Maintaining a Healthy Heart

The Disease of the heart is the most common cause of death among men and women in the Bahamas.

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More women die each year from heart disease than from breast cancer; even though taking simple steps can prevent it from ever happening.  But according to Dr. Patrick Cargill, local Cardiologist, many patients ignore the symptoms and signs of heart disease.

Recently addressing the participants of Doctors Hospital’s monthly free public health lecture, Dr. Cargill admonished the attentive audience to take heed of the warning signs of a heart attack or stroke but even more so, paying attention to the prevention of heart disease.

“Heart disease risk factors include those that are beyond our control and those that can be changed’ stated Dr. Cargill. “Those that cannot be changed are sex, family history of early heart disease and age. The risk factors that can be controlled are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, and diabetes.” 

The lecture participants learned that while having even one risk factor is dangerous, having multiple risk factors is especially serious, because risk factors tend to “gang up” and worsen each other’s effects.  Diet, exercise, and weight reduction is very important, and medication compliance is of uttermost importance as most patients with Hypertension will need to take medications for the rest of their lives.  Dr. Cargill stressed that controlling your blood pressure will reduce Heart Attacks, Strokes, Heart Failure, Kidney Failure (Dialysis), Eye Disease, Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence), and Dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease).

Sharing some statistics with the capacity filled room, Dr. Cargill warned that Diabetes is the strongest risk factor than any other for heart and blood vessel diseases and the most common cause of amputations in the Bahamas.  It commonly causes Kidney Failure and blindness.   Hypertension, another major contributor to heart disease, causes thickening of the heart walls, thereby increasing the risk of heart attacks and heart failure. 

Dr. Cargill also warned that some heart attacks are sudden and intense, but most of them start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. “Often, people affected are not sure what’s wrong and wait too long before getting help.”   He advised, “If you experience one or more of the following warning signs, don’t wait longer than five minutes before calling for emergency help.”  Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back; pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach; shortness of breath along with, or before, chest discomfort, cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness are all symptoms. Any discomfort from the eyes and the waist line can represent a heart attack.  According to Dr. Cargill, 1/3 of all heart attacks are silent.

As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. However, women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

Cautioning that for most people making lifestyle changes is not easy; Dr. Cargill suggested that persons who suffer from Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol should work with a health care provider to develop a plan of action. 

Asked to clarify what the perfect level for cholesterol should be, Dr. Cargill stated that total cholesterol should be < 200 mg/dL for patients without risk factors, and he also admonished that everyone should know their approximate cholesterol level, including the LDL numbers (Bad  cholesterol) HDL numbers (Good cholesterol)  and Triglycerides.  As heart disease may be the first sign of abnormal cholesterol levels, screening can detect cholesterol abnormalities and lead to treatment before heart disease develops or worsens.  “Every adult needs to have a cholesterol check to assess the health of the heart.  Reducing dietary saturated fat and losing weight”, said Dr. Cargill, “can lower total and LDL cholesterol as much as 10-20 percent in some men and women. On average, however, most patients achieve reductions in total cholesterol of about 2-6 percent after modifying their lifestyles.”

Overweight children and adults are at risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and other serious health problems. Obesity is now an epidemic in both the children and adult populations.  “If you are a person who smokes, is overweight, and has high cholesterol or diabetes, your risk of dying prematurely significantly increases” said Dr. Cargill. “If medication is prescribed to control high blood pressure, it is extremely important to take it everyday.  If you do not know your blood pressure, get it checked.  Uncontrolled high blood pressure forces your heart to work harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues.  Once a heart has become enlarged, it will have a harder time of functioning properly.  Our arteries are normally stretchy and elastic, but uncontrolled high blood pressure causes arteries to harden and scar.  This in turn encourages cholesterol to build-up on the injured places and narrows the artery to make blood flow more difficult to the organs”. 

Touching on exercise to keep the heart running smoothly, Dr. Cargill explained that exercising is the one sure way to make your heart stronger and decrease high blood pressure.  Ideal Male Body Weight is 106 pounds for the first 5 feet, plus 6 pounds per additional inch, for women, 100 pounds for the first 5 feet, plus 5 pounds per additional inch, with ideal Body Mass Index (BMI) measuring 20 to 25.

 

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