by Dan | Jul 29, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This is the final segment of the heart disease series. Everybody knows somebody, or they themselves personally, have heart disease. No one is immune. Sometimes reminding yourself of the reasons why you should do something about it is as close as your own home. Family should rank as the primary goal. I touch on this more is a minute.
Treatment options include: 1. Medications: These medicines can be used to help lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, improve your blood sugars, but in all, they can help lower your risk of a heart attack. Which medication is right for you depends on your own health issues, and discussion with your doctor.
2. Angioplasty/stent: If you already have heart disease, or had a heart attack, these may be one of the treatments that are used. Angioplasty involves using a balloon to open up the coronary artery, and then placing a stent helps keep it open. If things are too involved for this, then the next step may be…
3. Coronary bypass surgery: Here another blood vessel from your body, very commonly from your leg, is used to “bypass” the areas of blockage. It is reattached above the area of the blockage, to an area below it, so it effectively bypasses the blood flow around the areas of blockage. These 2 options definitely are more advanced ways of treating heart disease, but one of the most effective yet is preventing it from ever getting this severe. This brings up to the last treatment option.
4. Lifestyle changes: This is basically what are entire blog, and Strive 2 Survive program is all about. The more you can do about watching your diet, and increasing your exercise, the better. This can definitely help prevent heart disease from coming on, but are also extremely effective in helping to manage heart disease if any of the other options above come into play also.
Afterall, is life not about having fun!
Wrap your arms around the things in life that are most important to you. We all have to remember we are not going to have them forever. Appreciate them while we can. Family is the center of all of this for me, and why I try to stay healthy. I want to be here and enjoy them a long time. A special thanks to photographer, and friend, Cory Ann Ellis, for once again creating some great family pictures to enjoy forever. Thanks!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1767
by Dan | Jul 23, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
It was a busy weekend for many parents. It was the state softball tournament held in SF. Boy, was it hot; around 100 degrees both days. Between me running back and forth between my daughter Molly’s game, and my son’s games, I had just as much of a workout as they did. Here Nick is with his Brown Clinic/Glacial Lakes Property Management teammates as they placed 2nd in the U14 division. They played very well, and gave it all they had.
Here Molly is racing around 3rd base on her way to home to score. Both kids had a lot of fun, and for me, as Dad, I can say it was a lot of fun watching them, but I was exhausted afterwards. Keeping up with the 2 of them, while Sarah is back home on call, was quite the workout. I did lots of walking in between games as well, and did not have to worry about trying to do any other exercise for the day. All of this was enough.
For all of you parents out there, you know what you all do for your kids. We make a lot of sacrifices as well trying to keep the kids involved in activities, and trying to be there to cheer them on as well. We have to remember to take care of ourselves as well, and remember to stay active for us as well. If we don’t, we are going to have a hard time keeping up with them. We also run the risk of not being around for them later when they need us. Hopefully, they appreciate all of this as well. For many of these things, it may not be appreciated at the time, but as they look back, they will remember we were there for them, and then it will matter. So remember, take care of ourselves, stay healthy, and keep moving everybody.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1761
by Dan | Jul 22, 2012 | Exercise, Heart Health, Wellness/Health
There are several tests that can be done in the evaluation of Coronary Heart Disease. These include:
1.) EKG–This is an electrical tracing of your heart, and can help detect any changes in blood flow to the heart, and help determine if someone is having a heart attack, or if they have had one in the past. It only takes a few minutes, and is painless.
2.) A Stress Test–You are monitored continuously with an EKG tracing, and then start walking on a treadmill, such as the one pictured. Every 3 minutes, the speed and the incline of the treadmill increase. We are trying to evaluate not only your exercise capacity/limit, but also help determine if your heart is getting enough blood with activity. We are “stressing” your heart.
3.) An Echocardiogram–it is basically an ultrasound of your heart, giving us information about your heart valves, and how well your heart contracts when it is beating.
4.) A cardiac catheterization, or angiogram–the large vessels in the groin of your leg have a catheter placed and dye is injected to evaluate the coronary vessels of the heart. This is where we can see exactly where blockages exist, and then can place a stent where necessary if blockage is present.
5.) A cardiac score/calcium score–This is a CT scan of the coronary vessels of your heart, and if the amount of calcium present in the coronary vessels are increased, this is also a risk factor with blockage of the vessel going forward. It to is painless, and takes only a few minutes.
Overall, what everyone needs to keep in mind is that if they are experiencing increasing shortness of breath with activity, or chest pain, then you need to see your doctor to decide on which tests above need to be performed in order to help evaluate you.
The final upcoming segment on coronary heart disease will be dealing with how to treat it. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1760
by Dan | Jul 12, 2012 | Exercise, Heart Health, Wellness/Health
Time to get back to previous discussion about heart disease, or coronary heart disease. We will discuss over a 3 part series, the first being about what is coronary heart disease, and what are the symptoms.
In short, coronary heart disease refers to the process where the arteries that supply blood to the heart “get clogged” with fatty deposits. Overall, this puts you at risk for having a heart attack. I had previously discussed some of the statistics related to the prevalence of heart disease in general, now to discuss the symptoms associated with this.
The symptoms of a heart attack can include: Pain, pressure, or discomfort in the center of your chest; Pain, tingling, or discomfort in other parts of the upper body, including the arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach; Shortness of breath; Nausea, vomiting, burping, or heartburn; Sweating, or having cold, clammy skin; A racing or uneven heartbeat; Feeling dizzy, or lightheaded.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that people with coronary heart disease may have no symptoms, and in fact, the first symptom may be a heart attack. In the next 2 series, I will talk about tests that can be done to help with testing for coronary heart disease, and then how do you treat it, as well as how do you prevent it. The prevention is what we have talked about since we started this blog, continuing to exercise, and watching our diet.
Keep moving everybody.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1750
by Dan | Jul 4, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Happy 4th of July. To go along with our most recent ad campaign…”I’d Rather Be…” for the clinic, our parade float was made out with this same theme. As our commercial states, “…At Brown Clinic, we know there are things you would rather do than come in to get your physical”. We would rather be biking, gardening, coaching, fishing, golfing, anything we enjoy. That is exactly why Brown Clinic is here for you. We want to make sure you can do those things. Make sure to get your yearly physicals, stay healthy, watch our diet, and exercise. “I’d Rather Be…” preventing someone from getting sick, than take care of them after they are sick.
Here is the main parade gang, holding our award for the parade. Our float won for “The Most Original”. Way to go everybody. You saw us out there today walking, even with this heat and humidity. You get out and stay active. Take care of yourself. We are there to help if needed, just meet us half way! Keep moving everybody. Have a good 4th of July, and be safe!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1742
