Four Things I Learned Today
Broccoli is good for the heart. This vegetable contains a compound called sulforaphane. This compound is capable of “switching on” an inactive but protective protein called Nrf2 in some parts of our arteries that have been found to be vulnerable to clogging. These are the findings by a study done by researchers at Imperial College London and funded by the British Heart Foundation- Influenza has secondary complications that increase the risk of heart attacks for people with diabetes and heart disease. Flu weakens the
body’s defenses and adds stress to our system so that a flu sufferer has increased risks of having a myocardial infarction during or right after flu infection. An anti-flu shot however, can reduce this risk. 
There is such a thing as insulin resistance. Ok, I knew this already but what I didn’t know was it is a combination of health issues associated with increased risk of diabetes, including atherosclerosis and early heart disease. Obesity and polycystic ovarian syndrome are two other diseases caused by insulin resistance.- For pregnant women: exercising during pregnancy not only keeps mothers healthy but also keeps newborn size normal.
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My Diabetes Medication
My last HBA1C test showed 5.5%, which according to the lab’s reference value of 3.9 to 6.2% is well within the normal values my doctor wanted me to maintain. He told me I was doing well in controlling my blood sugar levels. However, another test, which he called a post-prandial blood test showed a high 299. 4 value, which is way above the 140 mg/dL normal level. He had already prescribed diamicron 30 mg which I take before lunch. He said that even if my A1C test was ok, my post prandial test was not good at all. This could still cause me some harm he said so he prescribed an additional medication, metformin 500 which I should take after supper.
I came upon this report from Health News that says diabetes medications don’t lower inflammation. Although the report noted that it concerns more those who have been newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, I still felt concerned myself since I recalled that my doctor mentioned something about inflammation in my arteries too.
“In people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, the glucose-lowering medications metformin and insulin don’t appear to reduce the inflammation associated with heart disease, new research suggests.”
In my case, the cardiologists who did my first angioplasty in 2006 already told me that diabetes directly contributed to my coronary artery disease so I need to watch my sugar intake religiously. I think I am succeeding although sometimes I forget to control myself and eat ice cream or cake, especially when the family goes out to spend the day outside the house.
But the above-mentioned news got me really concerned. I am able to control my blood sugar in the long term but I could still be susceptible to inflammation linked to heart disease. However, there is some confusion for me since according to the report:
“Some suggested that intensive glucose control couldn’t affect heart disease risk, while a recent meta-analysis suggests that good blood sugar levels could reduce death from heart attack.”
I have no idea at this point what this will mean for my condition in the future. I guess I have to talk again with my cardiologist about this.
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Heart Disease – Family History and You
Studies have shown that a strong link exists between heart disease and family history. They reveal that one’s risk goes up if a first-degree relative such as a father, mother or sibling has or had heart disease. This is especially true if the relative had heart disease before reaching the age of 55 years old if male, and 60 if female.
As far as I know, neither my mother – who died at 62 from ovarian cancer, nor my father who is quite healthy at 78 – have no heart disease. My father is still active and can walk for hours without getting too tired. As for my brothers and sisters, they have not complained about any heart trouble either.
If you have someone with coronary artery disease in your immediate family, you would do good to have your heart condition evaluated, including special blood test to look for heart disease markers. You may have silent risk factors. Having tests at a young age especially, will let you control and lower your risk, improving your chances of a heart disease free existence.
High cholesterol is not always a concern for heart disease. It’s the inflammatory kind of cholesterol that usually worries doctors. So be sure to clarify with your doctor if your cholesterol is this type. It is also important to test for diabetes, as it can increase the risk of having cardiovascular disease.
Having a family history of heart disease doesn’t have to be a definite death sentence for all. There are several ways you can follow to avoid developing heart disease at an early age. Smoking has been proven to be a prime cause of coronary heart disease so if you are a smoker, STOP NOW! Being overweight is also an important factor so keeping it down can help too. Eating right and maintaining a regular exercise routine can greatly contribute to delaying heart disease symptoms.
My immediate family have no history of heart disease yet I developed coronary artery disease when I was 40 years old. That just goes to say a lot about how I lived my life before that age. I did not watch what I ate. I smoked and I did not exercise. Knowing I had diabetes did not help at all as I ignored its symptoms. Most of all, I did not submit myself to the tests that should have pointed me to the right direction.
People with a genetic predisposition to heart disease don’t have to be slaves to inherent limitations it imposes on them. Most heart doctors agree that a change in lifestyle is one way to prevent or delay heart attacks. It should start at an early age and the sooner you do it, the better chances you will have.
