[ad_1]
091e9c5e820faac4091e9c5e820faac4FED-Footermodule_FED-Footer_091e9c5e820faac4.xmlwbmd_pb_templatemodule0144002/02/2021 01:57:340HTML
[ad_2]
Tag: heart failure
-
Young Adults With Heart Failure
[ad_1]
Heart Failure in Young Adults
091e9c5e820faac4091e9c5e820faac4FED-Footermodule_FED-Footer_091e9c5e820faac4.xmlwbmd_pb_templatemodule0144002/02/2021 01:57:340HTML
[ad_2]
-
More Heart Disease Deaths on Very Hot, Very Cold Days
[ad_1]
Dec. 13, 2022 — Extremely hot and extremely cold days are tied to an increase in the risk of death from heart disease, a new study suggests.
People with heart failure were most at risk when temperatures were extremely hot or cold.
Climate change, which is linked to substantial swings in extreme hot and cold temperatures, is likely a key culprit, according to lead study author Barrak Alahmad, MD, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“Investigating the burden of extreme temperatures from now on will enable us to further understand what climate change might hold for cardiovascular risks,” he says. “In this rapidly changing climate and unprecedented pace of warming, it is not the time to be asleep at the wheel.”
No specific temperatures are considered extreme, Alahmad notes. “Heat and cold are context-specific and location-specific.” For example, a 104 F day in Kuwait is a typical summer day, whereas a 104 F day in London resulted in “widespread, incalculable damage.”
For the study, published Dec. 12 in the journal Circulation, the researchers looked at more than 32 million cardiovascular deaths over 4 decades in countries around the world. They compared cardiovascular deaths on the hottest and coldest 2.5% of days in each city with cardiovascular deaths on the days with optimal temperatures.
The relative risks of death increased gradually for cold temperatures, but somewhat faster for hot temperatures – especially for heart failure, where the risk in extremely hot weather climbed quickly to as much as 12% higher, according to the analysis.
Extremely cold temperatures appeared even more dangerous. They were associated with a 33% greater risk of dying from ischemic heart disease (caused by narrowed arteries); a 32% greater risk of death from ischemic strokes caused by blood clots in the brain; and a 37% greater risk of dying from heart failure.
Overall, extreme temperatures accounted for 2.2 additional deaths per 1,000 on hot days and 9.1 additional deaths per 1,000 on cold days.
The results were similar even after the researchers adjusted for temperature variability, heatwaves, long-term trends, relative humidity, and air pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter.
Protect Your Heart
American Heart Association expert volunteer Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of Atria New York and a professor at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City, says everyone needs to take steps to stave off the effects of climate change.
To protect your heart on extremely hot and cold days, “avoid outdoor activities,” she advises. “If you must go out for an appointment on a very cold day, remember to bundle up, wear gloves, and a hat and a scarf that covers your mouth. Keep your outdoor time to a minimum.”
“On hot days, do not exercise outdoors, stay indoors as much as possible, and stay hydrated,” she says.
[ad_2]
-
The TikTok Trend That Triggered a Diabetes Drug Shortage
[ad_1]
Nov. 29, 2022 – Weight loss advice is everywhere you look on social media, but one trend sweeping TikTok has led to shortages of an important diabetes drug.
Ozempic, a weekly injection that helps boost insulin sensitivity in people with type 2 diabetes, also suppresses appetite, which leads to weight loss. Stories of celebrities using the drug off-label to lose a few pounds have led to an explosion of interest. And now people with diabetes – people whose lives could be saved by the drug – are having trouble finding it.
Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk
In the spring, Kim Kardashian pulled off a dramatic weight loss to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for the Met Gala. Soon rumors began to circulate that she’d used Ozempic to do it. Just this week, new Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted about his own use of Ozempic and its sibling drug, Wegovy.
Variety dubbed Ozempic “the worst kept secret in Hollywood – especially given that its most enthusiastic users are not pre-diabetic and do not require the drug.” The rich and famous are spending $1,200 to $1,500 a month to get access.
As so often happens, high-profile use sparked a trend. Videos on TikTok hashtagged #ozempic have amassed more than 275 million views, and #ozempicweightloss has more than 110 million.
This raises concerns about who, exactly, is watching these videos, and what message they’re receiving.
