The Heart

As many of you know, there are many health issues associated with Turner's Syndrome. There is everything from kidney issues, being diabetic, heart issues, and of course the reproductive issues. Today I would like to talk to everyone about the heart issues and possibly how to strenghthen your heart and prevent worsening the issues.

One of the major heart issues that can happen with Turner's its whats known as coarctation of the heart. Coarctation of the Aorta is when there is a narrowing of a section of the Aorta to an abnormal width. This can cause a dangerous flow of blood in the heart which will more than likely kill you. This is only one of the many reasons us butterflies need to take extreme care of our hearts.

To take care of our hearts takes a few steps. The first step is to keep a diet low in fat. If you eat a diet that is too high in fat, this could worsen the narrowing of the arteries already happening by the coarctation. Fat could easily build up and make the path through the artery virtually non-existant. I'm even going to begin to tell you to completely stay away from fat. Truth be told, I don't even follow that. What I can advise you to do is to eat lean meats when you feel like eating meat. Also, the milk you drink should be at two percent fat or lower. don't go through the drive through of fast food too much. That right there is an evil trap.

A second step in taking care of your heart is.......as you might have guessed excercise. The right excercise to be precise. Doing cardio is always good for your heart. What some people might not know is that there are two types of cardio. Those two types are aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic is when your body is getting a lot of oxygen. This is good for your body to a certain extant, however you need to also balance it with a small amount of anaerobic cardio every once in a while. Anaerobic cardio is when you work your heart with little oygen. This may sound like a bad idea at first because you are seeing the words "little oxygen". The truth is that if you do SHORT bursts of anaerobic activity it's good for your body because it makes your body huff and puff and work for the oxygen making all the muscles in your body stronger, this includes your heart. Always consult a doctor with this information first, but I have been doing 30 second sprints 4 times and day only 3 days a week and I have been feeling a major difference!

If you want to learn more about what coarctation is and how you can prevent it if you have it, you can take a look at the wikipedia article I have linked to the blog. You can also always speak with your cardiologist who should be able to explain it fairly well. As always, I hope this was helpful and may your health stay strong. May us butterflies always soar!