10. Everyone should have a support team: Without a support system, it’s nearly [...]]]>  

Sure, you should keep your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure in check. But getting there — and staying there — includes a multitude of physical, nutritional and emotional components. Here are cardiologists’ top 10 secrets for getting heart healthy in a hurry.

10. Everyone should have a support team: Without a support system, it’s nearly impossible to get and to stay healthy. The people you interact with determine what you do. Engage with your significant other, children, co-workers and friends to make healthy choices, and they will support you. A workout buddy will make you accountable; a colleague at work who wants to walk at lunch with you or track your progress together can make all the difference. — Dr. Malissa Wood, author of “Smart at Heart”

9. Healthy bones = a healthy heart. If you have any heart disease, you need to get screened for osteoporosis. Recent studies have shown that Americans are having fewer heart problems over time, and even those who have heart attacks are living longer without long-term heart problems. However, new epidemiological studies have also shown a significant increase in major fractures in patients with prior heart attacks. What it means is that while patients with heart disease have benefited from tremendous improvements in cardiovascular treatment, they’re suffering a counterbalancing increase in noncardiac diseases such as osteoporotic bone fractures. — Dr. Robert Yeh, interventional cardiologist with Massachusetts General Hospital

8. Avoid canned soups. Most canned soups — in fact, most canned and packaged products — are high in sodium to preserve them. High-sodium diets increase your risk of high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. — Dr. Doreen DeFaria Yeh, cardiologist with Massachusetts General Hospital

7. Get a flu shot. It does much more than prevent that annoying winter sickness. Preventing respiratory illnesses, such as the flu, also helps prevent heart problems. — Dr. Doreen DeFaria Yeh

6. Know your numbers. Your optimal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHG. Fasting blood glucose should be less than 100 mg/dl. Total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dl. — Dr. Stephanie Moore, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School

5. Relax. Often, those at risk for heart disease lead very stressful lives. Mind-body therapies, such as yoga or tai chi, can help an at-risk person unwind and decrease their negative emotional stress. This will lead to decreased blood pressure. High blood pressure is the No. 1 risk factor for strokes. — Moore

4. Get a pet. Recent studies have shown the therapeutic effects of pets on heart health. After a pet visit, a decline in heart rates and blood pressure has been seen. If you don’t want a pet full time, volunteer at a local animal shelter. — Moore

3. Choose the right type of exercise. Ask your doctor about the type of exercise you should be doing. Aerobic exercise is heart healthy. And while weight lifting and strength training are also great workouts, they can increase your blood pressure, and may be advised against if you have known coronary artery disease, heart muscle damage or dilation of your aorta. Exercise is necessary — just do the right type for you. — Moore

2. Work out in the morning. Those who exercise most successfully and most consistently do it in the morning before other things in life interfere. Even taking a full 30 minutes to walk the dog counts. — Dr. Mary Walsh, medical director of heart failure, cardiac transplantation and nuclear cardiology at St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana in Indianapolis

1. Own it. Most people only visit their doctor annually — so it’s important to keep track of your health at home and share your results with your doctor. Owning a blood pressure cuff (Panasonic EW3109W Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor, $38 at amazon.com) can literally save your life. Having high blood pressure but not controlling it results in a greater risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure. — Walsh

These tests can help save your heart

Ask your doctor to give you these tests so you know your heart disease risk, says Dr. Nakela Cook, medical officer at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Lipoprotein profile: A blood test that measures total cholesterol, HDL or “good” cholesterol, LDL or “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides, another form of fat in the blood. The test is given after a 9- to 12-hour fast.

Fasting plasma glucose: The preferred test for diagnosing diabetes. After you have fasted overnight, you will get a blood test the next morning to find out if you have diabetes or are likely to develop the disease.

When people come to the Reisterstown office of Drs. Eickhoff & Rowe for [...]]]>  

According to a recent study, “eye care providers often detected signs of chronic disease before other healthcare providers — 65 percent of the time for high cholesterol, 20 percent of the time for diabetes and 30 percent of the time for hypertension.”

When people come to the Reisterstown office of Drs. Eickhoff & Rowe for eye exams, the optometrists do more than simply ask which line of letters they can read on the eye chart.

