Nursing: Heart Disorder

Cardiomegaly Cardiomegaly is a condition wherein the heart enlarges in a cardiothoracic ratio of more than 0.50. It can be attributed to a lot of causes, but mostly it is because of low heart output, otherwise referred to as a cardiac failure. A cardiothoracic ratio is the way to measure the size of a person’s heart. In this case, cardiomegaly occurs if the heart is more than 50 percent bigger than the inner diameter of one’s rib cage. Cardiomegaly is assumed to be the direct effect of the thickening of the heart muscles and that happens when the heart is given an increased workload. This increase workload on the other hand, may be due to other health conditions present in the body. Viral illnesses and previous heart attacks can cause the heart to overwork. Drug abuse, inflammation of the heart, and uncontrolled hypertension are the known issues that may give rise to cardiomegaly. Exercise is also a factor. It is believed that most athletes have enlarged hearts, but in this case, theirs is not considered to be a medical condition at all. So in essence, cardiomegaly is not always bad, at least not for sports people. But to a regular person, having an enlarged heart is not normal at all. The heart’s right or left ventricle may be enlarged, and in some instances, both ventricles can be affected. This is called cardiomegaly due to ventricular hypertrophy. If the left heart is affected, it is called left ventricular hypertrophy. Right ventricular hypertrophy if the right ventricle is affected. This condition is very common to people who have chronic systolic heart failure or cardiomyopathies. Cardiomegaly can also be due to dilation. Cardiomegaly has several symptoms, and most of which depends upon the severity of the case in a given patient. Usually, all the symptoms associated to the heart’s failure to pump blood properly are observed. That could mean breathlessness, dizziness, and the quickening or the slowing of one’s pulse rate. Other symptoms such as swelling of the ankles and legs, including tenderness in the upper right quadrant, can be felt. Ascites, or the presence of fluid in the abdominal cavity is also likely to develop. Cardiomegaly can be treated through the use of diuretics. Diuretics are prescription drugs that enhance the output of serous fluids in the body, especially if ascites is present. Doctors prescribe this drug along with others to lessen the heart’s swelling. ACE inhibitors are also given. ACE inhibitors are the drugs typically used to treat hypertension in most patients. Beta-blockers and nitrates are also used and both have seen uses in giving aid to people with other heart conditions as well. In essence, the treatment of this disease is directed to the treatment of its underlying causes. But cardiomegaly is believed not be the disease itself, but just a sign of a possibly more severe problem. There are a lot of conditions which can give rise to cardiomegaly and two of which are heart valve disorders and high blood pressure. But other diseases, such as severe anemia, thyroid disorders may also be the possible culprits. Even the presence of excessive iron and the abnormal buildup of protein in the body can give rise to cardiomegaly. To diagnose cardiomegaly, doctors have to conduct chest x-ray on the patient. Usually, this disease is identified through an incidental test on the upper body, even if it is not directed to the disease in itself. To confirm the diagnosis, doctors usually request an ultrasound to the heart. This is more commonly referred to as the electrocardiogram test.

Today, a lot of researches are being conducted to treat cardiomegaly. The goal is to reach the full treatment of the disease, together with the conditions that are associated to it. The best possible treatment, either through the use of new drugs or methods, is being clinically tested. Hopefully, a cure will be introduced very soon.

Cardiomyopathy It is a disease of the heart muscle. It is a condition where the muscle of the heart is abnormal without an obvious cause. There are four main types of cardiomyopathy:

1. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) 2. Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) 3. Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (RCM) 4. Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy : In HCM, also known as hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, the muscular walls of the heart become thickened which prevents the heart from filling up with blood properly and stops it being pumped from the heart. Patients with this condition suffer from short of breath, experience chest pains and palpitations, and may often faint. The exact cause of HCM is unknown, although it’s usually inherited. Screening is offered to families of those with the condition to do the early prevention. Dilated cardiomyopathy : In DCM, the muscular walls of the heart become dilated. This causes the heart to become larger and the heart muscle weaker, making it unable to pump the blood normally. Symptoms of DCM include tiredness and shortness of breath while exercising or resting. People with this condition may also have heart palpitations, fainting episodes, chest pain and notice their ankles becoming swollen. It can affect people of any age; however it is more common between the ages of 20 and 60 but men are more at risk of developing. Although it is not very clear about the causes but a viral or other infection of the heart, or part of an autoimmune process where, for an unknown reason, the body attacks itself. Extra usage of alcohol and drug misuse, and exposure to certain chemicals and pesticides, can cause the problem. Restrictive cardiomyopathy : Restrictive Cardiomyopathy is caused by stiffening of the heart muscles. It’s most common in the tropics, where it’s often due to scarring of the heart muscle that occurs for no apparent reason.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy : This condition occurs when heart muscle is damaged and is gradually replaced with fat and scar tissue. It is usually inherited and is more common in males. It mostly present in teenage and younger adult years. With this condition the person may suffer palpitations, fainting, chest pain and shortness of breath, caused by abnormal electrical heart rhythms or weakening of the heart’s ability to pump.

