by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | May 9, 2024 | Blog, Heart Health, Womens Health
Heart palpitations are sudden fluttering sensations in your chest. They make you feel like your heart is racing or that it’s skipped a beat, and when you notice these sensations, it’s normal to feel worried.
Common causes of heart palpitations are stress, caffeine intake, and physical exertion — but what many people don't realize is that hormonal changes can also trigger palpitations. In fact, understanding this connection can help you better manage your heart health.
Kunal Patel, MD, and our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute specialize in cardiology, and we know just how concerning it can be to experience heart palpitations. Here’s what you should know about the unique link between hormonal changes and palpitations.
How your hormones affect your heart
Hormones are chemical messengers in your body. They influence a lot of different bodily functions, including heart rate and rhythm. Specifically, estrogen and progesterone have profound effects on the cardiovascular system — and changes in these hormones can cause heart palpitations, particularly in women.
In fact, your menstrual cycle, pregnancy, menopause, and certain medical treatments like hormone replacement therapy and contraceptives all make estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate significantly.
Your menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause
During your menstrual cycle, estrogen and progesterone levels naturally rise and fall. These changes affect your heart's electrical activity, sometimes triggering heart palpitations just before or during your monthly period.
Pregnancy brings about major hormonal changes, including a surge in estrogen and progesterone levels. As your body adjusts to support your developing baby, your heart works harder. For some women, these changes can lead to heart palpitations. While palpitations during pregnancy are usually benign, it's important to consult your healthcare provider.
In menopause, your estrogen levels decline. This hormonal imbalance can cause heart palpitations along with other symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings. While menopausal palpitations are typically harmless, they may indicate underlying cardiovascular issues, especially if accompanied by other symptoms like chest pain or dizziness.
Medical treatments
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a popular treatment to alleviate menopausal symptoms. It increases estrogen levels, but it can sometimes trigger palpitations as your body adjusts to a new hormonal balance.
Finally, contraceptives that contain estrogen can also influence your heart’s rhythm. While rare, some women can experience palpitations as a side effect of hormonal birth control.
Other possible factors
Aside from these natural hormonal fluctuations, conditions like hyperthyroidism can also lead to heart palpitations. Thyroid hormones influence metabolism and heart function, so an overactive thyroid can cause the heart to beat faster and irregularly.
Managing hormone-related heart palpitations
If you notice an unusual heartbeat or palpitations, don’t ignore them. Dr. Patel and our team can pinpoint the cause, so you can better manage your heart health. Managing hormone-related heart palpitations often involves addressing the underlying hormonal imbalance or trigger.
Tracking your menstrual cycles and managing stress levels can help you get more in tune with your body and reduce menstrual palpitations. If you’re pregnant, regular prenatal care and monitoring can ensure the safety of both you and your baby.
In menopause, lifestyle modifications like regular exercise, stress management, and dietary changes can help alleviate symptoms. If you are on HRT or contraceptives, adjusting the dosage or trying alternative medications may be necessary to minimize palpitations.
Your hormones can have a significant impact on your heart — and better care starts with better understanding. By staying informed and proactive about your heart health, you can navigate hormonal fluctuations with greater confidence and peace of mind.
Learn more with a consultation at NJ Cardiovascular Institute at one of our offices in Elizabeth, Lakewood, Paramus, or Secaucus, New Jersey. Call or send us a message online today.
by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | Sep 1, 2021 | Blog, Heart Health, Womens Health
One American dies from heart disease every 36 seconds. It’s the leading cause of death in the United States, and it impacts men and women of every race.
Heart disease, also called cardiovascular disease, is a group of conditions that impact your heart’s ability to do its job. It develops when your blood vessels get narrow or blocked, making your heart work harder to send blood throughout your body.
Having heart disease increases your risk of heart attack, stroke, and death — but the symptoms and warning signs of these conditions are often different in men and women. If you’re a woman, it’s important to learn more about your heart and how to take care of it throughout your life.
Kunal Patel, MD, and our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute partner with women of all ages to promote heart health. We specialize in diagnosing and treating heart disease, and today we’re taking a closer look at things every woman needs to know about her heart health.
Your risk for heart disease
Heart disease is very common, but it doesn’t always have obvious warning signs. To protect your heart health, it’s important to learn your risk of developing heart disease and check in with your doctor regularly.
