Feb. 19--Day of Dance
Southeast Alabama Medical Center will hold its Day of Dance for heart health on Saturday, Feb. 23, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The 2008 event will be held at the Dothan Conference Center next to the new Holiday Inn Express at 4106 Ross Clark Circle North near Twitchell.
Day of Dance is free and will include door prizes and dancing for all ages. Free dance lessons will be given away. There will also be cooking demonstrations, heart-healthy recipes and food sampling. Those attending will have a chance to have free health screenings to include blood pressure check, body fat analysis, height and weight, stroke assessment and having blood drawn to test cholesterol and thyroid function.
SAMC is part of the Spirit of Women Hospital Network, a national coalition of hospitals and healthcare facilities. Spirit of Women promotes wellness programs for women and their families.
David Ethridge carried a lot on his shoulders in 2004.
His father was ill. Ethridge took nearly 20 emergency trips to the University of Alabama at Birmingham over as many weeks with his father, who had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Ethridge was trying to take care of his dad, his mother and his business, the clothing store D. Ethridge on West Main Street in Dothan.
Ethridge ate right and walked five miles a day. But he was not handling the family and work stress very well.
Then he got in the shower one morning to go to work early.
"I never had any pain whatsoever," Ethridge said. "At each shoulder, I had pressure but never had any pain."
But he knew something wasn't right, so he went to see his family physician. His blood pressure was 110 over 70; his cholesterol 186 -- both considered normal. He had a normal EKG. He passed a stress test. His blood work, however, showed elevated enzymes -- a sign of a heart attack. It turned out that Ethridge's left anterior descending artery was 99 percent blocked.
"That's about three to four hours left," Ethridge said.
Most people associate chest pain and left arm pain with a heart attack. But the signs are not often that clear.
Dr. Nelson Gwinn of Southeast Cardiology Clinic in Dothan recently addressed some of the symptoms of a heart attack during a seminar at Southeast Alabama Medical Center. He was joined by survivors like Ethridge who shared their stories.
Both Gwinn's father and a close friend died of heart attacks with no history of cardiovascular problems. Gwinn's father had severe indigestion and sweating during his heart attack. Gwinn's friend died while running.
"Heart disease doesn't always give you a whole lot of warning," Gwinn said. "The thing about heart disease is a lot of it is preventable."
Smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension are all risk factors for heart disease and heart attacks. But recognizing when something is wrong is key to early diagnosis and saving your life, Gwinn said.
"Not everybody has the same symptoms with heart disease," he said.
And "chest pain" is a loose term. Gwinn said heart attack patients sometimes feel pressure like someone sitting on their chest or like their chest area is full like a blown up balloon.
Women often feel pain between their shoulder blades or in their jaw line, especially during exercise, Gwinn said.
For Betty Pullin, a heart attack came on sharp. She was nauseated, short of breath, sweaty and very weak.
"It was a sharp pain in my chest," Pullin said. "It felt like someone just took a knife and stabbed me in the chest and twisted it."
Despite the typical left-side pain, Gwinn said some heart attack patients report experiencing pain on their right side or in their elbows, shoulders and arms. Like Pullin, patients often experience a cold sweat during a heart attack
If you survive a heart attack, Gwinn said the pain you felt during that heart attack is likely to be the pain you feel with any future heart attacks.
Gwinn said when you suddenly can't do things you've always done easily -- you get winded when walking stairs -- it's time to see a doctor.
"Fatigue is a big tip off," Gwinn said. "People who exercise have a big advantage when all of sudden they can't do something they normally could do."
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