Greetings and welcome to our AugustTreasured
Health Gems KPFA radio segment. This evening I will be briefly
discussing one of the topics of my upcoming Women’s Healthcare
Circles Series, where we will focus on coronary heart disease (CDH) and its
affect as the number one cause of death of American
women.
Let me briefly discuss some important facts about
CHD.
Coronary Heart Disease develops as damage to the
heart muscle that is the result of reduced arterial blood supply
and is characterized by a narrowing in the coronary arterial blood
flow. As a muscle, the
heart requires a continual, uninterrupted flow of oxygen-carrying
blood and nutrients that is carried to it by the coronary
arteries. When that
blood supply is cut off from a portion of a coronary artery, due to
fatty deposits (cholesterol) lining it, the arteries become narrow
causing a heart attack.
What are the causes of Coronary Heart
Disease?
The awesome hormone estrogen protects against CHD
until the menopause period. (no pun intended.) Estrogen increases
the good cholesterol while decreasing the bad cholesterol, that
which promotes clots and plaque on arteries. It is now understood
that as a woman ages and her body’s level of estrogen drops, the
rise in CHD occurs. This is also when the physicians
have been taught to offer women the HRT, hormone replacement
therapy as a viable source of estrogen and avert the symptoms
associated with menopause.
Unfortunately, many women developed serious
diseases as a result:
§
An increase in heart disease
§
Increased breast and uterine
cancers
§
Increased blood clots in legs
§
GB dz
§
Endometrial cancer
§
Photosensivity
And the list goes on…
The risk factors for CHD are:
§
Smoking. Smokers are 6xs more likely to
have heart attacks
§
High salt intake contributes to
HBP.
§
HBP is a factor, particularly for women who
are 20lbs or more over their healthy weight.
§
Obesity is a factor
§
Stress is a major factor
§
Gender, as is being discussed
§
Sedentary life-style
§
Alcohol and drugs can also contribute to
heart disease, even prescribed meds. That’s why it’s crucial to know
the side-effects of your medications and if you are taking more
than one, know how those drugs interact. More importantly, research other
types of more natural remedies that may be as effective. Please note: Consult a
healthcare professional for a knowledgeable opinion and consult
with your doctor before stopping medications. Some medications require a gradual
reduction in dosage.
§
(In terms of alcohol, moderately drinking
red wine may decrease the incidence of CHD, because of its
circulatory properties.)
§
Diabetes ages the heart by 15
years.
§
Women of color, African American, Hispanic,
Indigenous
What are the signs of CHD in
women?
One of the classic symptoms for men is angina or
chest pain when doing exercise, that ceases when one is at
rest.
However, in women, the signs and symptoms once
considered classic are not.
§
subtle chest pain or sensation that lasts a
few minutes
§
light-headedness
§
feeling bad, out of sorts with no
cause
§
unusual fatigue
§
unusual shortness of breath
§
Facts:
§
CHD is the number 1 cause of death for
American women.
§
More women than men have been dying of CHD
since 1984.
§
1 out of every 10 women aged 45 to 64 in
American has heart disease
§
1 in 5 have it after age 65
§
CHD kills more women in this country than
all the forms of cancer, diabetes, accidents, chronic lung diseases
and AIDS combined.
§
Premature or “prophylactic” removal of
ovaries to prevent ovarian cancer also contributes to heart
disease. Dr. Christine
Northrup, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, states that doctors are
trained to removal the ovaries of any woman over 40 if she is
having any kind of pelvic surgery. The idea is that synthetic
hormones would be sufficient. However, now, we know different
about HRT (hormone replacement therapy).
§
Women usually come to the hospital an hour
after men suffering from heart attacks would. They usually don’t believe they
are having an attack.
Yet, research says that if she came in earlier, she could
recuperate faster than a man because women respond better to
treatment.
§
According to the NIH, women
have a high prevalence of coronary microvascular syndrome, plaque
accumulates in very small arteries of the heart, that has the same
presentation as blocked arteries but does not appear in standard
tests. This is one of
the reasons that the NIH says that when treating women with heart
dz, doctors have to think out of the box. If that’s the case for them, it’s
the case for you as well.
How to prevent CHD:
Commit to a lifestyle change
Exercise, allowing yourself to sweat
§
Brisk Walking (form a group or go with a
friend)
§
Walking your dog or your neighbor’s
dog
§
Gardening
§
Hikes
§
Bicycling
§
Dancing, Yoga, tai chi
Nutrition:
§
Green leafy veggies, whole grains, silicon
foods, like cucumber, celery, lettuce (make into a juice), use dill
and basil in foods as they have a calming effect.
§
Please avoid:
Food that are high in
saturated fats:
• Red meat.
• Hard cheeses.
• Butter.
• Dairy
• Yogurt.
• Lard
Foods that are gluey in consistency tend to stick
to the walls of the arteries. Eat whole foods
Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine
§
Make an appointment with me for regular
acupuncture treatments that aid in the function of the heart organ
and calm the stressful feelings. I prescribe herbal remedies,
cranial/sacral therapy, and massage therapy, and nutrition
considerations and spiritual counseling.
Develop a regimen that involves exercise,
nutrition, holistic health maintenance, and doing things that bring
joy to your heart.
Please remember that knowledge is sacred,
especially that which keeps us healthy physically, spiritually,
mentally and emotionally. Women have long been taught that
our body’s functions were more a curse than a natural
occurrence. As a
result, our relationship with our bodies hasn’t been very
accepting. We’re
inundated with other negative feedback. “She’s having one of her mood
swings, or my favorite, “she’s hysterical.” Perhaps, we begin to
believe these things and inside do actually feel hysterical as our
natural cycles do not cease and if we dread them, we must cause
ourselves much distress when they occur.
So, when it comes time to embrace these powerful
cycles of change, if we don’t hear good things about them, we don’t
embrace them. We,
instead, name them “the curse” or some other such title to denote
our disdain of them.
How can we have such a consciousness about something so crucial to
our empowerment and to our survival as our life cycles? And, what does this do to our
vitality and health?
Please come to the Women’s Healthcare
Circle Series,begining in September at Treasure Your Health
Institute (TYHI) in Oakland, located at 400 29th
Street, Ste. 518.
For further information, please
email me at Treasureyourhealth@sbcglobal.net and/or call us
at 510-451-5100.
TYHI is a resource center. We have an impressive listing of
holistic healthcare practitioners who practice chiropractic
medicine, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, weight control management
and nutrition, yoga instructors, tai chi instructors,
counselors. Our goal
is that every one become aware of the power of being responsible
for your own health through valuable education and personal
commitment.
Remember to strive to make each moment
healthier.
