Categories
Athletic heart General Cardiology General Medicine

Benign PVCs: A heart rhythm doctor’s approach.

Here is an edited email I received from an athletic colleague: John, Quick question…. A 50 year-old male healthy athlete has the new problem of occasional periods of premature beats. He (or she, it doesn’t matter) has visited the doctor and an ECG shows PVCs, or premature ventricular contractions. Otherwise the history, exam, ECG, ECHO […]

Categories
Cycling Wed Healthy Living

Cycling Wed: Good choices plus good choices equals…

I say it over and over again. I urge, cajole and yes, sometimes even plead. It’s the small choices that add up… …to good outcomes. Outcomes? That’s the thing. It could be good health measures like lower blood pressure or boastful cholesterol levels, or it could be successful cycling results. Small choices. Little things. Not […]

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Doctoring Healthy Living Knowledge Reflection

Doctors and Social Media — Increasing the good we do?

“Mass social media is a crock. It is an inherent contradiction. This is why I like LinkedIn more than Facebook. It has a special purpose and therefore doesn’t feel like a time waster. FWIW, I predict the next huge win in social media will be in health care.”               —Rich Karlgaard (Forbes.com) writing in WSJ […]

Categories
AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Healthy Living

CW: Athletes teaching heart rhythm doctors?

What could competitive athletes teach a group of heart rhythm specialists? Cyclists, runners and yes, even triathletes, know something that we wizards too often forget. I’ll tell you what it is in good time. Keep reading. I just returned from a giant gathering of heart rhythm doctors. It was, as all national meetings are, an […]

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Cycling Wed Healthy Living Nutrition

CW: How complicated is good nutrition?

It feels like cheating. Taking care of heart patients teaches you tons about wellness. Figuring out stuff in Medicine means observing its many patterns. And one such highly repetitive theme is how healthy older patients defy the ravages of aging. Take the 90 year-old man I saw recently. He was about perfect: big blue eyes […]

Categories
Athletic heart Healthy Living Hospice/Palliative Care

Could the Dalai Lama be a heart doctor?

I follow a lot of intriguing people on Twitter. Each of them sends me noogets (a favorite slang word of mine) of information that either inspires, uplifts, informs or even amuses me. But there’s one twitter-er that stands out. He really helps me–along with 2.6 million others. The Dalai Lama tweets most mornings about the […]

Categories
Doctoring Exercise General Medicine Uncategorized

Are pills better than exercise?

I recently wrote about the incredible sensations that come with vigorous exercise. Perhaps it was the post ride cannabinoid flurry, but it’s possible that I went too far in suggesting that ‘we’ (doctors, patients, the whole of Western Society) default first to pills before healthy living. Two commentors called me out on this snark. They […]

Categories
Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Health Care

Get back in rhythm: just not with Multaq

Did you know September is AFib awareness month? As a believer in education as the first, and best treatment of AF, I think it’s great to enhance the public knowledge of this highly-misunderstood disease. By all means… Tell people about AF’s risks: stroke and heart failure. Tell them that their fatigue, poor exercise tolerance and […]

Categories
AF ablation Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Cycling Wed Uncategorized

CW: Treating atrial fibrillation in athletes: Tough choices

The number of emails that come from fellow cyclists (and endurance athletes) with heart rhythm issues amazes me. I am more convinced than ever that our “hobby” predisposes us to electrical issues like atrial fibrillation (AF)—that the science is right. Obviously, my pedaling “habit” creates an exposure bias. I hear from many of you because […]

Categories
Doctoring Healthy Living Uncategorized

The doctor’s way, or the…

I recently read a story about pediatricians that refuse to see children when their parents’ decline vaccines. It was the doctoring aspect of this story that caught my attention. Specifically, I was struck by the definitive and novel way that this group of doctors are dealing with the problem of patients that make unwise personal […]

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Atrial fibrillation Cycling Wed Healthy Living

Cycling Wednesday: The most famous organic chemical

On Wednesdays I like to mesh cycling, healthy living and medicine.  In this regard, the conflicts surrounding drinking alcohol work well. What other organic chemical is more debated? Here goes. Let’s start with the cyclists’ view of alcohol.  Mountain-bikers’ love of beer is axiomatic.  Cyclocross riders also fancy beer, this, primarily because they worship all […]