Are you at risk for heart disease and stroke?
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007Yes, I am!
About four months ago, my husband and I went for our annual medical check-up and were shocked to find out that at the young age of 31, my husband was diagnosed with high blood pressure and I, Dr. Ferguson, was diagnosed with high cholesterol. We both have family members who have recently been diagnosed with congestive heart failure or have suffered a heart attack, all before the age of 55 and know the seriousness of heart disease and how devastating it can be….but you don’t have to let it kill you….if you take simple steps to control your risk factors.
First of all, let me say this. As a Board Certfied Internal Medicine physician I feel my personal calling is to educate people on their health and help them deal with whatever illness or ailment they may have. Heart disease kills more people every year than prostate cancer, more people than breast cancer….but so many people don’t even know that they’re at risk. In response to a very interesting question, let me give you a brief overview of the risk factors I’m referring to and offer you some advice on how to best manage your health.
Modifiable risk factors for heart disease and stroke include high blood pressure (or hypertension), diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity and being overweight and having a sedentary lifestyle. I call these modifiable risk factors because you can control these factors by exercise, diet and medications. Several risk factors, like age and family history (or your genetics) you can’t control but they can give you an indication of what you can look forward to if you don’t change the way you live.
My aunt had a heart attack in her early 50’s but she also had many of the risk factors for heart disease including high blood pressure, diabetes AND she smoked. After having her heart attack, she finally realized that she couldn’t continue on her current path to an early grave…so she quit smoking (hooray!!) started eating better and even lost some weight. With an aunt with heart disease, I knew that I had to take my high cholesterol seriously and change the way my family ate.
Before changing our diet, my husband’s average blood pressure was 150/90. Hypertension is a blood pressure 140/90 mmHg or greater. Now if your systolic blood pressure (the top number) is between 120 to 139 mmHg, it’s considered “prehypertension” or if your diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) is between 80 to 89 mmHg. If either number falls within the prehypertension or hypertension range then YOU DO have prehypertension or hypertension. Blood pressure machines at the local grocery store or pharmacy can give you a fairly accurate reading of your blood pressure but I do recommend that you go see your health professional for a full evaluation if you have prehypertension or hypertension.
After starting a no sodium, no caffeine diet and exercising more at home (avoiding the excuse of being too busy to go to the gym), my husband’s blood pressure is now averaging below 120/70 mmHg and this morning his blood pressure was 116/54mmHg!!
Being overweight, living the life of a couch potato, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol (more than 1 drink for women and more than 2 drinks for men) and eating a diet high in salt can all cause your blood pressure to be high. So try cutting back on the alcohol, put down the salt shaker, and start getting more exercise and you’ll see a drop in your blood pressure.
For more general information about heart disease and stroke, visit the american heart association website.
For those of you interested in one-on-one phone consultations where I can provide more specific and personalized recommendations about your controlling your risk factors, feel free to call 1-866-270-9460 to schedule a consultation.
To your wellness,
Dr. Ferguson
