Living Longer by Dr. Q
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US. Stroke follows closely at 5th. Both of these fall under the general category of cardiovascular disease (meaning disease of the heart and blood vessels). About half a century ago, the field of medicine started to learn how to treat these conditions so people could survive heart attacks and strokes. In the last few decades, doctors realized not only can we treat these diseases we can prevent them. So why does this class of disease still top the list?
About half of Americans have hypertension or high blood pressure and a little less than a third have high cholesterol. These are two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and yet only about half of those with one or either condition are adequately treated. The main reason people don’t seek treatment is because these conditions are largely asymptomatic, meaning you generally don’t feel poorly when you have them. They have been previously branded as “silent killers” because your body does not signal that something is wrong until years of high blood pressure or high cholesterol leads to a stroke or heart attack. Less dramatic, but just as severe, these ”silent killers” can also lead to kidney failure, erectile dysfunction, and poor blood flow to the legs leading to amputation.
While medications play a major role in treating high blood pressure and high cholesterol, oftentimes lifestyle changes can help improve both conditions or even prevent them from happening in the first place. At EuDoc, we take a holistic approach to your health and explore all the aspects of your life as it relates to your well being. While the easier approach may be to give medicine to quickly fix a problem, we value taking the time to understand and address underlying problems and potentially even avoid prescribing medicine.
The doctor’s office experience most people know today is strictly sick care where people go to the doctor only when they feel a problem and the doctors rush in and out fixing symptoms. At EuDoc, we believe in providing true health care where we take the time with you to promote and maintain your health to prevent disease, create individualized plans to manage any chronic disease, and take care of any urgent care needs which may arise. Disease prevention is a major part of what we do as primary care physicians and the earlier you have preventable conditions addressed, the better your long term outcomes. By investing early in yourself and your health, you can beat the statistics and live a higher quality, more functional, and longer life.