Like other eye doctors, James Eickhoff starts with a “complete case history,” he said, which includes a rundown of family illnesses. If there’s cancer or heart disease in your family, he wants to know about it. Of course, he tests your vision, but the eye exam also includes eye dilation, which allows him to see the back of the retina, where signs of hypertension and diabetes can be detected.

A deposit on the cornea, called arcus senilis and detected with an instrument called a slit lamp, often indicates high cholesterol.

“It’s very common to see signs of systemic conditions when doing an eye exam,” Eickhoff said. When he sees signs of chronic disease, he tells his patients and urges them to follow up with their physicians.

Sometimes they are surprised to hear they might have more serious health problems than an inability to read menus in dimly lit restaurants.

A recent study commissioned by the insurer VSP Vision Care confirms what Eickhoff and other optometrists already knew anecdotally: That eye exams can be valuable tools for detecting the chronic diseases that are taking an increasing toll on Americans’ health and health care dollars.

While many people put off visits to regular physicians, they tend to visit eye doctors on a regular basis, though probably not quite once a year as recommended. Eye exams are generally pleasant experiences. They typically take less than an hour, and patients keep their clothes on, don’t get weighed, and emerge from the experience with spiffy new eyeglasses or better contact lenses.

“We understood we had a very important story to tell,” said Michael Ammerman, team leader for eye health management with VSP, a company with an estimated 27,000 vision care providers and 56 million members. He said the company tapped Human Capital Management Services, a firm that uses data to help companies cut health benefit costs, to come up with the numbers.

“We found some very compelling information that suggests that people who are using their vision benefit or getting their eye exam are finding out information about their health they might not otherwise have had,” Ammerman said.

According to the study, “eye care providers often detected signs of chronic disease before other healthcare providers — 65 percent of the time for high cholesterol, 20 percent of the time for diabetes, and 30 percent of the time for hypertension.”

The study, conducted between July 1, 2006, and March 31, 2008, divided some 212,000 VSP users (excluding those over age 65) into two groups: those with chronic conditions detected during eye exams; and those with chronic conditions detected by other means.

The study found conditions were detected earlier in the eye exam group, so patients were healthier when they began treatment.

“On average, the study group incurred fewer health plan costs, fewer lost-time costs (such as missed work days), had a lower overall job turnover rate, and had lower rates of emergency room visits and hospital admissions,” according to the study. Every dollar employers spent on eye exams reaped savings of $1.27 over two years.

Fuzzy Davis met Keeper when he was just a stray puppy hanging around the dock where Davis was a charter fishing boat captain. The shaggy-haired husky-golden retriever mix spent every night sleeping under the ramp [...]]]>  


Anyone who ever told a grieving pet owner, “Get over it — it’s just a dog,” never met Keeper.

Fuzzy Davis met Keeper when he was just a stray puppy hanging around the dock where Davis was a charter fishing boat captain. The shaggy-haired husky-golden retriever mix spent every night sleeping under the ramp that went down to the dock at Calibogue Sound in Hilton Head, S.C. One night during a storm, Davis ventured out to check up on his boat. The puppy followed him down to the dock, soaking wet. That’s when Davis knew he was, well, a keeper.

Keeper accompanied Davis on fishing trips for the next 13 years — 3,000 trips by Davis’ count. Friends joked that Keeper must have been a fisherman in his past life. He barked excitedly whenever Davis’ customers reeled in a fish. If they stood for a picture with their catch, Keeper would sneak into the shot.
Dealing With Death

When Keeper got cancer, Davis traveled five hours to Atlanta, so he could get chemotherapy treatments. When he finally died a year later, an artist friend tied saltwater fishing flies using his hair; Davis gave them to his friends. Finally, Davis cremated Keeper and scattered his ashes in a favorite fishing spot.

“Now they call it Keeper’s Cove,” Davis tells WebMD. “I was just there last night to fish.”

Maybe your favorite doggie or kitty didn’t get written up in the local paper, or have a memorial attended by a fleet of fishing boats. Maybe you’re even a little ashamed to admit to friends or family how sad you were to see Spot go.