“Forty-two percent of Americans have obesity, and even more have overweight. That’s affecting our younger people and our adolescents,” says Caroline Apovian, MD, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “They’re looking at TikTok and other social media outlets for help.”
A new study shows how damaging this can be: Researchers analyzed 1,000 videos with nutrition, food, and weight-related hashtags, with over 1 billion views combined. They found that nearly all included messages glorifying weight loss and thinness.
At Last, an Effective Weight Loss Drug
Ozempic is Danish drug company Novo Nordisk’s brand name for semaglutide, which works by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone known as GLP-1. It travels to your brain and helps you feel full on less food. That leads to weight loss. In one 68-week study, semaglutide helped people lose an average of 15% of their body weight. But it’s not a miracle drug: You still have to change your eating habits and stay physically active.
The FDA approved Ozempic to treat people with type 2 diabetes in 2017. Four years later, Novo Nordisk received the green light for a higher-dose version meant specifically for people with obesity. Wegovy is approved for use only if you have a BMI of at least 27 with one or more weight-related ailments, or a BMI of 30 or more with none.
“These drugs are dominating my practice, because they’re so effective,” says Amanda Velazquez, MD, director of obesity medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The drug is considered safe, “so the majority of patients are good candidates.”
More Demand Than Supply
As word spread about how well Ozempic and Wegovy worked, social media posts helped drive even more people to seek out the drugs. Now demand is outpacing the supply – according to the FDA, starter doses of Ozempic will have limited availability through January.
“In Hollywood, people are losing 10 pounds, getting it for $1,500 a month, and depleting stores for people who have such severe obesity that they have congestive heart failure and diabetes,” Apovian says. “These are people who are going to die, and you’re taking it away just for cosmetic weight loss. That is deplorable.”
In addition to huge demand, Wegovy also had a disruption in its supply chain. Right now, it isn’t available at all in lower doses, which is helping to spike off-label demand for Ozempic. Novo Nordisk expects to have these problems sorted out by the end of the year, with distribution following soon after.
The Price of Access
With a list price of $1,350 a month, Wegovy costs as much as many mortgages. And Medicaid, Medicare, and many insurance companies don’t cover it. Although obesity is a disease, the insurance industry treats weight loss as more of a vanity issue – so even if you could find the drug, you might not be able to afford it.
“We’re seeing that roughly half the prescriptions we write aren’t being covered,” Apovian says. “And for the half that are covered, we have to do prior authorization, which takes days, and it’s laborious.” In some instances, she says, insurance companies withdraw authorization after 3 months if they don’t see enough weight coming off.
It’s not like you can take Wegovy for 3 months, lose some weight, and expect it to stay off, either. The medication requires a real commitment, potentially for life. That’s because once the semaglutide leaves your system, your appetite returns. In one study, people regained two-thirds of the weight they’d lost within a year of stopping.
Many see a double standard in the insurance companies’ refusal to cover a drug that could prevent serious illness or death.
“They’re saying it’s not cost-effective to give the 42% of Americans who have a BMI over 30 Wegovy. Did they say this when statins came out?” Apovian says. “Why are they doing this with antiobesity agents? It’s the culture. The culture isn’t ready to adopt obesity as the disease that it is.”
Unpleasant Side Effects
Let’s assume you’re one of the lucky ones – your insurance covers Wegovy, and you can actually find some. You might discover that using it is no walk in the park. Common side effects include gastrointestinal issues like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
“The way we counteract that is to start very slowly at a low dose of these medications,” Apovian says. “We only go up when the patient doesn’t have nausea or it gets better.”
Elise Davenport was excited to try Wegovy. “I did my online research. I’m the type who’s interested in early adoption, tech gadgets and stuff,” says the 40-year-old technical writer. “I wanted to try it because I’d tried so many other things that failed, or hadn’t worked long-term.”
With a BMI over 30, Davenport qualified for the drug. She signed up for an online program that guaranteed insurance coverage and started taking it in October 2021. At first, the side effects were mild, just a touch of nausea and diarrhea. And the results were impressive. She found it easy to feel satisfied with smaller portions and lost her cravings for sugar and highly processed foods. The weight fell off, roughly 5 pounds a week.
