Women's Health - Sunday, June 22, 2007

Jane Seymour supports the World Heart Federation's advice to women to keep their hearts healthy. A healthy heart is vital for living life to the full. The majority of women, over 60 percent, identify breast cancer as their greatest health concern, yet heart disease and stroke claims more than eighteen times the number of lives. I've learnt that a healthy lifestyle dramatically helps prevent heart disease. Being fit and healthy is very important to me and my family and as Goodwill Ambassador for the World Heart Federation, this is our advice to help you keep your heart for life. A few small changes can bring big rewards!

http://womenshealth.about.com/b/a/030127.htm

I knew heart-related illness was the #1 cause of death in women, but I had no idea it kills 18 women world-wide to every one death from breast cancer.

Why is Women's Heart Health important for strengthening families and homes? Well ... you can't help strengthen something if you're not there. Nobody likes thinking about their own demise, but if you want to have some say in when it happens (as in later, rather than sooner), we women HAVE to take care of ourselves. Sometimes we even need to make it a priority, even when our hearts are tugging us in different directions (new shoes for the kids, getting that desired anniversary gift for our spouses on time or a couple of weeks late). Luckily, most women don't have to make a choice like that.

Two biggies and baddies in the above-referenced articles are smoking and hypertension. Gosh, I've barely started this entry and already I have TWO STRIKES against me! *ARGH* (I need to find my happy place here...:p).

I didn't used to smoke. But then I started working at a residential/teaching facility for adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MR/DD). It is incredibly stressful at times. Granted, on the whole, the staff have things a WHOLE lot better than the residents. But sometimes the balance seems off. True, as disabled individuals, their rights must be protected by others, especially to the degree they are unable to self-advocate. But sometimes it frustrates the beejeebees out of me, when I've just got the spit kicked out of me and am on the way to the ER or urgent care and someone shakes their finger at me and says, "There better NOT be a MARK on So-n-So!"

So, I took up smoking as a way to keep from putting my fist through a wall. Most of the time it works. But it creates other problems, such as the health of my lungs and heart. I am married and have three children and all of them want me to stop. DH just tells me. My 10 year old told me one evening he wanted to invent a time machine to go back to the man who invented smoking and tell him to "just say no". My middle son modeled his pretzel-'cigarette' abilities one night *squirm* And my daughter, age 4, said one day outside that she wanted "Diego cigarettes" and a "Diego lighter" ... OUCH!

I gotta quit ... someday. For now I will try to cut down.

As far as hypertension (high blood pressure), the picture there is just as bleak. My father had a stroke at 47 (two years older than I am right now) and died a week later. I didn't really have a problem until I got pregnant. The first time around, my doctor was concerned when my numbers started climbing into the 150/100 range. During delivery, my pressure climbed to 180/160 (or so says my husband), which is stroke territory, but an epidural helped with that tremendously. The second pregnancy was marked by my ob's office telling me they could no longer see me (at 8 months and hypertensive) when there was a 'hiccup' with the insurance company. I went into a different hospital on Memorial Day 1998 to the maternity triage and was admitted with bp of 191/109. My 3rd and last pregnancy was known to be coming early (again hypertension related). Eight weeks before our due date, I wasn't feeling right one evening. My family took me to the hospital and they decided to keep me overnight for observation. A few hours later, they took me by ambulance to another hospital (with more neo-natal care facilities) and not long after that there was an emergency c-section.

So. I'm going to make some goals for next month:

a) determine how much I smoke now and cut it by at least 25%.

b) get back on my blood pressure medication.


I invite any women (anyone, really) who may be reading this to do the same. Make some small goals to improve your health ... for your sake and for those who love you.