Bolt for the Heart presents 95 AEDs to Indiana State troopers
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – Indiana State troopers are now armed with more life-saving devices for their patrol cars.
The Bolt For the Heart Foundation presented 95 Automatic External Defibrillators Monday.
The AEDs can be used to save the life of someone suffering from cardiac arrest.
The pastor of Cornerstone Lutheran Church in Carmel says he’s living proof that they work.
“As one who has been blessed as a result of the presence and availability of an AED, I’m honored to be associated with Bolt for the Heart and its effort to make AEDs readily available throughout the state of Indiana,” said Pastor Schumm, Cornerstone Lutheran Church, Carmel.
The Foundation has been raising money for AEDs for state troopers for two years.
http://www.wthr.com/article/bolt-for-the-heart-presents-95-aeds-to-indiana-state-troopers
A Cardiologist’s Tips for Not Dying of a Heart Attack
I wear several different hats; in one, I practice an aggressive brand of preventive cardiology and heart disease reversal. In another role, I serve as an impartial medical expert, reviewing records from other doctors and hospitals where patients have experienced bad outcomes, often death.
Sounds fun, I know!
Just this week, I reviewed a file of a 50-year-old male smoker who went to the emergency room with two days of chest pain. He had minimal testing, and was released in an hour with instructions to see his family doctor in a week. Sadly, he died of a heart attack three days later.
This is all too common. While not all deaths can be foreseen and prevented, I’ve created a list of questions to ask and tests to request from your healthcare providers, whether during routine office visits or trips to the ER with chest pain. Hopefully this will prepare you for dealing with an overtaxed medical system and protect you from heart damage.
Ask for a coronary artery calcium scan (CACS)
A CACS is by far the most accurate way to determine if your heart arteries are silently suffering. The heart gives no warnings until the arteries are badly blocked, and the first symptom you have may be the day you die. In my community, this widely available CT scan costs $80, uses no dye, and takes one minute. It’s far more accurate for screening your heart than a stress test. Your score should be zero, and anything higher should prompt you to see a preventive cardiology expert.
Never leave an ER without a complete evaluation
For starters, don’t go to an urgent care clinic with chest pain, pressure, tightness, squeezing, or compression. Go to an emergency room.
That said, ERs have pressure on them to turn over rooms. I’ve reviewed charts from dozens of young people sent home with cursory evaluations, only to die or be maimed by massive heart attacks within days.
Bottom line: DON’T GO HOME without a thorough evaluation. Second, ask for “serial” cardiac enzymes that are repeated two or three times, every four to six hours. Third, ask for a repeat ECG to compare to the one you got initially.
Finally, ask for a definitive test before discharge. This may be a treadmill stress test with echocardiography (no radiation) or nuclear imaging (radiation). In some ERs, the CACS or the advanced coronary CT angiogram may be available. If you’re not severely allergic to iodine dye, this is by far the most accurate way to be sure your arteries are clean. If they aren’t clean, a cardiologist will have to evaluate your status, but you’ll know the score and — most importantly — be alive.
Ask for advanced labs
I’ve had 30-plus years of training and practice, so I can tell you that you’ll probably have the same lab tests at an annual physical now as you would’ve in the 1970s. This isn’t just outdated, it’s unacceptable — there have been major advances in laboratory testing in the past 40 years, believe it or not. I suggest asking for the following tests:
Advanced lipid profile: Rather than giving you an LDL cholesterol level, advanced panels measure LDL particle number and size, which are more predictive of future heart and stroke events. Two people with the same cholesterol levels can have widely different particle and size measurements, making for very different risks.
Lipoprotein a: This is a genetic form of cholesterol that’s elevated in about 20% of those tested. It’s rarely drawn, even though hundreds of research studies indicate that if it’s high, the risk of heart attack and stroke skyrocket. There’s even a foundation dedicated to educating the public of the risk.
Homocysteine: This amino acid is produced by a process called methylation. It’s important for artery and brain health, and when elevated, it may be due to a genetic defect in the MTHFR gene, which is also easily measured. It can be treated with methylated B complex vitamins, and the level will return to normal.
Inflammatory markers: The best known is hs-CRP, but there are at least five others I measure in my practice, like MPO. If there are markers of inflammation in the blood, a hunt is on for insulin resistance, infections, food allergies, skin conditions like psoriasis, a diet rich in processed foods, central obesity, gingivitis, and sleep apnea… among others. Inflammation can be reduced by addressing these root causes.
TMAO: This is a newly described marker of heart and kidney health that’s elevated after eating meat- and egg-heavy diets with an altered gut microbiome. It has been shown to cause heart and kidney damage, and is associated with worsened prognosis — if you have high levels of this, you may want to make a transition to a more plant-based diet.
