Living Well
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Muskogee Phoenix
Page 6
Heart disease different in men, women By Cathy Spaulding Phoenix Staff Writer
Wrecker company owner Steve Goad recalled knowing something was wrong when he felt a chest pain and shortness of breath last October. After twice being told it was acid reflux disease, Goad visited Muskogee cardiologist Dr. Mohamad Mahayni, MD. “I wasn’t there three minutes when he said, ‘I’m going to send you straight to the hospital,” Goad, 48, said, recalling how doctors had to open arteries that were 98 percent and 85 percent blocked. Goad, also a school bus driver, had another heart operation in November after going into cardiac arrest at his school job. Retired church secretary Patty Smith recalled feeling nothing in her chest that day at work nine years ago. “It was a pain in my left upper arm and it moved across to my right shoulder,” said Smith, now 73. “I never had any chest pain.” She was taken to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa for treatment of a heart attack. She eventually had triple bypass surgery. She now baby-sits two girls. Two patients, two different symptoms for the same heart problems. “Heart disease remains the number one killer for both genders,” said Dr. Mahayni of Muskogee Heart Center. “The main difference is the way it presents itself.” Heart issues present themselves in women about 10 years later than in men, Mahayni said. “The percentage of men heart attack patients in their 50s is about the same as women in their 60s.” Younger women are protected by hormones such as estrogen, Mahayni said. “The hormones increase the HDL ‘good’ cholesterol and decrease the LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol,” he said. “Ten years after menopause, that protection is lost.” Because the heart problems occur later in life, women also are more prone to complications, Mahayni said. “The outcome is worse. They respond less favorably to bypass surgery,” he said,
adding that women’s arteries also tend to be smaller and could respond less favorably to treatment. Symptoms in men and women also tend to differ, he said. Women might feel discomfort in places other than the chest. “They may not have pain, but silent heart attacks are prevalent in females,” Mahayni said. “A woman comes to a physician. She had a heart attack but never felt anything in her chest. She may have felt neck pain, shoulder pain abdominal pain, but not chest pain.” That doesn’t eliminate chest discomfort as a symptom of heart disease for women, said Dr. Achala M. Singhal, MD, a cardiologist at Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center. “It could be a discomfort, tightness, pressure, heaviness, like an elephant is on your chest,” Singhal said. “It could feel like heartburn or nausea.” On the other hand, men are more likely to feel chest pain — squeezing, burning pain,” Mahayni said. “They feel chest pain, which sometimes radiates to the neck and back.” A website for the Mayo Clinic said the chest pain could last for more than a few minutes, or it could come and go. Even with differing situations and symptoms, men and women can guard against heat disease with a healthy diet and exercise — plus no smoking. Goad said he changed his diet and quit smoking. He praised the work of Muskogee Regional Medical Center’s cardiology department. Smith said she always ate a good diet because of her diabetes. “It’s not too many carbs, not too much fat, lean meat, one starch, brown rice, and no desserts for me,” she said. Also, though hormones “protect” a younger woman’s heart, Singhal advises against using hormone replacement therapy to help the heart. “Hormones have been known to have adverse side effects that may even worsen the disease,” she said. Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.
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Staff photos by Cathy Spaulding
Above: Patty Smith checks out some dinosaurs shown by Lily Perkins, 3. Smith baby-sits Lily and her 6-month-old sister, Lauren. Left: Steve Goad, owner of A-Plus Towing and Recovery, jump-starts a car battery for a customer.
Exercise caution choosing health apps By Janice Lloyd
Gannett News Service
Just do it is not the mantra to live by when trying out health and fitness apps for mobile devices, according to exercise physiologist Carol Torgan. “People are making (apps), and they might not have any knowledge or certification,” says Torgan, an American College of Sports Medicine fellow on technology and exercise. “There’s no Good Housekeeping seal of approval yet.” Have fun and use them to stay motivated, but be careful, she says, or you could
wind up getting hurt. “We are really in the Wild West phase of applications development,” she says. Among the 85 percent of adults who have cellphones, 9 percent say they have software applications that help them track or manage their health, according to a May 2011 Pew Internet survey. There are thousands in Apple’s App Store. Their features wow you with great visuals, let you post to Facebook or other social media websites when you’re done your workout, provide histories of your workouts and let you compare yourself with others. But do they know your fitness level? “We’re not onesize-fits-all,” says Torgan. For example, Easy Legs, a super-fun, interactive app (do drills to a favorite tune in your music library, watch video of a healthy young
woman), might have easy leg exercises for an under-40 fitness geek who can slip into jeans without tripping and is trying to maintain or improve leg strength. Is it “easy” for working stiffs who spend long days sitting in front a computer? This group might be tempted to call a masseuse after a five-minute session. One place to look for apps designed by health experts is the government’s app store (apps.usa.gov), says Torgan. Torgan helped design the free BMI calculator for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. That app also links to resources about healthy weights. Lose It! Enter how many pounds you want to lose to find out how many daily calories you can consume and the day you’ll meet your goal, assuming you stick with the plan. Make daily entries for
consumption and exercise. It has a large database of foods and tracks a variety of nutrients (carbs, protein, fiber, fat). Digifit: Combine with a monitor to track your steps, stairs climbed, calories burned and more. Workouts can be paced according to different capacities (warm-up, cool down, anaerobic, aerobic) and your favorite music. Fitness Buddy: More than a thousand exercises with photos by muscle group using gym equipment, dumbbells or body weight; beginner, intermediate and advanced workouts for strength training for men and women. Strava: Uses the GPS system in your phone to track your distances, elevation climbed and speed while you ride or run. Charts show average rides per week, top performances and performances of others hooked on it.
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