Q: Diagnosed with A-Fib 1 year ago after very mild heart attack, continue to exercise 3x/wk. for 2 hrs., ht 6’3″/ wt. 230, normal cholesterol, feel fine except occasional palpitations…bp med. controlling, coumadin daily, digoxin daily, 1 baby aspirin daily. Have tried cardioversion, had many tests, after TEE…not candidate for ablation due to chronic A-fib and dilated left atrium.
March is National Nutrition Month
Healthy Ideas for Your Children and Family I hope this finds you all feeling well! The semester is in full swing and classes are going great. I have started research for my thesis, which is very exciting. My focus will be on childhood obesity, this is an epidemic that will affect the health of our youth for years to come. …
Can constipation cause PVCs?
Q: I had an EKG and it show 2 PVCs and I wore a halter monitor for 24 hours and was told it was normal to have PVC’s and not to worry. I worry! When they first started about a year ago, (I’m a 55 year old healthy female) I thought it was my stomach as I can tell when …
Different blood pressures in each arm
Q: My little brother is 15. We checked his blood pressure in each arm and they were greatly different. What does that mean?
Stabbing chest pains
Q: I have been having stabbing chest pains in the center of my chest that come and go, but anytime I try to start jogging I always feel it within a minute or so. I also have that same stabbing pain that I can feel to the side of my spine that comes and goes. I have recently just been …
How is it possible my heart function improved so much after bypass surgery?
Q: I am a 63 year old male. I had a MI and subsequent CABG4 in the fall of 2007. An echo done in July of 2008 showed my LVEF at 40-45%. I was on a beta blocker, a statin and aspirin at the time. I stopped taking all meds in July of 2008. In August of 2010 I had …
A teaching moment
This morning one of my readers gave me low rating: he had asked for advice about his heart pounding in his heart at night after heavy drinking. My advice included to stop (among many other things), but since he “already knew that”, the rest of my consultation was useless to him.
Marfan’s Syndrome and smoking
Q: So i have Marfan’s Syndrom, diagnosed at 9 months, been followed for it my whole life(18 now). the last few years ive been having unexplained chest pains, been to the cardiologist and they say everything is within normal range and my MVP is no longer a danger of happening. sence i had started smoking 2 years ago its been …
Very slow heart rate and fainting
Q: Have had high labile blood pressure for last twenty years. Getting ready for cardiac pulmonary stress test became cold, clammy, excessive sweating heart rate dropped to 35. Skin color gray. I fainted and was sitting down. Have 3 heart stents, last one placed 10/2010. Have Cad. What could cause this? And is there some testing I should have done?
My husband had an abnormal ekg
Q: my husband went to the dr.s for a check up last week. The dr did an ekg on him because he has never had one..he is 53. They called today and said he had a specialist or wanted a specialist to see him to do stress echo. They said his ekg was abnormal…maybe poor circulation, blocked arteries…my huband was …