Archive for Heart disease
Heart disease Thrombolytic Drugs – Clotbusters
Posted by: | CommentsThe use of clot busters or thrombolytics has dramatically reduced the risk of dying of a heart attack in the past decade. Given after a heart attack starts they act to break up clots, restore blood flow through the blocked artery and reduce damage to the heart muscle.
Clot busters must be administered as soon as possible after a heart attack begins because, as we’ve seen, the longer the heart muscle is deprived of its blood supply the more damage is done. Prompt use of a clot buster can change a potentially severe heart attack into a mild one and can sometimes avert any damage whatsoever.
The clot buster most often used is called streptokinase. It is given intravenously for an hour and after that you’ll be given aspirin.
Side effects
As clot busters dissolve clots, one of their more serious potential side effects is that they can cause serious bleeding. That means if you have recently had an operation or suffered bleeding from another cause you won’t be prescribed them. Part of the skill of the doctor in the coronary unit is to weigh up the risks carefully against the benefits.
The basics of heart disease – the cholesterol question
Posted by: | CommentsThe type of lipid everyone has heard of in connection with heart disease is cholesterol. According to the British Heart Foundation, lowering blood cholesterol levels by just 1 per cent can reduce your risk of heart disease by 2-3 per cent.
HDL cholesterol and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol. Certain amount o cholesterol is needed by the body to help build cell membranes, but too much LDL cholesterol can be harmful. Cholesterol forms a large part of the plaques found in atherosclerosis and numerous studies have shown that a high cholesterol level can accelerate the process of atherosclerosis.
Several factors can influence cholesterol levels. These include your age (high cholesterol may be more common as you get older); your family history (a tendency towards high cholesterol runs in some families); and diet (certain foods have a cholesterol-promoting and others a cholesterol-lowering effect). Overweight also increases blood cholesterol in some people. The cholesterol story may also be rather different for men and women and research is at present going on to try to identify the healthiest cholesterol levels for women.
The Basics of Choosing a Practitioner for Heart Disease
Posted by: | CommentsIt is often pointed out that many complementary practitioners do not have the detailed medical knowledge doctors have. Nor are all registered with a regulatory body as doctors have to be. This may not matter: the healing skills of therapists of both orthodox and complementary persuasion often owe as much to intangibles such as the relationship between healer and healed as they do to pills and potions. There are good and bad doctors just as there are good and bad complementary practitioners.
If you do decide to seek complementary treatment bear in mind that there is rather more of an onus on you to make sure that you choose someone who is reliable. It makes sense to steer clear of anyone who offers you a miracle cure, especially if they are demanding large sums of money for it. Some doctors may be willing to recommend a practitioner, and in the UK it is sensible to check with the Institute of Complementary Medicine, which keeps a register of accredited practitioners. It can be helpful to listen to other people’s experiences, but bear in mind that yours will not necessarily be the same.
The basics of ‘the Pill’ of heart disease
Posted by: | CommentsAs so often with issues concerning the Pill, the relationship between the Pill and heart disease is not entirely clear, and evidence is often conflicting and contradictory. Taking the Pill affects levels of hormones and other substances, such as blood fats, in the body. Some types of Pill (notably the high-dose combined variety) raise blood pressure in some women. Research has also linked taking the Pill with an increased risk of having both a stroke and developing a blood clot in the veins (deep venous thrombosis). The risks are even higher if you smoke. Taking the Pill, though, does not seem to raise the risk of atherosclerosis and some studies suggest that it may even help protect against this factor in heart disease. 
There is also concern about the use of the Pill and breast cancer (although the latest British studies suggest that the risk dwindles after you stop taking the Pill and is returned to normal after ten years). When making decisions about taking the Pill, therefore, you need to take into account both your own medical and family medical history and your need for birth control.
The basics of heart disease – denial
Posted by: | CommentsSome people react to the knowledge that they have heart disease by putting on a brave face, underplaying what has happened to them, refusing to acknowledge that there is anything wrong or being falsely optimistic. Psychologists refer to this type of reaction as denial.
Denial is the mind’s way of coping with the initial shock of any adverse event, which is why it is often common immediately after people have had a heart attack. When I started to get all these strange symptoms I half thought that there was something wrong with my heart,’ Gill says. ‘When I went to the doctor I joked that something was wrong with my heart and in the office a few times when I came over strange I said I think I’m going to snuff it, but at the same time I didn’t really believe it.’
Clive says: ‘With angina, psychologically you are fighting to say that it’s not there. It’s important to me to deny it, because otherwise I get very paranoid and frightened.’ As Clive points out denial can be a way of refusing to let an illness get the better of you. It is only if you are finding it difficult to take medical advice that this can become more problematic.
