The news of Sridevi's sudden and unexpected demise was a shock for the entire nation and left a number of questions in the minds of the people. However, there are multiple reasons which are under speculation and can be attributed to her death - cardiac arrest, heart attack and death due to accidental drowning. Usually, cardiac arrest and heart attack are two things which most people use interchangeably, however, there is a big difference between the two. 

Difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack: 
A cardiac arrest is far deadlier considering that it comes without a warning or any prior indication of a problem. Here, the heart just stops beating and immediate first-aid can make a lot of difference between life and death. Electrical shock is the best way to revive a patient and should be given within a few minutes of such an arrest. 

On the other hand, a person suffers a heart attack when there is a blockage in the artery which prevents the smooth flow of oxygen-rich blood from reaching the heart. It is important to note that unlike a cardiac arrest the signs of heart attack start slow and persists for long. 

A heart attack is one of the common causes of cardiac arrest, but not always it is the case. A cardiac arrest happens most commonly when the heart is receiving more than 300 impulses per minute or due to absent electrical impulses. In the first instance an electrical shock is a lifesaving technique and in the second, the patient can be treated with certain medications and a temporary pacemaker. 

Symptoms of cardiac arrest:
The symptoms of cardiac arrest are immediate and extreme.

A fainting spell or a sudden collapse
Loss of consciousness
No pulse or breathing 
Symptoms of a heart attack 

Discomfort along with chest pain 
Shortness of breath
Nausea with vomiting
Sweating
Headache and jawpain
Prevention of a cardiac arrest:
What makes this a deadly condition is that you cannot tell your risks of having one and therefore the next best thing to do is to lower your risks. 
The best way to do that is to:

Follow a diet that is balanced and nutritious
Alcohol should be consumed in moderation 
Quit smoking
Stay physically active
How can you prevent a heart attack?

Keep yourself fit and exercise regularly
Keep your cholesterol level under check 
Limit your alcohol intake 
If you are obese, control your weight
Intake a heart-friendly diet.
Now that the distinction is clear between the two, it is recommended that everyone should get themselves screened for potential heart problems on a regular basis. In case of a query or concern consult an expert and get your answers. 

Cardiac Arrest And Heart Attack - Understanding The Difference Between The Two!

5 Symptoms that Indicate Your Heart is in Trouble!

Your heart gives you warning signs before the onset of a major problem. You may not even know that you are at risk of one or more heart diseases if you fail to notice these small signs that your heart sends out. Even a minor symptom, like chest pain, can indicate that your heart may be in trouble. While there could be many causal factors for a heart condition, here some symptoms, which are possible indications of a heart disease and should not be ignored in any case.

1. Chest pain or discomfort

This symptom is the most common one, which indicates that your heart is not healthy. It usually comes in the form of a pain, pressure or tightness in the chest and may happen due to a blocked artery. This may be an early warning sign of a heart attack and you should seek professional advice before it turns into a major problem.

2. Excessive sweating

If you often sweat without any valid reason, it might be a sign to be concerned for. The sweating experienced will feel more like the one that arises due to stress rather than common perspiration experienced due to any vigorous physical activity.

3. Difficulty in breathing

Shortness of breath is an indication that you are at high risk of getting a heart attack. The symptom includes having difficulty in breathing and feels similar to the panting experienced after a long run.

4. Nausea and frequent stomach problems

If you experience nausea, heartburn, indigestion or abdominal pain frequently, it may be the result of an unhealthy heart. Of course, these signs may be due to other diseases as well, but if you experience any of the other symptoms of heart problems too, it's highly probable that your heart is in trouble.

5. Exhaustion

If you fall into the high-risk zone of being a potential heart patient, you may feel exhausted after doing some simple chores, which didn't tire you earlier. Common examples may be climbing the stairs or carrying something from your doorstep inside the house to name a few.



5 Symptoms That Indicate Your Heart Is in Trouble!

Are you looking for effective and natural ways to prevent heart blockage and blood pressure management? You should consider taking Ayurvedic measures, which have been proven to be quite effective in dealing with various issues of the heart. Usually, heart blockages are difficult to deal with and a surgery has to be carried out for recovery. With Ayurvedic remedies, you can solve such issues without the concern of harmful side effects on your body.