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Smoking Kills – A Fact Often Ignored by Smokers
Twelve years ago, I used to smoke more than one pack of cigarette everyday. It was a bad habit I picked up when I lived in Spain for three years. I have no excuse for that but let me just say, it happened because I did not know any better. Had I known that smoking kills, I wouldn’t have started smoking. But then again, I remember my mother telling me when I was a kid to never smoke because it causes liver problems. I never knew how she came to that conclusion, but the CDC’s Data and Statistics for Smoking and Tobacco Use confirms that smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular disease (heart and circulatory system), respiratory disease and other harmful effects. It is also a known fact that even second hand smoke is quite as deadly.
This is the reason why I am now always averse to being near smokers – they endanger not only themselves but also me. But looking back on my smoking days, I never gave any second thought to smoking among people, whether they were smokers or not. What mattered to me then was to satisfy my tobacco cravings, even if I was in a bus or a crowded place. (Smoking in public was not banned at the time – in the 80’s). I remember even deriding restaurants that banned smokers or relegated them to an out of the way corner. In those days, my friends and I decided never to patronize such establishments and we would simply look for other restaurants or any eating place where they allowed smokers. These days fortunately, no respectable restaurant allows smokers inside and I would never consider eating in a place where they allow smokers. Finally, smoking was banned in public places.
Regret always comes last. I could never undo the damage caused by smoking to my heart. And as what the CDC say, by smoking I have also exposed myself to cancer risks and other respiratory problems. I can only pray that I do not suffer the worst consequences of smoking.
Do you smoke or do you know someone who smokes? You can help stop this and be healthier.
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Two Things I Learned Today
1. Happiness can be beneficial to our health. According to Allie of easy-ways, happiness “appear to make the immune system function better and provide a protective effect against some diseases.” Now this really makes my heart happy, to know that being happy, hopeful, optimistic and contented, can help me improve not only my heart condition but my entire life as well.
2. According to a report by Environmental Health News, evidence against environmental contaminants’ role in diabetes is growing. It says that eating right and exercise might not be enough these days to avoid diabetes. Scientists have found a link between diabetes and the pollutants to which people are exposed to. David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the State University of New York, Albany said:
Most people have not thought of diabetes as a disease related to environmental exposure, and these studies show that it is. The science has been growing very, very rapidly, and to my mind, it’s one of the most exciting developments in the study of diabetes.
The report also mentioned a study conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which found that those people who had the highest level of pollutants were 38 times more likely to suffer from diabetes as compared to those with the lowest polllution exposure level.
I wonder how much of my diabetes can be attributed to the chemicals that I have been inhaling throughout the years.
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Stress Busters
It is well known that stress is a major factor in the development of heart disease although doctors are not sure yet how this happens. The American Heart Association says that stress management benefits the overall status of our health. However, the data they have collected so far are not enough to support any specific stress reduction therapy for heart disease.
Everyone in the world is slowly becoming stressed-out. Our work demands much of our time and attention, leaving us with less time to sleep and with no opportunity to exercise. We are forced to eat unhealthy foods that bring disaster to the systems in our body. And although doctors are yet to find out how and why, we know that stress causes our blood pressure to shoot up and destroy our immune system making us vulnerable to many health problems and concerns, including heart disease and certain cancers.
To counter this trend, and besides giving a dose of laughter as the best medicine, the Reader’s Digest has listed some 79 instant stress busters that they say will make you feel just fine. My favorite:
33. Hold a sleeping baby
The only problem is that finding one may produce more stress for me.
Do you have your own ritual that you do to de-stress yourself?
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Treating Heart Disease – Exercise vs Angioplasty
angioplasty with stent
A report that appeared in Natural News says that there is a better way to treat heart disease than angioplasty with stents. Now, I already had two angioplasties and 3 stents three years apart and I am wondering what to make of this report. It says that it is not a new drug or surgical procedure but simply regular exercise. This was the conclusion made at the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation meeting recently held in Barcelona, Spain.
It goes on to say that treating heart disease by means of angioplasty is a huge business.
A report in Bloomberg News last fall noted that about 800,000 angioplasties are performed each year in the U.S. at a cost of about $10 billion annually. And, although many cardiologists consider angioplasty to be the “gold standard” of care in most types of acute coronary events such as heart attack, the procedure’s long term benefits have been questioned by many doctors. In addition, the role of angioplasty in treating other kinds of coronary disease, like angina, isn’t clear.
I took up biking as a way to help me improve my heart condition starting in 2000. And in fact I bike commuted to work at least 3 to 4 times a week for two years following my angioplasty in 2006. If this report was based on empirical data, which I suppose it was, then why did biking not prevent me from having the second angioplasty? I intend to bring this up with my cardiologist when I see him next month.
If you receive some information about your health that is somehow contradictory to what you know, would you talk about it with your health care provider or would you just let it pass and see what would happen?
