From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
In my book Heart Health, which has nearly 500 positive reviews on Amazon, I offer my Heart Reset Protocol, which has helped countless people improve their heart function and avoid costly and harmful drugs, medical tests, and procedures.
Here, I want to give you some insights into what people are finding online about their heart health. This can be stress-inducing because the only treatments offered are costly and invasive. My aim is to educate you about the possible alternatives that you have absolute access to. This blog and my book provide information your doctors may not have been exposed to.
What Dr. Google or an MD might say about Heart Health
When I search the term “heart health” I see recommendations for avoiding heart disease which include a healthy diet, exercise, weight loss, good sleep habits and quitting smoking. Makes sense. Some websites even go as far as to recommend eating foods high in potassium, calcium, and magnesium (but they fail to mention that most commercially available foods are void of usable nutrients and minerals).
The other websites that pop up under heart health are non-profit organizations looking for donations to fund heart and stroke research.
When I search the term “heart disease” I’m met with lists of the types of heart disease, their symptoms and causes. And scrolling down the page, there’s a plethora of headlines about the drugs that are claiming to lessen heart disease risk factors.
As for most diseases that I ask Dr. Google about, the risk factors are much the same – poor diet and exercise habits, genetics and tobacco use. People who are overweight or have high blood pressure are more likely to be at risk for some form of heart disease.
Symptoms associated with heart diseases
According to Dr. Google, the following are the top symptoms associated with different types of heart disease:
- Palpitations (racing, fluttering, or pounding heart)
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness, light-headedness
- Fainting
These are also symptoms of panic attacks. In fact, I’ve seen a new term online: “cardiac anxiety” which describes people who have a real fear of having a heart attack.
The causes of heart disease according to my online searches are listed as heart attack, abnormal heart rhythm, and coronary artery disease. Substance abuse, genetics and aging are other causes.
I don’t know how any of this information is helpful to people who are researching their symptoms and looking for relief!
Dr. Google might suggest medical testing
There are many tests in the repertoire of a cardiac specialist, but I won’t go into them here. I’ve heard many stories of the stress associated with the testing process as doctors are searching for something wrong with the heart, with arteries, and valves. When one test proves to be inconclusive, patients are sent for another test and they wait for those results, often expecting the worst. The cycle of testing and waiting goes on for months and even years for some people who may never receive an answer. But even before the tests are conclusive, doctors freely prescribe drugs to deal with the symptoms.
NOTE: There has been a real increase in the number of tests that our customers are offered, and it fits right into the commercialization of medicine and its money-making bottom line.
Dr. Google might … I mean, Will, suggest drugs
According to Google AI, there are at least a dozen categories of heart disease drugs, with many drugs under each of those categories. The most common drugs prescribed to people with some kind of heart disease include: statins to lower cholesterol, beta-blockers to regulate heart rate and blood pressure, and diuretics to reduce fluid buildup. There is also a group of drugs referred to as heart failure medications.
I’ve had clients who reported that they were on 18 different heart medications, yet still experienced heart palpitations. Since the year 2000, more and more drugs have been used when a patient demonstrates heart disease symptoms. Even if the patient has normal blood pressure, normal cholesterol and normal blood sugar, they may be put on a half dozen powerful drugs in order to “prevent” more disease. In fact, these drugs are doing the opposite; they are causing disease due to their toxicity, especially the fact that they drain the body of magnesium.
Patients are cautioned to take the medication as prescribed by their doctor and never to take themselves off the medication. Doctors give more warnings about discontinuing medication than they provide warnings about the side effects of the medications.
What I say about Heart Health
I share my decades of research on all heart diseases: Tachycardia, Atherosclerosis, High Cholesterol, Angina, Hypertension, Myocardial Infarction, and Atrial Fibrillation in my podcasts and many previously published books and blogs.
This is information that your doctor does not have because it was not taught in medical school. I am not a cardiology specialist, but I have researched heart health, cells, minerals, and drug side effects for decades and have successfully helped clients and patients achieve healthy hearts.
