Tag Archives: cardiovascular

The Legs Have It – Our Heart – Happy February Heart Month!

As a person with chronic lower leg issues who recently called 911 believing I might be having a heart attack the following article shows the relationship between our heart and leg vascular disease.  Educating ourselves can make the difference between living  and living a quality life.

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“Approximately nine million Americans over the age of 50 are living with a disease that affects their legs and raises their risk of having a heart attack. Unfortunately, many with the disease do not even know they have it. February is Heart Month, and the Vascular Disease Foundation and its P.A.D. Coalition are urging Americans to listen to their legs and be alert to the signs of peripheral arterial disease, or P.A.D.

P.A.D. occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed or clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow to the legs. This can result in leg muscle pain when walking, disability, amputation, and poor quality of life. If you have blocked arteries somewhere in the body, you are likely to have them elsewhere. Thus, P.A.D. is a red flag that other arteries, including those in the heart, are likely affected – increasing the risk of a heart disease, heart attack and even death.

In many, P.A.D. is a silent disease, causing no recognizable symptoms. People with P.A.D. may have one or more of the following symptoms:

– “Claudication” – fatigue, heaviness, tiredness or cramping in the leg muscles (calf, thigh or buttocks) that occurs during activity such as walking and goes away with rest.

“Often, people think leg discomfort or slow healing sores are just a part of aging, yet they can be signs of a serious disease,” stated Joseph Caporusso, DPM, Chair of the P.A.D. Coalition. “Through early detection and proper treatment, we can reduce the devastating consequences of P.A.D. and improve the nation’s cardiovascular health.”

Everyone over age 50 is at risk for P.A.D., and your risk increases if you:

– Smoke, or used to smoke

– Have diabetes

– Have high blood pressure

– Have abnormal blood cholesterol

– Are African American

– Have a personal history of coronary heart disease or stroke…”

Source: Vascular Disease Foundation

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216803.php

More later… Sharon O’Hara

Untreated Sleep Apnea + Heart Disease – Connected?

For those on the “should I, should I not get a sleep study?” fence, please read the following.

According to the Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA a connection may exist between sleep apnea and heart disease.

Although not conclusive and lengthy studies to determine if sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease are connected are a long way off, it is suspected that sleep apnea is a risk for heart disease.

I am next to the last person in the world to presume telling anyone else what to do but do offer information to investigate for yourself.

That said, I have practical experience with sleep apnea. The sleep study I had years ago led to me wearing a bipap and now, a recently added concentrator is connected to my bipap machine.

I’ve known about the right heart failure because we’ve been ‘watching’ it for some years. I did not worry about it though because I figured the other side of my heart must still be healthy. Remember, I am a patient, not a medical professional.

A week ago, I was told I have ‘congestive heart failure” …quite another thing. That involves the whole heart. I looked it up.

The point of this little tale is to say I have sleep apnea and developed a heart condition suggesting to me there may well be a connection.

{ It is proposed that given that CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is highly effective and essentially totally safe, and that the evidence is suggestive that sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, then we propose all patients with severe sleep apnea should be treated to reduce cardiovascular risk….}

Best wishes fence sitters … jump into health if you can.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19249449?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed

More later…. Sharon O’Hara