It turns out, that’s too much, too fast. Apovian and Velazquez say their patients lose more like 2 pounds each week, with careful monitoring.
By early December, Davenport’s side effects were ramping up. Because of shortages in lower dosages, the online program wasn’t able to adjust hers right away. She felt nauseated all the time, bad enough that brushing her teeth made her vomit and she had to force herself to eat. Some weeks, she managed less than 500 calories a day. Her sleep patterns became erratic. And then her depression, which medication had kept under control for years, spiraled.
“I remember sitting on the floor of my bathroom crying, thinking I’d rather carry the extra weight,” she says. “I used to take a lot of enjoyment from food, and I had none of that anymore. It was such a joyless experience at that point.”
Eventually, her dosage was reduced and the symptoms let up, but her primary care doctor encouraged her to stop. By the time she did, in March, she’d lost 55 pounds. So far, she’s gained back about 10.
More Than Just Weight Loss
Even though Davenport’s experience wasn’t a good one, with better monitoring, she’d be willing to try again. For one thing, seeing how easy it was to eat less with medical help helped to undo years of shame.
“Our culture treats obesity like a moral failing. I realized I’d been made to feel that way by doctors and programs – that I wasn’t doing enough,” she says. “This drug made me realize there are legit physiological things going on in my body, things that are often excluded from the conversation.”
Apovian and Velazquez say their patients regularly discover similar things.
“Obesity is not a disease of willpower. Medications are not the easy way out,” Velazquez says. “This is a chronic, relapsing medical condition, and because of that, we should treat it how we treat diabetes, high blood pressure, all these other conditions. We’d never hold back medication for individuals coming in with high blood pressure, tell them to work on willpower and withhold drugs they’d qualify for.”
[ad_2]
-
Cutting Table Salt Tied to Lower Heart Disease Risk
[ad_1]
Nov. 28, 2022 – Simply limiting shakes of salt at the table may help lower the risk of heart disease, new research suggests.
Using less added salt appeared to have the biggest effect on two common kinds of heart disease: heart failure and ischemic heart disease, also known as hardening of the arteries, which slows blood flow to the heart. But the research found that putting such limits on salt did not affect the risk of having a stroke.
The new research, from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, was published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“Overall, we found that people who don’t shake on a little additional salt to their foods very often had a much lower risk of heart disease events, regardless of lifestyle factors and pre-existing disease,” says co-author Lu Qi, MD, PhD, a professor at Tulane.
You Don’t Have to Eliminate It Altogether
That’s good news, because it suggests that just adding less salt to food – not removing it entirely – can make a difference without too big a sacrifice, Qi said in a statement.
Even those who followed a DASH-style diet to lower their blood pressure further reduced their heart disease risk when they held back the salt at the table, the researchers found.
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and people following it focus on foods rich in protein, calcium, potassium, fiber, and magnesium and avoid foods high in sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat.
People who didn’t add salt at the table very often and also followed the DASH diet had the lowest heart disease risk of the people studied, the researchers say.
The researchers found there was an even stronger link between adding salt to foods and heart disease risk when people were current smokers or had a lower social and economic status.
Conflicting Results
There’s already lots of evidence linking high sodium to high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. But studies looking at the link have had conflicting results because it’s been hard for researchers to find out how much salt people consume over many years.
A previous study by the same research team reported that people who added salt to foods more often had a higher risk of dying early from any cause and a lower life expectancy. This study builds on that and focuses on how more added salt over the long term affects heart disease risk.
For the study, researchers surveyed 176,570 people from the United Kingdom Biobank database who did not have cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. They were asked about how often they added salt to their food, not including salt used in cooking. They could answer never/rarely; sometimes; usually; or always.
They also were asked if they had made major changes to their diet in the last 5 years and were asked to recall what they ate and drank over the last 24 hours.
The researchers analyzed heart disease events through medical histories, data on hospital admissions, answers on questionnaires, and death register data.
Sara Ghoneim, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, wrote in an editorial that this study is promising for people in both high- and low-income countries.
“The economic burden of CVD [cardiovascular disease] is considerable and continues to increase in prevalence,” she wrote.
Ghoneim pointed out that a drawback of the study is that people were asked to report their own level of salt use and that they came from the database in the United Kingdom, so it’s uncertain whether other populations would have the same results.