Some factors increase your risk of heart disease, no matter your gender. These risk factors are:
Sedentary lifestyle
Poor diet
Obesity
Older age
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Tobacco use
Family history of heart disease
Some risk factors carry more weight depending on your gender and could contribute to heart disease more often in women than in men. If you’re a woman, some factors that could make you more likely to develop heart disease are:
Depression
Stress
Sedentary lifestyle
Tobacco use
Pregnancy complications
Being postmenopausal
If you have risk factors for heart disease, schedule a cardiology consultation at NJ Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Patel specializes in comprehensive evaluations to test for heart disease and personalized treatment plans to boost your well-being.
Signs of heart conditions in women vs. men
Having heart disease increases your risk of experiencing a life-threatening heart condition like heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of women who die from heart disease had no obvious symptoms beforehand.
Heart disease and other heart conditions often go undiagnosed in women, and cardiac emergencies can cause different symptoms in women than in men.
The signs of heart attack in women may include:
Aching chest pain
Cold sweat
Dizziness
Heavy sensation in chest
Nausea
Sharp pain in abdomen, neck, jaw, or upper back
Shortness of breath
Unexplained fatigue
The signs of stroke in women can include:
Blurred vision
Difficulty speaking or understanding
Difficulty walking or standing
Numbness in face, arms, or legs
Sudden, severe headache
Learning to recognize the signs of heart attack and stroke in women could help save your life or the life of someone close to you. Seek immediate medical attention or call 911 if you or someone you know experiences these symptoms.
Ways to keep your heart healthy
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among American women, but there’s a lot you can do to protect your heart and improve your health. Dr. Patel and our team work with you to identify risk factors that you can change, like your activity level, diet, and tobacco use.
Our Heart Smart Program is here to help you learn ways to improve your wellness. Depending on your health, we recommend regular exercise and healthy eating to help you reach or maintain a healthy weight.
If you have an underlying condition like high blood pressure, managing it can help lower your risk of developing complications. Proactively addressing other health concerns, including stress levels, can also help lower your risk of long-term heart problems.
Keep up with regular doctor’s appointments and primary care visits. Even if you don’t have signs of a heart condition now, preventive care is the best way to identify and address changes before they get worse.
As a woman, you should never overlook your heart health. Schedule an appointment with us at one of our four New Jersey offices. Book online or over the phone today.
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by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | Dec 15, 2020 | Blog, Varicose Veins, Venous Health, Womens Health
Varicose veins are large, twisted veins just below the surface of your skin. They’re an extremely common vascular problem, affecting an estimated 23% of American adults.
The top complaint regarding varicose veins is that they’re unsightly or embarrassing, but symptoms can go beyond being simply cosmetic. Varicose veins can cause swelling, muscle cramps, and itchy skin.
Whether you’re bothered by pain or embarrassment, our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute can help. Kunal Patel, MD, and our team of specialists offer diagnostics and treatment for varicose veins.
To some extent, you can’t control whether or not you’ll develop varicose veins or how severe they’ll be. But there are some risk factors that you can change. Dr. Patel shares a few common factors that affect varicose veins.
Body weight
Being overweight or obese can impact your health in a variety of ways. Extra body fat makes your muscles, organs, and veins work harder, and carrying extra weight could contribute to varicose veins.
Obesity puts extra pressure on your abdomen and your legs. Increased blood pressure increases your risk of vein damage, because there’s a greater chance of congestion within veins as blood travels back to your heart.
Activity level and lifestyle
Living a sedentary lifestyle may increase your risk of developing varicose veins and make existing varicose veins worse. Spending long periods of time sitting makes your vascular system work harder to return blood to your heart.
It’s a common misconception that sitting with your legs crossed increases your risk of varicose veins. Crossing your legs won’t cause the condition on its own, but it can make existing varicose veins or other vascular problems worse.
On the other hand, spending most of the day standing is hard on veins, too. Since your legs are so far from your heart, veins are put under increased stress when you stand in one place for too long.
Pregnancy
Like carrying extra weight or spending long hours on your feet, being pregnant puts increased strain on your vascular system. When you’re pregnant, the amount of blood in your body naturally increases, and this can enlarge your veins and increase your blood pressure.
Pregnancy, increased blood volume, and hormones all contribute to varicose veins, making it a common issue that many expecting mothers face. The good news is that varicose veins that develop during pregnancy often improve on their own a few months after your baby is born.
Other varicose vein risk factors
You can’t control every risk factor for varicose veins. Gender, age, and genetics all play a role in whether or not you’ll develop them. For example, women are at least two times more likely than men to have varicose veins.
