In recognition of our family’s empty “Candy Cauldron,” what else would a heart doctor write about on Halloween? Acquired heart disease in children? Say it isn’t so! It used to be easy to skip over studies on heart issues in children and adolescents. Come on. Kids are health. They are nimble, twitchy, energetic, and definitely […]
Category: inflammation
An athletic lifestyle offers many health benefits. This is hardly news. Exercise, attention to good eating and getting adequate rest makes everything better: lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, higher heart rate turbulence and better survival in the event of heart attack and Cancer, just to name a few. The list of positives approaches infinity. […]
The most famous medical blogger once direct-messaged me this advice: “One thing I have learned from blogging is to never engage criticism.†I’m going to break this advice. The robustness of the response over the Ironman piece shocked me. As a bike racer, a cardiologist, and a happily married man, I have grown thick skin. […]
Before I even start, let me say this to my triathlete friends… I really like you all. And…I am sorry for how I feel about your sport’s pinnacle, the Ironman triathlon. But I was poked into writing this post. When asked the question of whether the Ironman is safe for the middle-aged heart, what was […]
How could it have happened? He was strong; do you remember how he could get uphill? He was fit; can you ever recall seeing him out of shape? His blood pressure was perfect, low even. He bragged about his exemplary cholesterol levels. He was lean and mean. Wait a minute…what was that about being mean? […]
<Apologies in advance: this post is a (major) re-write of an old post.> Heart rhythm doctors are trained observers. We spend our days focusing on minute squiggles which are timed in milliseconds. It’s all a lot of observation. It’s only natural that one’s work skills might spill over to normal life. Plumbers are handy around […]
Few sporting events cause more inflammation than the Tour de France. It’s long, fast, tiring, and stressful. These facts are not news, and neither are crashes. By now, many of you have seen or heard that crashes have marred the first week of this year’s Tour. Even before the first day in the mountains, potential […]
The Biology of Omega-3 fatty acids: (Just a little science:) When fish, flax-seeds or Brussels sprouts pass through the intestine, pancreatic enzymes transform the fat to free fatty acids. These acids are quickly taken up by the cells. Once in the cell, these fatty acids enter the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and cytosol–places that you might […]
It’s funny how coincidence works in medicine. A number of patients, and a couple of cyclists, have recently asked me about the worthiness of omega-3 supplements. And there it was today when I checked the mail: a comprehensive review article on n-3 Fatty Acids in Cardiovascular Disease, in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. […]
Most Fridays, I attempt to jot down some reflections about doctoring, or life, or ideally the confluence of both. Today I have a picture that speaks far better than words. It came via a text message from a cyclist that enjoys riding in the morning. If you don’t stay up too late, blogging, reading journals, […]
Those interested in the treatment of heart disease reveled in some very important news this week. News which further strengthens the position that heart disease may be assailable without implanting titanium into our bodies. A group of researchers from the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) reported–without much fanfare–that patients enrolled in an old-fashioned cardiac rehab program […]