John Bottrell, RRT

About 2-4 percent of adults have sleep apnea and about 1 in 3 people with heart failure also have sleep apnea. So, is there a connection between these two diseases?...

I have been writing about things I experience in the hospital setting. Of course, we take care of many patients experiencing myocardial ischemia and infarction (a.k.a. heart attacks). I am...

Doctors love ordering blood tests. This is because they offer great information about how you are doing medically. They allow your doctor to track how you are doing overtime and...

Coffee is the third most popular drink in America. Twelve percent of Americans have at least one cup of coffee every day. But is coffee good for you? And is...

Bradycardia is a type of heart rhythm. It means that your heart is beating slower than normal. So what does this really mean? What causes it? How might this contribute...

Some people in this community have experienced pulmonary edema. It's one of the symptoms that may occur during flare-ups of heart failure. So I thought it would be neat to...

Heart failure is heart disease, yet it also involves your vascular system. After all, your heart and blood vessels work together in what is often called your cardiovascular system. So...

You are not alone if you’re living with heart failure. The CDC reports that there are 6.2 million people living with it and experience some common symptoms. Here is a...

Heart failure has a fascinating history. Well, at least it’s fascinating to a history buff/nerd like me. I would think that heart failure has plagued mankind since its beginnings. That...

Earlier I wrote a post describing the basic anatomy of the heart. In this post, I’d like to talk about some other interesting facts about your heart. This is all...

Your heart is a muscle. Muscle is a type of tissue. After heart attacks, some heart tissue dies and is replaced by scar tissue. Unlike other tissue, heart tissue cannot...

Many people with heart failure live with another health condition. There are some people in this community who have both heart failure (HF) and COPD. Studies indicate that about 30% of...

There is a family history of heart disease in my family. My mom and all of her siblings were diagnosed with hypertension. There is also a family history of heart...

For our COPD site, I wrote an article about lung sounds. Your heart also makes sounds. Like lung sounds, they can be heard by using a stethoscope. I thought it...

Some people in this community also have COPD. It’s a disease that affects the lungs and may cause shortness of breath. So, what is COPD? Here’s what to know. COPD...

Some people in this community require oxygen therapy. Another term for this is supplemental oxygen therapy. Others in this community wonder if they would benefit from oxygen therapy. So, how...

Here in our community, we have lots to be thankful for. Here is a list of 7 things to be thankful for. For most of history, all shortness of breath...

Asthma is not heart failure. Heart failure is not asthma. The treatment for both conditions is different. Still, they both share common symptoms of shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing...

To stay healthy, most of us see doctors on a regular basis. Once diagnosed with a chronic disease like heart failure, we are often exposed to various different types of...

Hypertension seems to be common in our community. Of those who participated in our Heart Failure in America survey, 51% said they also had hypertension. So, what is hypertension? What...