|
|
|
||||||||
|
Home | Symptoms & Risks | Ask A Doctor
| Q & A Library | Find a Physician | Choose a Pharmacist | Site Map Speaking
Schedule | The Book
| About the Author | Herbs | Nutritional
Supplements | Your Hormones | Seminar Questionnaire | Lab Tests | Hormone Choices | Resources for Women | Pharmacists Resources | Physicians Resources |
|||||||||
|
Stay informed with the Menopause Type® E-News. Now
available for free. Subscribe
Now! |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Managing Your Menopause Type® Educational
Class |
|||||||||
|
Session Three - Your Risks of Disease |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Cardiovascular Disease (Heart
Disease) |
|||||||||
|
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in
postmenopausal women in the United States. It accounts for about 500,000
deaths in women each year, twice as many as cancer. Cardiovascular
disease (CVD) is considered a “silent disease” - a disease without symptoms.
Sometimes chest pain (angina) will show up as a symptom, telling a woman
there is something wrong. But in many cases, women do not have warning signs
of developing heart disease until after the damage has taken place. |
|||||||||
|
Because heart
disease does not have many symptoms, it is important that you regularly have
an evaluation of your risk for disease. Even the routine checking of your
blood pressure is important, in that it may be one of the first signs that
you are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. |
|||||||||
|
A number of
laboratory tests can be used to determine what your risk is for developing
cardiovascular disease. In general, lab test that measure cardiovascular risk
can be divided into two major categories; those which show increased risk,
and those will show decreased risk. |
|||||||||
|
Cardiovascular Risks Tests |
|||||||||
|
When any of
these tests are elevated it means you are at increased risk for developing
heart disease. |
|||||||||
|
|
Total cholesterol LDL cholesterol Triglycerides Apo-B |
Lipoprotein (a) Homocysteine HS-CRP (Highly Sensitive C-reactive
protein) Fibrinogen |
|||||||
|
Cardiovascular Protection Tests. |
|||||||||
|
When any of
these tests are elevated it means you are at decreased risk for developing heart
disease. |
|||||||||
|
|
HDL cholesterol Apo-A1 |
||||||||
|
The
ideal way to determine your risk for heart disease would be a comprehensive
cardiovascular assessment that would look at all of these tests at the same time.
Ideally, you would have a comprehensive cardiovascular assessment
periodically so that you can be advised on choices that you can make to keep
your risks low. Because
cardiovascular disease kills 500,000 women each year, routine testing is
important. A comprehensive cardiovascular assessment should be done at forty
years of age (if it has not already been done). If risk factors are
identified, therapies should be started and the comprehensive test repeated
yearly. For women at low risk (as determined by a comprehensive lab test), a
very basic cardiac risk assessment (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides)
should be done once a year after the age of forty. |
|||||||||
|
Based on
your family history, medical history and state of health, your physician may recommend
other tests such that involve testing the electrical and/or physical function
of the heart, or evaluate the heart for calcifications or the occlusion of
the blood vessels. |
|||||||||
|
Other cardiovascular tests may
include: |
|||||||||
|
|
Oxidized LDL
Antibodies - (a CV risk blood test) Co-enzyme Q10 - (a
CV protection blood test) Potassium
& Magnesium (minerals that affect heart function) |
||||||||
|
|
Resting EKG Echocardiogram
(evaluates ejection fraction and dynamics of heart function) |
||||||||
|
|
Treadmill Stress
EKG with MET equivalent (evaluates exercise tolerance) Stress EKG with
echocardiogram (evaluates cardiac dynamics under exercise) Carotid Ultrasound
(evaluates carotid artery occlusions and calcifications) SuperFast CT Scan (evaluates cardiac
calcifications) |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
What this means to you |
|||||||||
|
Knowing your
risk for cardiovascular disease will allow you to make choices to decrease
those risks. |
|||||||||
|
In addition
to regular exercise such as walking, and a healthy diet, postmenopausal women
should also take Vitamins B6, B12 and Folic Acid (see Nutrient Dosages)
supplement to decrease the formation of homocysteine.
In addition, Co-Enzyme Q10 should be taken to maintain cardiovascular health. |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
The extensive Professional Management of Menopause
Type® Seminar is available to healthcare professionals as a
component of the Management of Menopause Types® Program.
Women are advised to Find a Physician & Choose a Pharmacist that are have
been trained in Management of Menopause Type® Program |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
What's
Next? |
|||||||||
|
Learn how to
determine your risk for different cancers, and what you can do to decrease
your risk for these diseases. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
The Managing Your Menopause Type® Educational Class
is provided to the public without charge. This information is provided for
education purposes only, and is not intended to prescribe treatment. Consult
a physician, pharmacist or other healthcare professional regarding the
applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your
symptoms or medical condition. |
|||||||||
|
This public education class does not provide
physicians, pharmacists or other healthcare professional with the extensive training
and ongoing education provided within the Management of Menopause Type®
Program. |
|||||||||
|
The extensive Professional Management of Menopause
Type® Seminar is available to healthcare professionals as a
component of the Management
of Menopause Types® Program. |
|||||||||
|
Menopause Type® is a Registered
Trademark of YourMenopauseType.com. |
|||||||||
|
© 1999 - 2001 by YourMenopauseType.com. |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
YourMenopauseType.com, Inc. |
|||||||||
