Winter can shove it!

Okay I'm surprised by this one. So many of my heart buddies don't know this! Did you know heart disease flares up in winter? It gets so much worse and chest pain tends to hurt more. Heart patients are more tired, more cranky, and more at risk. Why? Because you're COLD silly! How do we not know this?!? Add in the holiday stresses and it's heart attack central. It's a shame.

Here's what happens... Your heart is warm and snug in your chest, protected by the cage your ribs provide. The problem isn't the trunk, it's the branches. You have arteries that run through your entire body. The really big important ones connect to the heart. There are two big ones in your neck and a good number nestle around your lungs to connect the heart.

If you poke your head outside and take a big breath of frosty air those arteries react like they're designed to... they squeeze to stay warm. This is all well and good but if you have heart disease this instinctive heart spasm can glue shut or narrow an artery critically. A person with angina (chest pain) can have a really painful flare outside.

I've got the angina (ahem) "issue." Because of this I'm being a good heart patient and protecting my neck. Literally. Chest pain freaking hurts. No two ways about it. It hurts bad enough to stop me in my tracks and make me consider what I'm doing wrong. It hurts bad enough to avoid EVER being that stupid again. Yes, it's that bad. Am I hungry? Tired? Upset? Cold? Solve the problem, take nitro, and I'm good as new.

So what to do in winter? Stay warm and dry. Protect your face and neck with a scarf. Wear a jacket. I know it's hard but try not to breathe cold air for very long and stay inside. I'm a champ at this. North Face should send me handwritten Christmas cards. I've got everything from the fuzzy socks to the perfect afghan covered. All it took was one extremely uncomfortable episode for me to get with the program and put on a North Face fleece.

I'm all about living a perfectly normal life with abnormal challenges. If you're able to go outside GO! Just take the steps to be safe. If that means wearing a heart rate monitor or putting on a scarf I'll do it. If I get too cold I go inside and warm back up. It doesn't mean I can't go back out. I think if you give up you're sick. If you keep fighting, no matter how sick, you're strong.