Heart Diseases - How can we prevent them?

Author: Peter Sams

Introduction

The heart has long been associated with the very nature of humanity. As long ago as the fourth century BC, Aristotle considered it to be the seat of the soul, the centre of nutrition and the vital source of heat. The very word ‘heart’ is still deeply embedded in our language in phrases such as ‘heart-felt sympathy’, ‘heart-to-heart talk’, or ‘the heart and soul of the party’, no doubt reflecting its central location in the body and its regular beat. It is also associated with many emotional sensations, so heart disorders hit at the very core of a person’s fabric and psyche.

Types of Heart disease

  • Heart Attack High blood pressure
  • Ischemic heart disease
  • Heart rhythm disorders
  • Tachycardia Heart murmurs
  • Rheumatic heart disease
  • Pulmonary heart disease

Causes Of Heart Disease : For almost forty years, the lipid hypothesis or diet-heart idea has dominated medical thinking about heart disease. In broad outlines, this theory proposes that when we eat foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol, cholesterol is then deposited in our arteries in the form of plaque or thermos that cause blockages. If the blockages become severe, or if a clot forms that cannot get past the plaque, the heart is starved of blood and a heart attack occurs.

Many distinguished scientists have pointed to serious flaws in this theory, beginning with the fact that heart disease in America has increased during the period when consumption of saturated fat has decreased. "The diet-heart idea," said the distinguished George Mann, "is the greatest scam in the history of medicine.” And the chorus of dissidents continues to grow, even as this increasingly untenable theory has been applied to the whole population, starting with low fat diets for growing children and mass medication with cholesterol-lowering drugs for adults.

But if it isn’t cholesterol, what causes heart disease? We don't know enough to say for sure but we do have many clues; and although these clues present a complicated picture, it is not beyond the abilities of dedicated scientists to unravel them. Nor is the picture so complex that the consumer cannot make reasonable life-style adjustments to improve his chances.

Heart disease includes the 13 Symptoms listed below: •Angina- and its symptoms •Chest discomfort •Chest pain •Brief pain episodes- often 2-5 minutes •Pain worsens on exercise •Pain relief from rest •Shortness of breath •Indigestion •Palpitations •Arrhythmias •Light-headedness •Fainting


Treatments for Heart Disease

There is a wide range of effective drug treatments for people with heart disease. These drugs can help lower blood pressure or cholesterol, prevent or dissolve blood clots, relieve and prevent angina symptoms or improve the strength or rhythm of the heart's contractions.

Medical procedures to diagnose and treat heart disease include coronary angiography, coronary artery bypass grafts, coronary angioplasty, coronary stinting, heart transplants, operations for congenital defects, surgery for heart valve defects, electrophysiological treatments and implanting of cardiac defibrillator.

How can I avoid having a heart attack?

Talk to your family doctor about your specific risk factors (see box above) for a heart attack and how to reduce your risk. Your doctor may tell you to do the following:

•Quit smoking. Your doctor can help you. (If you don't smoke, don't start!) •Eat a healthy diet. Cut back on foods high in saturated fat and sodium (salt) to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Ask your doctor about how to start eating a healthy diet.

Lose weight if you're overweight Control your blood pressure if you have hypertension.


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Types and Symptoms Of Heart Valve Disease

Author: Judy Wellsworth
There are two types of heart valve disease--heart disease resulting from narrowed heart valves, and heart disease resulting from leaky heart valves. Each of them stems from several different causes, ranging from birth defects, to bacterial infection, to aging.
Congential Heart Valve Disease
Congenital heart valve is the most common, and can result in inflexible or narrowed, or floppy, valves, or irregular valve flaps. Congenital heart valve disease is often diagnosed within a few days of a baby's birth, but if the defect is minor, may not be discovered until much later. Heart valve disease can be very hard to diagnose because some forms of it do not produce symptoms.
Some people, however, acquire heart valve disease because of complications from another disease such as heart muscle disease, coronary artery disease and heart attack. A child who has suffered from a rheumatic heart disease because of a simple strep throat will likely to have a valvular disease when he or she reaches adulthood.
Heart valve disease, however, can also develop as a complication from some other illness; children who have had rheumatic fever following an untreated case of strep throat have a greater than fifty percent chance of developing scarring on their heart valves. A heart with scarred valves has to work harder than one with smooth ones, and as the years mount, the extra strain on the heart can lead to rheumatic heart disease.
Endiocarditis
Another form of heart valve disease which can result from infection is endiocarditis. Endiocarditis develops when bacteria enters the bloodstream during surgery or dental procedures, causing inflammation of the heart and scarring both its valves and leaflets. In the case of endiocarditis, the scarred leaflets will allow blood entering the heart to back up, or "regurgitate," diminishing the blood volume within the heart and the amount of blood and oxygen which reaches the body's other organs.
The elderly are susceptible to heart valve disease resulting from calcification, or calcium deposit buildup, along the valves.
Testing For Heart Valve Disease
Echocardiograms
and MRIs are the tests best suited to diagnose heart valve disease. Either one will give the cardiologist a good look at abnormalities both in the main chambers of the heart and all its smaller structures including the valves.
Symptoms of heart valve disease can include vertigo resulting from a quick shift of positions, such as standing up or sitting, heart palpitations or racing, shortness of breath after minimal activity, and sever afternoon fatigue.
Those experiencing any of these symptoms on a regular basis should arrange to see a cardiologist and be tested for a heart murmurs, a strong indication of heart valve disease.
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Heart Disease.
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