Cardiologist told why extra heart examinations only increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

Endless ECG and ultrasound do not save from cardiovascular diseases. Russian cardiologist Anna Korenevich explained why the pursuit of “clean” tests only increases anxiety and what you really need to do to save the heart.

According to Anna Korenevich, regular ECG and ultrasound of the heart does not bring a person relief: even after doctors assure that everything is normal, his anxiety does not go anywhere.

- There is an obsessive thought: "What if the doctor missed something, and the disease is just beginning." And the patient goes again to do a cardiogram - not because you need to, but to calm down. But it is worthwhile to understand that examinations are prescribed by a doctor according to indications to confirm or exclude a specific disease. If a competent doctor says that there are no problems, then there are no problems, she added.

But when a person tries to reduce anxiety with the help of tests, the opposite happens: new results → unfamiliar words in conclusion → search on the Internet → self-diagnosis → anxiety grows. Each new test, instead of calming down, only adds to the anxiety. A person waits weeks for an appointment, convincing himself that he “may die of fear” even before going to the doctor.

- It's cardioneurosis. Symptoms - interruptions, pressure surges, feeling "something is wrong with the heart" - in most of these cases are caused not by cardiac pathology, but by chronic psycho-emotional stress. And it is this tension that is the main risk factor for future cardiovascular complications, which a person is so afraid of, said Anna Korenevich.

The doctor explained that anxiety should be reduced not by tests, but by working with anxiety itself - through cardiopsychology:

- This direction helps where drugs and unnecessary examinations do not help. In one consultation, you can figure out exactly what is happening, what are the real risks of a particular person and how to remove chronic stress.

Adequate approach to health control:

examinations - no more than once a year or when new symptoms appear;

• the goal is to keep the anxiety under control rather than calming it;

real control begins where one settles down and begins to live from another state.

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