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A heart attack is usually characterised by the rupture of a plaque which can cause the spread of the cholesterol into the blood stream.

Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of pain, suffering and death around the world, today. Heart attacks are caused by coronary heart disease. This is caused by the narrowing of the coronary artery when substances like cholesterol block it. If not treated and revived on time, a patient suffering from a heart attack can meet a fatal result.

So how can you prevent a heart attack?



Cholesterol: We are all affected to some extent by what we eat. It is important to keep a check on your cholesterol, especially if it is on the higher side, so as to prevent a heart attack. Cholesterol is known to directly cause a heart attack, because if applies layer upon layer to the walls of the artery, and chokes them until they cannot handle the pressure any longer. So watch your food intake and bring down the blood lipid or fat levels with proper diet and exercise to alleviate the risk of a heart attack.
Assess your Risk Factors: So are you at risk of heart disease and possible heart attack? This will very much depend on your medical history and allied ailments. If you are suffering from high cholesterol or even diabetes, your chances of having clogged arteries and a subsequent heart attack may increase manifold. Also, you may have a family history of heart diseases which can increase the risk of such ailments in your case. So, it is wise to assess your risk factors and take measures like regular checkups, medication where required and even other measures like diet and exercise.
Blood Pressure: To prevent a heart attack, you can also keep your blood pressure in check. Constant spikes and dips can lead to a malfunctioning heart which can weaken the heart muscles and lead to a fatal result like a heart attack. Further, high blood pressure can lead to wear and tear of the inner lining of your blood vessels, which makes it that much more difficult for blood flow and circulation. So keep a blood pressure measuring machine or cuff at home, or visit your doctor regularly to keep tabs on your blood pressure.
While these basic measures can help take care of the immediate and most direct causes of heart attacks, you can also avoid passive and active smoking, and indulge in a good diet with plenty of exercise to keep your heart healthy.

Your heart is the most important and vital organ of all and regulates the flow of heart to all parts of the body. Thus, the valves and the arteries which take the blood to your heart are also an important component in ensuring that the circulation is constant. Thus, any hindrance to this process will put a lot of pressure on your heart and lead to more serious problems in the long run. Coronary artery disease is one such problem and can seriously put the health of your heart at risk.

What is coronary heart disease?
Coronary arteries are very important blood vessels, which carry nutrients, blood and oxygen to your heart. If the level of bad cholesterol is high in your blood, it will start leaving deposits on the walls of the arteries which are commonly known as plaque. This plaque will start building up over time causing blockage of the arteries and disrupting proper blood flow. Excessive build up of the plaque may then rupture the lining of the plaque. This will then induce blood clotting and further prevent the normal flow of blood.

Symptoms
Primary symptoms may include

Shortness of breath: This may occur while you are exercising or performing activities which are mildly exerting.
Heart beats very hard and fast: Your heart may beat very hard and fast, especially when doing everyday activities such as climbing stairs or walking for a prolonged distance.
Angina or chest pain: You may experience pain in your chest as if someone was pressing against it with a lot of force. Angina is also triggered due to stressful activities or even emotional stress. It usually occurs on the left or the middle of the chest and may even be felt in the back, arms, and neck.
Heart attack: Heart attacks are the most common and the most serious complications of coronary heart disease. You would feel extreme pain, akin to crushing on your chest, shoulder, or arm. It may even be accompanied by jaw pain, and sweatiness.
Treatment
Non invasive forms of treatment are always preferable rather than invasive surgeries or procedures to treat coronary heart disease, especially where the risk of serious complications such as heart attack are still on the lower side. Some of the treatments used for coronary heart disease are as follows:

Making lifestyle changes: Quit smoking, reduce alcohol consumption along with consumption of regulated diet will automatically start cleaning plaque that has built up within the arteries. Losing weight also tends to help.
Medications: Special medications can take care of cases wherein the deposits are still lesser and the plaque buildup can be removed without the requirement of extensive surgery. Anti-cholesterol medications are one example of this.
Surgical procedures: These are usually employed when the blockage is severe and cannot be corrected by the conventional methods mentioned above. Some of the procedures are angioplasty, stent replacement, as well as coronary artery bypass surgery.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a disorder of your body s circulatory system that prevents extremities like your legs from getting the required amount of blood for healthy functioning. This leads to problems such as pain in the legs when performing daily activities like walking or running.

