I’d spent the past few years wondering whether heartburn and changing gut health were just a part of getting older, or whether it was a warning sign that my longtime diabetes was finally affecting my heart.
This is what led me to visit a cardiologist for the first time at 47 years old, without any pre-existing heart disease.
Even without any evidence of heart problems and a clean bill of health from my entire medical care team, I took the step forward.
Living with type 1 diabetes since childhood, I’m at higher risk now that it’s been four decades with this autoimmune condition. Not to mention that I experience heartburn more often these days related to gut health issues, and that can be confusing as to what it may or may not mean for my heart health.
This also adds to the recent news that cardiologic risk may be higher for men starting in their mid-30s and extends beyond traditional risk factors, including higher blood sugars (see also years of my teenage years and 20s in the 1990s and 2000s).
Read this Healthline news article on why younger males may face a higher heart attack risk than females.
We can read headlines and health news articles about cardiologist risk, and it may seem as though studies change often and point to a different knowledge point for us to weave into our lives. As someone with a chronic condition, I often feel overwhelmed by all these news briefs.
Here’s an added kicker, too.
There is decent clinical guidance on first-time cardiologist visits for those with type 2 diabetes. And people who have pre-existing heart disease or heart attacks have more solid footing on what’s necessary.
But people like me, who are generally healthy but have lived with a chronic condition for most of their lives? Not so much.
Despite a lack of clear clinical guidance on heart screening for T1D, research suggests that 45 is a good age to start. So I did, even if a couple of years beyond that point.
For any health news story I read, it’s always just one piece of information in a puzzle of data I use to manage my diabetes. In this instance, I took recent news articles and studies to my healthcare team, along with my own personal concerns and symptoms.
This all brought me to a point of deciding to consult a cardiologist for the first time.
And I’m glad I did, with all the latest heart health news along with what I’ve learned since starting this cardiology chapter of my health career journey.