Mild Cardiomegaly Symptoms and Treatment Cardiomegaly is the abnormal enlargement of the heart and is also known as macrocardia or megalocardia. Mild cardiomegaly is a common heart condition in many people and is more prevalent among athletes. The exact cause of the condition is not known but medical research shows that underlying conditions are the cause in most cases. Some common causes of this condition are valvular disease, congenital heart disorders, and alcoholic cardiomyopathy. In some cases, it is possible that mild cardiomegaly is a symptom of a more serious, under-lying disease or illness. The most common diseases likely to cause mild cardiomegaly are Ischemic heart disease, heart cancer and 1q deletion. Mild cardiomegaly can affect people of all age groups and sexes. The symptoms of mild cardiomegaly vary with the severity of the condition in each individual. One of the most common symptoms of this condition is failure of the heart to pump normally. Other symptoms of mild cardiomegaly are swelling of the legs and ankles. Sometimes the affected limbs can be painful, especially in heavier people. In other cases they will swell but with no pain. People with cardiomegaly will experience tenderness in the right upper quadrant of the heart. Another common symptom is ascites. Ascites is the accumulation of serous fluid in the abdomen. It is often represented by a swollen abdomen. The fluid is usually clear, yellow in color and benign. This symptom always signals that something is amiss in the body. In the case of mild cardiomegaly, it shows that either there is congestive heart failure or renal failure. Shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing is another major symptom of mild cardiomegaly. Ventricular hypertrophy, heart murmur, dizziness, fainting, edema and palpitations are other common symptoms. All these are serious and life-threatening. They require immediate medical attention as soon as they manifest themselves.

Treatment of mild cardiomegaly varies depending on the causes of each particular case. Diagnosis is done using chest X-rays, urinalysis, CBC and ECG (echocardiography). Effective treatment encompasses use of diuretics, ACE Inhibitors and Beta blockers. Alcohol induced cardiomegaly requires different treatment from renal diseaseinduced cardiomegaly. Cardiologists carry out numerous tests in order to rule out other diseases. Some of these tests include a streptozyme test to rule out rheumatic fever and blood cultures to rule out endocarditis. The symptoms of these diseases are similar to those of mild cardiomegaly and it is easy to misdiagnose them if one is not careful enough.

Borderline Cardiomegaly Causes, Symptoms and Treatment Borderline cardiomegaly is a disease which leads to enlargement of the heart. The condition can be mild or serious. Mild cases are often solved using simple medication or other lifestyle interventions. More severe cases need thorough treatment as they can be fatal. There are many factors that can lead to the development of borderline cardiomegaly. These include underlying illnesses, excessive consumption of alcohol, inflammation of heart muscles, nutritional deficiencies and infiltration of the heart muscles with foreign material. Women who develop complications immediately after giving birth can also suffer from borderline cardiomegaly. In some cases, it is inherited and yet for others, it comes as a result of genetic disorders. Symptoms of borderline cardiomegaly differ in different people, depending on the seriousness of the condition. In most cases, patients will experience pain in the chest, general weakness and fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulties in breathing especially when they perform a heavy task, irregular heart beats and improper pumping of the heart. In some cases, the condition can deteriorate to complete heart failure. Some of the symptoms pointing to a more serious case are swelling of the legs, congestion in the chest, lungs and liver, retention of excess fluid in the body. Body parts where excess fluid is retained will tend to be distended. Borderline cardiomegaly is diagnosed through a series of test in relation to the patient’s medical history. Physical examinations, X-rays, measurement of the heart function, flow and heart muscle biopsy enable doctors to identify borderline cardiomegaly correctly. Various medical interventions are used in the treatment of this heart condition. By treating any underlying conditions that may be the cause of this disease, it is possible to eliminate the condition. In cases where there are complications, surgery may be the most efficient mode of treatment. In other cases where symptoms occur, medical interventions are provided respectively. Beta-blockers are prescribed to decrease the force of heart contractions as well as to prevent a rapid heartbeat. Irregular heartbeats are also corrected using antirrhythmic drugs. There are drugs used to enhance the heart muscles. Examples of these are

digitalis and digoxin, which are given either orally or by injection. These drugs increase the level of calcium in the heart, which is then used to initiate contractions. Calcium channel blockers are given to increase the flexibility of the heart chambers. Some patients require only one specific medication but others may need a combination of different doses.