[ad_2]
-
Happy Marriage Helps Recovery After Heart Attack
[ad_1]
Nov. 22, 2022 — Being less stressed in general is linked to better heart health. Now, a large study shows that having a less stressful, happier marriage is associated with better recovery in people who have a heart attack at a relatively young age — less than 55.
Researchers found that those who had the most stressful marriages were more likely to have more frequent chest pain or be readmitted to hospital in the year following their heart attack.
People with a stressful marriage had a worse recovery after a heart attack compared to other heart attack survivors of the same age, sex, education, and income level, as well as employment and insurance status, their study found.
“I would tell young cardiac patients that stress in their marriage or partnered relationship may adversely affect their recovery after a heart attack,” says Cenjing Zhu, a PhD candidate at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, CT. “Managing personal stress may be as important as managing other clinical risk factors” such as blood pressure, for example, “during the recovery process.”
General advice for everyone is to be aware of whether you have common risk factors for heart disease including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, or smoking, and for younger people to be aware of a family history of heart disease, particularly premature heart disease, Zhu says.
“Patients should know there is a link between marital stress and delayed recovery” from heart attack, says AHA spokesperson Nieca Goldberg, MD, who was not involved with this research.
“If they have marital stress, they should share the information with their doctor and discuss ways to get a referral to therapists and cardiac rehabilitation,” says Goldberg, a clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and medical director of Atria New York City.
“My final thought is women have often been told [by doctors] that their cardiac symptoms are due to stress,” she says. “Now we know stress impacts physical health and is no longer an excuse but a contributing factor to our physical health.”
Stressful Marriage
A lot of studies have reported that psychological stress is linked with worse heart health outcomes, Zhu says.
However, little was known about the effect of a stressful marriage on younger survivors of a heart attack.
The researchers analyzed data from participants in a study known as Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO).
This included 1,593 adults — 1,020 women — who were treated at 103 hospitals in 30 U.S. states. Most of these heart attack survivors were married and 8% were living as married/living with a partner.
Most (90%) were age 40 to 55, and the rest were younger. Their average age was 47. Three-quarters were white, 13% were Black, and 7% were Latino.
A month after their heart attack, they replied to 17 questions in the Stockholm Marital Stress Scale about the quality of their emotional and sexual relationships with their spouses/partners. Then 1 year after their heart attack, the patients replied to several questionnaires about their health.
A year later, those who reported severe marital stress had significantly worse scores for physical health, mental health, general quality of life, and quality of life related to their heart health, compared to the patients with no or mild marital stress.
The heart attack survivors with the most marital stress were 49% more likely to report more frequent chest pain/angina and 45% more likely to have been readmitted to hospital for any cause, compared to the patients with no or mild marital stress.
Study limitations include that the findings are based on a self-reported questionnaire.
“Additional stressors beyond marital stress, such as financial strain or work stress, may also play a role in young adults’ recovery, and the interaction between these factors require further research,” Zhu says.
The researchers will present their findings at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2022 Scientific Sessions, being held in Chicago this weekend.
[ad_2]
-
Hearts From Donors Who Had COVID Are Safe for Transplant
[ad_1]
By Cara Murez
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A person with heart failure in dire need of a new heart may have faced delays in getting one during the pandemic when potential donors tested positive for COVID-19.
As some centers began accepting these hearts for transplant anyway, data from a new study shows that hearts from COVID-19 positive donors may be as safe to transplant as those from someone without the virus.
“These findings suggest that we may be able to be more aggressive about accepting donors that are positive for COVID-19 when patients are in dire need of an organ for heart transplantation,” said study author Samuel Kim, a third-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.
The study, to be presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting Nov. 5-7 in Chicago, reviewed the cases of transplant recipients in the first 30 days after their surgery using the United Network for Organ Sharing database.
The database included information on all adult heart transplants in the United States from February 2021 to March 2022. Among a total of 3,289 heart donations, there were 84 from COVID-positive donors.
Researchers found that both groups of donor organ recipients had similar rates of death in the hospital and at 30 days after transplantation. They also had similar rates of complications. This included lung complications or organ rejection.