Ask for an ECG
Years ago, a routine physical included an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) but it’s often skipped now. I suggest it for one particular reason: the measurement called the QT interval, which is the time between two waves in your heartbeat. A segment of the population has a genetic defect that causes the QT interval to be prolonged, and some people are prescribed drugs that prolong the QT interval.
A long QT can result in death from a cardiac arrhythmia, and a number of medications have been pulled off the market due to this side effect. Knowing if you have a prolonged QT interval before you’re prescribed antibiotics, antidepressants, and other medications is key.
Get a vascular screening
Many hospitals offer a vascular-screening program using ultrasounds of the carotid arteries, abdominal aorta, and legs. While they’re rarely definitive, they can offer a good value if you’re a smoker or have a family history of early heart disease or stroke. Arteries should have no plaque, so the presence of “mild” plaque should prompt you to have a complete evaluation by a vascular expert.
Be wary of drug interactions
There are so many potential drug interactions and some of them are deadly. Some of them center on the long-QT syndrome found on your ECG mentioned above. There are online resources to check your list of medications for interactions, particularly if you are prescribed a new medication. Antibiotics are particularly frequent causes of drug interactions that can be avoided with proper research online.
While I favor natural medicine and therapies emphasizing healthy lifestyle choices, there are genetic and acquired health issues that can be identified and addressed with proper evaluations. Heart issues are the focus of my quarter century of practice, but these lessons are true of other conditions (e.g., a bad headache not fully evaluated in the ER).
Don’t be afraid to challenge, ask why, read, and refuse to go home before proper testing is performed. My hope is that I’m never sent a medical chart to review with your name on it.
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http://www.wthr.com/article/fifth-annual-bolt-for-the-heart-family-5k-runwalk-to-raise-money-for-aeds
http://www.immortal.org/29712/boys-death-leads-misdiagnoses-family-members/
Capital Public Radio NewsUOP: Energy Drinks Trigger Abnormal Heart RhythmsCapital Public Radio News
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UOP: Energy Drinks Trigger Abnormal Heart Rhythms
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Things you learn after lossing a child
7 Things I’ve Learned Since the Loss of My Child
by Angela Miller
Child loss is a loss like no other. One often misunderstood by many. If you love a bereaved parent or know someone who does, remember that even his or her “good” days are harder than you could ever imagine. Compassion and love, not advice, are needed. If you’d like an inside look into why the loss of a child is a grief that lasts a lifetime, here is what I’ve learned in my seven years of trekking through the unimaginable.
1). Love never dies.
There will never come a day, hour, minute or second I stop loving or thinking about my son. Just as parents of living children unconditionally love their children always and forever, so do bereaved parents. I want to say and hear his name just the same as non-bereaved parents do. I want to speak about my deceased children as normally and naturally as you speak of your living ones.
I love my child just as much as you love yours– the only difference is mine lives in heaven and talking about about him is unfortunately quite taboo in our culture. I hope to change that. Our culture isn’t so great about hearing about children gone too soon, but that doesn’t stop me from saying my son’s name and sharing his love and light everywhere I go. Just because it might make you uncomfortable, doesn’t make him matter any less. My son’s life was cut irreversibly short, but his love lives on forever. And ever.
2). Bereaved parents share an unspeakable bond.
In my seven years navigating the world as a bereaved parent, I am continually struck by the power of the bond between bereaved parents. Strangers become kindreds in mere seconds– a look, a glance, a knowing of the heart connects us, even if we’ve never met before. No matter our circumstances, who we are, or how different we are, there is no greater bond than the connection between parents who understand the agony of enduring the death of a child. It’s a pain we suffer for a lifetime, and unfortunately only those who have walked the path of child loss understand the depth and breadth of both the pain and the love we carry.
3). I will grieve for a lifetime.
Period. The end. There is no “moving on,” or “getting over it.” There is no bow, no fix, no solution to my heartache. There is no end to the ways I will grieve and for how long I will grieve. There is no glue for my broken heart, no exilir for my pain, no going back in time. For as long as I breathe, I will grieve and ache and love my son with all my heart and soul. There will never come a time where I won’t think about who my son would be, what he would look like, and how he would be woven perfectly into the tapestry of my family. I wish people could understand that grief lasts forever because love lasts forever; that the loss of a child is not one finite event, it is a continuous loss that unfolds minute by minute over the course of a lifetime. Every missed birthday, holiday, milestone– should-be back-to-school school years and graduations; weddings that will never be; grandchildren that should have been but will never be born– an entire generation of people are irrevocably altered forever.
This is why grief lasts forever. The ripple effect lasts forever. The bleeding never stops.
