health Tips menu for previous articles.
Zzzzz: You’re Getting Sleepy and Your Heart is Happy
Here’s a health tip you may have suspected all along. There’s now “official” medical justification for that most pleasant of human activities: your afternoon nap.