One section of my information that my readers always comment on is my chapter on 33 triggers, few of which are mentioned by Dr. Google. Here are a few of the most common:
1. Hypoglycemia
When blood sugar drops below a certain level, mechanisms come into play that trigger the adrenal glands to release adrenaline to activate and release glycogen (sugar stores) in the liver. That same adrenaline surge can elevate the heart rate. Low blood sugar in the middle of the night can trigger a nocturnal attack. Adrenaline surges deplete magnesium, throwing off electrolyte balance and setting the stage for heart palpitations. When you aren’t aware of your blood sugar, a sudden episode of Tachycardia can be very scary. What’s the treatment? Keep a diary to analyze if your rapid heart rates occur hours away from food.
2. Stress
Stress burns magnesium, depleting the adrenal glands and leading to erratic adrenaline firing, triggering bouts of Tachycardia. Stress in the form of a very active or scary dream can trigger Tachycardia.
3. Calcium
Calcium supplements, a high dairy diet, and eating calcium-fortified food and drink (orange juice) can overwhelm your magnesium stores and lead to a relative magnesium deficiency state. When you lower your calcium intake, you may find your Tachycardia attacks diminish.
4. Hydration
Hydration with pure water is essential for proper blood circulation and heart function. However, we lose most of the good minerals and bad chemicals when we purify water. So, water and remineralization go together. Add sea salt to your drinking water. One quarter tsp per liter.
Alcohol, coffee, and heavy exercise (including Hot Yoga) are all dehydrating and can cause magnesium deficiency. Attacks of vomiting and diarrhea can also dehydrate you and deplete your minerals. If your heart rate doesn’t recover after exercise, that can indicate magnesium deficiency.
5. Magnesium Deficiency
An imbalance of minerals like magnesium, sodium, potassium, and calcium can alter how the heart conducts electricity. Magnesium is the main mineral that prevents erratic electrical conductivity in the heart. Magnesium, at a concentration ten thousand times greater than that of calcium inside the cells, allows only a certain amount of calcium to enter to create the necessary electrical transmission and then immediately helps eject the calcium once the job is done. Otherwise, if calcium accumulates in the cell, it causes hyperexcitability and calcification.
Because medicine doesn’t regularly test for magnesium with an accurate blood test, it misses its importance and focuses on potassium and sodium instead.
Healthy Habits for Heart Health:
You can make many lifestyle changes to improve your heart health – smoking cessation, exercise, and diet are a few. But most Americans’ diets are deficient in nutrition, and that’s where supplementation comes in.
Daily supplementation with picometer minerals and food-based vitamins is key to keeping your heart functioning optimally.
Magnesium
Magnesium is central to a healthy heart rhythm because it plays a role in transporting electrolytes, such as calcium and potassium, into cells. Magnesium helps prevent erratic electrical conductivity in the heart and coordinates the activity of the heart muscle and nerves that regulate the heartbeat. I recommend picometer magnesium liquid for the best result.
Vitamin C
Specifically, for heart health, vitamin C improves vascular elasticity because of it helps produce collagen, a major component of blood vessels. Weak blood vessels can lead to bruising or, in extreme cases, an aneurysm. Weak or fragile blood vessels can develop tears that are then patched up with cholesterol. Excess calcium, riding around in the bloodstream because there isn’t enough magnesium to keep calcium soluble and focused on the bones and teeth, will precipitate onto these cholesterol patches and cause plaque. Be sure to use adequate quantities of food based Vitamin C daily.
Potassium
Potassium is cousin to magnesium, and they work together to help mutual absorption and function. We are eating less vegetables and fruits of late because of the popularity of the Keto, Paleo, and Carnivore diets, so we need to take picometer potassium.
Omega-3 fatty acids help make our cell membranes into the impervious coatings that they should be. Omega-6 vegetable oils undo all that leaving us with leaky cells. We work with an Omega-3 algae that also contains vitamins A and E, which are heart nutrients.
Methylated B Vitamins
Vitamins, B12, B6, Folate are methylated and break down and eliminate homocysteine, which is detrimental to heart health.
I know you’re reading this blog because you’re already tapped into the information I share about illness and disease and their underlying explanations, solutions and interventions. And I know you’re likely frustrated because you have this information that could help someone you care about. Please forward this blog to someone you care about who has questions about their heart-related symptoms and concerns.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future.
