As much as we take a dip in the bucket of blues and sing happy- sad songs to float and fall for the theorem of love; we are but orderlies to the emotion. We all wish if love had only been a four letter word. It, unfortunately, has multiple folds and crevices than the human mind can ever possibly think of. Nonetheless, staying in love is essential. Loving is as significant as is living; the reason being, it keeps you happy until you falter and with every faltering foothold, you emerge out as a stronger being.

A strange fact about the emotion is its tryst with wholeness. Love doesn t necessarily need an object or receptor under its radar. It could be experienced as a self - sufficient feeling. You may be full of love for a family, for a dear friend, for your lover or you could also be in love with your passion or yourself. Irrespective of perpetual disillusionment, one must try and remain in love.

Let's take a curious peek into these few ways to stay in love:

Put in efforts to look good: In any case,  beauty indeed lies in the eyes of the beholder , but finding yourself pretty is extremely important. One must take care to look good in his or her own eyes. Looking good is directly proportional to the way you feel and hence spending time on yourself helps you to think positively. You see yourself in a better light and are thus, in a position to love better.
Exercise to challenge your daily threshold: Exercising has multi - faceted effects on your overall health. If you exercise on daily basis, you witness your progress with every passing day. This encourages you to improve your flexibility and fitness. Exercising can lead to the release of the happy hormone - serotonin in one s body. Direct exposure to sunlight and consumption of food items rich in carbohydrates can also increase the level of serotonin. Exercising boosts up your confidence and makes you fall in love with your body.
Indulge in sweet things: As you grow up, you stop doing those little things that once gave you immense pleasure. Making a greetings card, baking a cake, making paper boats, going out on walks, teaching young children or doing whatever your heart feels like can actually make you stay in love.
Pursue your passion: A passion gets the best out of you; it rather steps up the limits of your talents. Pursuing one s passion makes one love oneself even more. It keeps you engrossed in your plus points, giving you little scope to brood over depressing factors.
Try having a pet to care for: Feeling responsible for your pet is a great way to discover another side of your personality. A pet gives you the warmth you had been looking for. The bond of love with a pet has had unmatched effects on a person s health.

5 Ways to Stay in Love

With recent lifestyle changes, more and more people, younger in age, are falling prey to heart attacks. While some silently suffer the attack during their sleep and never wake up, others have symptoms which they dismiss as acidity or muscular pain and ignore them. There are multiple media programs that are trying to create awareness about how to identify a heart attack. If done at the right time, there is a good chance that the person can be saved.

What is a Heart Attack?

The blood vessels gradually narrow, reducing the blood flow to the target organs. This reduces the efficiency of the target organ, and if this happens to be the heart, it is known as a heart attack. The area that should ideally receive blood does not, leading to its  death.  If the damage is not severe, it can be reversed. However, if this attack happens in one of the critical areas of the heart, it can even be fatal.

Symptoms To Watch For: Very few attacks happen suddenly. Most start slowly and progress, and if identified on time, a life can be saved. The episode takes about an hour, and if you are well-versed with the symptoms, it could help identify the condition correctly and save a life. Most people use antacids and muscle relaxants to ease the situation, which does provide immediate relief, but not a proper cure.

There is a central pain which is constant, nagging, and has a squeezing like sensation. This causes discomfort and most often, this pain is in the center of the chest area, which lasts for just a few minutes. Sometimes the pain can go and come back. This pain radiates down into the arm, up into the neck area, and also into the jaw and is almost always indicative of a heart attack.

With chest pain, there is always shortness of breath which the person will experience. This is due to reduced oxygen levels in the body.

Associated symptoms include fatigue, exhaustion, nausea, dizziness, light-headedness.

There is almost always profused sweating where the person breaks into a cold sweat.

If the attack happens during sleep, the person may be snoring and may feel, as if something is choking his airway.

Due to reduced return of blood from the peripheral organs, there could be swelling of the feet and ankles.

If there is irregular heart beat (palpitations) very often, talk to your doctor about it.

When you suspect a person of having a heart attack, check for these signs. Very often, a heart attack is detectable and can be managed with timely intervention.

Signs Of A Heart Attack

Varicose Veins is a condition in which an individual s veins become swollen and warped or twisted, which is visible on the skin. This condition most often is prevalent in the legs but can occur in any part of the body. Varicose Veins is a common medical condition with a few symptoms and signs. It affects the skin tone and texture for which some people undergo a treatment.  