This disease is detectable by a variety of symptoms. They are:

Pain and discomfort, cramp-like formations in your legs, calf muscles and related body parts like the hips.
Slower body hair growth in your leg area, or above certain spots on the legs.
Change in the colour or smoothness of your skin in the leg area.
A red or blue tinge in the skin of the leg area.
Sores or wounds in the leg area.

Risk Factors: What Makes You More Vulnerable to PAD?

There are certain factors and reasons that make people more susceptible to catching PAD than the normal population. They are:

Being above medically accepted levels of body weight for your height and age, or being clinically obese.
Smoking cigarettes.
The onset of old age. People who are 50 years and above are highly susceptible to this condition.
Levels of cholesterol or blood pressure that range higher than the clinically prescribed levels.
A lineage that shows PAD in several cases in the immediate or nearly related family.

Treating PAD: Why is Revascularization Your Best Option?

The goal of PAD treatment is to check your symptoms and keep them from debilitating your life. There are several ways you can do this. These methods include:

1. Lifestyle changes: You may be advised to make some lifestyle changes by your doctor, such as Quit smoking, Get more exercise, Eat a healthy diet, Take care of your feet, Manage your other health problems, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

2. Medical management: In some cases, lifestyle do not give the desired results. In such cases, the doctor prescribes some medicines to decrease your chance of heart attack or stroke, prevent blood clots, provide more blood flow to your legs and feet and lower your cholesterol.

3. Endovascular surgery (Angioplasty/Stenting): When lifestyle changes and medicines do not work, then the doctor may go on to condult Angioplasty to widen the blocked artery and ensure more blood flow. Your surgeon may place a stent, or small mesh tube, in there to keep it open.

4. Surgery (Bypass with vein or graft): Bypass surgery can also be performed to give blood a different path around the blocked artery.

5. Hybrid (bypass and angioplasty or stenting)

Compared to other surgical procedures, revascularization offers the following advantages:

Local compared to general anaesthesia use, reduces recovery time and risk of mortality.
Short-term morbidity rates are markedly lesser.
Hybrid revascularization procedures that are up and coming hold the potential for combining the long-staying effects of surgical revascularization and the lower risks associated with endovascular procedures, providing the patient with the best effects of both methods.

These pros overweigh some of the traditional cons associated with revascularization procedures in PAD treatment, like increased and increasing costs. Therefore, it emerges as the true best control/treatment procedure.

PAD is a condition that has the potential to degrade your quality of life with the toll it takes on walking and other healthy functions of your leg. However, help is at hand there have been procedures devised which help keep the symptoms in control. Revascularization surgery is one such exemplary method.

Homeopathy is a method of treatment, which is based on the fact that symptoms of a certain disease if induced in small quantities, may help cure the same disease in a sick person. Cardiological disorders are complications of the heart; they can range from various disorders, such as heart attack or irregular heartbeats.

Homeopathic remedies are based on naturally occurring substances and are given to the patients in a diluted form. These remedies trigger the symptoms in small quantities and heal the body.

The various homeopathic treatments for cardiological disorders are:

Latrodectus: This treatment is used to treat symptoms of precordial pain in the body.
Aurum metallicum: Aurum metallicum is used in treating symptoms of weakness in the muscles of the heart.
Aconitum: This treatment is used when a person is having a heart attack.
Spigelia: Spigelia is used in the treatment of irregular heartbeats which may cause sharp pain in the chest.
Cactus grandiflorus: This treatment is used in treating angina pectoris, which is characterized by symptoms of pain caused by decreased blood flow to the heart.
Crataegus oxyacantha: This homeopathic treatment is used in treating coronary insufficiency in people. This disorder causes problems in heartbeat.
Digitalis: This homeopathic treatment is used in treating cardiac muscle failure. This disorder causes palpitation, tightness in the heart muscles and a suffocating sensation.
Kalmia latifolia: This treatment is effective in treating cardiac hypertrophy, which causes the heart muscle to thicken, resulting in size reduction of the ventricles. This treatment is very effective in treating cardiac hypertrophy that results after rheumatism.
Glonoinum: This homeopathic treatment is prescribed to treat symptoms of plaque buildup in the artery, which cause hypertension.

