Southern lifestyle leading to heart disease - Daily Mountain Eagle

By ED HOWELL

Dr. Ashish Mahajan, Walker Baptist Medical Center's new full-time, dedicated cardiologist, says Southerners face lifestyle challenges - including our fried foods - and everyone should react quickly to signs of a heart attack. 

"The major causes I see of why there is so much heart disease is an unhealthy lifestyle," he said. "That is prime, which becomes slightly more important if we can talk about the demographics of Alabama" - which includes all those fried foods.

"I notice people eat a lot of fried foods here compared to other parts of the country," he said. "And it tastes good, so that is my biggest challenge so far."

He spoke recently in an interview about heart disease in recognition of February being American Heart Month. The hospital has also scheduled a free hour-long Feb. 12 wellness seminar with Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner Ace Bean of Walker Baptist to discuss heart failure and warning signs at the Jasper Senior Activity Center at 10 a.m.

At the same location, a free seminar on stroke awareness will also be offered at 10 a.m.  Monday, Feb. 17, offered by emergency room nurse manager Cindy Fine and nurse manager Jennifer Burdette, both from Walker Baptist. 

Mahajan, 36, is an intervention cardiologist and medical director of the hospital's cardiology services. A native of India, he went to medical school there and moved to the United States eight years ago and came to Walker Baptist in August and has an office in the hospital's medical tower in Suite 215. As his wife of four years works at UAB as an oncologist, he commutes from Birmingham to work in Jasper. 

The cardiologist is board certified in cardiovascular diseases, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology and internal medicine. He is fellowship trained in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular disease, serving as chief fellow at Kettering Medical Center, Wright State University in Dayton Ohio, where he moved from to Alabama. He specializes in coronary artery interventions and peripheral vascular interventions. 

"I'm loving it so far," Mahajan said of Alabama. "My wife loves it as well." He notices that patients in Alabama have a tendency to be nicer and listen more to the doctor - "but I would say they are not as healthy. In general, my experience is there is a little more unhealthier lifestyle" than in other areas he's seen.  

He agreed the Southern fried food doesn't help in treating patients in his line of work, but he noted that also goes for smoking and general lifestyle. Overall, it creates a huge problem. 

"There is a lot of heart disease" in the general population, he said, noting a study recently indicated about 120 million people have heart disease and 17 million die from it each year. Probably every one has at least some small amount of heart disease due to modern lifestyle and stress. 

"It's the number one killer. The data is about 48 percent of adults have heart disease" in the United States, Mahajan said. "One in five die of heart problems. It's a major issue." 

However, Mahajan said strong data indicates much of heart disease can be prevented by healthy lifestyle.

That means exercise at least 30 minutes a day, even if it is just brisk walking, for about four days a week, he said. He said one should not eat as much fried food and keep the cholesterol in check, and eliminate the smoking. Once all that is accomplished, 80 percent of the developing heart disease can be controlled. 

"A lot of heart attacks can be prevented," he said, with all the factors being equal in importance - although if he had to pick one to do first, it would be smoking. 

"There is a lot of smoking here," he said. "There is a lot of smoking when I see patients here. Most of them, unfortunately, don't want to quit." 

He said vaping also has a negative effect.

"Nicotine is dangerous for the heart in any sense, whether it come from any source," he said. 

A recent, large study by the American Heart Association does show some progress, as 40 percent of people are adopting healthier lifestyles through exercising. Mahajan also notes people are more educated about cholesterol these days. 

Major advancements have also been seen in treatments over the past five years or so, such as in improved balloons and stints which have reduced complications such as clotting. Mahajan also noted some pumps are now out to support the heart if it is not moving, essentially doing the job of the heart until further treatment is made. 

As for what to look for in a heart attack, the major symptom would be chest discomfort. "It can be tightness. It can be pressure. It can be just discomfort; some people discribe having a weird feeling in their chest," he said. One can be sweaty or short of breath.

But it gets complicated if you are a woman. 

"About 60 or 70 percent of females, they don't typically have what we call typical systems, which means they don't get chest pains. Sometimes they will just get nausea, sometimes vomiting. They may have back pain" or be dizzy or light-headed.

With those symptoms, one should call 911 and take four baby aspirin, as each are 81 mg, or one adult aspirin, which is usually 325 mg, the full needed dose. This prevents the progression of the clot to other arteries, he said. 

He urged people to take action quickly to seek medical help. Some say they feel symptoms and think it will go away, and it doesn't. 

That can have lifelong consequences. He said specialists use the motto, "Time is muscle." If they wait a day or two, that means the muscle in the heart and may never come back again. 

"When a patient comes to the hospital with a heart attack, we want to take them to the cath lab, open the artery that is causing the heart attack within 90 minutes. After that, there is a lot of research showing that after 90 minutes, the heart muscle is starting to die," he said. If one can get to the hospital 30 minutes or even sooner, they can start to work quickly. 

"If some people come after 24 hours, we don't even want to open that again," he said. "If something is already dead, what are you doing opening it? There is no point. Then you are living with dead heart muscle maybe throughout your life, which can cause more complication and you end up with heart failure." 

Mahajan said the heartbreaking aspect is when patients don't come in time for treatment to save the heart muscle. 

He said there are similar situations with a stroke. Dr. Paola Tumminello, a neurologist at Walker Baptist Medical Center, told the Daily Mountain Eagle one has a three-hour window to seek help with stroke symptoms. It is within that time frame that doctors need to give TPA, or alteplase, an injectable drug used over the years to treat blood clot situations.

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2020-02-11 12:37:48Z
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