These symptoms might not affect the person seriously, but they can get severe depending upon different conditions. Usually, Varicose Veins does not require medical treatment, but if it gets severe, then one needs to see the doctor or undergo surgery, which happens rarely. This condition can be easily diagnosed through physical examinations, but one might need to undergo some medical tests depending upon the severity of the condition.

Problems Related to Varicose Veins:

Some of the most common problems related to Varicose Veins are:

Telangiectasias: In this condition, blood vessels form a cluster, mostly on the upper body and face. They appear red and can be caused by many reasons such as genetic disarray, liver problems, pregnancy, or viral diseases. Although this is not something to worry about, one should consult the doctor if other symptoms accompany it too.

Spider Veins: This condition of Spider Veins is concerned with the smallest blood vessels called Capillaries. They are called spider veins because they develop mostly on legs and face and appear like a spider web. They are a moderate form of telangiectasias and hence does not really need medical treatment.

Varicoceles: Varicoceles appears in the scrotum region of the male body or over the testicle skin. This condition might result in infertility in males. A doctor should be immediately consulted if such a condition is seen.

Symptoms:

The Varicose Veins is not a serious medical problem unless the patient is going through severe pain and significantly manifested symptoms. There are many symptoms to identify the condition.

A visible cluster of blue or purple looking veins.

Frequent leg cramps.

Shrinking of skin of the ankle as a result of Lipodermatosclerosis (hardening of fat under the ankle skin).

Veins become tumefy or swollen and warped or twisted.

Ankles become swollen.

Throbbing legs.

Blood clots.

An unusual amount of bleeding in the affected part with a small injury.

Restless leg syndrome.

Scars like white, irregular patches on the ankle (Atrophie Blanche).

Redness, itchiness, and dryness on the affected area (stasis dermatitis or venous eczema).

Skin Discoloration.

Skin ulcers.

Precautions:

There are some precautions that one can take to relieve the pain caused by Varicose Veins.

Avoid standing for a longer period of time.

Maintain a healthy and balanced weight.

Sitting with legs straight and uncrossed.

Exercising.

Avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes.

Elevating legs while relaxing.

Take away:

Varicose Veins is a condition in which blood vessels get clustered in a part of the body under the skin. The veins appear blue or purple and become swollen and twisted. This condition is often not a serious medical problem, but in some cases, it might need surgery to avoid any serious issue. This can be treated by precautions and medications, but one can undergo surgery to get rid of the texture and view of the clustered veins. The recovery of Varicose Veins is quicker.

Varicose Veins - What You Must Be Aware About?

The heart muscle is the central pumping machine that ensures that blood flow throughout the body is maintained and all other organs have a regular supply. One of the conditions that can cause this organ to malfunction is cardiomyopathy, wherein the heart is unable to pump the blood to all parts of the body. This condition can even lead to heart failure and is something that needs to be addressed and diagnosed quickly.

Symptoms of Cardiomyopathy
Early stages of cardiomyopathy may be difficult to detect externally, although it may be slowly reducing your heart s capacity. Symptoms that start showing in later stages may include:

Constant fatigue, even without physical activity
Fluid may build up and thus cause bloating within the body
Persistent coughing while lying down
You may have irregular heartbeats that may sometimes be quite rapid
Due to the lack of blood supply, you may feel lightheaded, dizzy and might even cause you to faint
Even the slightest of exertions will cause breathlessness and exhaustion and you may even feel this symptom while at rest
Intermittent chest pain
Causes of Cardiomyopathy
Causes of this condition may vary from patient to patient, although certain common factors include:

Genetic reasons where one or both parents are susceptible to this condition
Metabolic problems such as obesity, diabetes or thyroid problems
Substance abuse such as anabolic steroids, amphetamines cocaine or even the consumption of excessive alcohol
High blood pressure for prolonged periods
Nutritional deficiencies
Side effects of drug treatments such as the use of certain chemicals in chemotherapy
Types of Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy has multiple types; depending on what causes them and also certain specific symptoms. These are:

Restrictive cardiomyopathy
Dilated cardiomyopathy
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Unclassified cardiomyopathies
Treatment for cardiomyopathy
The treatment of these various forms of cardiomyopathy will vary depending on the type and also the stage and condition of the heart. Some of these treatments include:

Medications
Lifestyle changes
Surgeries such as Septal myectomy, Septal ablation and Radiofrequency ablation
Implantable devices such as Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator or ICD
Ventricular assist devices
Heart transplant in the worst case scenarios

Cardiomyopathy -  Decoding the Types + Treatment

What is Palpitation?
Palpitation is a feeling of awareness of your own heart beat. It is usually described as heart rate being either too fast (racing), too slow or a sensation of missing a beat.

