Survivors

Some of my best friends are survivors. Yup, they are. I’m sure, if you’ve been reading my columns for a few years, you’ll remember my family’s personal journey through bypass surgeries. LOML is a heart-bypass surgery survivor. His is a genetic problem not related to his lifestyle. My father, on the other hand, was a lifestyle kinda guy. Watching both my father and LOML deal with this majorly invasive surgery was physically, emotionally and mentally taxing. The entire family was affected by cardiovascular disease. Watching from the sidelines, it’s nothing like the prettied-up version of life threatening events you see on television or in movies. The aftermath of open-heart surgery is an ugly sight, folks. So, in this month of The Heart I’m asking each of you to consider making a donation. Heart and Stroke Foundation volunteers will be stopping by your home during the month of February. If you believe heart disease could never affect you or anyone in your family, think about this: Heart disease is the cause of one third of all deaths in Canada. This year, it is projected, 50,000 strokes, 75,000 heart attacks and 45,000 cardiac arrests will occur. Those statistics don’t lie about who’s affected by the number one killer in Canada. In past columns I have written about heart disease and stroke in general terms. The math-magic alone should make each and every one dig into their wallets and spit out some loose change. This column is devoted to women who are at risk and can’t believe cardiovascular disease would happen to them.

So, ladies, as we age the natural estrogen produced by your body, which provided natural protection against heart disease, gradually diminishes. By the time we hit 55 years of age, we are in the highest risk category for cardiovascular disease. Believe it or not, one in every three women over the age of 20 has some type of cardiovascular disease. Have a look around. You or someone you know is at risk. Worldwide, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. And we thought cardiovascular disease was just a guy thing. It used to be. But women have changed a lot in the last half century. We smoke more. We drink more. We are less physically active. We have more stress in our lives. Because of our penchant to “multi-task,” we eat more highly processed foods laden with saturated fats. And, we are teaching our daughters to live the same way. In North America, more women than men will suffer a stroke—a cardiovascular event. While we want to stay in the race for better jobs, better wages and more opportunities, this is not the kind of race we want to win. If we’re going to have “the most” of anything, we should be aiming for the most healthy years.

Loss of estrogen is at the top of the list and estrogen replacement therapy has been proven to cause more problems than solutions. As we continue to increase our working hours and work challenges, we increase our risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. Often called the “silent killer,” we can’t see or feel high blood pressure until it’s too late. Hypertension puts unwanted stress on the heart and causes damage to our blood vessels. Every time you visit your health care provider, have your blood pressure checked. If you’re reading this, you’re the right age to ask about your numbers.

Once each year, you should ask to have your cholesterol levels checked. High cholesterol isn’t just for men. Like high blood pressure, cholesterol doesn’t leave a calling card until it’s too late. Are you a diabetic? If you are, ding-ding-ding, you’ve just moved up on the cardiovascular disease ladder. Women with diabetes go right to the front of the line when it comes to risk. High blood sugar damages arteries, giving plaque a great place to congregate and jam up your works. Get a grip on the diabetes. It’s a game changer. And, here comes my favourite part. The get-a-moveon- butt-out-lose-the-flab-eat-properly part sounds like a lot of work. But if you’re a smoker who loves to eat high-fat food, salty snacks and the only vegetation in your life is you on the couch, well you could come out ahead on this part. Quit smoking. After 50, we have a higher risk of heart attack than our non-smoking girlfriends. If you’re over 35 using oral contraceptives and enjoying a wee smoke afterwards, you edge out your older friends who haven’t got any estrogen or the need for birth control pills.

Vegetation. Oh, ya. Get off the couch, girl. Being physically active and dumping the excess body weight goes a long way in the battle against cardiovascular disease. Put the chips, the smokes and the soda down and go for a walk. Make a date to take a 30 minute walk, four times a week. When you think about it, two hours a week is the amount of time commercial advertisers drone at you during eight hours of television viewing (on your couch with a cigarette, a bag of chips and a can of pop). How much money would you save on smokes and snacks, not to mention the wear-andtear on your upholstery?

And, finally, women are different from men in more than the obvious ways. Yes we are and sometimes the symptoms women experience during a heart attack are a little bit different than the usual. If you have unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath or unexplained anxiety, get help fast. “Make death wait.”

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca