Are E-Cigarettes Really Ineffective?
A recent, highly-publicized study has concluded that e-cigarettes are not effective in promoting smoking cessation. In fact, the study design does not permit us to say much, one way or the other, about the efficacy of e-cigarettes. The way the press and much of the medical establishment have embraced this study to disparage e-cigarettes says more about their anti-e-cigarette agenda, than it does about the actual study, or the usefulness of e-cigarettes themselves....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - April 4, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Treating Vasovagal (Cardioneurogenic) Syncope
While many doctors refer to vasovagal (cardioneurogenic) syncope as "simple fainting spells," treating this condition sometimes can be anything but simple.
Here is a review of the treatment of vasovagal syncope. (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - April 1, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
For people who have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (Pots), merely standing up can produce severe symptoms. When upright, their heart rates increase to uncomfortable levels. While symptoms - most often lightheadedness and palpitations - may be only mild, they are often incapacitating....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 29, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
How Diabetes Contributes To Heart Disease
If you have diabetes or metabolic syndrome, your risk of developing heart disease -- coronary artery disease (CAD) in particular -- is substantially elevated.
Here is an article that describes the several ways in which diabetes predisposes to heart disease. (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 26, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
"Bendopnea" - A New Symptom of Heart Failure
Recently, researchers from the University of Texas identified a new symptom of heart failure - shortness of breath while bending over, or "bendopnea." The presence of bendopnea, they say, appears to indicate the presence of more advanced forms of heart failure....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 23, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Sleep Deprivation and Heart Disease
Several recent studies have made an association between chronic sleep deprivation (in general, getting fewer than five hours of sleep per night) and heart disease - or at least the risk factors for heart disease. And one study even suggests that getting too much sleep (greater than nine hours of sleep per night) is associated with heart disease....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 21, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Orthostatic Hypotension
In orthostatic hypotension, your blood pressure drops abnormally whenever you stand up. The drop in blood pressure can produce symptoms ranging from mild lightheadedness to loss of consciousness.
Orthostatic hypotension can occur in anyone, but is especially common older people. In fact, in the elderly it is a common cause of falls - and therefore of broken bones and head injury. And the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension in older people is: prescription drugs....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 17, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Treating Cholesterol in Older People
As surprising as it may seem, treating elevated cholesterol levels in older people - those 65 years old or older - is still a matter of controversy among experts. How should high cholesterol be treated in older people? Should it be treated at all?...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 13, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Blowing Your Top Can Really Blow Your Top
Those movie scenes where some expendable character, moved to an outburst of great wrath over money or infidelity or a bad call at first base, suddenly collapses and dies (thus advancing the plot in some important way)? Those scenes are real....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 10, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Ivabradine For Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia - IST
Ivabradine is a relatively new drug, available in the most of the developed world except the United States, which is used for the treatment of angina. In recent years, reports from abroad indicate that ivabradine may be uniquely useful in relieving the symptoms of IST - as well as some other dysautonomia syndromes such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and vasovagal syncope....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 6, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Atrial Fibrillation and Cryptogenic Stroke
Cryptogenic stroke - a stroke whose cause remains unknown even after a thorough medical workup - is a common problem, accounting for almost 40% of all strokes in the U.S. A chief issue after any cryptogenic stroke is deciding what should be done to try to prevent another stroke - which is hard to do if the underlying cause is unknown....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 3, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Subclinical Hypothyroidism and the Heart
Everyone knows that hypothyroidism - the condition in which the thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone - negatively impacts the heart. But evidence is accumulating that a lesser known - and less often recognized - thyroid condition called subclinical hypothyroidism may also increase the risk of cardiac disease. In subclinical hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland is in fact producing a "normal" amount of thyroid hormone - but it has to work extra hard to do so....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 27, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Does Closing PFOs Prevent Stroke?
Thousands of patients who have had cryptogenic stroke, and are subsequently found to also have a patent foramen ovale (PFO), have undergone PFO closure procedures. While minimally invasive, a PFO closure is not an entirely benign procedure, and can lead to some nasty complications. It is a procedure that should be performed only if there is a strong likelihood that it will lead to a better outcome....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 25, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Migraine and Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)
During the last several years, lots of cardiologists have treated lots of migraine sufferers who also have a patent foramen ovale (PFO) with PFO closure devices.
But now the data is in. And it should be quite clear to any objective observer (a category which may or may not include said cardiologists) that this practice is no longer justifiable....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 24, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Patent Foramen Ovale
Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a diagnosis that is becoming more and more common - up to 25% of adults have it. PFO is said to increase the risk of stroke, and has been implicated as a cause for migraine headaches. As a result, patients are being asked to undergo an invasive procedure to close their PFOs. But is this common echocardiographic finding really as significant as all that?...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 21, 2014 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
