Menopause and Midlife Women's Heart Health - #57

Many midlife women that I work with, and are friends with, fear getting breast cancer more than heart disease. The focus on cardiovascular health is often not listed on my client’s health history form as an area of concern. Did you know that heart disease is the #1 cause of death for both women and men? Over 60M women in the U.S. live with some form of heart disease. While there are many unique risk factors for women developing heart disease, which we are going to cover in this episode, one of them is the menopausal transition. All women will experience menopause, and while some develop worse symptoms than others, the door to the 4 horsemen of chronic disease states opens up: Alzheimer's Disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

Navigating one’s risk of heart disease is almost impossible to do in the conventional medical healthcare model, which is set up to help you after you’ve had a cardiac event, not prevent it from happening. The amount of information on the topic, specifically as it relates to midlife women, is next to silent. Women are struggling to have conversations with their doctors about menopause, let alone heart health. In doing research to prepare for this episode, I was challenged to find articles and podcasts related to midlife women and CVD risk, treatments, and lifestyle interventions. I found plenty in the scientific data, but my clients, who are non-medical midlife women, don’t look there for the latest science. Most of my clients are also not having discussions about nutrition, sleep, stress management, and exercise with their doctors.

I am honored to have a very special guest today, who is going to help all of us midlife women understand what our CVD risks are, what we can do to prevent heart disease, what labs and tests to ask for from our doctors, and how menopause and menopause hormone therapy play a role in increasing or decreasing our risk.

Dr. Garima Sharma, MD received her Internal Medicine and Cardiology fellowship training at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia. She was faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. and has served on the American College of Cardiology Fellow in Training Committee, Early Career Professional Committee, and the Women in Cardiology Leadership Council. She specializes in cardiovascular disease in Women and Preventive Cardiology and is the Director of Women’s CV Health and Cardio-Obstetrics, INOVA Health System. Lastly, she is the Governor of the Maryland Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.

Medical Disclaimer:

By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice or for making any lifestyle changes to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This entire disclaimer also applies to any of my guests on my podcast.

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