Heart Disease Specialist
Be The Change Health &
Wellness Center
Family Practice & Integrative Medicine located
in Columbia, MD
Nearly half of all adults in the United States have at least one major risk factor for heart disease, like hypertension or high cholesterol. At Be The Change Health & Wellness Center in Columbia, Maryland, board-certified family medicine specialist Sultana Afrooz, DO, and the team offer holistic wellness plans that can reduce your risk for heart disease and heart disease complications. To set up your consultation, call Be The Change Health & Wellness Center or request an appointment online today.
Heart Disease Q & A
What is heart disease?
Heart disease is a term that encompasses the many conditions that can impact your heart’s functioning. Some forms are present from birth, while others develop over time due to your behaviors, habits, and genetic predispositions.
Heart attack, heart failure, and arrhythmia are all common forms of heart disease, which can cause troublesome symptoms like palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, and widespread swelling.
Your providers at Be The Change Health & Wellness Center can direct you to behavioral changes and wellness therapies that improve cardiovascular functioning as well as your overall health. Even if you don’t have heart disease, you can lower your risk by adopting a healthier lifestyle at any time.
Am I at risk for heart disease?
Many different diseases and behaviors can increase your risk for heart disease as they affect the health of your heart or circulatory system. The team at Be The Change Health & Wellness Center can explore your current health and help you address risk factors that already affect you. Some of the most pressing risk factors for heart disease are:
Hypertension
Hypertension is another word for high blood pressure. Your blood pressure can increase because of diseases like diabetes or kidney disease, or it can go up due to plaque buildup along your artery walls from a lack of exercise or an unbalanced diet. Hypertension doesn’t typically cause any symptoms.
High cholesterol
High cholesterol also does not tend to cause symptoms. It happens when wax-like lipids build up in your bloodstream because of a poor diet, smoking, and other unhealthy behaviors.
Smoking
Among many other dangers, smoking and tobacco use increases your risk for heart disease.
How is heart disease treated in holistic medicine?
Be The Change Health & Wellness Center can help you manage or treat your heart disease with personalized wellness services that don’t require the use of pharmaceuticals. Your provider works with you to create a custom wellness plan that helps you manage your weight, lower your blood pressure, and reduce the likelihood of heart failure or a heart attack.
To manage your heart disease or heart disease risk, your provider might recommend:
- Dietary changes
- An exercise plan
- Habit changes, like smoking cessation
- Regular visits for monitoring
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- Supplements
The practice also provides testing so you can gain more information about important factors influencing your health, like your blood chemistry and genetics. The results of these tests help your provider customize your heart health wellness plan.
To find out more about the effects of heart disease on your body, call Be The Change Health & Wellness Center or request an appointment online today.
WHAT WE TREAT
Conditions
