WORKING AS A TEAM you and your doctor
DOCTOR’S PULSE: Heart Health
When should you worry about chest pains or irregular heartbeats? Find out those answers and more—straight from the doctor.
exertion, you feel pressure with the pain, or the pain is associated with shortness of breath, nausea and excessive sweating. If you have these symptoms with chest pain, call 911.
Are sudden, infrequent heart palpi- Q & A
My triglycerides are high. Why do I need to lower them? And what lifestyle changes will help me do that? High triglycerides can be caused by several things, including diabetes that is not controlled, hypothyroidism (your thyroid gland is working at a lower than normal level), excessive alcohol use and obesity. There are good reasons to pay attention to your triglycerides number and lower it if the number is high. High triglycerides are linked to heart disease. Very high triglycerides can trigger pancreatitis (inflammation of your pancreas). You can lower your triglycerides by losing weight, consuming less alcohol, exercising most days, eating a low carb diet, taking a high dose of fish oil (around 4,000 mg daily), and eating about 500 calories a day from peanuts or peanut butter. However, sometimes lifestyle changes aren’t enough, and you may also need to take medicine.
Occasionally I get mild chest pains in my heart area. They aren’t excruciating or sharp. Should I worry? Never ignore chest pain. While most chest pain is not related to your heart and not life-threatening, you still need to have it evaluated so you can rule out heart problems. Common causes of chest pain are acid reflux, esophageal spasms or chest wall problems. There are some symptoms that often go along with pain that signals a heart problem: the pain gets worse with
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tations anything to worry about? Most of the time, short-lasting episodes of palpitations are benign, which means there is no danger to your health. Heart palpitations can be caused by exercise, anxiety, fear, caffeine, fever, nicotine and some medicines. However, they can also be caused by health problems such as anemia, overactive thyroid (your thyroid gland is working at a higher than normal level), mitral valve prolapse (a condition when the heart valve doesn’t close properly), or heart disease. For this reason, it’s important to always have heart symptoms evaluated by your physician. To get additional information about your palpitations, your doctor might want you to wear a Holter monitor for 24-48 hours. A Holter monitor is a machine that records your heart rhythms. Your doctor can then look at the records from the monitor and see if you have any irregular heart rhythms, and then recommend a treatment plan if necessary.
WOJCIECH MAZUR M.D., F.A.C.C. Dr. Mazur is Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine & Pediatrics and Director, Advanced Cardiac Imaging, at The Heart Center of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Heart and Vascular, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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