Ruby T. – 2.20.10 Saving Hearts for Harlem 3rd Visit
This past saturday we went to a hospital in Harlem and went up to a conference room in the building. We sat in a big theatre room and listened to about 7 or 8 doctors speak about heart diseases, strokes, and blood pressure. We listened to these lectures for about 3 or 4 hours, then lunch, and then went into a nutrition workshop where we learned about how to prevent heart disease, strokes, and high blood pressure by watching the foods we eat such as staying away from High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The lectures were really interesting because I learned a lot. Although I want to tell everyone everything we learned, unfortunately it would literally take up 11 pages of this post so instead I will post all the notes I took throughout the whole visit (from 10am – 3pm). Also, I am doing a presentation for Momii’s class in a week or two explaining thoroughly what I learned.
Notes:
Cardiovascular Disease (Heart Disease)
-Any disease of the heart (cardio)
-And blood vessels (vascular)
CVD Facts
-40% deaths
-Expensive medical care
-27% of men, 44% of women will die within a year
-Leading cause of death for African Americans in US
-100,000 lives
-Can be prevented
-Expensive
Racial and minorities receive lower quality health care.
Less likely to receive needed medical care.
Barriers include insurance and race
-Physisians are almost 75% white.
-Number one Healthy Heart Tip: Stay spiritually active, must be in touch with some sort of spiritual side.
-Uses children for first responders teaches about health.
-Children save lives from teaching.
-Stroke is a shortage of oxygen traveling to the brain. It’s a brain attack.
Signs of stroke, actions: FAST
Face
Arms
Speech
Time
Causes: Bad Food, lack of exercise etc.
Thrombolysis – is a clot buster therapy and can dissolve the blood clots
-31-50% of patients treated with intravenous t-PA will be left with minimal or zero disability at 3 months
Public does not understand the danger
CV Risk awareness and reduction:
-80% preventable
-Rick Factors
Overweight/Obesity
Physical inactivity
Diabetes
Smoking
High blood pressure/cholesterol
Age <Non Preventable
Family History <Non Preventable
Heart Attack: Symptoms
-Pressure at center chest
-Discomfort in arm, shoulder, neck, jaw, stomach, and back
-Shortness of breath
-Fatigue
-Getting a cold sweat, nausea, weakness
Hypertension
-Chronic elevation in blood pressure over 140/90
-Represents 90-95% of hypertension
-50-65 million people of ¼ of all people in US have high blood pressure
-Ratio of women to men with hypertension increases from .6 at 3 years of age to 1.2 at age 65.
-High Blood pressure number one cause of CVD
Diabetics increasing
Diabetes is a progressive disease in which your body doesn’t make or respond properly to insulin. Your body doesn’t let sugar turn into energy.
-65% of diabetics will die from heart disease or stroke.
-Diabetes doubles the risk of second heart attack in women not men.
-75% of diabetics will dies of heart disease and blood vessel problems.
-Lifestyle intervention-58% reduction for diabetes weight loss.
-Physical activity
Dyslipicteria-Cholesterol
-If a clot breaks the flow of blood to the brain, a stroke results.
-LDL bad cholesterol
-HDL good cholesterol. High levels seem to protect against heart attacks.
-Blood vessels fill up with bad cholesterol and blocks blood flow making a clot.
-Obesity is increasing.
-1/4 is obese kids.
-RELATES TO FAST FOOD: BAD FOOD
-Smoking is a higher risk of CVD or stroke than lung cancer.
-Physical inactivity have higher rate of death and heart disease.
-Walking 30mins a day.
-Their goal is to prevent heart disease.
Pharmacists
They work:
-Hospitals
-Community
-Industry
-Nursing Homes
-Clinics
-Doctors’ Offices
-Government
They Can:
-Help you make the best use of medications
-Work with doctors and nurses to find the best meds to treat condition.
-Help keep you safe from harmful drug interactions, reactions, or mistakes.
Herbal Meds count as drugs. Different things affect and interact with each other different ways.
Hospital Pharmacists:
-Can talk to you about medications.
-Can tell you why medications are prescribed, what they do.
-Help you manage medications at home.
-Tell you if medications cause problems
-Tell you how to store, and what to do if forgotten to take medicine.
Role as a Patient:
-List of all medications
-Tell any medications not supposed to take
-Ask how to contact pharmacist at check-in at hospital
-Ask for ant food/drinks to avoid.
-Ask side affects
-Keep written info about medications. (Pamphlets from drugstores)
-Ask questions
-Watch out for change of form of medications when refilling.
-Ask friend or relative for help
Preventing Errors
-Tell provider how you take meds
-Request info on medications
-Ask if you should avoid foods, beverages and things etc.
-Show pharmacist that you understand.
