Why do I have heart palpitations? I am only 47.

Heart palpitations have many causes. The most common causes include stress, fever, anxiety, use of certain medications (thyroid pills, use of anti asthma medications), excess caffeine, mitral valve prolapse, heart disease, an over active thyroid, abnormal electrolyte levels (potassium or magnesium) and disorders in the heart conduction system.

In most young people, palpitations are transient and benign. However when heart palpitations are associated with symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, sweating or fainting spells, then you definitely need to see a doctor.

If you have had only one episode of heart palpitations then you do not need to worry. However, if you have symptoms or if your palpitations are recurrent, you do need to see a doctor. The work up of palpations begins with an ECG. Some people are asked to wear a halter monitor which records the heart rhythm for a number of days. Your doctor may check your blood to look at the levels of potassium and magnesium.

The treatment depends on the cause. In most cases the treatment is drug therapy or some type of laser ablation of the abnormal electrical pathways in the heart.

My blood cholesterol is normal but my doctor insists I take a statin!

Well, you can always say NO. In truth, your doctor is not practicing evidence based medicine. 

There is absolutely no reason why someone with normal cholesterol levels should take a statin. Statins have to be taken for life, are prohibitively expensive and have many side effects. 

Statins are generally recommended for people who have high cholesterol and/or risk factors for heart disease. The current media hype about statins for everyone is total nonsense.  If your cholesterol levels are normal and you want to keep them normal, stop smoking, exercise regularly, eat healthy and keep away from doctors who give idiotic advice.

More on Calcium and the Heart

A recent report on a large randomized study from New Zealand evaluated extra calcium supplement use (at least 500 mg/ day) in more than12,000 patients over the age of 40. The findings were not entirely surprising. The pooled data revealed that excess calcium carries a significant risk for heart attack. More over there was also an increased risk for stroke and sudden death in patients who took calcium supplements.

How calcium causes the increase risk of heart disease is not fully understood but believed to be due to alteration in vessel compliance. This eventually leads to calcium build up in the blood vessel wall. These authors summarized the data were succinctly. For every 1000  people treated with calcium for 5 years, it leads to prevention of 26 fractures, but on the other hand, there were 14 additional heart attacks.

This is the second large study from New Zealand which directly points the finger on calcium.

So where does this live the patents who have osteoporosis and all the calcium fanatics?

Well, there is no increased risk when eating the daily-recommended levels of calcium. It is the excess level of calcium that is of concern. The eternal myth that bigger is better certainly does not hold up for calcium (or for any other foods). For people who want to prevent osteoporosis, eat natural foods and leafy green vegetables that contain calcium. Moreover, drink adequate milk and eat consume dairy products. And do not forget to walk. 

What is so difficult is why the American population is so fanatical about calcium pills. The majority of these health supplement pills and minerals are made in the Orient. There are countless reports about fakes and counterfeit products including dry wall and chalk material found in these pills- so why take a pill instead of fresh fruit?

If you do take calcium supplements, speak to your doctor about it first and do not go overboard. The daily recommend calcium intake for both men and women is about 1000 mg/day. Like everything else in life, too much of calcium may not be good for you- here is to a glass of milk.

Can vitamin D reverse my coronary disease?

First, the simple answer-NO. 

You can eat all the vitamin D you want, it will not do anything for your heart disease. There has been a lot written lately about vitamin D and how it benefits people with coronary artery disease. This is utter nonsense. 

The fact is that there are no clinical studies to document these statements. The people who advocate vitamin D are the ones who sell it. It should also be remembered that vitamin D pills are not a substitute for the conventional heart medications. 

If you want to reduce your risk of heart disease, maintain a healthy weight, eat more veggies than meat, do not smoke, exercise regularly and get a regular check up with your doctor. 

If you listen to the charlatans who recommend vitamin D for plaque reduction, you will end up dead sooner than you think.

Is there a finger test that can detect heart disease? Part 2

The endopat is widely available in the office of many doctors. So the question is, “does it work?”

Well, the test is new and it is marketed heavily because it makes a lot of money for the doctors. The test cannot image your heart and no one knows for sure if the changes in the finger are the same as those in your heart.

More important, the test is not covered by most insurance or Medicare plans. When a test is not covered by Medicare, you can usually assume that it has more to do with profits for doctors .  In short, this is just another bogus test which has no practical application. One can tell easily that you are at high risk for heart disease just based on the history. One does not need an expensive finger test to tell a person to start walking or stop smoking.

Common sense indicates that people who live healthy, usually do not develop medical problems.

Save your money by avoiding this BS test and learn to live healthy. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol, change your lifestyle, stop smoking, start walking, and eat a healthy diet with low fat. This is one piece of advice which does not require an EndoPAT test.

Is there a finger test that can detect heart disease? Part 1

Yes, there is. It is called the EndoPAT and is not worth it. The test was designed by researchers at Mayo Clinic and it is also known as the endothelial peripheral arterial tomography test. The device is applied on the fingertip and it can painlessly measure the health status of your blood vessels. The device prints out a few numbers, which can predict your heart's outlook. The device has fine sensors that can monitor flow of blood in your arms and fingers.

In simple, the Endopat sensors are placed on both the right and left index fingers. Then a blood pressure cuff is applied on one of the arms. When the cuff is inflated, the blood flow to that arm is stopped and the sensor will show no flow. At the same, the sensor on the opposite index finger will display your normal blood flow. After a few minutes, the blood pressure cuff is released and allows blood flow back to the hand. If the finger sensor on the affected arm shows normal rush of flow, then the vessels are working fine. IF the flow is sluggish then your vessels are unhealthy.

The endopat works on the idea that the arteries in your heart also react to stress in the same way as your arms. If the flow to your finger is sluggish then the flow to your heart vessel is also sluggish. In addition, this leads to a diagnosis of atherosclerosis and one can take preventive measures.

The aim of the test is to identify people who have early atherosclerosis. This test may be applicable for diabetics, people who smoke or those who have high blood pressure. This finger test can tell when the vessels are getting stiff and one can adopt a healthy life style much early on.

Can I take a vitamin to prevent a heart attack or chest pain?

Unfortunately there is no evidence which shows that vitamins can either prevent or treat a heart attack. There are many alternative health care practitioners who recommend mega doses of vitamins for every medical disorder underneath the sun. However, there is not one scientific study which has shown that vitamins can cure or prevent a heart attack. Moreover, if you start mucking around with chest pain at home and treat it with vitamins, you may end up dead.

Vitamins may be taken as a health supplement for overall health but are not a substitute for traditional treatments for a heart attack. Laboratory studies have shown that vitamin C and E can lower bad cholesterol and reduce fat build up in blood vessels. However, no human study has shown that vitamins alone can prevent a heart attack. The risk factors for heart disease are obesity, high cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise. No one has even shown that lack of any vitamin can cause a heart attack.

Why vitamins are recommended for treatment of heart attacks in the first place is a mystery. For all consumers, if you have no documented deficiency of vitamins than there is no need to take any supplements.

Even if you have a deficiency of a vitamin, which is preferable- decent juicy fresh fruits and vegetables or a cardboard pill made from the Orient which may be a fake or contain contaminants?

If you have chest pain, stop fooling around with vitamins- take whatever heart pill your doctor recommended.