Fortunately, pet grief has emerged from the shadows. There’s now a bevy of books, support groups, hotlines, and online forums where you’ll find others who will share your pain, or at least listen without being dismissive.
Why We Grieve So Deeply

When Dallas-based author Diane Pomerance lost her favorite dog seven years ago, she found herself grieving more deeply for the dog than she had for her father. “I was crying all the time,” Pomerance tells WebMD. “I had a very short fuse. I couldn’t concentrate or focus on work. Family and friends kept telling me, ‘It’s only a dog. You can get another one.’”

Instead, Pomerance sought to understand her grief. She got certified as a grief recovery specialist by the Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Grief Recovery Institute. She started a support group for grieving pet owners at the SPCA of Texas in Dallas, and wrote a book on losing a pet.

There are many reasons why someone may grieve very deeply for the loss of a pet.

“These animals offer us unconditional love,” Pomerance says. “They don’t betray us. They don’t have an agenda. They are always forgiving and happy to see us. And they’re with us 24/7. When we’re home we can let down our guard with them.”

Pomerance’s support group gives pet owners the freedom to grieve. Its participants come from all walks of life. One retired doctor came to the group with photos of a Dalmatian he had lost 25 years earlier, she recalls. He also brought an urn containing the dog’s ashes. “He curled up and cried like a baby,” she says.

“The bonds with our beloved pets are in many ways stronger, purer, and far more intimate than with most others of our species,” says Wallace Sife, a retired psychologist and author of The Loss of a Pet. “We feel loved and secure in sharing our secret souls with them. How often can you do this safely, even with someone who is very close?”
Am I Normal?

Sife heads the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement in Brooklyn, N.Y. The association’s web site features a chat room staffed by moderators Sife has trained in grief counseling. “They come out with a lot of insight, and relief that there’s nothing wrong with them,” Sife says about chat room participants. “They realize they’re not alone in their grief.”

The Internet has also promoted shared rituals and even mythologies meant to console grieving pet owners. For the Monday Night Candle Ceremony — which was born online but occurs offline — pet owners light candles to memorialize their pets at a set time every Monday. And in a slightly more elaborate version of a story parents might use to console their children, many sites present the story of a “Rainbow Bridge,” which deceased pets cross on their way to a worry-free pet heaven.

Mourning for a pet is normal, but not everyone experiences it in the same way, Pomerance says. Lonely people may have a particularly hard time. And Pomerance says grief can be cumulative: If you have suffered other traumas recently, losing a pet can be the last straw.

Deep mourning for a pet for more than a few weeks may indicate there are bigger issues affecting the mourner’s psyche than just the loss of a pet, Sife says. When Sife’s pet bereavement counselors come across such a case, they refer the person to a psychotherapist, who has a much wider range of training.
What to Do?

The process of coping with grief may begin before the pet dies.

Some people prefer to experience a pet’s death at home with friends or relatives rather than in an animal hospital. Many veterinarians will agree to come to your home to perform euthanasia, Pomerance says.

Pomerance owns 16 dogs. When one dies, she holds a memorial service that includes friends who knew the animal. “It’s somber but also a thing of joy and beauty and gratitude,” she says. “We thank the animal for its companionship.”

The question of how to grieve is intensely personal, but in general, it’s important to feel free to express your emotions and memories.

For example, Sife suggests keeping a log of your thoughts and feelings. Online chat rooms and message boards, and offline support groups and hotlines linked to humane societies, are also sources of support.

For those experiencing severe grief, Sife suggests writing a letter to yourself, taking on your pet’s persona. “Observe how you are reacting to the loss, and ask yourself if your pet would want you to continue this way. We all know pets would want the best for us, because that’s what love is about.”
Children and Pet Death

For children, the loss of a pet may be their first exposure to death. It may be much more affecting than the loss of an aunt or grandparent whom they rarely see, Pomerance says. A pet’s loss is a key moment for teaching children about the value of life. So give the child space to mourn, says Pomerance, who has written a book to help children cope with the loss of a pet.

Pomerance suggests helping the child make a scrapbook or journal about the animal. If the child seems puzzled by the concept of death, she says parents can compare the cycle of life and death to the natural cycle of the seasons.

Above all, never try to dismiss the child’s loss, or to foist another animal on the child too soon. “The main thing is to be empathetic and supportive,” Pomerance says.