Dr. Keshav Singh

Coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease or CHD, is a kind of disease in which a wax-like substance called plaque, builds up in the coronary arteries.

Function of Coronary Artery
The task of coronary arteries is to supply oxygen rich blood to the heart muscles. When there is the growth of plaque in these arteries, the condition is termed as atherosclerosis. Plaque builds up over the years, and it hardens or ruptures with time. When plaque gets hardened, it narrows the coronary arteries and thus disrupts the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscles causing coronary heart diseases. Millions of people are diagnosed with heart diseases, nowadays.

Though it is true that living with a heart disease is not easy, it is not impossible either. Many people are successfully leading a happy life in spite of having such diseases. With some major changes in your lifestyle, food habits and with the help of exercises and a healthy diet, it is possible to enjoy a happy life, irrespective of your diseases. 

Here are six ways that would help you to lead a better life, even if you have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease.

1. Lifestyle changes: This is the first point that needs to be kept in mind if you are a CAD patient. Lifestyle changes are essential to make for a better health and life. Smoking and drinking have to be given up completely. It is advised to avoid secondary smoke, as much as possible.
2. Exercises: This is the next important activity that needs to be a part of your daily routine to lead a healthy life. Consult with a doctor about the types of exercise that would suit your conditions. Some common exercises that would help are walking, jogging, and swimming, for at least 30 minutes at the most. Choose whichever activity you like doing. The motive of exercises is to get your heart-rate up.
3. A Heart healthy diet: Get a chart prepared for your diet by a dietitian or by your doctor. This will keep your disease from getting worse. Stick to a heart-healthy eating plan, which consists of foods that can lower your risk of heart attack, stroke, etc. Include more fruits, vegetables, and other high fibre foods in your daily diet. Go for foods that are low in saturated fats, trans-fats, and cholesterol. Try to include fish into your diet.
4. Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight or obese aggravates any disease. So it is important to keep your body weight perfect.
5. Taking medicines as prescribed: It is important to take medicines regularly and as prescribed by the physician.
6. Keeping tensions, anxiety to a minimum: These will make the situation worse if you are CAD patient. So try to keep tension and anxiety away and lead a healthy life.

If you are in an area which has a lot of mosquitoes, any fever that is not subsiding in a couple of days is a cause for concern as it can be due to dengue. It is one of the dreadful diseases doing the rounds in the recent years and when someone complains of fever and joint pain problem, the first question we ask if they got checked for dengue. This is caused by a virus that is carried by an infected mosquito.

The blood is made up of 3 types of cells mainly that are in a liquid medium called the plasma. The red blood cells are the oxygen-carrying cells and the white blood cells fight infection and provide immunity. The third type are the platelets, they are smaller than the other two and help in blood clotting. With dengue fever, both the white blood cell count and the platelet count are decreased. Normal platelet count in the body ranges from 1.5 to 4 lacs and in patients with dengue; this can go down to as low as 20,000 to 40,000. This is because of the following:

• Dengue suppresses bone marrow, which is the platelet-producing area, leading to decreased platelet count.
• Blood cells affected by dengue virus damage platelets, leading to their drastic fall in numbers
• Antibodies produced in dengue also lead to massive destruction of platelets

Patient presents with nonspecific symptoms including a high fever that does not subside, vomiting, pain behind the eyes, headache, nausea, and severe muscular and joint pain. The eye pain and the joint pain lead to the suspicion of the dengue fever. Symptoms develop after 4 to 7 days after the bite. The fever lasts for about 5 to 7 days and is followed by a prolonged period of fatigue, joint pains, body pain, and rashes (learn more about Painful Rashes).

For the sake of confirming the diagnosis, the doctor will run some lab tests. These include testing for antibodies IgG and IgM, PCR testing to check the virus and a complete blood count. This will reveal the decrease in the white blood cells and the platelets to a significant degree. Whether or not a person requires platelet transfusion will be decided by the doctor based on the person’s age, immunity levels and severity of the disease.

There isn't a particular level below which a person would require platelet transfusion. In aged people and with people who have other chronic diseases, platelet transfusion may be required even if the blood count is about 50,000. The doctor will decide this based on the patient’s health. The right thing to do is to go for a medical consultation and discuss your situation with the doctor and identify what needs to be done for your condition specifically.

A heart attack does not always have obvious symptoms, such as pain in your chest, shortness of breath and cold sweats. In fact, a heart attack can actually happen without a person knowing it. This condition is known as a ‘silent heart attack’, medically known as ‘silent ischemia’, occurring due to the shortage of oxygen supply to the heart muscle.

The causes of a silent heart attack are similar to that of a heart attack. They include-

1. Obesity or excess weight

2. Lack of exercise

3. Disorders such as diabetes

4. High blood pressure

5. High cholesterol

6. Age, usually above 65

7. Heart diseases

8. Consumption of tobacco or smoking

A silent cardiac arrest makes one more vulnerable to another heart attack that could be fatal.

Diagnosis:

The only method to diagnose if you had a silent heart attack is through imaging tests, such as echocardiogram, electrocardiogram or others. These tests can show certain changes which might be indicative of a heart attack.

An analysis of one’s overall health and the symptoms can aid in deciding whether few more tests are required.

How would you prevent a silent heart attack?

1. Get your cholesterol and blood pressure count tested regularly.

2. Refrain from smoking.

3. Be aware of your body and call on a doctor if you feel there’s anything which is bothering you. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can ask a free question.