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Three Things I Learned Today (2)
1. In the light of what happened to Michael Jackson, I have to admit that in spite of my present heart condition, I never thought of clarifying to myself what the difference is between cardiac arrest and heart attack. I already had one heart attack in August of 2004, and because of that, I now know just about anything that has to do with it. But then, came this event, Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest, which all along I thought was the same as heart attack. They are not the same thing. Cardiac arrest may not have something to do with heart disease at all. You can find the difference in this post from Everyday Health.
2. Doctors in the US have used a man’s own stem cells to treat his heart attack. According to this article from Medicine Net, the goal of this first of a kind treatment for heart attack is to repair cardiac muscle that has been damaged. The procedure involves using a catheter to inject the patient’s own stem cells into his coronary arteries. If the results for this pioneering procedure are positive, then it will be good news for people like me. Results are scheduled to be released late 2010.
3. Viagra helped to keep a baby with defective heart alive, The Times of India reported. Surgeons switched the two reversed main arteries the baby was born with when he was 16 days old. The baby had a heart attack and medics where he was brought diagnosed a rare incurable blood vessel disorder pulmonary hypertension which narrows the blood vessels around the lungs and increases blood pressure. Symptoms of this disease are similar to asthma. The doctors treating him prescribed liquid Viagra to keep the vessels open and improve blood circulation.
Have you learned anything new today?
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Type 2 Diabetes: Recognizing Signs and Symptoms
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease at the same time in 2000. I couldn’t recall now what my reaction was when the doctor told this to me, but I guess I was surprised. Surprised I was because apart from the hard to breathe episode that I experienced about two days before I went to the doctor for a checkup, I couldn’t remember feeling anything that would indicate that I had diabetes and it was causing my heart to become diseased.
As I recall, my highest blood pressure reading was 180/130 or thereabouts. However, I have no recollection of what my blood sugar level reading was back then but I do remember going to a clinic one time to have it tested and the nurse told me it was high. How high I don’t really know. I didn’t care because I did not feel ill at all. Even when they told me I should check my blood pressure, I still continued with my unhealthy diet, sedentary life style and worse, smoking. I was kind of proud actually thinking that even as my blood sugar was high and my blood pressure too, I wasn’t feeling sick and I did not experience anything bad or life threatening. Little did I know that diabetes and heart disease were already lurking within my body, just waiting for the right time to manifest themselves.
The signs and symptoms were there although I chose to ignore them. Looking back, I should have known that my feelings and behavior exhibited classic symptoms hyperglycemia, a blood sugar imbalance where blood sugar is high. Now, I am suffering the consequences of that ignorance.
In type 2 diabetes, blood sugar levels slowly rise so that the symptoms develop throughout the years or they may not show at all. In my case, the signs and symptoms that I concretely remember were my repeated trips to the bathroom, frequent thirst, and fatigue. I would wake up several times at night with the urge to urinate but I associated it with the glass of water I drank before going to bed. During the day, I remember that I needed to drink water a lot although I thought it was only because of the heat. I was easily tired but I thought it was only because I lacked exercise. It’s true what medical books say about diabetes. The signs I ignored developed gradually on me so I tended to overlook them.
I have an automatic blood pressure monitor at home that I can use. It was a gift from a cousin who lives in California. I also have a blood sugar monitor that I do not use because that thing where you have to put the blood on is quite expensive here in the Philippines and I rather spend my money on medicines. Instead, I usually go and have an Hba1c test every three months, which doctors say is more reliable in indicating whether I am controlling my diabetes or not.
There is no cure for diabetes; you can only control and manage it by medication, proper diet and exercise. Without these three things, untreated or poorly managed diabetes can lead to further serious and life-long complications. My heart disease was exacerbated by diabetes and until now, I am still battling against both on a daily basis.
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Three Things I Learned Today
1. The type of music we listen to can affect our heart rhythm and our whole cardiovascular system. This was the conclusion of a study conducted by Dr. Luciano Bernardi, an internal medicine professor at the Pavia University in Italy. He found out that loud music can make our hearts beat faster while soft music can lower our heart beat rate.
2. The US Center for Disease Control has issued H1N1 Flu: Interim Guidance for People With Heart Disease, Stroke, or Cardiovascular Disease. It warns that heart failure sufferers must always be on the lookout to any changes in their breathing and if they observe any change, should immediately report them to their health care provider. Before I came upon this article, I had no plans of getting a flu shot. Our office is actually offering a discount to employees who will avail of it. I think I will pass by the clinic tomorrow to inquire.
3. Since I also have diabetes, I did another search for diabetes and H1N1, and I came upon another page of the CDC: How diabetes affects my response to cold or flu. It reports that illness itself is already a factor that can raise blood sugar level and that being sick can prevent healthy eating, which in turn influences blood sugar level too. Moreover, diabetes can compromise the immune system and leave the body vulnerable to severe influenza attacks. It advises diabetics to get a flu shot every year. Mark this up as another reason to pass by the office clinic tomorrow.
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