Cardiovascular Disease Awareness

Dr. Vikram Kashyap, Vice President and Department Chief at Corewell Health joins us to discuss cardiovascular disease and what warning signs you should look for. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
September is Cardiovascular Disease Awareness Month. Then this is West
Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly Breathekita Laurence Smith, doctor Vic
Cashup is on the liveline with US Vice President and
Department chief core Well Health Cardiovascular Services. Doctor, thank you
so much for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes, good morning, happy to do it.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
It's a big subject, but let's start with what is
vascular disease?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, that's a great question, and I think you can
break it up into two big categories. One is arbery disease,
that is the blood vessels that take oxygen to your
organs and your legs and the brain, et cetera. And
venus disease the blood vessels that bring the blood back

(00:47):
to the heart. And with the Rbury disease you can
get blockage or hardening of the ar great called athroscorosis.
And in the veins. The biggest thing we worry about
is blood clocks also called VTE or pulmonary embolism. Pe
those are the things that we really are most worried about.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Doctor, Can we talk about prevention screening, not ignoring maybe
some of those early warning signs. If I can just
quickly say Core well, health is the reason my dad
is still living with us today, So thank you for that.
It's really important that you pay attention to these things.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely well, I'm so glad to hear that your father
had a good outcome, and we're ready and willing to
help other folks across West Michigan. So for our greed disease, well,
let me just say that if you have an abnormal symptom,
and let's focus on the legs per second, don't ignore it.

(01:47):
If they're significant swelling, there's significant pain. All of a
sudden you get a wound on the leg that is
not healing. Those are all concerning for our greed disease.
Addthorst grosses. These risk factors are the same things that
we worry about for heart disease. So controlling weight, controlling cholesterol,

(02:10):
avoiding cigarette smoke, avoiding high glucose that is diabetes or
pre diabetes, avoiding hypertension, high blood pressure, and being active,
those are all things that are helpful venus disease. Remaining active,
keeping the weight under control, and if you have things
like vicos veins and things are getting worse, that's something

(02:31):
to be concerned about.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Let's talk a little bit about screening right, early detection
is as important here as any other disease we talk about.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yes, absolutely so we do offer a coral health free screening.
We do a rapid PRODID which is the ar gene,
the neck screening and yours and screening of the belly,
the abdomino ord to and an ABI which is a
pressure check at the ankle to see if there's any blockage.

(03:00):
And if you want screening, we can schedule that. There's
a number to call and we have about ten locations
across West Michigan where we do this. So we're happy
to see you and take care of you there.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Doc, What would you recommend for people out there as
far as activity depending on given age? You know, I
know my wife and I we love to go on
walks everything, take the dog for walks and let's just
start with that, maybe a thirty minute walk each day.
What do you guys recommend?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, I think it really depends on the individual, to
be honest with you, but let me say that any
activity is good activity in most cases. Of course, if
you have some issues, hard issues or other things, check
with your doctor. But we really advocate walking is a
great exercise. I tell my patients who have trouble walking.

(03:53):
You know, if there's a high school with a high
school track, you can monitor your progress and keep a
log and try to push yourself to go further and further.
If there's a trail near you, usually there are markers
that monitor distance and you can try to go further.
For those that are healthy and active and can do more, absolutely, running, jogging,

(04:16):
exercise classes, swimming, all those things are great to do.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
You will find screening near you. They're all over West
Michigan and even more. We'll find the link at woodradio
dot com. The vice president and Department chief Corwell Health's
Cardiovascular Services, doctor Vic cashup a pleasure as always, thanks
for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Thank you really appreciate it.