Video Q&A about Women and Heart Disease

What are the best things to do to prevent heart disease?
What should your total diet be like to prevent heart disease?
Is it safe to work out on the Elliptical Machine if you want to prevent any heart problems?

@9999- I believe genetics have a lot to do with this subject, but there are lots of things we can do to fight back on those nasty genes. I would say these would be my top ones. Stop smoking, minimize our alcohol intake (I drink a glass of wine about 3-4 times a week), Exercise. Even if these means walking every day, find a way to get out and get moving. Exercise for me means 3x a week spending about 45-55 min. doing cardio (Eliptical is great, but you may have to work up to that machine) and about 30 min. strength training at a local Fitness over Fifty facility. Meals! everything I read points more to a Paleo or Mediterranean type of meals. I'm eating much more fish, legumes and only grass fed beef. My GP Dr. says that grass fed beef has as many type 3 fatty acids as salmon. Keep the portion size down. I use a smaller salad plate in lieu of a full size dinner plate and if I want 2nds, I make myself wait at least 5 minutes before going back. This works about 50% of the time. Work at shedding a few pounds or more if we need to (We all need to loose some) so we can get our BMI where it should be for the body we have. I'm a big believer in supplements and take a good multi, plus CoQ10, Tumeric, Fish & Kril oil (only wild sourced and as high as I can find in DHA &EPA.) Sleep, I shoot for 7-8 hrs. a day and generally meet that goal. If you can begin to start these kind of habits I believe you will feel great and you will definitely be pushing back on any of those nasty genes! Good luck & happy elipticaling!

I appreciate your posiive attitude! Thank you.

Dear Drs. King and Chester:

Could you please speak about aortic insufficiency? I am 69 years old and I had Rheumatic Fever at age 11. My heart murmur is now called aortic insufficiency, I also have a LBBB, diastolic dysfunction (DD) and some rapid heartbeat. I take an ACE inhibitor once daily and a beta blocker once daily.

My EF on my last echo was 60 (previously has been 65). However, on my last echo I had a new DX show up: "apparent mild hypokinesis of the entire apical wall." Even though I've had this explained to me, I'm not sure I understand the significance of this. So my question is: is "mild hypokinesis of the entire apical wall" a DX of more heart failure (like diastolic dysfunction). One cardiologist seems to think that I need to have the aortic valve replaced within the next year, another says that give the EF at 60, I'm not in danger of letting this go for a while longer. The only significant symptom that I've experienced prior to this last Echo was increased fatigue during exercise. (I had a heart cath and heart scan 1 1/2 years ago which looked good regarding arteries being clean and little to no calcification).

Teresa

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I'd like to invite you to join us today, Monday, February 26 at 4:00 p.m. CT for a video Q&A with Dr. Jewel Kling, internist, and Dr. Rebecca Chester, cardiology resident, about women and heart disease.
Simply click View & Reply in the email notification to see all the details and to sign-up.

Dr. Kling and Dr. Chester will answer questions live. Feel free to post your questions below, before or during the presentation.
You can participate in the Video Q&A on Connect by returning to this page; the video will be shown at the top of the page. I hope you can join us.

I'd appreciate some perspective in a couple areas:
1. With a growing # of women (breast cancer survivors) living on aromatase inhibitors - thoughts on heart health while living with extremely low estrogen.
2. What do we know about how (dry) sauna impacts the cardiovascular system
3. Statins - are they really worth the side effects?

How do I connect?

Hi @emeter125,

As soon as the video is live, at 4pm CST, it will appear on this page.

Oh, thanks

Will the entire video be available later?