SVMC cardiology

 

 

STRIVING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE ONE BEAT AT A TIME

You get one life and you get one heart. The board-certified cardiologists and associated practitioners at SVMC Cardiology are committed to helping you make the most of both.

Our patient-centered approach to care and personalized care plans maximize your quality of life while delivering the treatment you need when you need it.

Creating the appropriate treatment plan for your condition begins with a cardiac consultation. Your consultation is a chance for you to share your health history and current concerns with your cardiologist. All necessary exams and tests are conducted on-site by your cardiac care team. The results are shared and discussed directly with you so that you fully understand your condition, treatment options, associated risks, and potential lifestyle changes.

After a heart episode or surgery, there’s nothing our cardiac team and you want more than for you to just get back on your feet and live the life you want. That’s why we begin your rehabilitation program before you even leave the hospital. Through a combination of education and exercise, your personalized program will help you build strength and reduce your risk factors. Using the full range of cardio equipment in our Cardiac Rehab Center and under the watchful eye of our rehab team, you’ll improve your heart’s strength and capacity and get closer to resuming a full and active lifestyle. For more information about Cardiac Rehabilitation, click here.

In order to understand how well your heart is or isn’t functioning, an echocardiogram may be performed. This non-invasive procedure uses sound waves to produce images of your heart. Both of SVMC’s cardiologists are board certified in echocardiography and able to observe how your heart is pumping and identify any abnormalities in the heart muscle or valves. An echocardiogram allows our team to make the most informed and appropriate recommendations for the next steps in your care.

If a standard echocardiogram does not provide a clear image of your heart, your SVMC care team may recommend a transesophageal echocardiogram or TEE. Performed at the hospital, this procedure involves inserting a flexible tube containing a transducer down your throat and into your esophagus. From this closer vantage point, the transducer then uses sound waves to create more detailed images of your heart and allows for better diagnosis.

Before we treat your heart, we need understand how it’s performing. At SVMC we offer a number of non-invasive stress tests that can quickly and easily reveal a number of things including: how well your heart works during increasing levels of activity; how certain medications are impacting blood flow; the effectiveness of procedures done to improve heart performance; and more.

If you have risk factors for heart disease, calcium scoring may may help you learn more about whether you are actually at risk. The non-invasive test uses high-speed CT imaging technology to measure the hardening of the heart’s arteries, a leading indicator of heart disease and heart attacks. Visit the calcium scoring page for complete details. 

A pacemaker is one of the most effective ways to ensure a heart maintains a steady, healthy beat. The SVMC cardiac team is exceptionally skilled and experienced at both pacemaker implantation and monitoring. Considered a minor surgery, implantation takes place at the hospital with most patients returning to normal activity (and a more steadily beating heart) within a few days. Like all medical equipment, pacemakers need a little TLC every now and then. At SVMC our cardiac team can perform routine monitoring, both remotely and in the office, and reprogramming as needed.

One of the most common cardiac diagnostic tools, an EKG is a painless way to check for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. The EKG translates and records your heart’s electrical activity over a period of time and translates it into waves. Your SVMC care provider can use printouts of the waves to detect any patterns that might point to a specific condition and put together a treatment plan that meets your specific needs.

Should your SVMC cardiac care provider want to monitor your heart over a longer period of time than is practical for a standard EKG, you may be given a Holter or event monitor. Worn outside the body and completely painless, monitors are helpful in detecting abnormalities that only happen occasionally and can help your doctor link any abnormalities to specific activities or events in your day.

Carotid ultrasound
At SVMC our goal is to treat your health issues before they become problems. Using our sophisticated carotid ultrasound test, your cardiac care provider can detect blockages in your neck arteries that could lead to a stroke or indicate problems in other parts or your circulatory system.

Education
Because understanding what causes heart problems is essential to resolving them, we offer a variety of educational resources to patients and their families.  Workshops are offered on an ongoing basis throughout the Dartmouth-Hitchcock network, and condition-specific literature is available in our offices. 

SVMC Cardiac Rehab

SVMC Pulmonology

American Heart Association 

Go Red for Women 

American College of Cardiology 

140 Hospital Drive, Suite 211, Bennington, VT 05201
Phone: (802) 442-0800
Fax: (833) 343-1597

Hours:
Monday – Friday:  8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Directions: 
For directions to SVMC Cardiology, click here. 

Parking:
For appointments at SVMC Cardiology, park in parking area P3 or P5.

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    A Nutritional Approach to Menopause Symptoms
    Anonym
    / Categories: WELLNESS, 2021

    A Nutritional Approach to Menopause Symptoms

    Menopause, the natural end of a woman’s menstruation, can feel like a hormonal earthquake. Hot flashes, trouble sleeping, weight gain, and other symptoms can disrupt women’s lives for months or years. Nutrition, in addition to regular exercise and not smoking, may play a major role in managing menopause symptoms. Generally, I recommend that women who hope to alleviate menopause symptoms through changes to their diet increase their intake of some foods while decreasing their intake of others.

    Hot Flashes
    Up to     75% of women experience hot flashes—sudden, brief, periodic increases in their body temperature—during menopause. Their frequency and intensity may be lessened by increased intake of various foods.

    Many fruits and vegetables contain phytoestrogens, which act as a weak form of estrogen in your body and may be particularly helpful to menopausal women. Try to incorporate some of these foods into your diet: soybeans, tofu, tempeh, soy beverages, flax seeds, sesame seeds, wheat, berries, oats, barley, dried beans, lentils, rice, alfalfa, mung beans, apples, carrots, and wheat germ. Daily intakes of 45 mg of phytoestrogens have been shown to have beneficial stabilizing effects on hormone balance. Some evidence suggests that healthy fats, like omega-3 fatty acids like those found in salmon and flax seeds, might also help reduce the frequency of hot flashes and the severity of night sweats.

    Limiting your intake of processed foods, which are high in refined sugars and salt, to less than 10% of your calories for the day may help reduce hot flashes during menopause. Whole foods, which often have great flavor, fiber, and an array of other nutrients, are the best choice.

    Bone Density
    Menopause sometimes causes decreases in bone density and muscle strength, factors which can increase women’s chances of bone fractures as they age. I recommend increasing sources of calcium, vitamin D, and high-quality protein. Try adding eggs, meat, fish, legumes, dairy products, and milk alternatives like almond milk or coconut milk, which are all good sources. Dark leafy vegetables, like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard, are also great sources of bone-building calcium.  

    Sleep Disruption
    Many women notice disruptions to their sleep during menopause. While there is some evidence that the dairy you are eating to improve bone density may also     help improve sleep, women would likely find some relief to both hot flashes and disruptions in sleep by reducing intake of caffeine and alcohol. Trying a week or two without one or the other to see how you feel may be worthwhile.  

    Heart Disease
    Heart-related symptoms, like dizziness and cardiac palpitations, sometimes accompany menopause. In addition, hormone changes can make arteries less flexible, which can impact blood flow. A healthy diet, including whole grains, is the best defense. In a     recent study, people who ate three or more servings of whole grains per day had a 20 – 30% lower risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, compared to people who ate mostly refined carbs. Look for “whole grain” listed as the first ingredient on the label when evaluating which packaged foods contain primarily whole grains.

    Even a cursory look into research regarding menopause and nutrition will reveal that the evidence supporting specific foods’ impact on women’s hormonal changes is still emerging or even contradictory. What is certain is that you can’t go wrong with a diet of mostly fresh, whole foods. Experiment with small healthy changes to your diet and work with your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian for additional help to determine what other changes may make a positive impact for you. 

    Kristin Irace, RD, is a registered dietitian for patients at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington.

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