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.

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.
Exercises: This is the next important activity that needs to be a part of your daily routine to lead a healthy life. Consult with your 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.
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.
Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight or obese aggravates any disease. So it is important to keep your body weight perfect.
Taking medicines as prescribed: It is important to take medicines regularly and as prescribed by the physician.
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.

Heart Blocks are a result of plaque buildup in your arteries, which blocks blood flow and circulation to the heart, causing heart muscle damage and heightens the risk for heart attack and stroke.
Arteries which have smooth and elastic walls become thick and restrict blood flow from the cholesterol deposits over the years. Blood clots can also block the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart. These can eventually lead to strokes and heart attacks.

Some warning signs that you may be at risk of heart blockage:

Have you had a mild stroke: Plaque that accumulates in the carotid artery supplying oxygen-rich blood to the brain can cause a stroke. People who have had strokes are more prone to heart attacks.
Do you often feel fatigue and dizziness: Reduced oxygen from poor circulation and blood flow can result in fatigue and tiredness as well as dizziness.
Experiencing shortness of breath: Poor blood flow can lead to shortness of breath from even mild forms of exercise or even from carrying out daily chores or walking.
Sudden chest pain: Chest pain or angina results from a reduced supply of blood to the heart. It can be felt like pressure, tightness in the chest, squeezing in the chest, numbness or burning.
Unexplained lower back pain: This can result from pressure in the spine as a result of pinched nerves due to compressed vertebrae discs as a result of poor blood flow.
Erectile dysfunction in men: If an erection becomes difficult or impossible, it could be a warning sign of clogged arteries. These arteries supply blood to the pelvic area and help achieve an erection.
Calf pain: Blocked leg arteries can cause calf pain, especially in smokers. This is an early sign of possible heart blocks.
Painful, numb and cold hands and feet: Plaque build up in the arteries of the extremities can cause numbness and coldness in the hands and feet.
Remember early detection is the key to prevent or delay heart attacks.

What is Abnormal Heart Rhythms?

An abnormal heart rhythm is an irregular heartbeat. It can occur with the normal heart rate, slow heart rate or with the rapid heart rate.

Symptoms of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-

Dizziness
Fainting
Fluttering in the chest
Shortness of breath
Sensation of the heart racing
Weakness or feeling very tired
Risk factors of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-

Heart problems such as atherosclerosis
High blood pressure
Smoking
Stress
High cholesterol
Complications of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-

Risk of death
Diagnosis of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-

The following tests are done to diagnose Abnormal Heart Rhythms:

Electrocardiogram
Holter monitor
Event monitor
Stress test
Echocardiogram
Cardiac catheterization
Electrophysiology study (EPS)
Head-up tilt table test
Treatment of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-
Acupuncture Treatment of Abnormal Heart Rhythms-

The pressure conducted with acupuncture helps relax the muscles and eliminate any built up stress that you may be experiencing. Acupressure allows you to treat yourself and relax different muscles and parts of your body.

Blockage in heart is a common term used for narrowing of coronary arteries. Coronary arteries are vessels, which supply blood and thus oxygen and food) to continuously working heart muscles. Heart muscles which are not tired working from the birth till death, however, cannot sustain long without blood supply.

A reduction in blood supply gives rise to ischemia of heart muscles commonly manifested as chest discomfort or angina. A sudden complete shutdown of blood supply leads to heart attack leading to permanent damage to heart (if blood flow not reestablished promptly).

But what causes these arteries to block? Deposition of LDL cholesterol (low density cholesterol) in inner surface of coronary arteries is the primary reason of these blockages. LDL a normal component of blood (upto certain limit) starts depositing in arteries as early as 10 years of age!

Deposition of billions of LDL molecules over several years on inner surface of arteries gives rise to visible narrowings in these arteries. Flow ahead of these narrowings is reduced in proportion to the narrowing. At a level of 70 % narrowing the flow is reduced to give ischemia (and angina) during exercise. Gradually increasing degree of narrowing reduces the exercise needed for ischemia and angina; a narrowing of more than 90 % can give symptoms at rest. A sudden clot formation at any of these stages can block the flow suddenly giving a heart attack.

If LDL is a normal component of blood, why it is deposited in the arteries at first place?