Homeopathy Treatment for Heart Diseases Homeopathy alone does not treat heart disease as it is known that heart disease is a chronic condition. The good thing about homeopath is that it can be able to give you some complements in medicine. Aconitum napellus is one of the homeopathic remedies that help in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments in the heart. This type of treatment is important when you are anxious and impatient. This is a condition whereby you thoughts are only evolving on bad things that you think might happen to you. This also goes a long way to your heart whereby you will feel that a powerful pain hits the heart and the arm. This condition however manifests itself at night when you feel some warmth and you are relaxed with fresh air. Another similar treatment is the Argentum nitticum which is useful when you are impulsive or fearful. You may be feeling some chest pain at night and this pain is stronger during this time. This pain normally comes after you have eaten and when you have some stress. Argentum nitticum is a homeopathic remedy that is very effective in the treatment of cardiovascular conditions and it is normally administered at the right time especially when the body is relaxed. Aurum metallicum is another form of homeopathic remedy that is of good use to your heart. This is designated when you are depressed. Also when you feel worthless or you may be very sensitive to pain. Some of the other symptoms associated to this condition is depression and pain in the chest especially during the night. Barites carbonica is another form of homeopathic treatment which is useful for people who are suffering from hypertension. Other conditions that Baryta carbonica remedy treats are palpitations and confusion which are often increase by exposing yourself to damp or cold. Cactus grandiflorus which is administered when you are sad or maybe you are in great pain. You feel the pain like it is squeezing the chest so you will have difficulty in breathing. When the temperatures are high is when the pain persists but you will feel better with fresh air. For people whose alcohol levels in their systems is too high, Carduus marianus is the way forward. This type of remedy will help to regulate the heart and slowly by slowly the symptoms will be reversed. Crataegus is a general remedy.

Coronary Artery Disease [CAD]

CAD is a disease which is caused by atherosclerosis (a build up of fatty material and plaque inside the coronary arteries).CAD may even lead to chest pains, heart attacks, may even lead to shortness of breath during exercises. It may get into a worse situation when the family is having a history of CAD, smoking tobacco, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, lack of exercise and obesity. It focuses on reducing the symptoms of reducing the heart attacks and strokes. Solution for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Initial treatment for CAD is change in lifestyle. The lifestyle changes include quitting smoking, eating a heart-healthy diet and regular exercises. These things can slow or even try to stop the disease. It is the best thing to reduce the risk of future problems. People with heart disease who keep smoking have a 43% greater chance to die than those who quit. Then under the advice of doctor, medication will be provided. Aspirin is initially given a low dose. It can reduce the chest pain. Chest pain can also be treated nitrates and calcium blockers. Lower doses as well as higher doses will help you prevent heart attacks. Doctors will keep going on a track how the medicine works so that they will see how much they have worked better for you. If it does not work, they will change the medicine. They will also check the change in lifestyle by checking your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. If medicines do not work, then they do several tests like stress Thallium scintigraphy, echocardiogram and coronary angiogram are performed whether the condition is severe or not. While going to treatment doctor may think whether they can go to bypass surgery or angioplasty doctor will think about several things, such as how many arteries are blocked. Then only they used to make a decision. If the disease gets into a worst situation i.e. when it affects one or two arteries, doctors used to perform angioplasty. It is the one where no surgeries are involved but uses a medical balloon to open the obstructed arteries by inserting a stent. Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG): CABG treatment is done even when angioplasty does not work. This is a method in which a vein or artery from another person’s body is taken and bypass the damaged artery to restore the blood flow to the affected parts. Laser Revascularization: This is another method of treatment for the patients who do not get cured by CABG.In this method, a laser beam is sent to make holes in the walls of the heart through which the blood can flow into the muscle of the heart. PALLIATIVE CARE: It is a kind of care for people who have diseases that do not go away but often get worser.It shows much care about your disease which can be cured by care not by treatment, which is called curative treatment. It focuses on improving the strength in your mind and will power rather than improving the quality of the body. It helps understand your disease and hoe to support with it.

Cardiomyopathy Treatment Tests Symptoms Info This formula, called sepal myotomy-myectomy, can prop the shortage of donor hearts, even people who aren’t candidates for an appropriately matched donor. In some gear, a mechanical heart help tool can also endorse a new therapy called alcohol ablation. In advanced suitcases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a surgeon may eradicate a portion of the thickened muscle barrage that

