Have you ever experienced or sensed your heartbeat? Although such a sensation is usually completely normal, it may be unpleasant. For instance, people often describe hard beats, fast beats, irregular beats, skipped beats, fluttering, “flip-flopping” or a pounding sensation in the chest or neck. The term palpitations is used to describe an unpleasant awareness of the … Read more
Chest pain is a common symptom associated with a variety of underlying causes. More than six million people visit hospital emergency departments in the United States each year because of chest pain (1). The cause of chest pain may vary from life-threatening conditions to those that are relatively harmless. Chest pain is most commonly caused by … Read more
Non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C) is a fraction that can be easily calculated from a traditional lipid panel. The value is strongly associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Over the years, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) has been the most commonly used lipid variable to predict risk (1). However, current evidence suggests that non-HDL cholesterol may be … Read more
Measurements of coronary artery calcium score (CAC scoring) are commonly used to assess future heart disease risk. When we age, calcium deposits can be found in many parts of our bodies. Calcification in the arterial walls is common in people aged 65 and older. So, to some degree, calcification of arteries can be regarded as … Read more
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also termed myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is an illness that has attracted a good deal of attention lately, mainly because of a proposed relationship with COVID-19. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post addressing 19 important causes of fatigue (1). ME/CFS was on the top of that … Read more