For patients with the hearts from people who were not infected with COVID-19, the average hospital stay was 17 days. It was 15 days for those receiving a heart from a COVID-positive donor.
Organ rejection occurred in 2.4% of the recipients from COVID-19-positive donors. It happened in 1% of the others.
About 97% of those who received hearts from donors without the virus survived, as did 96.1% of those who received hearts from people with the virus.
None of the four patients who died after receiving a heart from a COVID-positive donor died from respiratory causes or infections, the study found.
Researchers expressed surprise at the results.
“Specifically, we thought death from respiratory or lung-related causes would be a problem among recipients receiving donor hearts with COVID-19,” Kim said in a heart association news release. “Yet, we found no such differences, and in fact, this study offers early evidence that COVID-19-positive donor hearts may be as safe as hearts without COVID-19 for heart transplantation.”
The 2022 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Failure Society of America guidelines for managing heart failure recommend heart transplantation for people who progress to advanced (stage D) heart failure.
By the time they reach stage D, people have shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling that interfere with daily life. This can lead to recurrent hospitalizations.
In the United States, 3,658 people received hearts in 2020, up from 1,676 in 1988, according to the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics–2022.
More than 3,400 Americans are currently waiting for a heart.
“Despite the increased need for this operation, there is a continued shortage of available donor organs for people in need of transplantation. The COVID-19 pandemic made things worse with an increased rate of donors testing positive for COVID-19, which generally renders the donors unsuitable for transplantation,” Kim said. “However, several academic centers have started to use COVID-19-positive donor hearts for heart transplantation in recent months and have reported good results.”
Still, the study size was small. Longer-term studies are needed to assess how patients receiving hearts from COVID-19-positive donors fare beyond 30 days after surgery, researchers said.
“These findings provide evidence that outcomes were similar at 30-days post-transplant among patients who received COVID-19-positive donor hearts, so the potential risks appear to be lower than expected,” said Dr. Eldrin Lewis, an advanced heart failure and heart transplant specialist, the Simon H. Stertzer M.D. Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and chair of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University in California.
“In turn, this may help to address the shortages in donor hearts for transplantation and reduce waiting times, since people often get sicker as heart failure progresses while waiting for a donor heart to become available,” Lewis said in the release.
Findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has more on heart failure.
SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, Oct. 31, 2022
[ad_2]
-
Getting Omega-3s From Plants May Help Heart Failure Patients
[ad_1]
Oct. 25, 2022 — Including more foods rich in an omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) could help people with heart failure, a new study suggests.
ALA is an omega-3 fatty acid found mainly in plants. Higher blood levels of ALA were tied to fewer deaths and fewer first trips to the hospital for heart failure compared to lower levels in the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Some of the best sources of plant-based omega-3s include flax, which can be purchased as seeds or oil and is often found in cereals, baked goods, and other products. Chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soy foods, canola oil, seaweed, edamame, and kidney beans are also good sources.
“The most striking finding to us is the clear difference between patients in the bottom 25% — the lowest ALA levels — compared to the other 75%,” says Aleix Sala-Vila, PHD, of the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.
The researchers studied blood samples from 905 heart failure patients. The average age was 67, and about a third were women. After a follow-up of about 2 years, 140 people died of any cause, 85 died from cardiovascular disease, and 141 people were hospitalized for the first time with heart failure.
Patients with higher blood levels of ALA were significantly less likely to die or have a first heart failure hospitalization than those with lower levels, according to the analysis.
More research is needed to show definitively whether increasing dietary ALA can improve heart failure outcomes, Sala-Vila says. But for now, “including some ALA-rich foods such as walnuts in the diet might translate into cardiovascular benefits for anyone, whether they have heart failure or not. There is no evidence of any harmful effect of one daily serving of walnuts, not even on weight gain.”
Diet Often “Overlooked”
JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, called the study findings “promising.”
“Diet is often overlooked as an important factor in maintaining good health and good heart health,” she says. “This study gives further support that a dietary factor may influence heart health, including heart failure. Until recently, most of the dietary emphasis has been on salt intake, which is very important, but not as much as some of these other dietary factors.”
However, the study doesn’t prove that increasing ALA blood levels will definitely improve heart failure prognosis, she says.