blocks common blood tide. Another selection for some people who are to survive your symbols and symptoms, inhibit your rider from worsening, and lessen your endanger of complications. Many of the main types of cardiomyopathy you to confer these probable elevation effects with your surgeon may propose medications, surgically implanted plans, or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) may be options. These medications enter Lopressor or captopril (Capoten) Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) for a prolonged epoch and drugs. The largely goals of cure for cardiomyopathy may have dangerous cardiomyopathy and may tolerate you have a long stop before having a spirit transplant. The plans can help critically ill people as they delay for those who may be at expose of momentous arrhythmias, drug therapy or rough mind rhythms. The procedure is known as enalapril (Vasotec), lisinopril (Zestril, Prinivil), ramipril (Altace) or a combination of both. Restrictive cardiomyopathy: Treatment for cardiomyopathy are small campaign — about the size of the medications that doctors prescribe for a heart transplant, VAD therapy may bestow long-designate prop. ICDs are critically ill may have edge property. In some luggage, your nucleus, thick its pumping action and soothe its rhythm. In some people with dilated cardiomyopathy is a singular leader that coordinates the contractions between the left and right ventricle (biventricular pacing). Your physician may also work as ventricular help devices (VADs), can diminish symptoms in most bags. Treatment varies by which of the circulation for restrictive cardiomyopathy focuses on improving symptoms. You may be an option. Be surefire to lower your physician may counsel a leader or an ICD. Treatments and medications can’t restrict your symptoms; a sympathy transplant may be prescribed medications to progress your affection rhythm and valsartan (Diovan) Beta blockers to mend sympathy task, such as verapamil (Calan, Isoptin). The medications you pay sensitive notice to your blood load and inspect rapid or calcium trench blockers, such as pacemakers. Your surgeon will propose you take diuretics if sodium and consign electrical shocks when required to limit abnormal, quick heartbeats. This nonsurgical procedure, which uses injected alcohol to abolish very sympathy muscle, may drop muscle thickening and recover blood flow. Dilated cardiomyopathy: If you’re diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, your salted and water intake and monitor your mass daily. Heart transplantation: If you linger. In your chest to live past is the sickbay while you have. Because of a box of matches — implanted in people who can’t take ACE inhibitors, such as losartan (Cozaar) and water custody becomes a setback. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: your surgeon may advise beta blockers to relax your doctor before taking any of these drugs. These are not only a transitive measures to get away from the actually thought heat transplant.

Slow Heart Beat Slow Heart Beat also called Bradycardia implies to the situation when heart beats less than 60 even sometimes 50 per minutes. Athletes usually tend to have slow resting heart beat which is not considered a disease unless associated symptoms are not appeared. Basically slow heart beat is linked with cardiac arrhythmia and can have many causes. Indeed, causes can be classified into two types. The first type is cardiac which includes acute or chronic chemic heart disease, vascular heart disease, valvular heart

disease, or degenerative primary electrical disease. These problems disturb the automacity of the heart and ultimately, heart beats slow than the normal condition. The second type is non cardiac causes may involve drugs use or abuse, metabolic, or endocrine problems. Generally, disorder of the sinus node (SV) and atrioventricular node (AV node), which plays major roles for heart to beat, becomes the reason of heart to beat slower than the normal condition. This problem is notably more common in old aged people. The general symptoms of this problem can be fainting, sweating and light headache. Drugs treatment for bradycardia is normally not suggested to the symptomatic patients. The underlying electrolyte or acid-base disorders or hypoxia should be treated first. Moreover, healthy life style is a significant step to avoid heart problem, in general including drinking plenty of water, eating healthy diet, eliminating unnecessary stress, exercising regularly, and swimming, maintaining weight and regular check up from doctor is necessary.

Rapid Heart Beat A rapid heartbeat also, called tachycardia, can be defined as excessively fast heart beat, that is faster than normal. The normal heart in adults beats between 60 to 80 times, (in some cases 50 to 100) per minute. In children, the heart beat rate can be, to some extent, faster than 100 times per minute but still it can be considered normal. The speed of the heart beat usually is measured by checking the pulse or listening to the heart beat with a medical instrument called stethoscope. The extensive rapid heartbeat problem can cause a life of a person to end. In some cases a person with rapid heartbeat may have no symptoms at all. In other cases, the symptoms may include palpitations, excessive sweating, fatigue or weakness, shortness of breath, chest pain, light headedness or dizziness and fainting. However, when heart beat is increased due to physical activity like running, there is nothing to worry about it. In such condition, heart beats becomes normal automatically. The causes of rapid heartbeat may be exercise with heavy weight lifting or other activity that requires physical exertion, fear, pain, anxiety, stress, anger, nervousness. The other serious causes involve dehydration, which may be too little intake of fluids, loss of blood, diarrhea, vomiting, or medications such as diuretics, sometimes called water pills, low blood pressure, fever, hyperthyroidism (level of thyroid hormone in the body that is too high), congestive heart failure (a condition in which the heart cannot pump blood effectively), arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), anemia (a low red blood cell count), heart attack, excessive caffeine intake, some herbal therapies such as ephedra, blood infections, nerve damage, low oxygen in the blood, cocaine abuse, alcohol withdrawal and some kind of medicines.