The basics of heart disease – friends you could do without
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the less appealing human traits is a tendency to revel in the misfortunes of others. Some people you know or meet will positively delight in regaling you in horrific detail with tales of their own heart attacks or operations or those of people they know. ‘Before my bypass,’ recalls Sylvia, ‘some people frightened me by telling me how painful it would be. In my opinion it is not as terrible as people make out. It is painful but it’s bearable pain.’
There are various ways to combat the horror stories. Avoidance is one tactic, for example by putting off meetings to a later date or hiding behind the answer phone. Arming yourself with accurate facts so you can counter negative information is another. It may be worth taking the time to explain the true facts about heart disease to people who are close to you, who may simply not be au fait with all the advances that have taken place over the past few years. On the other hand, especially if the person concerned is not especially important to you, you may decide that you do not really want him or her in your life at all and choose to let your acquaintanceship lapse altogether.
The basics of heart disease – the cholesterol conundrum
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the earliest facts that came to light among doctors and scientists was that people with high cholesterol levels had a higher risk of developing heart disease.
In recent years the experts have come to understand even more about the way cholesterol is involved in heart disease. There are two different types of cholesterol; low-density lipoprotein (LDL), sometimes also known as ‘bad’ cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), sometimes referred to as ‘good9 cholesterol LDL cholesterol is the sort that sticks to the artery walls and wises the risk of heart disease. HDL cholesterol, in contrast, is believed to help clear away LDL cholesterol, so high levels of HDL actually lower the risk to the arteries.
One of the earliest steps in the development of atherosclerosis is when LDL cholesterol is oxidized. Oxidization is the process that causes a cut apple to go brown or butter to go rancid. It is caused by the release of free radicals, rogue molecules which damage cells. When LDL becomes oxidized it causes the accumulation of cells known as foam cells. The formation of foam cells marks the transition from fatty streaks into early atheroma.
The basics of heart disease – what angina feels like
Posted by: | CommentsThe pain of angina can vary in severity from a slight twinge to a severe, crushing pain. The pain is usually centered in the chest, although it may radiate out to the neck, shoulder, arm or lower jaw. Occasionally the pain is felt in these areas alone and not in the chest. It usually comes on gradually and lasts for several minutes and is often accompanied by breathlessness.
Carolyn recalls her first experience of angina: ‘We went away for a long weekend to Stratford-upon-Avon. Two of the evenings were very damp and cold and I started getting tightness in my throat and couldn’t catch my breath properly. In the morning after a rest it was OK. The next day we decided to go to Warwick Castle. We parked the car but I hadn’t got half way up the hill when I felt pain in both arms and my ribs and a tightening in my chest. My husband put it down to anxiety but I knew deep down that something physical was wrong. I went to the doctor who in turn sent me to see a specialist and he diagnosed angina.’
Clive describes angina as ‘a somewhat dull pain with tightening of the chest and a feeling of breathlessness, but it’s never really stopped me or made me double up’.
The basics of heart disease – waiting for the treatment
Posted by: | CommentsIn some areas long waiting lists mean that it may well be some time before you can have your operation. During this time try to live as normally as possible. Nevertheless, the time spent waiting can be somewhat stressful and you may experience mood swings and feel angry, irritated and frightened.
Jim believes that it pays to be persistent: ‘Waiting was very frustrating. I’m someone who likes to be in charge of my life, it probably comes from being in industry. I rang the consultant’s secretary a couple of times and found her very sympathetic. Some people tend to shrink from doing that, but I found it helped me to feel in control. If you sit back and wait, you’ll wait forever.’
Sometimes, though, no matter how persistent you are, you simply have to wait until your name reaches the top of the waiting list. It can help you feel more in control if you use this time to look at your lifestyle and start tackling risk factors like stopping smoking, cutting down on fatty foods and losing weight if you need to. Getting as fit as you can before your operation will help your body to deal with it better and will also help ensure your recovery is as speedy as possible.
Uncontrollable Risks of Heart Disease – Alcohol
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the biggest controversies surrounding heart disease relates to alcohol. Alcohol and wine in particular, has been used medicinally since ancient times. In modem times, however, it has generally been thought until the past few years that alcohol was bad for people with heart disease. Thinking on this started to change when researchers began to investigate the rather startling paradox that people in France, Greece and other Mediterranean countries who drank wine actually had lower rates of heart disease.
Numerous studies have confirmed that people who drink small amounts of alcohol have lower rates of heart disease than those who drink no alcohol. Gradually the tide of opinion began to turn and today it is generally accepted that moderate amounts of alcohol can help protect against heart disease in men aged over 40 and women past the menopause.
As with so many aspects of coronary heart disease, the alcohol story is far from simple. Alcohol is a drug and, like any drug, it has risks as well as benefits. Scientists are now trying to work out more precisely the point at which the risks of alcohol outweigh its benefits and there is currently a great deal of controversy about what level of consumption is desirable.