LDL above a certain limit in blood starts depositing in the arteries. Diabetes, Hypertension, smoking, less exercise and genetics makes it more sticky thus making narrowing faster. This is why these risk elements need to be properly attended for prevention from heart disease. For treatment medicines are important for stopping the progression of narrowings; angioplasty is a method of fast resolution of blockage; and bypass surgery is the method of creating a whole new blood supply for the affected part of the heart.

The most common reason to succumb to death in case of males is a sudden cardiac arrest. Though females also get affected, but the main victims are males over the age of 40. Reasons for the cardiac arrest are many, and the top one is a prevalent heart disease caused by several factors. Factors include high blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, stress, depression, work life imbalance, anxiety, high cholesterol, obesity, hereditary traits, etc.

If you also fall in the same age group or are nearing it, then you must get conscious right now that you don t fall prey to a sudden cardiac arrest. If you get one, chances of survival depend on how soon you get a treatment and the potential in the body to receive treatment. However, prevention is always better than cure, and here are some measures that you can follow to prevent a cardiac arrest.

How to prevent getting a sudden cardiac arrest?

Prevention of a cardiac arrest starts right from the alteration of lifestyle. Diet and stress need to be monitored, and regular health checkups give you the confidence to stay better. Try following the steps below:

Quit smoking totally as it really kills. The carbon particles block the filters in the lungs gradually and permanently, and limit the lungs' capacities to inhale and filter and absorb oxygen.

If you drink, then do it socially and rarely. Long term alcohol consumption increases obesity and fat, and is another blood diluting agent. However, a low consumption helps by melting some LDL cholesterol and fat too.

Exercise everyday. You need not do a strength training essentially. Simple, brisk walking, free hand exercising, etc. will do, but the body must get a warm up everyday.

Go for a regular heart checkup in intervals of 6 months or 1 year. This will tell you the condition, the cholesterol deposition, the blood pressure and the overall blood circulation.

Avoid junk and oily food, and things that build up cholesterol and fat in the body.

When you have just experienced a cardiac arrest-

When you have just experienced a cardiac arrest, you should seek help from a family member using the CPR technique, or a defibrillator. In both cases, the know-how to use the techniques and instruments is a must. Hence, if you know that you have a coronary heart disease and are prone to a sudden cardiac arrest, you must train a member in the family to use these immediate treatments, while they call the doctor.

Our survival is solely reliant on the working of the heart. It is this that makes the prospect of a heart failure so fatal and so terrifying. Notwithstanding what the heart evokes, a heart failure is not indicative of a defunct heart; but only a situation when the heart pumps weaker than what is generally deemed as natural. Consequently, the blood flows at a slower rate to the heart and the body that in turn increases pressure in the heart. The oxygen that is produced by the heart in such a scenario is scanty and insufficient for the body.

body responds with its own defense mechanism, as the heart, in an attempt to hold more blood, stretches its chambers. Though this strenuous effort may keep the blood moving, it would gradually and inevitably weary the heart with all the effort. Subsequently, the kidney responds by retaining more salt and fluid in the body. These fluids may accumulate in different parts of the body, mainly in the legs, feet, ankles leading to congestion in the body. This very condition in medical terminology is referred to as congestive heart failure.

Different causes can contribute to the onset of such a fatal condition. Some of them are

Coronary artery disease: In such a condition, the arteries supply insufficient amount of oxygen and blood to the heart. Subsequently, the heart receives scanty amount of nutrients and oxygen.
Heart attack: The sudden, unanticipated blockage of the coronary artery and the ensuing stoppage of the flow of the blood lead to a heart attack. The heart muscles are damaged in such a case and prevent the proper functioning.
Diseases: Though the term may be generic and over expansive, most of the ailments which people suffer from tend to manifest themselves by posing a potential threat to the functioning of the heart. A high blood pressure, kidney disease, even a thyroid disease can cause congestive heart failure.
Every disorder is preceded by certain symptoms, and congestive heart failure is no different. Some of them are

Fatigue: This is one of the most perceptible symptoms of congestive heart failure. One of the earliest premonitions of an impending heart failure is a nagging sense of weariness and lethargy.
Swelling: As the condition is characterized by accumulation and build-up of fluids in various part of the body, swelling is an inevitable symptom of this condition and a clear indication of the ailment.