Types of palpitations?
Normal (Benign)
- These palpitations occur as a response to physical or mental stress like exercise, fever, pain, fear, anxiety etc. 
- They are harmless and settle on their own once the precipitating factors disappear. They do not require any medical treatment.

Abnormal
- These palpitations occur due to some underlying abnormality in either the structure of heart or the beating of heart. 
- These can be dangerous and at times life threatening. They may or may not settle on their own and require some medical treatment.

Warning signs that suggest palpitations are abnormal?
Palpitations are abnormal, if they are associated with chest heaviness, chest pain, uneasiness, sweating, weakness, giddiness, feeling of black out, fainting, nausea, vomiting, seizures. Palpitations are more likely to be abnormal in people who have some existing heart disease and these patients should report to their doctor at the earliest.

What to do during palpitations?
1. Stay calm. 
2. Call for help. If u are alone avoid driving, use a taxi or auto, go to your nearest hospital/doctor and try to get an ECG during the palpitations. If you are helping someone having palpitations, if they faint, call for help, start CPR if they remain unresponsive and take them to the nearest hospital. 

Which doctor can treat palpitations?
Doctors who specialise in the treatment of palpitations are called Electrophysiologists. They specialise in heart rhythm and are capable of performing a variety of complex tests to identify and treat different types of palpitations.

Which investigations are used to diagnose palpitations?
ECG: Taken during palpitations and when the patient is normal is a very helpful tool. 
Holter: Externally applied recorder, which continuously records heart rhythm for 24 hrs. 
ELR: Extended loop recorder, is like holter, but it records rhythm for longer durations. 
ILR:  Internal loop recorder is attached within the body for recording rhythm for long duration. 
EPS: Electrophysiology study, is the most sure shot test to diagnose, identify and treat 
Palpitations.

What is EPS?
EPS stands for Electrophysiology study. By this test a trained Electrophysiologist studies the conduction and formation system of heart beat, to understand the source, cause and type of palpitation. It is a simple and safe procedure of 2 to 3 hours and can be done as a day care procedure (by admitting the patient for a few hours in hospital, with discharge on same day).

It requires fasting for 4 hrs, some standard blood investigations and is done with local anaesthesia and if required it can be combined with treatment like ablation in the same sitting.In the procedure Electrophysiologist take catheters into your heart to study and stimulate the palpitations and understand them. Once found they can use various techniques to stop the palpitations, the techniques are called Ablation.

What are the treatment options available for palpitations?
There are many options depending upon the nature of palpitations and condition of the patient: 
- Drug therapy 
- Cardioversion where either a drug or electric shock is given to stop palpitations immediately. 

Ablations using many sophisticated computer softwares 
Device Therapy like ICD (Internal cardiac defibrillator) 
Combination of all the above therapies.

Your Electrophysiologist and you as a team can make a choice about the options that will be best for you.

Palpitations - Everything You Need to Know

Heart Care Tips For a Heart Patient

A heart patient has to always live with caution. This World Heart Day, let us understand what it takes to keep our heart in good health. In fact, by following certain rules, one can lead a smooth life despite being a heart patient.
The major risk factors of heart diseases are smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, physical inactivity, obesity, and high cholesterol. In addition to these, there are factors which add to the heart condition. They are stress, alcohol, sleep apnea and C - reactive protein.

Food and exercise play a major role in the well-being of a heart patient. It is important to engage in exercises as prescribed by your heart specialist. Follow these dos and don’ts with respect to food.

Say YES To:

1. Poultry and fish for the requirement Omega 3 and Protein
2. Raw nuts, flax seeds, avocados, olive oil, fish oils etc which make up the body's need of healthy fats.
3. Fruits and vegetables for the body's nutrient needs.
4. Whole grains and legumes which provide energy and fiber to the body.
5. Protein and calcium which come from unsweetened yoghurt, egg whites, low-fat/non-fat cheese and skimmed or double toned milk.

Say NO To:

1. Fried foods, cakes and pastries, since they have trans-fats or other harmful fats.
2. Foods high in sodium and sugar, especially packaged goods.
3. Rice, pasta, white breads, sugary foods.
4. Sausage, bacon and red meat.
5. Full cream milk, whole milk cheese and sweetened yoghurt.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

 Heart Care In Your Hands: World Heart Day Special Tips

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