BERWICK AREA HEART SUPPORT GROUP
JANUARY 2007 NEWSLETTER
Berwick Area Heart Support Group. Hon President P.D.Dr Higham Affiliated to the British Heart Foundation
Next meeting January 10that the day Hospital, Berwick Infirmary from 7.00pm – 9.00pm Guest speaker Graeme Gillespie.
Graeme is a Clinical Psychologist, based at North Tyneside Hospital and having responsibility for patients in the Northumberland NHS area, give us a talk on some of the psychological problems associated with illness in general, and where applicable to heart matters.
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DR HIGHAM’S TALK
The Group’s pre-Christmas special proved to be just that.
Thanks to all who contributed the food and the refreshments.
Welcome to the new members and the many returning members.
Out turnout was well over 30 persons, and Dr Higham commented on the big audience.
Thanks again to recent members for bringing others from the Cardiac Rehab at the Swan Centre, and thanks to Dr Higham!
Dr Higham brought with him remarkable pictures from the new CT scan (Computer aided Tomography) that he has been working on at North Tyne and that is being installed at Wansbeck. A 10 second X ray scan collects enough information for more than an hour of later work by the specialist who explores on the computer what is effectively a ‘virtual world’ of the scanned heart and its surroundings. A quick look reveals much, but then the specialist must measure and interpret the relevant details. A single ‘virtual’ artery can be isolated, straightened and measured and the key details of the artery shape, particularly the wall, will provide information on the extent of disease. This is particularly important for diagnosing ‘chest pains’ and weighing up the value of treatments like stenting or bypass.
Dr Higham spent some time sharing his thoughts about these early days; his intensive study in Munich and the ‘learning curve’ for him and his team. Other teams use the CT scanner, and sometimes the lung specialist can see a calcified artery following a scan for carcinomas, or, vice-versa, the heart scan sees a carcinoma. One
grateful lady has already been saved this way. Much of his thinking is on integrating the new technology with existing methods and optimising the ‘horses for courses’. CT scans, for example, do not see ‘blood flow’ as well as echo sound, and the sound technique has an advantage in not
having any X ray risk. Dr Higham discussed the risk versus benefit of X rays. The CT scan has options for ‘low dose’ screening that could be applied in future for screening large numbers of people. There is good reason for not introducing unnecessary risk for what prove to be healthy persons. Even in its current use, risk from CT is very low compared with abdominal X ray; perhaps a cancer risk of one in a million. A key use for low-dose CT scans is to pick out calcification of arteries. This is where the artery wall starts to become ‘bony’, eventually leading to the classic hardened artery. CT picks this up brilliantly – bright segments along the artery wall. A ‘calcium score’ is better at predicting the progress of disease and the likelihood of any event than a blood test, and focuses attention on the provision of treatment for these individuals.
It seems that we are looking at a new era in understanding artery and heart disease, and importantly at information that will be specific to the individual patient.
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[Phil adds that after the meeting a member of the group, who undergoes treatment for osteoporosis that involves taking a lot of calcium, raised the matter of whether this might affect the arteries. This can be discussed with the Osteoporosis Clinic, but apparently there is what the medics refer to as a ‘calcium paradox’. Calcium is more likely to be depositing in the artery wall at the same time as it is reducing in the bone – these processes seem to be two sides of the same coin. Treatment for one using supplemented calcium or vitamins D and K, could perhaps benefit the other?]
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AVOID PASSIVE SMOKING & HELP THOSE NEAR TO US TO STOP
We know now that passive smoking is particularly dangerous for heart patients. To help those close to us to change, the following could be helpful.
Just 20 minutes after you have smoked a cigarette, your body begins an ongoing series of beneficial changes:
20 minutes: Blood pressure drops to normal. Pulse rate drops to normal. Temperature of hands and feet increases to normal.
8 hours: Carbon monoxide level drops to normal. Oxygen level in blood increases to normal.
24 hours: Chance of heart attack decreases.
48 hours: Nerve endings start re-growing. Ability to smell and taste is enhanced. Walking becomes easier.
72 hours: Bronchial tubes relax, making breathing easier. Lung capacity increases.
2 weeks to 3 months: Circulation improves. Walking becomes easier. Lung function increases up to 30 percent.
1 to 9 months: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia re-grow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection.
1 year: Risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
5 years: Lung cancer death rate for the average ex-smoker (one pack a day) decreases from 137 per 100,000 people to 72 per 100,000.
10 years: Lung cancer death rate for the average ex-smoker drops to 12 deaths per 100,000, which is almost the rate of nonsmokers. Pre-cancerous cells are replaced. Other concerns, such as cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas, decrease. (There are 30 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer.)
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Wally’s Yarn
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents .
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Schools had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
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RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Lemon Baked Haddock
450g (1lb) Haddock
4 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Butter or Margarine
1 tsp Lemon Rind
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Rosemary
Salt & Black Pepper
Preheat oven to 180°C: 350°F: Gas 4.
Divide fish into 4 portions.
Place on in a baking pan.
Mix butter or margarine, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
Pour over fish.
Bake for 25 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork
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