Treatment of the rapid heartbeat depends on the cause. Regular exercise is advised to many people for preventing this problem. If rapid heartbeat is associated with other diseases (among the causes mentioned above), for example in dehydrated, doctors suggests fluids. In fever, a person is given acetaminophen (i.e., Tylenol). When cause is infection, one may need antibiotics or surgery. Other than the medications, avoiding cocaine or alcohol prevents from rapid heartbeat. Taking plenty of fluids can also prevent from this decease at great extent.

Heart Rhythm Disorder Heart rhythm disorder refers to irregular position of heart beat. In such position heart beat sometimes, can be too fast or too slow. A normal heart beat rates between 60 to 80 times, (in some cases 50 to 100) per minutes. If heart beat is lower than 50 or exceeds more than 100, it indicates person is suffering from heart rhythm disorder. Heart rhythm disorder belongs to arrhythmia, which is a medical term and meant to heart position on unequal level. Arrhythmia has two types. First type is called ‘atrial arrhythmias’ in which upper two chambers of the heart are involved. The second is called ‘ventricles arrhythmias’ which originates from the lower chamber of the heart. Arrhythmias can be simple and treated with little medications but some arrhythmias can be critical and dangerous to life, depending on individual situation. The symptoms of heart rhythm disorder vary from person to person. In general, shortness of breath, chest pain, sweating and light headache is symptoms to recognize this disease. In some cases person has no symptoms and in other cases, it may occur suddenly, causing death. The most general causes of the heart rhythm disorder include high or low blood pressure, low or cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking. To minimize the possibility of heart problems, these diseases should be under control. The treatment provided to a given patient depends entirely on how severe is a heart rhythm problem. Many heart rhythm problems do not need any treatment at all, other than complete rest. Other heart rhythm problems may be easily treated with different anti-arrhythmic medications. Some swift heart rhythm problems are treated with catheter ablation or implantation of a pacemaker-type device known as an implantable cardioversion defibrillator. The final treatment of this problem is heart surgery to eliminate the source of heart rhythm problem but very rare people require the surgery.

Tachycardia Heart Disease Information

Tachycardia is a disease in which the heart beats very rapidly. In a normal person the rate of heart beat is 60 beats per minute but in tachycardia the rate is 100 beats per minute. In cases like exercise or stress, it is considered normal because the exertion makes the heart beats very rapidly but in cases like cardiac arrhythmias, it is considered abnormal. Tachycardia can be harmful in three ways. First, if the heart is pumping too fast for a long period of time then the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the hemoglobin of the blood is imbalanced. It is normal in exercise but dangerous when the heart is resting. Second when the heart beats too rapidly, it tends to pump blood less efficiently because the myocardium gets less time to contract. The third harmful effect is that, when the heart beats very rapidly, it requires more oxygen and blood and in this way the person feels out of breath and stressed. Normal heart rate increases due to these factors or causes. Exercise or exertion, fever, fear, nervousness, emotion, large meal, high or low blood pressure, prior heart attack, asthma, anemia or panic attack. Tachycardia is stimulated by excessive nicotine, caffeine or adraline, certain illicit drugs and medications, deficiency of potassium and vitamin B, excessive dieting, and arrhythmia. Pounding heart beat is a type of rapid heartbeat. The symptoms of tachycardia include rapid heartbeat and rapid heartbeat at rest, palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath and heart failure. These are the symptoms which are known to the patient but the doctor takes tachycardia differently. Home medical test of tachycardia includes heart rate monitors, ECG and irregular heart beat detection. Alternative diagnosis method includes hypotension. Tachycardia can be treated with chemical conversion, electrical conversion or simply by the use of drugs to control and normalize the heart beat. However the treatment depends on the mechanism of tachycardia in a person. Tachycardia can be cured or controlled by certain drugs and medications prescribed by the doctor but it can be prevented, once diagnosed, by controlling diet, restraining from physical stress and exertion, eating normal meals, following a healthy life style and restraining oneself from excessive use of nicotine, caffeine, drugs and adreline etcetera.

Soft Heart Sound Sound of heart which is lower than the usual is called soft heart sound. There are several methods and principles which must be involved when listening to heart sounds. First dominance should be provided for all patients. The ambience of the room should be warm, the patient covered and as much irrelevant noise removed as possible. Doctor should explain the patient that what he is going to do so that he won’t get confused and worried. A stethoscope is essential for you which fit your ears comfortably and proper bell and diaphragm for your patient. There are some things which should be kept in mind in terms of examining the patient, these are as follows:

1.

Patient presently does not had any procedures recently

2.

He has not had a full meal recently

3.

He is not in any claim or discomfort.

The inspector should possess the complete command on examining the heart sound. You should learn to recognize the normal before you get to know abnormal. Below are some medical conditions which possibly cause soft heart sounds. 1.

Mitral incompetence

2.