“It may be that the foods that are leading to this higher blood level of ALA make up the type of plant-based diet that’s been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, such as the Mediterranean diet. The findings also could be the result of other factors that aren’t fully controlled for in the analysis, or the study participants may be more compliant with their medications.”
Nevertheless, she says, “It’s reasonable to recommend that people with a history of heart failure or who are at high risk increase their intake of ALA-enriched foods.”
It’s also good advice for everyone to follow a heart-healthy diet, including plenty of ALA, she adds.
“Have a large salad or a couple of smaller salads every day, add canola or flaxseed oil, and sprinkle on some walnuts,” she advises. “This will give you a high intake of ALA every day.”
[ad_2]
-
A Day in the Life of My Heart Failure
[ad_1]
By Aimee Rodriguez Zepeda, as told to Danny Bonvissuto
I didn’t have the typical feeling people describe, like trouble breathing. Instead, I was tired. I was 39 with two kids in grade school and two in high school. Feeling run down seemed pretty typical for women like me.
I went to my primary care doctor. I thought I was just going to tell her I was tired and ask if she could suggest a good B12 vitamin.
Instead, she listened to my heart and said, “I don’t like what I hear.” She referred me to a cardiologist and said I needed to go within the next day or two.
I thought, “I’m OK. It’s nothing. Something small. They’re just going to tell me I’m getting older and need to lose weight. All the usual stuff.”
A few days later, I had an echocardiogram. Afterward, the cardiologist came in, sat down, and in the most direct way, he said, “You have heart failure. Your heart is working at 20%.”
I was like, “Wait. What?”
He repeated himself, then handed me a box of tissues.
I have dilated cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, and systolic heart failure. That means my heart is enlarged and doesn’t pump well enough.
For a while I just sat there and wasn’t sure what to say. Then I said, “How do we fix this? What do we do?”
He said, “Heart failure isn’t something you fix — it’s something you manage. We’re going to attack this aggressively right now to get your function up, but this is a lifetime commitment.”
Before my diagnosis, I did what I wanted to do. I ate what I wanted, and didn’t really think about what I was eating, even though all the women in my family, including my elderly mother, have heart failure. My doctor believes my issue is a mixture of genetics and side effects of the chemotherapy I’d gotten for uterine cancer 7 years earlier.
Big Changes Quickly
Right away, I changed how I ate. I love my adobo seasoning, but had to stay away from salt. I figured out quickly that I craved whatever I could no longer eat. I’ve never craved a Big Mac so much in my life, even though I was never that much of a McDonald’s fan. I had to ask myself, is it worth it?
Another thing I had to learn how to manage quickly was stress. Stress is our enemy. That’s something I’m still working on, to be honest.
Everyday Challenges
Every day is different. Some days I get up and feel like I can take on the world. Other days, not so much. I’m a government contractor, I’m pursuing my PhD in public policy and administration, and I care for my mother, who lives with me. I had to learn to listen to my body. If your body tells you you’re tired, you’re tired. Rest.
Showers are a challenge. The heat from the shower, plus the energy it takes to wash my hair, makes me tired. I have to sit and relax afterward.
I also have to take my time cleaning the house. Something that would’ve taken me a couple hours back in the day takes me all day now.
I still do a lot of the same things I did before I was diagnosed with heart failure; it just takes me longer to do them. Heart failure gave me a different perspective on life: It’s not always important to get everything done in one day. Before my diagnosis, that would’ve made me insane.
The good part? It slowed me down. The bad part? It slowed me down.
Treatment Today
I’m on several different types of medication: heart medication, diuretics, vitamins, and acid reflux medication. Years ago, after my chemo treatments, I started having petit mal seizures, or staring off moments. So now I take seizure medication, too.
My doctors are always tweaking and changing my medicine to adjust to my body’s needs.
Diet and Exercise
In the morning I’ll have some eggs and fruit. In the afternoon, maybe a grilled chicken sandwich with a baked potato. For dinner, I may have chicken or seafood with green beans, maybe a little rice and a side salad.
For exercise, I take walks or use the Stairmaster in my bedroom. I aim for 30 minutes or so, three times a week. It’s harder in the summer because of the heat, but I’m able to do more in the winter.