4). It’s a club I can never leave, but is filled with the most shining souls I’ve ever known.
This crappy club called child loss is a club I never wanted to join, and one I can never leave, yet is filled with some of the best people I’ve ever known. And yet we all wish we could jump ship– that we could have met another way– any other way but this. Alas, these shining souls are the most beautiful, compassionate, grounded, loving, movers, shakers and healers I have ever had the honor of knowing. They are life-changers, game-changers, relentless survivors and thrivers. Warrior moms and dads who redefine the word brave.
Every day loss parents move mountains in honor of their children gone too soon. They start movements, change laws, spearhead crusades of tireless activism. Why? In the hope that even just one parent could be spared from joining the club. If you’ve ever wondered who some of the greatest world changers are, hang out with a few bereaved parents and watch how they live, see what they do in a day, a week, a lifetime. Watch how they alchemize their grief into a force to be reckoned with, watch how they turn tragedy into transformation, loss into legacy.
Love is the most powerful force on earth, and the love between a bereaved parent and his/her child is a lifeforce to behold. Get to know a bereaved parent. You’ll be thankful you did.
5). The empty chair/room/space never becomes less empty.
Empty chair, empty room, empty space in every family picture. Empty, vacant, forever gone for this lifetime. Empty spaces that should be full, everywhere we go. There is and will always be a missing space in our lives, our families, a forever-hole-in-our-hearts. Time does not make the space less empty. Neither do platitudes, clichés or well-wishes for us to “move on,” or “stop dwelling,” from well intentioned friends or family. Nothing does. No matter how you look at it, empty is still empty. Missing is still missing. Gone is still gone. The problem is nothing can fill it. Minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after heartbreaking year the empty space remains.
The empty space of our missing child(ren) lasts a lifetime. And so we rightfully miss them forever. Help us by holding the space of that truth for us.
6). No matter how long it’s been, holidays never become easier without my son.
Never, ever. Have you ever wondered why every holiday season is like torture for a bereaved parent? Even if it’s been 5, 10, or 25 years later? It’s because they really, truly are. Imagine if you had to live every holiday without one or more of your precious children. Imagine how that might feel for you. It would be easier to lose an arm, a leg or two– anything— than to live without your flesh and blood, without the beat of your heart. Almost anything would be easier than living without one of more of your precious children. That is why holidays are always and forever hard for bereaved parents. Don’t wonder why or even try to understand. Know you don’t have to understand in order to be a supportive presence. Consider supporting and loving some bereaved parents this holiday season. It will be the best gift you could ever give them.
7). Because I know deep sorrow, I also know unspeakable joy.
Though I will grieve the death of my son forever and then some, it does not mean my life is lacking happiness and joy. Quite the contrary, in fact, though it took awhile to get there. It is not either/or, it’s both/and. My life is more rich now. I live from a deeper place. I love deeper still. Because I grieve I also know a joy like no other. The joy I experience now is far deeper and more intense than the joy I experienced before my loss. Such is the alchemy of grief.
Because I’ve clawed my way from the depth of unimaginable pain, suffering and sorrow, again and again– when the joy comes, however and whenever it does– it is a joy that reverberates through every pore of my skin and every bone in my body. I feel all of it, deeply: the love, the grief, the joy, the pain. I embrace and thank every morsel of it. My life now is more rich and vibrant and full, not despite my loss, but because of it. In grief there are gifts, sometimes many. These gifts don’t in any way make it all “worth” it, but I am grateful beyond words for each and every gift that comes my way. I bow my head to each one and say thank you, thank you, thank you. Because there is nothing– and I mean absolutely nothing– I take for granted. Living life in this way gives me greater joy than I’ve ever known possible.
I have my son to thank for that. Being his mom is the best gift I’ve ever been given.
arent Heart Watch] AZ – Chandler High School cancels games after student’s sudden death
CHANDLER, AZ (KPHO/KTVK) – All Chandler High School athletic events were canceled Friday to allow students time to grieve the sudden death of a popular 16-year-old student.
Katrice Holden, a junior, died early Friday morning, Chandler High School principal Larry Rother said. The cause of her death was not immediately clear.
“It’s been a sad day at Chandler High,” Rother said. “She was a great kid, very popular. Very well-liked by students and faculty alike.”
The school made grief counselors available throughout the day, he said.
The 7 p.m. varsity boys and girls basketball games against Corona del Sol were canceled, along with junior varsity soccer matchups against Perry High School. Instead, students organized a 7 p.m. vigil at Coffee Rush Cafe near Dobson and Ray roads, Rother said.
Many students expressed their grief on Twitter by posting pictures and messages about Holden. Friends described her as “energetic, beautiful, loving, down to earth.”
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