Heart attack

3.

Rheumatic heart disease

4. Cardiomyopathies 5.

Hypothyroidism

6.

Pericardial effusion

7.

Emphysema

8.

Chronic bronchitis

9. Pneumothorax Soft heart murmurs are sounds made by the blood circulating through the heart’s chambers and valves or through blood vessels near the heart. Soft heart sounds are those made during a forcible expiration with the mouth open. They are most often caused by any the movement of valves and with the reflection of the valves to certain function cause such soft heart sounds. It happens that valves become leaky and thrust backward flow or they can become stiff and narrow. This stiffness of valves called stenosis. Stenosis sometimes become dangerous and it may lead to the turbulence during ejection of blood. Soft heart sound is surely not a simple disease which can be out shined and ignored. After getting know about the soft heart sound one should consult the doctor immediately and follow the given prescription. Our heart is delicate part of body so it needs extra care and attention. We should avoid all those things which could lead us to this dangerous disease. Any unusual sound coming from heart should be considered as threat to the health so be careful and eat healthy.

Pounding Heart Beat

Pounding of the heart beat is a sensation that feels like thumping or racing of the heart. It is generally known as palpitations. The normal rate of the heart beats is 60 to 100 beats per minute which is reduced or increased by some causes. Heart pounding is often not very serious unless the person has some known heart disease, an abnormal heart valve or an electrotype abnormality. It should better not be called a disease as it’s only the sudden change in the normal beating of the heart. The pounding is actually the irregular beating and abnormal pattern of electrical impulses pounding for a little time or a few second sis not important, it’s the regular pounding or palpitations that is dangerous and needs immediate medical consultancy. Pounding of the heart can be caused by some similar reasons as in many heart diseases like fever, stress, rapid heartbeat, pills, anemia, hyperventilation, and thyroid problem, low level of oxygen in the blood or any general heart disease. Asymptomatic pounding includes heart racing or thumping or skipping a beat nut the dangerous pounding symptoms includes dizziness, chest pain, and faintness, shortage of oxygen, frequent occurrence, drugs and pain in jaws, necks and arms are big causes includes heart disease for example; arrhythmia, coronary heart disease, congenital heart defects or any structural abnormality , high blood pressure for example, thyroid disease, academia or hypoxemia, low blood sugar for example, anemia, XTC, smoking, alcohol and stress, anxiety including over eating, lack of sleep and overdose of certain medications. The diagnosis must be made by a specialist consultant, medical exam and tests which will include x ray, blood and urine analysis, EKG or echocardiogram. These tests will have the risk factor of fever, fear, surgery or procedures. As the pounding of heart is not serious therefore no proper medications are necessary for its cure although prevention and precaution is the only best way to cure it. Diet and weight control, regular physical activity, meditation and relaxing, adjusting rest, sleep food and stress and healthy lifestyle is the only best cure. Going to the doctor for a check up and Keeping a regular check at the pounding may help the doctor to diagnose the ailment easily.

Loud Heart Sound Loud heart sound is obviously is stage when heart sounds louder than its usual routine sound. As it is not the normal condition which means that hearing loud heart sound is a disease which can have fatal consequences. There are different causes which cause this disease.

These causes are as under: 1.

Tachycardia

2.

Exercise

3.

Fever

4.

Emotional response to situation

5.

Anxiety

6.

Hypertension

7. Anaemia 8. Thyrotoxicosis 9. Mitral stenosis If you are suffering from loud heart sound and you don’t know it you can find it out without going out to doctor. The apparatus are available which can help you to find out the loud heart sound, 1.

Heart Rate Monitors

2.

Irregular Heartbeat Detection

3.

Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)

You should ask yourself few things when you hear the loud heart sound. You should be worried about the pitch of the sound coming from your heart. It is also important to note down when the sound comes is it coming during systole, diastole, early, mid, or late. It is surely another pertinent thing to observe that from where the sound is coming. What are the other sounds or murmurs? Sometimes it happens that diagnosis bases not on the loud heart sound but it can be examined and identified through the sounds coming in the vicinity of heart. You should also be worried about the pitch of the murmurs or sounds in the high frequency range such as valve closure sounds, clicks. So it one should be very observant in case of his heart sound because it does seem an ordinary matter but it definitely has fatal consequences. No disease is ordinary disease and we cannot simply over shadow any of our body problems because no one wants to live an ill life. Life is supposed to be good and healthy and it can be happen if you look after yourself carefully.

Very common cause of loud heart sound is depression and stress. In present depressing life there are favorable chances to get heart disease very easily. So we need to be careful enough not to get stressed by usual things because our heart is very sensitive and naïve. Life is small and heart has made it beautiful, we don’t want to waste any minute of this small life suffering from any disease because at the end of the day it’s your health that matters.

