From the category archives:

Patient's Perspective

Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving a Cardiac Emergency

Thumbnail image for Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving a Cardiac Emergency November 12, 2009

No one wants to think about having a heart attack or stroke. It is scary. However, taking the time to think about what you would do in an emergency, knowing the signs, having the information you will need can help you survive and recover well.
Download the Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving a Cardiac Emergency e-book [...]

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Heart Burn or Heart Attack: How can you tell the difference?

Thumbnail image for Heart Burn or Heart Attack: How can you tell the difference? May 6, 2009

Is that sharp, burning sensation in your chest caused by the pizza you just ate or a sign of something more serious?
How can you tell the difference?
Women’s heart attack symptoms can be difficult to diagnose. My heart attack absolutely started out feeling like heart burn. I’ve experienced both severe heartburn and a heart [...]

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Managing Beta Blocker Side Effects: The Patient’s Perspective

March 2, 2009

Medications referred to as beta blockers are commonly prescribed to control blood pressure, heart failure, and some types of arrhythmias. While considered the most benign of the cardiac drugs, many people experience irritating and sometimes intolerable side effects.
Beta blockers block the flow of adrenaline and cause your heart to beat slower and with less force. [...]

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Beta Blockers and Depression: The Patient’s Perspective

March 1, 2009

How do you know the difference between the side effects of your Beta Blocker medication and depression?

Beta blockers—used to treat high blood pressure—limit the flow of adrenaline in your body which can make you feel sluggish, fatigued, and muted. This is common and tolerable for most patients. However, the medication can also bring on depression, [...]

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Drug Induced Lupus: The Patient’s Perspective

March 1, 2009

Hunting down the cause of my flu-like symptoms, joint, and chest pain led me to an unusual discovery. I had drug induced lupus!
It was five years after my heart attack and I had been feeling run down and fluish every day for months. My muscles ached and my joints were so sore I couldn’t stand [...]

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Dealing with the Beta Blocker Stupids: The Patient’s Perspective

March 1, 2009

Before you attribute forgetting where you parked your car to an early senior moment, read this:
After my heart attack, I thought I had brain damage. I went back to working as a choreographer, but couldn’t concentrate and be creative in the same way I had before. I found out I wasn’t alone.
“I can be having [...]

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Belly Fat Hurts Your Brain: Busy Woman’s Guide

Thumbnail image for Belly Fat Hurts Your Brain: Busy Woman’s Guide February 28, 2009

Reducing belly fat reduces your risk of dementia!
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente found people who are both obese and have a large belly in their 40s are three times more likely to experience dementia than those with a healthy weight and belly size. “The take-home message from this study is that one should not only be [...]

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Mammogram for Your Heart?

October 9, 2008

Yet another reason to schedule your mammogram!

We all know mammograms can detect early breast cancer, but did you know it could also predict early heart disease?
Along with detecting a lump, mammograms can also detect calcium deposits in the blood vessels of the breast, an indicator of early heart disease. Calcium deposits detected on mammograms correlated [...]

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September is Atrial Fibrillation Month

September 3, 2008

September has been declared Atrial Fibrillation
Month to raise awareness of this life-threatening heart condition. Embrace Your Heart’s Medical Interpreter and founder of the patient resource StopAfib.org Mellanie True Hills, provides some great information:
Commonly known as afib, atrial fibrillation is a misfiring of the electrical signals of the heart involving rapid or irregular heartbeats or quivering [...]

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Migranies and Strokes

May 23, 2008

Does your migraine put you at a higher risk for heart attack and stroke? A recent study says yes. As a heart attack-survivor and migraine-sufferer, I was surprised to find out — yes! Read more in my article originally published at MyHealthyHeartInfo.com
A study released recently by the American Academy of Neurology indicates the risk of [...]

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