Diabetes

Diabetes patients are at a higher risk of heart disease

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What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.

Heart disease is the number one killer of patients with diabetes. If you have diabetes, your chance of having heart disease is twice as much as someone without diabetes.

About diabetes

In this video, Dr Joban Sehmi explains what you need to know about diabetes.
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Supplementary information about diabetes

Here, we’ve summarised the most important points about diabetes

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.

There are two main types of diabetes:

  • Type 1 diabetes – where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin
  • Type 2 diabetes – where the body does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin

Common signs of diabetes include:

  • Increased thirst
  • Increased hunger especially after eating
  • Dry mouth
  • Frequent urination or urine infections
  • Unexplained weight loss
  • Fatigue
  • Blurred vision
  • Headaches

Type 1 diabetes occurs when your immune system, the body’s system for fighting infection, attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high. This can be as a result of:

  • Lack of exercise
  • Poor diet
  • Obesity
  • Hereditary

Heart disease is the number one killer of patients with diabetes. If you have diabetes, your chance of having heart disease is twice as much as someone without diabetes.

In the UK, there are approximately 4 million people with diabetes, of which 500,000 are undiagnosed, so the burden is huge. Moreover, there are approximately 530 people every week who will succumb to a heart attack who are diabetic.

Patients with diabetes are unable to control the level of sugar in their blood.

This is a very significant issue because having high levels of sugar can damage the inner lining of the blood vessels that are found on the surface of the heart. In fact, they can damage any blood vessel within the body.

When the blood vessels are damaged, fat starts to deposit within them and over time, they can become blocked.

If the blood vessels within the heart get blocked, this is the precursor for a heart attack.

Diagnoses

At Many Beats it is our prerogative to get you the reassurance and support you need so that you can continue to live a happy and healthy life.

We do this through the Many Beats Complete, a comprehensive package of specialised tests designed to investigate your health and to rule out or diagnose any health conditions with a high degree of certainty.

The Many Beats Complete includes:

  • A consultation with a consultant cardiologist
  • A 24hr ambulatory BP recorder to monitor your blood pressure over a 24 hour period.
  • Blood tests to check your cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, kidney function, and your full blood count
  • A 24hr ECG to assess your heart rhythm
  • An ultrasound scan of your heart, called an echocardiogram
  • A CT scan of your heart and arteries to look for any signs of narrowing or blockages in the arteries
  • A stress echocardiogram which assesses the blood flow to the heart muscle and also looks for blockages in the coronary arteries to your heart
  • Occasionally we may need to do an MRI scan of the heart which looks in more detail at the heart muscle and the function of the heart.

Treatment

Once you have received your Many Beats Complete results, we will review them with you on the same day.

If your results indicate a problem we will start you on a personalised treatment plan immediately.

Treatment approaches usually involve one or a combination of the following:

  • Lifestyle changes
  • Medication
  • Medical procedures or surgery

Many Beats gives you a map to turn your life around and avoid developing heart disease

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Insurers

We are happy to be assured by the following private medical insurance providers

It’s the wonderful words of our patients that make this job so worthwhile

Excellent bedside manner / patient care, thoughtful analysis and care. Great cardiologists!

J. T.

Dr Elghamaz was professional and compassionate in equal measure. He made me feel completely at ease and explained in detail exactly my situation answering all questions kindly and in a language I understood – not medical jargon. A complete gentleman under whose care I have every confidence.

R. R.

I called Dr Chahal’s secretary to get advice and an appointment for a stress echocardiogram as quickly as possible. Dr Chahal called me himself, to explain the procedure, and he managed to fit me in quickly, as I requested. On the day, he and his colleague carried out the test quickly, efficiently and kindly, explaining what they were doing and why. I would certainly recommend them as true healthcare professionals.

M. S.

Dr Elghamaz was very efficient, thorough and personable and made me feel at ease through through the process of undergoing several tests and then discussing results with myself and my husband to ensure we understood everything and were comfortable.