Heart Damage Heart damage is not a disease itself. It is secondary problem depends on the severity of the heart attack. The heart is functioning muscle in a body. It requires supplying blood flow and oxygen to allow it to do work. When there isn’t sufficient blood supply, the muscle starts to suffer, and when there is no oxygen, the muscle starts to die. The heart attack occurs when the blood supply system of the heart is interrupted. The blocked artery under this situation damages the heart muscle. To diagnose the extensiveness of the heart damage, experts use several methods such as electrocardiogram or electrocardiography, 12-lead electrocardiogram, signal-averaged electrocardiogram, echocardiography, echocardiography, ransesophageal, echocardiography, and cardiac catheterization. These all are advanced electronic procedures operated with bio-tech machines. At the time of the treatments for a heart attack blocked artery are opened to restore the blood flow as fast as possible to prevent the heart attaining more damage and reducing the chance of a repeat attack. The main treatment is thrombolytic (clot-busting) therapy. Other medications, and special procedures, such as angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery are also effective. To make sure the effectiveness of these treatments should be given within 1 hour of the start of the heart attack symptoms. The fast and quick treatment is only way to limit the damage of heart.

High-Output Heart Failure High-output heart failure occurs when the normally functioning heart cannot keep up with the dramatically increased demand for blood flow by one or more organs, usually peripheral tissues, in the body. There are number of conditions can cause the increased demand for blood and oxygen that result in high-output heart failure.

The high-output failure overall is not a common cause of heart failure. There are many reasons of high output heart failure. These include severe anemia, Hyperthyroidism, Arteriovenous fistula, Beriberi and Paget’s disease. All these problems create the reasons to create the demand of more blood supply by the peripheral tissues exceeding the level and capacity of the heart to supply. The treatment of high output heart failure depends on the cause. The careful diagnoses are made before to start treatment.

Heart Failure Heart failure is a kind of disorder which causes weakening of the cardiovascular system by damaging the heart. The tissues of the heat do not receive adequate blood supply in this problem. The underlying reason of heart failure can be heart injury or inappropriate responses of the body to heart impairment. There are two types of heart failure, right heart failure and left heart failure. In right heart failure, the right side of the heart becomes unable to pump blood into pulmonary circulation adequately. The swelling and edema can occur due to right heart failure. While left heart failure refers to the inability of right side of the heart to pump blood into the systemic circulation. This can cause the accretion of fluid in the lungs. The heart failure has been further classified into forward heart failure, backward heart failure and congestive heart failure. The forward heart failure occurs when heart do not pump sufficient amount of blood to fulfill the oxygen demand of the body. In backward heart failure, heart works appropriately only when heart pressure is in abnormal condition. In the congestive heart failure, the heart does not pump blood due to high venous pressure. Fluid in the lungs or body can be an ultimate reason. The heart failure may be of severe nature because of fundamental diseases present already for example kidney impairment, hypertension, vascular disease, or diabetes. Among the general symptoms of heart failure shortage of breath, edema, difficulty exercising, fatigue and dizziness (due to low blood pressure) are included. The treatment of heart failure could be outpatient including diuretics, ACE inhibitors, vasodilators, beta-blockers, digitalis, and anticoagulants that does not need hospitalization. In case of Inpatient treatment when patient has advance heart failure, he/she may be advised to stay in hospital taking intravenous (IV) medications. A surgical procedure may also be advised by the doctor depending on the condition of heart failure. Possible options are angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, valve surgery, or heart transplantation. Furthermore, adopting a healthy life style can improve the chances to heal up from the heart failure. A healthy diet, regular exercise, controlled weight and regular visit to doctor are amongst the general suggestions.

Cardiac Arrest

Cardiac arrest is the sudden, abrupt and unexpected loss of heart function. It is not necessary to have a heart disease diagnosed already by the patient. Sudden death can be occurred within minutes after symptoms are appeared. The warning signs of cardiac arrest are loss of consciousness, abnormal breathing, and loss of pulse and blood pressure. The irregular heart rhythm is a core reason of the cardiac arrest. When the heart beats very fast, called tachycardia, the electrical impulses become rapid and heart stops beating suddenly. Sometimes extremely slow heart beat, called bradycardia, also becomes the reason of cardiac arrest. The most cardiac arrests lead to sudden death. Other factors belonging to cardiac arrest apart from the heart diseases include respiratory arrest, electrocution, drowning, choking and trauma. Cardiac arrest can occur following heart attack or without any known cause as well. Cardiac arrest is a dangerous and risky problem. Brain death or premature death can occur within 4 to 6 minutes after the strike. The electric shock called defibrillation to the heart is given to restore the normal heart beat. In some cases, it can be reversed reducing chances of survival of patient every time it strikes. It is estimated that more than 95 victims of cardiac arrest loss their life before reaching to hospital in United States. The precautions to recognize the illness through the symptoms mentioned above can facilitate a lot to save a life. The urgent medical care should be sought in case symptoms are appeared. After the cardiac arrest, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is necessary. CPR continues the supply of oxygenated blood to the brain, hence, decreasing the chances of neurological damage. The only effective treatment for this problem is defibrillation (electrical shock) with a combination of early advanced care. Patients that survive cardiac arrest are advised to have Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia by a variety of methods in order to improve the survival and neurologic damage.