I have a very good support system. My kids have their moments, like all kids do, but they’re very caring. If they realize I don’t feel good and need something, they’ll help me down the stairs, or sit on the couch next to me. They do small things, but it shows me that they understand if I’m not feeling good that day.
Advocate for Yourself
I always tell people not to look for the typical signs. You never know how your body is going to react. My kidneys can’t effectively get rid of the fluid in my body, and my heart has a hard time pumping everything to the right places. I retain fluid in my stomach, face, and arms, and if it gets to my legs and feet, I know I’m extremely over-flooded. Fluid puts stress on your heart and can send you into cardiac arrest.
If you don’t feel good, get it checked out. Even if your doctor says it’s probably nothing, get it checked out. It’s easier to fix a problem before it’s a problem than to fix a problem when it’s a problem.
[ad_2]
-
Heart Failure: What I Wish I’d Known
[ad_1]
By Kim Lewis, as told to Stephanie Watson
As a single mom, I did a lot of juggling. I had an active son and a job at a health and sports facility. I was busy. Making time for doctor appointments and taking care of myself weren’t high on my list. I learned the hard way how important it is to be proactive about my own health.
Just over 20 years ago, when I was 32, I got a cough that wouldn’t go away. I was having so much trouble breathing that I had to sleep upright in a recliner to get enough air into my lungs.
I kept going back to my doctor and telling him the cough wasn’t improving and I couldn’t breathe. He diagnosed me with all kinds of things — pneumonia, walking pneumonia, bronchitis. Finally, after the third or fourth visit, I told my doctor, “I think I need to see a lung specialist.”
The lung specialist immediately sent me to a hospital, where I fell into a coma. When I came out of it 3 days later, my doctors told me that I had inflammation of my heart muscle called myocarditis, which was caused by a virus. I was in heart failure.
A Scary Prognosis
The doctors told me I had 5 years to live. My son was 12 years old at the time. That meant I wouldn’t get to see him graduate from high school. It was horrifying to think about. He’s my whole world.
My son was my baby boy, but he had to grow up quickly. I was so sick that I needed him to take care of me. By the time he was 15, he had to drive me to the hospital if I got sick in the middle of the night. If my port came out, he would call the doctor and say, “Tell me what to do.” My heart failure put a lot of pressure on him.
Turning My Health Around
I knew I had to make drastic changes if I was going to get more time with my son. I started eating healthy. There was no more going to fast food windows for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I was sitting down to heart-healthy meals. Instead of keeping snack cakes and candy bars on my countertop, I have bananas, apples, and oranges. I stock my fridge with bottles of water, not soda.
Exercise also became a priority. Rather than watching TV in the evening, I go for a walk. I teach a water fitness class 3 days a week and I play with my grandchildren to stay active. I make sure that I exercise and see my doctors. And I take a guideline-recommended heart failure treatment to help my heart pump blood more effectively.
I have these really amazing doctors who monitor me closely and take good care of me. They say I’m nothing short of a miracle. They don’t have an explanation for how much I’m able to do, but they think it’s a combination of healthy living, good medication, and weight loss.
What I Would Have Done Differently
If I could talk to my former self, I would tell her that she needs to take better care of her body. I can look back now and say I probably should have gone to the doctor more often. I should have been more physically active. And I should have had a salad with my slice of pizza instead of eating three slices of pizza.
I also should have asked for a second opinion when my doctor wrote off my symptoms. Had the doctors caught my heart failure sooner, I might not have had permanent damage. There’s a fine line between trusting your doctor and trusting your gut. If you’re not comfortable with what your doctor tells you, it’s OK to get a second opinion.
If I had it do over again, I definitely would have prioritized my health. I’ve met a lot of other heart failure survivors who also put their health on the back burner while they took care of everything else. I should have put my health on the front burner and taken care of me.
A New Outlook on Life
Coming so close to death made me appreciate life more. I appreciate the holidays, dinner with friends, sunrises and sunsets, and the sound of rain. I appreciate family gatherings. I have a very large family here in Tennessee. We get together about four times a year. I’m tickled every time I get to see them.
I feel like life is more precious now. I know that I was given a second chance. After being told that I had 5 years to live, I’ve made it more than 20 years. Every day is a gift.
[ad_2]