Ayurvedic management of heart blockage
For effective prevention and management of heart blockages, you need to create a certain Ayurvedic medicine using basic ingredients.

Mix lemon, ginger, apple vinegar and garlic together and boil on a light flame.
After the quantity gets reduced, leave the mixture to cool.
After this, add some honey in the solution, and store it in a bottle for use. You have to take this medicine every morning after waking up.
Note all the ingredients are chosen for their unique and beneficial features.
Lemon contains more than 19 qualities, and garlic and ginger are good for dealing with gastric issues. Apple cider vinegar is given great importance in Ayurveda, and honey is good for your blood. Hence, this medicine is ideal for treating heart blockages effectively.
Ayurvedic management of blood pressure
High blood pressure or Rakta Gata Vata refers to an elevation in the pressure of blood in your arteries. The increase in pressure is based upon your age, activities, diet, and medical history.

The Ayurvedic remedies for the prevention and control of blood pressure include the following:

Avoid consuming eggs, meat, tea, coffee, pickles and table salt.
Abstain from smoking.
Increase your intake of food items such as lemon, garlic, parsley, grapefruit, cottage cheese, Indian gooseberry, and watermelon.
Engage in regular exercise as it is important for lowering and preventing your chances of high blood pressure.
Laugh a lot and keep away from anxiety and stress factors.
Make a juice of garlic cloves, wheat grass and basil leaves. Have this regularly for reduced chances of high blood pressure.
Mix onion juice with honey and have the mixture every day.
Make a paste using garlic and buttermilk, and drink it regularly.
Grind roasted watermelon seeds, add water to the powder, strain the liquid, and have it twice every day.
It is important for you to visit an Ayurvedic practitioner before starting to take Ayurvedic measures for heart blockage or high blood pressure on your own. This will ensure that you are prescribed the best measures by a qualified and experienced doctor.

Heart Blockage & Blood Pressure - How Ayurveda Can Help You Prevent It?

Lifestyle changes and unhealthy habits take a toll on one s physical and mental health resulting in many diseases. One such disease that is growing common is the stroke that occurs due to a sudden interruption of blood supply to the brain. As with any lifestyle disease, the chances of having a stroke can be reduced as well. Knowing the risk factors and taking appropriate measures can prevent you from a stroke attack. 

Read on to know the seven effective ways to prevent you from a stroke.

Opt for a healthy lifestyle: While smoking leads to an increased risk of suffering from a stroke, excessive consumption of alcohol not only triggers irregular heartbeats, but also high blood pressure, which can be a solid reason behind having a stroke. Therefore, leading a healthy lifestyle free from smoking and alcohol can help in preventing strokes.
Manage conditions: Whether it is diabetes or any other kind of illness which directly or indirectly give rise to the risk of having a stroke, dealing with one's underlying conditions is important. In case one is diagnosed with such a condition that can be responsible for a stroke, he or she must make it a point to keep that condition under control.
Lose weight: Obesity is often known to increase the complexities associated with a stroke such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Therefore, for those who are overweight, losing a few pounds can be really helpful in preventing the chances of having a stroke.
Keep blood pressure in check: High blood pressure often causes a stroke, if not controlled. It is referred to as the biggest contributor in causing a stroke by many. Lowering the high blood pressure or bringing it to normal levels can indeed be a great way of preventing a stroke.
Exercise regularly: Exercise not only contributes to lowering the blood pressure, but also helps to maintain body weight while ensuring the overall fitness of the body. Some light hand exercises or regular walking combined with proper diet can do wonders in preventing a stroke.
Have a proper sleep at night: Spending sleepless nights may increase the risk of stroke. Therefore, one must make it a point to maintain the necessary amount of sleep at night that can help in reducing stress and anxiety, while decreasing the chance of heart diseases as well as a stroke.
Never ignore the palpitations: Ignoring the palpitations is the last thing one can want to do, if he or she is willing to prevent the chances of suffering a stroke. Feelings of lightheadedness or shortness of breath, chest pain and abnormal heart beats can be warning signs for a stroke. Therefore, you must pay proper attention to these and deal with appropriate medications.
An otherwise healthy person can stay away from stroke by continuing a healthy lifestyle and following the tips mentioned above. However, if you have suffered a stroke earlier, then it becomes imperative to follow these tips along with supervised medical care.

