Kathleen Muhvic, AuD
Cleveland Clinic
Beachwood Family
Health and Surgery
Center
WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | SPRING 2021 11
Manage stress
better: It’s good
for your heart.
can make platelets in your blood sticky and more
likely to clot – which can block your arteries. Stress
also can cause your arteries to constrict, possibly
limiting blood flow to your heart and triggering chest
pain or a heart attack.
If you have heart disease (or its risk factors), it’s
especially important to find healthy ways to cope
with stress.
“Like brushing your teeth or eating fruits and
vegetables, managing stress needs to be part of your
daily routine,” says cardiologist Srinidhi Meera, MD,
who sees patients at Cleveland Clinic South Pointe
Hospital.
One of the simplest ways to reduce stress is by taking
a walk or going for a run. Dr. Meera also recommends:
• Yoga.
• Biofeedback. (This technique teaches you to
control your body’s reaction by changing your
thoughts and emotions.)
“ Where
do I go
for care?”
It’s no surprise that 76%
of Americans report feeling
more stressed because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, according
to a recent Cleveland Clinic
survey. Yet only 55% know that
stress has a big impact on their
heart health.
Stress can speed the buildup
of plaque in your arteries. It
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• Meditation.
• Breathing exercises.
• Autogenic training. (This practice involves
speaking or thinking verbal cues to different parts
of your body.)
• Progressive muscle relaxation.
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction.
• Challenging unhelpful thought patterns.
COVID-19 also has been associated with an uptick in
stress cardiomyopathy – when stress causes your heart
muscle to malfunction. Experts don’t fully understand
how it happens. It may be due to a release of stress
hormones that temporarily reduces your heart’s ability
to pump adequately.
Symptoms can include:
• Chest pain.
• Shortness of breath.
Our goal remains the same – we care for
everyone. And safety is our top priority.
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to virtual visits, we’re here for you every day.
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• Irregular heartbeat.
• Fainting.
While it may feel like a heart attack, stress
cardiomyopathy rarely damages your heart
permanently. With treatment, most patients recover
within a few days to weeks and are treated with
medicine that lowers their blood pressure and slows
their heart rate.
If you are stressed out and if healthy stress-reduction
techniques aren’t helping, see your doctor. Getting your
stress under control is critical to your heart health.
To make an appointment with Dr. Meera, call
216.839.0049.
Srinidhi Meera, MD
Cleveland Clinic
South Pointe Hospital
New headache specialists on the East Side.
Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute is pleased to announce new headache specialists on the East Side.
Hearing loss can take a
toll on a person’s health
and quality of life.
If you or a person
close to you has
hearing loss, you
are probably aware
of the challenges
that it creates with
communication.
But
communication is
just one of many
problems related
to hearing loss, says Kathleen Muhvic,
AuD, an audiologist at Cleveland Clinic
Beachwood Family Health and Surgery
Center. Other related problems include:
• Cognitive decline.
• Risk of falls.
• Higher rate of hospitalization.
• Limitations in the performance of
activities of daily living.
• Social and emotional loneliness.
Research shows that hearing aids:
• Improve health-related quality of life.
• Reduce psychological, social, and
emotional effects of hearing loss.
• Provide relief from tinnitus (ringing in
the ears).
• Reduce listening effort and
mental fatigue.
When hearing loss is suspected, a
complete audiologic evaluation (hearing
test) by an audiologist is the first step.
Based on the results, a hearing needs
assessment to determine how we can
best improve a patient’s hearing may be
recommended. Specific devices that are
best suited will be determined based on
the patient’s hearing profile, lifestyle, and
budget.
While many hearing enhancement
devices are available over the counter,
it’s important to get expert guidance from
a clinical audiologist regarding the best
devices to address individual hearing
issues.
More importantly, our doctoral-level
audiologists offer the best-practice hearing
health care. According to Dr. Muhvic, our
goals are to guide our patients on their
journey to better hearing and to make
sure the appropriate devices are fit to their
needs. Proper fit will maximize benefits
for patients across a variety of everyday
listening environments.
For an appointment with Dr. Muhvic or
another Cleveland Clinic audiologist, call
216.444.8500.
Beachwood Family Health & Surgery Center
Payal Soni, MD Heather Froimson, CNP
Twinsburg Family Health & Surgery Center
Michelle Lee, MD Betty Stiffler, CNP
To schedule an appointment with a Cleveland Clinic headache specialist, visit ClevelandClinic.org/Headache
or call 216.636.5860.
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/Headache