For women and men alike, risk increases with age because veins naturally weaken over the years. People with a family history of varicose veins or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) may be at increased risk for developing varicose veins themselves.
Schedule a varicose vein evaluation at NJ Cardiovascular Institute to find out what you can do to keep your varicose veins from getting worse. Call the office nearest you in either Secaucus or Newark, New Jersey, or book an appointment online.
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by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | Jul 24, 2020 | Blog, Varicose Veins, Venous Health, Womens Health
About one in four Americans has varicose veins — those large, twisted veins that appear just below the skin’s surface on the legs and feet. Varicose veins range from purplish red to blue, and they’re a source of embarrassment for many people.
Varicose veins form when valves inside your veins malfunction, causing blood to flow back the wrong way or pool inside your veins. Most of the time, varicose veins are simply a cosmetic concern and don’t pose serious risks to your health, but they can lead to more severe complications if left untreated.
Kunal Patel, MD, and our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute are here to help — whether you’re experiencing discomfort, swelling, or you’re unhappy with the way your legs look. Our varicose vein team offers treatments to improve your legs’ appearance and reduce your risk of suffering medical complications related to varicose veins.
More than just a cosmetic issue, a few potential dangers of varicose veins include leg pain, stasis ulcers, and blood clots.
Leg pain
Varicose veins can develop anywhere in the body, but they’re most often located in the legs or feet due to increased pressure inside your veins when you stand and walk. After cosmetic concerns, the most common symptom of varicose veins is leg pain.
Pooling blood can make your legs feel heavy or achy. In more severe cases, varicose veins may cause burning, throbbing, or swelling in affected legs. Discomfort may increase when you sit or stand for long periods of time, and sometimes the skin around varicose veins becomes itchy.
Stasis ulcers
Varicose veins form when blood isn’t effectively pumped back to your heart. As a result, blood collects in the veins, stretching the walls and creating more pressure. This may cause chronic swelling around the veins, and proteins inside your blood can leak into surrounding tissues and create skin ulcers, also called stasis ulcers.
Stasis ulcers may cause skin discoloration and scaling on your lower legs. Discoloration can appear dark red or purple, because blood spreads into surrounding tissue. The ulcer itself may appear shallow but large, and usually develops around your calf or ankle. Ulcers increase your risk of developing an infection and require professional medical care.
Blood clots
Although rare, blood clots are another potential danger of varicose veins. Clots can form inside superficial veins, causing swelling and tenderness in the affected area. Blood clots in superficial veins can be painful, but they generally don’t travel to the lungs or cause other health complications.
However, it’s possible for blood clots to develop in severe varicose veins deep inside your legs. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a serious medical condition that can cause a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) and related complications. Talk to our team to find out if you’re at risk for DVT.
Finding treatment for varicose veins
Don’t hesitate to make an appointment with us at NJ Cardiovascular Institute if you’re concerned about your varicose veins. We offer vein evaluations and various treatment options for both cosmetic and health reasons.
We perform a complete evaluation, that may include ultrasound testing, to diagnose circulation problems, and then we recommend a treatment plan that fits your needs.
Improve your health and your appearance with varicose vein care at one of our offices in Newark or Secaucus, New Jersey. Call us or book a consultation online to get started today.
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by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | Apr 5, 2020 | Blog, Heart Health, Womens Health
Heart disease is the cause of about one in every three deaths in the United States. It’s the leading cause of death for men and women, yet it’s a common misconception that men are at greater risk for heart problems than women.
Many people assume that only older individuals, particular older men, are at risk for heart attack. But if your heart health is compromised, a heart attack can happen at any age and to either sex.
The most common symptom of a heart attack is chest pain for both women and men. But women are more likely to suffer a heart attack with more subtle symptoms, which makes recognizing a heart attack more difficult — unless you know what to look for.
At NJ Cardiovascular Institute, our team is here to help you understand the most common signs of heart attacks in women. We regularly diagnose and treat heart disease to help women of all ages live longer, healthier lives.
Heart attack symptoms go beyond chest pain
Portrayals in movies and TV shows often make heart attacks look like sudden, crushing chest pain. While chest discomfort, pressure, or pain are common symptoms of heart attack, they aren’t the only ones.
