Chat with Dr Devi Shetty – Useful Read for All

From a forwarded email – being published here with due acknowledgement, since this will be useful to most readers

A chat with Dr.Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist) Bangalore was arranged by WIPRO for its employees . Dr Shetty is one of India’s foremost cardiologists. The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone.

Qn: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?

Ans:
1. Diet – Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil
2. Exercise – Half an hour’s walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts
and avoid sitting for a longtime
3. Quit smoking
4. Control weight
5. Control blood pressure and sugar

Qn: Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart?

Ans: No

Qn: It’s still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person
gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?

Ans: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past
the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Qn: Are heart diseases hereditary?

Ans: Yes

Qn: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you
suggest to de-stress?

Ans: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in
everything in life.

Qn: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to
keep a healthy heart?

Ans: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and
injury to joints

Qn: You have done so much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to
do so?

Ans: Mother Theresa , who was my patient

Qn: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?

Ans: Extremely rare

Qn: Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age
(I’m currently only 22) or do you have to worry about it only after you are
above 30 years of age?

Ans: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

Qn: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ?

Ans: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body’s
enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

Qn: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?

Ans: Control diet, walk and eat walnut..

Qn: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?

Ans: Yoga helps.

Qn: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?

Ans: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.

Qn: Which oil is better – groundnut, sunflower, olive?

Ans: All oils are bad .

Qn: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific
test?

Ans: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP,
Treadmill test after an echo.

Qn: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?

Ans: Help the person into a sleeping position , place an aspirin tablet
under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to a
coronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first
hour.

Qn: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that
caused due to gastric trouble?

Ans: Extremely difficult without ECG.

Qn: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst
youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and
serious heart problems.

Ans: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, s edentary
lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people
are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans
and Americans.

Qn: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of
120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Ans: Yes.

Qn: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the
child. Is it true?

Ans : Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not
have a software engineer as a child

Qn: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to
stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions
would you recommend?

Ans : When you are young, nature protects you against all these
irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Qn: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications
(short / long term)?

Ans : Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern
anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Qn: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?

Ans : No.

Qn: How would you define junk food?

Ans : Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , samosas, and even masala dosas.
Qn: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the
reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Ans: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are
vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Qn: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?

Ans : No.

Qn: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of
forwarded emails on this)?

Ans : Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description
under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care
unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance since most of the
time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Qn: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to
heart problems?

Ans : No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to increase your
exercise capacity.

Qn: Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So,
does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs in the
house, work as a substitute for exercise?

Ans : Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and
even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chair and
sitting helps a lot.

Qn: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?

Ans : Diet, exercise, drugs on time , Control cholesterol, BP, weight.

Qn: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when
compared to day shift workers?

Ans : No.

Qn: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?

Ans : There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right
combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go
for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to
reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Qn: Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heart
attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?

Ans : Nature protects women till the age of 45.

Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

Ans : Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke
and, go for health checkup s if you are past the age of 30 ( once in six
months recommended) ….

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
23rd August 2009
Mumbai