Dr Boon Lim - Keeping Your Heart Healthy

PREPARING FOR THE PERIMENOPAUSE AND MENOPAUSE

DR LOUISE NEWSON

Part of the Penguin Life Experts series.

Dr Louise Newson is the UKs leading menopause specialist, and shes determined to help women thrive during the menopause.

Despite being something that almost every woman will experience at some point in their lives, menopause is frequently misdiagnosed and misinformation and stigma are commonplace. Dr Newson demystifies the menopause and explains why every woman should be perimenopause-aware, regardless of their age.

Using new research, expert advice and empowering patient stories from a diverse range of women who have struggled to secure adequate treatment and correct diagnosis, Dr Newson equips readers with expert advice and practical tips. She empowers women to confidently take charge of their health and their changing bodies.

Its never too early to learn about the perimenopause or menopause and this compact guide will provide you with everything you need to know.

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Dr Boon Lim is a consultant cardiologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer based at Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital, a major cardiac tertiary hospital and one of the largest specialist cardiac units in London. He is recognized as a leader in the fields of syncope and arrhythmias, with an active research programme of over 100 peer-reviewed research publications. He delivers lectures and webinars to patients, doctors and healthcare providers on a variety of cardiology topics. He is the most highly rated and frequently reviewed cardiologist by patients in the UK. Dr Lim was voted by his clinical peers as Top Doctor of the Year consecutively in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He created www.stopfainting.com, a free resource to help patients understand why they faint. He writes a blog and posts videos on his website and he was part of the BBCs medical series, The Diagnosis Detectives. Dr Lim has a unique vantage point bringing the best of modern evidence-based clinical care, together with an open holistic approach to healthcare and wellbeing. He believes that the journey of healing starts from within each and every patient.

To find out more about Dr Lim, visit www.drboonlim.co.uk.

The Penguin Life Experts series equips readers with simple but vital information on common health issues and empowers readers to get to know their own bodies to better improve their health. Books in the series include:

Managing Your Migraine
by Dr Katy Munro

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Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause
by Dr Louise Newson

* * * * *

Keeping Your Heart Healthy
by Dr Boon Lim

* * * * *

Understanding Allergy
by Dr Sophie Farooque

* * * * *

Managing IBS
by Dr Lisa Das

* * * * *

Next in the series, publishing in 2022:

Living with Chronic Fatigue
by Dr Gerald Coakley and Beverly Knops

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First published by Penguin Life in 2021

Copyright Dr Boon Lim, 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-241-50463-5

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

To my father, Lim Sing, always rooting
for the underdog. I remember your lessons.

As a Consultant Cardiologist at Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital, one of the largest specialist cardiac units in London, Ive spent a lot of time with patients and colleagues looking for ways to improve peoples heart health. Over the years Ive been privileged to help tens of thousands of patients on their journey through illness and transition into health. Ive devised cutting-edge methods to treat arrhythmias and syncope. In my career Ive prescribed drugs, implanted pacemakers and defibrillators and performed keyhole surgeries to save peoples lives. But the most fulfilling interactions for me are the ones where a patient has made lifestyle changes with life-changing results.

Ive had patients with elevated blood pressure who have been able to stop taking hypertension drugs within six months of adopting effective stress-coping techniques. Ive had other patients with frequent, debilitating arrhythmias completely eliminate their symptoms by changing their diet and exercise to reduce their weight, treat sleep apnoea (a sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts) and remove the triggers of their arrhythmia. Ive seen patients with broken-heart syndrome causing severe acute heart failure and have marvelled at the wonder of their full recovery within three months, having addressed the source of acute stress in their life. Patients who have reversed Type 2 diabetes through changes in their diet and exercise. Patients who have come to me describing palpitations, fatigue, skin rashes, irritable bowel symptoms or excessive sweating, who have seen all their symptoms dissipate through lifestyle measures and a shift to a positive mindset. Peoples ability to improve their health by committing to simple lifestyle changes is nothing short of miraculous.

So I offer this book as a guide to show you how you too can take control of your hearts health. In it, youll learn how the heart works, what makes it struggle and what it needs in order to work optimally. The book starts by explaining what can go wrong with the heart and how certain treatments can mend it. Then it turns to what changes you can make in your lifestyle to help you keep your heart healthy and support any medical treatments that might be necessary. Together, these will give you the knowledge you need to help prevent cardiovascular issues turning into serious, life-threatening problems. For example, for many people its a shock to learn that indulging in sugary foods on a regular basis puts their heart at risk. I will walk you through why thats the case and map out a few highly effective programmes for kicking the sugar habit.

This book can also be read alongside conversations that you, or a loved one, are having with a GP or heart specialist (cardiologist). It will help you decipher terms that you might be hearing and consider questions to ask as you discuss treatment options. It doesnt replace professional medical advice, which I urge you to seek if you think you may have a serious heart condition. I do not offer specific advice in relation to drug recommendations or surgical techniques, if thats what the condition needs, but I focus on heart conditions where lifestyle changes have the most preventive power. I have not discussed congenital diseases, heart-valve disease, heart tumours, heart infections or heart failure. For these, your specialist team will be best positioned to guide you.