I frequently perform emergency procedures to open up blocked heart arteries. At the end of the case, I’m often asked by the patient “how could this happen, I only just had a normal stress test a few months ago!” They think they have either been mismanaged by their cardiologist, or that the test was read […]
Can Alcohol Make You Live Longer?
Many myths surround the consumption of alcohol, its effects on the heart and the question ‘can alcohol make you live longer?’. One myth proposes that if some alcohol is good for the heart, more must be better. Another myth contends that the best way to protect the heart is to avoid alcohol altogether. Like all […]
How To Survive A Heart Attack
To survive a heart attack you first must understand what is actually happening to the body when a heart attack occurs. What happens in a heart attack? A sudden rupture in an unstable area of a wall in an artery leads to buildup of clot with often-total blockage of the artery. This cuts off the blood […]
Depression and Heart Disease – A Killer Combination
In 1937, during the thick of the Great Depression, a doctor from the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene made a curious observation: patients with depression died more often than their healthy peers. What was the main cause of death in these patients with so-called “involutional melancholia”? Heart disease. As investigators have pulled back […]
How Exercise Can Save Your Life
I cut my teeth on country music in college. Having come from Alabama, one would think that country music was in my blood, but it took a move to Nashville to have the country melody course through my soul. In a line from a country music classic at that time, Clint Black sang: “Walking away, […]
Should I Take an Aspirin Every Day?
Should I be taking an aspirin everyday? What if I’m healthy? If I believe a TV commercial I saw today, then absolutely yes I should. Millions and millions of patients who take it almost religiously on a daily basis hold the same view, under the assumption it will protect them against heart disease mainly by […]
Did That Stent Save My Life?
Pretty much everyone knows someone who has had a stent placed in his or her heart. The story told by the patient with the stents is classic. The chest pains had been coming and going for a while, but they had been passed off as indigestion or muscle pain. Tests were done, and showed that […]
The Fish Oil Diaries – Part 2 – Supplements and a Western diet
By Julian Booker MD What is the Western diet pattern or Western diet? The western diet is a common dietary pattern found in a number of developed countries and is growing in popularity in developing countries. There are two common characteristics found in the Western diet: The food tastes awesome The food is generally really […]
Is Fish Oil Good For The Heart?
The fish oil diaries may be controversial and upset some people. Fish oil therapy has become a staple of many American’s fight against heart disease. Some take prescription fish oil, over the counter fish oil, cod liver oil, and McDonald’s Fillet-o-fish sandwich, anything to protect our hearts from having a heart attack. In reality is […]
Exercise With Heart Disease – Is it Safe and Should I Be Doing It?
Time after time I come across patients who are suffering from stable coronary artery disease (heart disease) who, through no fault of their own, are under the impression that they can’t partake in any form of ‘strenuous’ activity, as it would be detrimental to their health. It is astonishing that they think they cannot or […]