Heart disease is one of the greatest silent killers of women in the United States. Heart disease will kill one out of every three American women who die this year. Heart disease includes heart attacks, high blood pressure, heart failure, arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, pericardial disorders, heart valve disease, and congenital heart disease.
Heart disease symptoms can range for mild to severe. Some heart problems like high blood pressure have no symptoms and need to be checked for at annual physician visits. Chest pain, a feeling of heart flutters, irregular heart beats, weakness or dizziness, pain or heaviness in the chest which extends into the left arm, fatigue, shortness of breath, blue tint to the skin, especially the extremities, fainting, and swelling of the ankles and feet. Not all heart diseases will present with all symptoms, but any combination of symptoms may be implying a heart condition.
Causes of various heart conditions include genetic causes, birth defects, the effects of another disease, age, having an artificial valve, bacteria, or an unhealthy lifestyle and habits.
Risk factors for heart disease can include hereditary factors, cigarette smoking, a high saturated fat diet, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, stress, alcoholic beverages, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other diseases. Some risk factors can depend on the type of disease. Athletes are at a higher risk for hypotrophic cardiomyopathy while arrhythmia can be caused by certain medications.
Diagnosing heart disease involves testing that includes chest x-rays, echocardiograms, electrocardiograms (ECG), stress tests or other exercise tests, transesophageal echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, blood tests, and a physical examination that focuses on the heart. Heart function and lung function typically go hand in hand, and it is not often for lung tests to be done along with heart related tests. Sometimes lung diseases, such as asthma, can contribute to heart related symptoms, such as pounding to irregular heart rates. Because heart and lung function are so closely related, it is not uncommon for a physician to miss a heart diagnosis when there is also a present lung disease. Patients should be insistent if they feel their heart related symptoms have not cleared up after beginning treatment for a lung disease.
Treating heart disease can vary greatly depending on the type of heart disease the patient is determined to have. Medications to regulate the heart rate and sometimes to thin the blood or lower blood pressure may be prescribed. If the heart condition is caused by a bacterium the patient will undergo antibiotic treatments. Changes in diet and exercise are almost always part of a heart treatment plan. Lowering cholesterol and educing saturated fat intake can be a very effective heart treatment plan. Some heart diseases, such as mitral valve prolapse, require little to no treatment. Mitral valve prolapse can be sensitive to stress and other factors, but most cases are not severe enough to require treatment. While treatment options vary, any physician will explain that having a heart disease and smoking cigarettes is a recipe for suicide. Heart disease and cigarettes are simply not a mix that will allow the heart to recuperate after being diagnosed with heart disease. Heart attacks, which can be successfully treated with aspirin, can not be treated after too much damage to the heart has occurred.
Whether a patient has been diagnosed with a serious heart condition or had an anxiety attack which can often feel like a heart attack, heart symptoms of any kind are a warning sign that something much more serious may be possible in the near future. Daily exercise combined with a healthy diet is not only likely to improve heart health and function, but is also quite likely to improve a sagging waistline. Obesity and heart disease are nearly interchangeable, and it is vital that those with heart conditions, whether large or small, take their health and their weight very seriously.
Coping with heart disease means making sacrifices of desire over necessity. Sacrificing unhealthy habits for healthy ones is the only way to follow a heart treatment plan. Medication is limited by the assistance it receives from the patient. Healthy choices are the equivalent to the choice to live. A quality physician will sit down with the patient and help them understand what certain foods and habits do to an unhealthy heart.
Heart diseases videos
another open heart surgery
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Coronary Heart Disease Video
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Find out more by viewing the Human Anatomy page:
Autonomic nervous system
Circulatory system
Medication commonly used for these disease:
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Inderal is commonly used in the treatment of angina (chest pain), tremors, hypertension, disorders relating to heart rhythm, and other diseases and disorders relating to the heart and circulation. Inderal is generically prescribed as propranolol and is a more...
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Lopressor is often used in the treatment of chest pain and hypertension. It is also used both in the treatment of and the prevention of heart attacks. Lopressor is a beta blocker which relaxes the blood vessels and assists the circulation of blood. Lopres more...
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Metronidazole, sometimes spelled Metranidazol, is the generic name of a class of antibiotics that are used to treat bacterial and parasitic infections of the abdomen, skin and tissue, bones and joints, infections of the respiratory tract, and gynecologica more...
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Flagyl, generically known as metronidazole, is prescribed for the treatment of serious infections caused by susceptible anaerobic bacteria, amebiasis, trichomoniasis and asymptomatic partners of infected patients. Flagyl has also been used to treat Crohn more...
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Coversyl can be generically prescribed as fosinopril and is typically used in the treatment of hypertension. Coversyl is part of the family of medications known as ACE inhibitors, angiotensin converting enzyme. more...
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Kenalog, which is generically prescribed as triamcinolone topical, is commonly used to treat inflammation of the skin. Kenalog is most commonly used to treat inflammation caused by allergic reactions, psoriasis, eczema, and in the dental form is used to t more...
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Pletal is pain relief medication manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. with generic name cilostazol. Pletal is used to treat patients with intermittent claudation, or pain caused by walking. This type of pain is characterized by its quick disappearanc more...
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The generic equivalent to Catapres is clonidine, both of which are commonly used to treat hypertension. Despite the fact that the American Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve Catapres for the use of relieving withdrawal symptoms related to alc more...
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Crestor is the brand name medication that is prescribed generically prescribed as rosuvastatin. Crestor is commonly prescribed to help manage cholesterol levels in the body. It works, usually in conjunction with alternative therapies, to help dispel the h more...
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Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant, which means it is a drug whose purpose is to weaken the immune system. It is the generic name for a drug that goes under the brand names Imuran, Azasan, and Azamun, and is available in tablet form, as an injection, or more...
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