-Ask friend/family for help.
Ho to Use Meds Wisely
-Read package in bag with meds.
-Ask for best over-counter medication for YOU
-Don’t combine meds without pharmacist consultation
-Report side-affects or problems
When having a stroke, can’t lower blood pressure straight away because the brain wants to continue blood flow around the blot through the arteries.
TIA-mini strokes when a blood clot goes to the brain.
Dr. Williams-Women and Heart Disease
-One in 2 women dies of heart disease
-60% more women die of CVD than from Cancer.
-Other races have more risk factors that white.
-If you have hear disease, other races are more likely to die if they have a heart attack than whites.
To Prevent Heart Disease/Heart Attack
-Know your blood pressure
-Get tested for Diabetes
-Don’t smoke.
-Get tested for cholesterol.
-Maintain a healthy weight.
-Don’t drink too much alcohol.
-Find ways to cope with stress.
-Exercise.
When having high blood pressure damages arteries causing them to become stiff and narrow. Can’t get blood to work right can cause a heart attack.
How to Lower Blood Pressure
-Loose weight if overweight
-Exercise
-1 drink per day
-Quit smoking if smoking (cuts life by 25%)
-Reduce stress
-Diet to heart healthy
Cholesterol
-Builds up on walls of arteries and causes blood clots. Stops heart from getting the blood it needs this causes a heart attack.
-Low saturated fat and trans fat. Eat less egg yolks, fats, packaged and processed foods.
-All women age 20 and older should have their blood cholesterol checked every 8 years.
Chronic Disease and Heart Disease are lifelong problems.
What are Signs and Symptoms That Women Have?
-You can present with no symptoms
-Sometimes there are not specific symptoms
-Angena: Chest pain resulting in a heart attack.
Anxiety Attack
-Behavioral
-Sweaty
-Palvatation
Lasts Longer
-They come and go over time
-Meds are different than Cardiac Disease
-Conditions can be different
-Symptoms can be simple
-Can be heart attack.
-Anxiety and heart attack are very similar.
For someone to be in menopause they have to have no period for a year. If wavering you are premenopausal.
Exercise Capacity
-That duration of time is associated with risk of getting heat disease
-Stress test: have patient run on a treadmill constantly, speed and height of machine increasing until patient needs to stop from shortness of breath or fatigue.
Diabetes stiffens arteries exposed to higher levels of blood vessels. High cholesterol causes blood clots.
Organ Donors
-Every day 17 people die from not having an organ transplant.
-50% of families asked to donate say NO.
-One organ donor can save up to 8 lives.
Nutrition and Diet Workshop
High Fructose Corn Syrup: the great Satan of the American diet.
Obesity
-Obesity is largest in African Americans.
-1/3 of black women in America is obese.
-One Big Happy Family show, every family member was over 300lbs.
-BMI greater than 30kg/m2 is unhealthy.
-Survival reduced by 2-10 years.
-All body parts affected by obesity.
-From 1976-2000s, obesity was raising faster
-Babies 2-5 were getting obese from lack of exercise.
High Fructose Corn Syrup
-All soda is sweetened by HFCS.
-When HFCS was going up in 70’s so was obesity.
-We have substituted natural (cane) sugar for fake, manufactured sugar.
-Soda-Pop invented in 1902.
-James Watt and Ronald Reagan are to blame for diet imparities. They created a cheaper sugar from corn call HFCS.
-There is the economical pressure to help corn croppers.
-Stopped importing from the West Indies. Their sugar refineries and businesses were done, beaten. They don’t have a sugar industry anymore.
-Anything that does not go bad isn’t good for you.
-Bacteria are a living organism that feeds off of good food, fresh food that is good for you. Not HFCS.
-Old Coke: Real sugar, still bottles in Caribbean, cocaine.
-New Coke: HFCS, no cocaine.
-Kosher Coke does not have HFCS because it is not kosher to have a grain in a drink.
-When feeling full, technically there is always room for more.
-HFCS does not make you feel full.
-HFCS: Liver does not respond to.
-Table Sugar: Liver responds.
Glycerin
-Fat inside: bad, surrounds organs, HFCS creates.
-Fat outside: better, outside organs, table sugar creates.
-HFCS is not same as honey and not the same as table sugar.
-Is NOT fine in moderation. It’s in everything. WORSE than table sugar.
20 years ago vs. Today (Calories)
| Food | 20 Years Ago | Today |
| Turkey | 230 | 850 |
| Bagel | 140 | 350+butter, cheese etc. |
| Pizza | 500 | 850 |
| Soda | 85 | 250+HFCS |
Carbs are addicting because it turns into sugar.
HFCS is in
-Ketchup
-Fruit Loops
-Kool Aid
-M&Ms
-Twizzlers