Stroke - Can You Prevent It From Happening?

Bradycardia is a condition which in basic terms means slow beating of the heart. In most cases, the typical rate is 60 to 100 beats in a minute when the person is at rest. In case your heart beats less than 60 times in a minute, then it is slower than normal. But a slow heart rate is not always a health concern even though sometimes it could indicate issues with of the heart.

What could bradycardia mean?
Some people with slow heart rate or bradycardia tend to be very fit, and they have no underlying health issues. Athletes and healthy young adults often have a heart rate lower than 60. But in others, bradycardia indicates that the natural pacemaker of the heart is not working well, or the electrical pathways have been disrupted. In severe forms of the problem, the heart may beat so slowly that it fails to pump adequate blood for meeting the needs of the body. This may show some symptoms and could be fatally dangerous.

What are the causes of bradycardia?
There are various causes of bradycardia, and some of them include:

Alterations in the heart which results from aging
Health conditions that slow down the electrical impulse through the heart. This may include electrolyte imbalance, low thyroid levels, and others.
Diseases which may disrupt the electrical system of the heart including heart attack, coronary artery disease, and myocarditis.
Certain medications that are used for treating heart problems like high blood pressure or hypertension, arrhythmia, and beta-blockers, and digoxin.
What are the symptoms of bradycardia?
When a person has very slow heart rate, he or she may experience lightheadedness or dizziness, feeling short of breath, having difficulties in doing normal activities or exercising, having chest pain, feeling tired and fatigued. In some cases, it is seen that the person may have palpitations, feeling confused, trouble in concentrating and fainting.

What s worse, some people don t have any symptoms at all, or their symptoms are so negligible that they think they are caused just because of aging. The best way to understand whether you have this problem is to take the pulse, and in case, it is slow or uneven, you must talk to a doctor.

How is bradycardia diagnosed and treated?
Bradycardia tends to come and go from time to time, and therefore, a standard EKG is not always able to detect it. A standard ambulatory electrocardiogram is used for detecting the condition, and sometimes, blood tests are also necessary.

The treatment of bradycardia is entirely dependent on the cause of the problem and its symptoms. It is worthy of mention here that in case the problem is not causing any symptoms, then they would not be treated under usual circumstances.

An Effective Guide To Bradycardia!

A sensation of pain in the chest is almost automatically associated with having a heart attack. While it is true that it is one of the best indicators of a heart attack, there are quite a few other things which can cause one s chest to pain and not all need to necessarily be as time critical as a heart attack. So, what are the various things one should be aware of when it comes to pain in the chest? In order to understand chest pain better, it is first very important to understand the various types of chest pain better! So, there is a sharp pain, its opposite which happens to be a dull pain, burning, aching, stabbing pain, as well as a crushing sensation.

Let s start with the elephant in the room, which is medically known as myocardial infarction or referred to as the infamous heart attack. This occurs when the muscle cells, which are located in the heart die on account of not enough blood flowing through the heart. In simple terms, the best way to get to know that one is having a heart attack is when the person feels a seriously crushing pain in the centre or the left side of the chest. What could be said to be unique about this type of pain is that resting does not make it better.

Another condition of the heart which is often mistaken by the layman for a heart attack happens to be myocarditis. Inflammation of the heart muscle leads to fatigue and a fast beating of the heart. The person would also experience some difficulty breathing.
Heart disease can come in multiple forms and one of those is known as CAD or Coronary Artery Disease. When there is a blockage in the blood vessels of the heart, the pain [which is known as angina] is caused by this blockage. The probably solitary source of good news is that permanent damage to the heart is not caused by CAD!
That being said, a heart attack is a greater possibility. The pain in the chest could spread to the jaw or the back, or even the arm. The sensation is that of the body part being squeezed. The first thing to be done when angina occurs is to rest in order to lower the pain.
While these conditions have focused on the heart, pneumonia affecting the lungs can cause deep chest ache. It causes a cough and chills. There is also likely to be pus from the respiratory tract which is coughed up!
Asthma is yet another respiratory issue which could cause chest pain!

Chest Pain - Reasons Behind It!

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