"What Every Person Should Know About Their Heart"
Q: The old saying goes, "What you don't know can't hurt you." When it comes to my heart, what might I not know that actually could end up hurting me?
A: There's another saying you might be familiar with: "Knowledge is power." When it comes to having a healthy heart, this couldn't be more true. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease could never occur without knowledge first motivating action.
In other words, what you don't know can hurt you. It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like. Heart disease can strike athletic people, slender people and people in the prime of their lives. When it comes to heart knowledge, the fact is that you have to look further than the mirror. Here are a few key facts you should learn about yourself to keep your heart going strong:
Your Numbers
Even if you see yourself as "the picture of health," you should know the numbers for your cholesterol, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI). These can all be strong indicators of cardiovascular risk. In cases of cholesterol, it's best to have a full-lipid panel, which means a measurement of both your good and bad cholesterol levels.
Screenings for these indicators are commonly available through your primary care provider and are frequently offered through community health fairs or other special events.
One shortcoming of these screenings is that the results come with an expiration date. Even though you learned your numbers five years ago, things can change with time. Aim to get needed screenings and tests regularly. Talk to your physician about when you should get recommended tests and screenings.
Family History
You might surprise yourself with how little you know about your family's medical history. For instance, people who have lost their grandparents years ago might not even know what the specific cause of death was, let alone what other illnesses their grandparents dealt with. In many families, parents and siblings just don't discuss their health status.
While every person has a right to his or her privacy, it shouldn't hurt to bring up the topic of family health history with your family members. While you're having that conversation, take some notes and make sure to share the information with your physician.
Your Risk Factors
Knowing the general risk factors for heart disease is one thing. The next step is asking, "Which of these factors apply to me?"
The purpose of knowing them is two-fold. First of all, if you have risk factors, you need to make sure your physician is aware of this and you're getting the medical attention needed to monitor your risk. Secondly, the list of risk factors contains both controllable and uncontrollable factors. Your goal should be to manage or eliminate the controllable risk factors.
Common heart disease risk factors include:
Uncontrollable Risk Factors:
• family history of heart disease
• Gender (male)
• Increasing age
• Post-menopausal
• Race (African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans)
• Controllable Risk Factors:
• Alcohol or drug use
• High blood pressure
• High LDL "bad" cholesterol or low HDL "good" cholesterol
• Obese or overweight
• Physical inactivity
• Poor stress management
• Poorly managed diabetes
• Smoking
You don't have to have all of the risk factors on the list to carry a higher risk of heart disease. For instance, though males have a higher risk of heart disease than females, heart disease remains the number one killer of women. If you have any of these risk factors, discuss them with your healthcare provider.
Warning Signs
Getting help for a heart attack starts with recognizing the warning signs. Knowing these signs might not only save your life one day, but it could save the life of someone around you.
Heart Attack Warning Signs (from the American Heart Association)
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense - the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:
• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
You can also learn the warning signs of strokes and heart attack at americanheart.org. As stated above, if you or someone you know experiences these warning signs, don't ignore them or put off getting help. Call 911 immediately, even if you uncertain about the cause.
To assess your cardiac risk call Monroe Clinic at 608-324-2227 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tipnis.
- Dr. Parag Tipnis specializes in noninvasive cardiology, offering his expertise in the detection, evaluation and treatment of heart disease. He is especially skilled in echocardiology-a field that has offered tremendous advances in the diagnosis of heart disorders. Echocardiology uses ultrasound waves to build a picture of the heart's internal structure, thereby allowing a specialist to examine the heart without making a single incision.
Q: The old saying goes, "What you don't know can't hurt you." When it comes to my heart, what might I not know that actually could end up hurting me?
A: There's another saying you might be familiar with: "Knowledge is power." When it comes to having a healthy heart, this couldn't be more true. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease could never occur without knowledge first motivating action.
In other words, what you don't know can hurt you. It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like. Heart disease can strike athletic people, slender people and people in the prime of their lives. When it comes to heart knowledge, the fact is that you have to look further than the mirror. Here are a few key facts you should learn about yourself to keep your heart going strong:
Your Numbers
Even if you see yourself as "the picture of health," you should know the numbers for your cholesterol, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI). These can all be strong indicators of cardiovascular risk. In cases of cholesterol, it's best to have a full-lipid panel, which means a measurement of both your good and bad cholesterol levels.
Screenings for these indicators are commonly available through your primary care provider and are frequently offered through community health fairs or other special events.
One shortcoming of these screenings is that the results come with an expiration date. Even though you learned your numbers five years ago, things can change with time. Aim to get needed screenings and tests regularly. Talk to your physician about when you should get recommended tests and screenings.
Family History
You might surprise yourself with how little you know about your family's medical history. For instance, people who have lost their grandparents years ago might not even know what the specific cause of death was, let alone what other illnesses their grandparents dealt with. In many families, parents and siblings just don't discuss their health status.
While every person has a right to his or her privacy, it shouldn't hurt to bring up the topic of family health history with your family members. While you're having that conversation, take some notes and make sure to share the information with your physician.
Your Risk Factors
Knowing the general risk factors for heart disease is one thing. The next step is asking, "Which of these factors apply to me?"
The purpose of knowing them is two-fold. First of all, if you have risk factors, you need to make sure your physician is aware of this and you're getting the medical attention needed to monitor your risk. Secondly, the list of risk factors contains both controllable and uncontrollable factors. Your goal should be to manage or eliminate the controllable risk factors.
Common heart disease risk factors include:
Uncontrollable Risk Factors:
• family history of heart disease
• Gender (male)
• Increasing age
• Post-menopausal
• Race (African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans)
• Controllable Risk Factors:
• Alcohol or drug use
• High blood pressure
• High LDL "bad" cholesterol or low HDL "good" cholesterol
• Obese or overweight
• Physical inactivity
• Poor stress management
• Poorly managed diabetes
• Smoking
You don't have to have all of the risk factors on the list to carry a higher risk of heart disease. For instance, though males have a higher risk of heart disease than females, heart disease remains the number one killer of women. If you have any of these risk factors, discuss them with your healthcare provider.
Warning Signs
Getting help for a heart attack starts with recognizing the warning signs. Knowing these signs might not only save your life one day, but it could save the life of someone around you.
Heart Attack Warning Signs (from the American Heart Association)
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense - the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:
• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
You can also learn the warning signs of strokes and heart attack at americanheart.org. As stated above, if you or someone you know experiences these warning signs, don't ignore them or put off getting help. Call 911 immediately, even if you uncertain about the cause.
To assess your cardiac risk call Monroe Clinic at 608-324-2227 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tipnis.
- Dr. Parag Tipnis specializes in noninvasive cardiology, offering his expertise in the detection, evaluation and treatment of heart disease. He is especially skilled in echocardiology-a field that has offered tremendous advances in the diagnosis of heart disorders. Echocardiology uses ultrasound waves to build a picture of the heart's internal structure, thereby allowing a specialist to examine the heart without making a single incision.