Women are more likely than men to have more subtle heart attack symptoms that may be unrelated to the chest. You could be having a heart attack if you experience pain in your:
Arms
Shoulder
Upper back
Abdomen
Neck
Jaw
Heart attack symptoms unrelated to physical pain include:
Nausea or vomiting
Shortness of breath
Lightheadedness
Weakness
Fatigue
Indigestion
Symptoms can be vague, and many women brush them off because they’re not widely known as signs of a heart attack. Learning to recognize the more subtle symptoms can help you identify a cardiac event sooner before permanent damage occurs.
Symptoms can last for days
Since many symptoms of a heart attack in women don’t include chest pain, they’re often overlooked. Unusual fatigue, nausea, weakness, and other signs may be mistaken for illnesses such as the flu.
Vague symptoms make heart attack harder to identify, but women are also more likely to dismiss or minimize their symptoms in comparison to men. In fact, one study found that women waited 54 hours to seek treatment for heart attack symptoms, compared to men who waited just 16 hours.
If you think you or a loved one is suffering a heart attack, call 911 immediately. Follow the operator’s instructions and try to take slow, deep breaths until help arrives. Seeking treatment as early as possible increases your chances of a full recovery.
Understand your risk of heart disease
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for women and men. But both heart attacks and heart disease can appear differently in women than in men. This disparity means that women are more likely to have undiagnosed heart conditions, and they may not even know when they’re at risk for heart attack.
If you’re a woman, it’s important to educate yourself about your heart health. Risk factors that increase your chances of heart disease and heart attack include:
Obesity
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Diabetes
Sedentary lifestyle
Menopause
Stress
Depression
Smoking
Heart disease is common, but it’s preventable in many cases. Our team is dedicated to helping you strengthen your heart and live your healthiest life.
We partner with you, evaluating your medical history, family history, and current condition to propose a heart-healthy plan that’s right for you. Managing pre-existing conditions and making a range of healthy lifestyle choices can make a big difference for your heart and help reduce your risk of heart attack.
Trust your heart health to our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute. To learn more about the risks of heart disease and how to spot a heart attack, book an appointment at one of our offices in Newark, Secaucus, or Paramus, New Jersey. Use the online scheduler or give us a call.
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by NJ Cardiovascular Institute | Oct 1, 2019 | Blog, Heart Health, Men's Health, Womens Health
Our hearts beat between 60 and 100 times a minute on average — and more if we're exercising. Doesn't it make sense to make sure your ticker is working as efficiently as possible? A stress test can do just that.
Here at NJ Cardiovascular Institute, with offices located in Secaucus and Newark, New Jersey, board-certified cardiologist Dr. Kunal Patel and our highly trained team can address all of your heart-health concerns. We strongly believe in the power of prevention and conduct diagnostic procedures including stress tests.
A stress test can help you identify heart issues early and prevent more serious complications. Read on to find out how a stress test works, and what to expect.
What is a stress test?
Also called a treadmill test or exercise test, a stress test makes your heart work harder through physical activity. This causes it to need more oxygen and beat faster to pump more blood. During this period of exertion, doctors can more easily diagnose issues with the heart or blood flow that may not be detected during less strenuous activity.
Reasons for a stress test
Stress tests are conducted for a number of reasons, and a medical professional can evaluate if you need one. In general, a stress test can confirm or rule out either of the following:
Coronary artery disease, which typically occurs when the arteries have become damaged by a buildup of cholesterol and plaque deposits
Heart arrhythmias, or problems with the electrical impulses that coordinate your heart rhythm
In addition to helping diagnostically, the test can be used to guide a treatment path. For example, it can determine how well an existing regimen is working or assist in deciding when a valve replacement, heart transplant, or other advanced procedure may be needed.
Stress test procedure
You will be given specific instructions before your stress test. Those may include not eating or drinking before the test, as well as abstaining from smoking and caffeine for a set period of time beforehand. Your medications may need to be modified as well.
Before the in-office test, Dr. Patel conducts a thorough medical history and evaluates your heart and lungs. He then puts a blood pressure cuff around your arm and attaches electrodes to certain areas on your chest and legs.
Next, you exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike until your heart rate hits the desired target number. If you experience any discomfort, pain, or shortness of breath, be sure to report it immediately.
The test results provide a unique insight into your heart and help guide your customized treatment plan to maintain or improve your health.
If you want to learn more about the status of your arteries, electrical rhythm, and heart in general, call us at 201-866-7000 or click our “book online” button to make an appointment with Dr. Patel today.
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