L. S.

Highly recommended. Professional, honest, put me at ease. Wonderful experience all around.

L. O.

Dr Elghamaz goes above and beyond for his patients. As well as being kind, he is extremely thorough, and I feel very comfortable knowing he is in charge of my care.

C. W.
Dr Sehmi is a fusion of the best of the old and new schools of medicine. Whilst reassuringly up to date with the latest evidence-based practice and comfortable with all the leading-edge technology of his field, he has always listened to my fears and given informed answers to all my questions.
S. L.

I had a really positive experience when I saw Dr Navin Chandra in his clinic. He took time to really listen to my problems and then explained what was wrong in simple terms. I had all my tests performed swiftly and have started to feel much better!

P.B.

Having been referred for specialist Cardiology review, I was very fortunate to be assigned Dr Sehmi as my Consultant. From the outset, his level of interest in my personal case has been exceptional. I have had several consultants for a variety of reasons over the years but Dr Sehmi is the first where a consultant has proactively followed up in between appointments to determine progress.

N. T.

I was admitted under Cardiology and Dr Chandra was my Consultant. He quickly got to the heart of the problem and he and his team didn’t miss a step. Later that evening Dr Chandra took the time to see my partner and his patience and knowledge gave us the answers to our many questions.

R. K.

Affiliations and memberships

We are happy to be associated with the following esteemed organisations

Live a longer and healthier life

Book an appointment and we’ll test your heart so we can map out a plan to give you the best chance of maximising your longevity

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How it works

3 easy steps to get on the road to heart health

GET AN APPOINTMENT

Booking an appointment is easy with our online scheduler. Simply choose a date and time that suits you and we’ll let you know how to visit.

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GET TESTED

Typically, we’ll set you up to take specific tests that will give us the information we need to make an accurate assessment of your heart’s health and recommend a plan.

LIVE LONGER

With your cardiologist-vetted plan, we’ll support you in the long term so you can build the habits that will enable you to live a longer and healthier life.

Heart Health Programmes

We offer a selection of packages that can help people at risk of heart disease or those who might already be diagnosed.

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Learn More

Discover your heart disease risk

Learn More

More information on heart disease

We’ve produced many informative videos and blog posts so you can educate yourself about heart disease risk factors, symptoms, tests and treatments.

Read more about heart disease

Educate yourself further about your heart health by reading the links below

To learn more about cardiovascular disease, including the causes and prevention techniques, click here.

The NHS has an informative write-up on cardiovascular diseases, which can be found here.

A great test that tells the myths and facts about your heart health can be found here.

If you would like an excellent overview of the symptoms of heart attacks, please click here.

If you would like to learn more about all the types of heart diseases, please click here for more information.

Are you at risk of heart disease?

Take our quick self-test to discover if you’re at risk of heart disease and if you should seek the support of a cardiologist

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About the cardiologists

The Many Beats team consists of not one, but four highly experienced consultant cardiologists

Dr Navtej Chahal

Consultant Cardiologist

PhD FESC FACC

Navtej is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at the London Northwest NHS Trust and the Royal Brompton Hospital, London having qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in 2001. He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London…

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Dr Navin Chandra

Consultant Cardiologist

MD, MRCP, MBBS, BSc

Navin is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He is also a Consultant Cardiologist at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from Guy’s, King’s & St. Thomas’s in 2004...

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Dr Ahmed Elghamaz

Consultant Cardiologist

FRCP, MB BCh

Ahmed is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at Northwick Park Hospital and London North West Healthcare University Hospitals NHS Trust and is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He completed his junior…

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Dr Joban Sehmi

Consultant Cardiologist

BSc, MBBS, MRCP, PhD

Joban is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. His NHS practice is at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS trust. He sees patients privately at Spire in Bushey and Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood. He trained in medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ medical school and qualified in 2003 with numerous academic awards…

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