Listen to Your Heart
There are many women walking around with absolutely no idea of their heart health! Did you know that men and women experience heart attacks differently? How often do you check you resting heart rate, or when was the last time you had your cholesterol checked? Are you a smoker who hopes beyond hope you'll never get lung cancer? You might want to ask a doctor what those death sticks are doing to your blood vessels, veins, arteries, blood pressure, heart rate, and believe it or not, over all thickness of your blood. Have you ever felt a flutter? Do you suffer from panic attacks? Are you an overall active person? Do you have a lot of stress in your life? Are you the type of person who is easily excitable or find yourself losing your temper a lot? Do you get easily frustrated? Notice I haven't asked about your diet yet? All I have to do is take one look at the lines at the Deli to know most of you are filling your body with salty cold cuts, breads, and cheese! Just ask women such as Star Jones who had a aortic heart valve replacement at the age of 48 or her former The View boss Barbara Walters, who had the same procedure done in 2010. Did you know Rosie O'Donnell had to have a stint put in after she ignored what she thought was a heart attack? Days later tests revealed her coronary artery was 99% blocked! And how can I forget the woman who had more husbands off-screen than on? The White Diamond Queen Elizabeth Taylor was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. She succumbed to her condition seven years later in 2011.
Now, I know what you are thinking. These women are either of a particular age or have had weight problems which greatly increases their chances of having heart issues. You may have a point and I'm one step ahead of you. Here are a few women with heart problems that may surprise you....
Jenny Garth
The 90210 bombshell captivated us in the 90's as we sometimes hoped Dylan McKay would choose her over Brenda and other times felt Brenda truly deserved him. In any event, this contemporary actress revealed she has a heart condition! Now, she is in shape, busy, a woman who has it all! Unfortunately, the list of qualities we can go on and on about includes problems with her heart! Did you know that? I sure didn't. And she wouldn't know it either if she hadn't been diligent about having her heart checked regularly as her father died of heart disease and she felt she was at a higher risk.
“I have a leaky valve,” she explained. “And it’s a common thing. A lot of people have it, They don’t know they have it… [it] leaks blood.”
Garth said at times she actually feels it happening. It’s your connection to your heart… your artery, the main artery that goes to your heart,” she said. “It sort of flutters open and shut sort of a thing… it’s weird because sometimes when I’m resting I can feel a little weird fluttering.”
“Down the road it’s something that could get more complicated or it could not...People have had valve replacements and that kind of thing… but I’m prepared, that’s the key.”
Toni Braxton
Relevant again thanks to Braxton Family Values starring her little sister and her very large mogel husband who's worked with such big names as Lady Gaga! But for those of you who are in my age bracket, follow me in appreciating Ms. Braxton for the woman she is and the one who put her whole family on the map with her sexy videos and amazing voice!
Unbreak My Heart was one of my favorite songs of the 90's, and, as it turns out, Toni Braxton has to keep a close eye on her's! She has been diagnosed with high-blood pressure, a condition that is very taxing on your heart and often referred to as "the silent killer". Toni also has something called pericarditis which means the lining of her heart is often inflamed. If you've seen any of her videos you would agree this songbird has always had a body to die for! Who would have guessed heart health would be an issue for her?
"Although, thin, active, and outwardly healthy-seeming, Toni Braxton discovered four years ago that she suffered from high blood pressure and pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart. Toni's case proves that anyone can suffer from heart disease—even those who are young and healthy. Toni now takes a beta-blocker, and concentrates on staying fit and active, and avoiding salty and fatty foods, which aggravate her condition."
Miley Cyrus
Oh how it pains me to bring this girl up in a blog for the second time! Let me take a breathe...ok. I bring her up because this young pop star/party girl has what is called tachycardia, a condition I myself am no stranger to. Commonly referred to as a rapid or elevated heart rate, this condition can be very dangerous if you aren't careful. There are adjustments that can be made such as staying away from stimulants like caffeine and cigarettes, however, there are people who are simply born with this and have a very hard time getting their resting heart rate down. Now, you may say so my heart is a little fast, so what? Well, if its fast while your resting, imagine how fast it gets when you are exercising or exerting yourself? When was the last time you had a stress test? Think you're too young? Think again!
"Apparently Miley Cyrus has a heart condition known as tachycardia, which means she has a heart rate that is higher than normal. To treat her irregular heart beat, Miley is SUPPOSED to live a quiet low-key life, except she doesn’t do that AT ALL!" “Miley’s issue is basically benign, provided she leads a sober life. The problem is, she doesn’t. She smokes most nights and parties."
Me
Photo courtesy of http://haydenwilliamsfashionillustrations.blogspot.com/
This issue is a very personal one for me. At 24, doctors made me wear a heart monitor for 10 days to record any abnormalities due to tachycardia. At 27, I was advised to be put on cholesterol medication but tried to adjust my diet as children were not, at the time, in my near future. Today, at somewhere around 30-ish (do you really think your getting that out of me?) my cholesterol level is as high as a 75 year old woman with heart disease, and have given in to taking medication. Cholesterol meds will be a nightly ritual for the rest of my life! Doctors say its in my genes and all the diet, exercise, fish oil pills, and flax seed oil in the world will not reduce my numbers to within normal range. As recent as two months ago, I was in the ER wired up and wondering if my babies would ever see me again. A combination of dehydration and anxiety taxed my heart to the point at which it went into arrhythmia for twenty minutes. A Coca-Cola addict my whole life, I have not had a drop of caffeine since Dec. 7th 2013!!!! What I have had, is more EKG's than I'd ever want to see in my lifetime, and enough water per day to sustain me for a week on a deserted island!!!
Listen to your heart...
Listen to your heart...
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