Real Heart Health

Written by Glenda Eickmeyer

FNP-BC

According to the CDC Heart Disease facts one in every five people die of coronary heart disease.  An alarming statistic is 5% of the population over the age of 20 has coronary artery disease that is undiagnosed. (1) That does not include arrhythmias, structural weaknesses, or other heart issues that weaken people to the point where their daily life is affected.  

The CDC states you should see a cardiologist, but there are three types of cardiologists:

1. Electrical cardiologist: electrophysiologist or interventional cardiologists who deal with arrhythmias

2. Cardiothoracic surgeons for structural issues or vascular blockages

3. General cardiologist for blood pressure and other issues

The heart is complex, an electric miracle in fact, but do you really need three specialists for one organ? To answer this question…

Allow me to introduce you to the heart that God built. The heart is one unit designed with beauty and function that has a structure with:

•  walls
•  doors 
•  passageways

The heart has its own:

• electrical system
• plumbing system to supply the body with pumped blood.  

The coolest thing about the heart that God built are its cells, called cardiac cells.  These cells make their own electricity and can create a contraction all on their own, even if the electrical system isn’t optimal. These cells make the majority of the energy in the body, because cardiac cells have 3x as many mitochondria, (4) or power plants, in their cells as any other cell in the body. 

It is when these cells and their mitochondria begin to fail, that heart disease begins.

A few key questions:

1. How do you know if there is a problem? 
2. How can we prevent a problem? 
3. How can we reverse or limit the damage if we have a problem? 

When was the last time anyone truly listened to your heart?

Not just the valves clicking and the pump pumping, but your energy level, your hopes and dreams and emotions?

Welcome to Real Health Medical.  In addition to being knowledgeable about the cutting-edge medical advances, we approach heart health by first looking at the cells. We look for issues causing the cells to be damaged, diseased, or not functioning optimally and find and treat the root cause before true damage sets in.  

We then look at the structure, function, and rate variability. 

We will identify if there is a problem with:

1. Specialty labs from Boston Heart and Vibrant America that go far beyond basic cholesterol numbers.
2. And look for inflammatory markers. Cell sizes, patterns and energy and mitochondria of the cells themselves
3. We provide on-site, real-time scans for risk markers for: carotid, aorta, afib, ABI

We will discuss:

1. Nutrition for heart health (personalized food plans) 
2. Cardio Plus - nutrient based supplement that combines dedicated heart tissue with vitamins to feed the structure of your heart muscles.  
3. Inflammation and how to lower it with supplements like glutathione (to decrease overall cellular inflammation (7) and natto kinase (to protect the vascular structures (8). 
4. Optimizing energy production with ATP Fuel
5. Oxygen and ozone therapies to boost cellular respiration and eval for sleep apnea.
6. EquiscopeTherapy for improved circulation 
7. Medical cool photo biomodulation lasers to improve cardiac function. 
8. NEW to RHM!!  External Counter pulsation Therapy (ECP) – check our newsletter for more info.

What can you do to improve your heart health naturally?

To strengthen your heart structure: To strengthen the structure of your heart muscle, it needs to work like a muscle.  How do you strengthen your muscles? You work it. 

• Walk daily.
• Increase cardiac activity and heart rate variability (move more, add intervals of higher intensity by adding weights, increasing incline, increasing speed)
• Eat healthy fats to avoid inflammation, healthy fats include: avocados, olives, coconut, nuts & seeds, , plenty of colorful vegetables, and limit fake/ artificial, processed foods
• Limit/Eliminate:
• Seed oils (Industrial seed oils are highly processed oils extracted from soybeans, corn, rapeseed (canola), cottonseed and sunflower and safflower seeds)
• Processed sugary foods/beverages containing high fructose corn syrups. 
• Processed meats 
• Brush your teeth!   Yes, you heard that right. Oral health affects heart health!  Harvard has been tracking data on teeth and gum health and has found brushing can decrease cardiovascular disease by as much as 9%. (9)

To strengthen the electrical system of your heart: To limit palpitations or arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, which has increased to 1 in 20 patients hospitalized with Covid. 

• Avoid electrical triggers such as toxins like smoking, alcohol, and drugs.
• Balance electrolytes like potassium and magnesium.  Electrolytes that are too high, or too low can trigger arrhythmias because these “electrolytes” are positive polarized ions which must balance with negatively charged ions like chloride for cells to behave rhythmically.
• Strengthen your immune system with nasal washes (10), optimizing Vit. D & Zinc levels, getting plenty of fresh air, staying hydrated and balanced nutrition. 

        We listen and work WITH you to create a solution and solve the “heart” of the problem!  

References

1)  Centers for disease prevention and control ( May 2023): National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion , Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.   

 https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

2)The American Heart Association ( 2023) Coronary Artery Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations 

3) Mayo Clinic Staff Broken Heart Syndrome. October 27,2022

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/broken-heart-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20354617

4) Chen,L.  Knowlton, A Mitochondria and heart failure: new insights into an energetic problem. National Library of Medicine Sept 2013 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786553/ mitochondria

5) Bisaccia, G. Ricci, F, Gallina, S, Baldan, A. Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Heart Disease: Critical Appraisal of an Overlooked Association. 2022, Jan Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan; 22(2): 614

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7827742/ mitochondria 

6)Ganipineni, V. Gutlapalli, S et al  Exploring the Potential of Energy-Based Therapeutics (Photobiomodulation/Low-Level Laser Light Therapy) in Cardiovascular Disorders: A Review and Perspective Cures Pubmed 2023, April

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37214067/. Laser therapy 2022

7)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8389000/ ( glutathione) 2021

8)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30013308/ nattokinase 2018

9) https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/brushing-up-on-heart-health

10) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7453155/