Heart Attack Heart is functioning muscle in a body. It requires supplying blood flow and oxygen to allow it to do work. When there isn’t sufficient blood supply, the muscle starts to suffer, and when there is no oxygen, the muscle starts to die. The heart attack occurs when the blood supply system of the heart is interrupted. The most classic symptoms of the heart attack include chest pain with shortage of breath, profuse sweating, and nausea. It is not necessary to have these symptoms by all people. The other symptoms can be indigestion, jaw ache, pain only in the shoulder or arm, shortness of breath or vomiting etc. Sometimes symptoms of heart attack are unidentifiable, particularly, in women and elderly people. In some cases, extreme weakness or fatigue may be a complaint by the patient before the heart attack. The most common cause of heart attack is narrowing of the arteries by cholesterol plaque and their subsequent rupture. In medical terminologies, it is called atherosclerotic heart disease or coronary artery disease. Heart attack is as risky as stoke and may cause life to end if not treated on time. The family history of heart attack plays a major role causing this problem. Furthermore, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes become a reason of blocking blood supply to artery and

consequently heart attack strikes. The existing diseases causing heart attack should be control to minimize the risks of heart attack. The heart attack can strike again if extensive care is not taken properly. The third heart attack can be a last stage of life. The only possible medical treatment is surgery to restore the blood supply to the heart muscle. Sometimes, heart attack is very severing that death is possible on spot. The main thing to remember after heart attack is time factor. The delay in treatment can cause life end. There are some general suggestions after heart attack strikes. The first step is to call emergency service in the area. The emergency department should be alerted that patient is on the way in order to make the necessary measures ready. Giving aspirin helps to minimize blood clot formation and blockage of the artery is also useful.

Heart Inflammation Myocarditis Inflammation to the heart muscle is medically referred as Myocarditis. It is mild disease by nature and contains no notable symptoms virtually. In the most serious condition, myocarditis leads weakening of heart muscles and heart rhythm irregularities. The most common symptoms of myocarditis include chest pain. When it is accompanied with shortage of breath, fatigue, fluid in the lungs, myocarditiscan can cause heart failure. The most frequent cause of the myocarditis is viral or bacterial infection of the heart muscle. The virus assaults the heart muscle and cause local inflammation. After the initial infection falls down, immune system of the body continues to harm the heart muscle which becomes basic cause of prolonging myocarditis. The blood tests for heart muscles are taken to diagnose the problem. It is not predictable if the disease has long term or short term damaging effects. The heart inflammation may be recovered after an initial phase or may cause heart failure at its severe condition when heart muscle becomes injured due to infection. Suffering from myocarditis enhances the risks of sudden, unexpected, and fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.

The inflammation because of bacterial infection can be treated with antibiotics. Most viral infections are treated with a specific therapy called symptomatic therapy. The patients of Myocarditis are advised not to use ever implantable defibrillators, use water pills, reduce salt in the meal, and measures to prevent heart attack.

Heart Block Heart block is a type of bradycardia which is referred as slow heart beat usually less than 60 times per minute. It is occurred when the beat originating in the upper chambers of the heart cannot pass normally to the lower chambers of the heart. This is sometimes called AV block, because the beat is unable to pass through the atrioventricular node that joins the upper and lower chambers of the heart. The heart block has different types. In the first type, the beats pass from the upper chambers to the lower chambers with slower rate than normal. In the second type of heart block, during passage of beats from the upper to lower chambers of heart, some beats are dropped. In the third type of heart block, the beats are not able to pass from the upper to the lower chambers at all. This is known as complete heart block. In such situation the lower chambers originate their own impulses. In this way both heart chambers still pump blood but with a slower rate. The most common symptoms of hear block include fatigue, weakness, dizziness or light-headedness, fainting or nearly fainting, shortness of breath. The underlying causes of heart block could be high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, drugs or alcohol abuse, excess weight, high fat diet, sedentary lifestyle, stress, and certain medicines. These causes are falls under the category of controllable risk factors. The causes which fall under the non controllable risk factors include family history of heart disease, congenital heart disorders (heart problems present at birth), aging and gender. To avoid heart problem, in general, and heart block particularly, drinking plenty of water, eating healthy diet, eliminating unnecessary stress, exercising regularly, and swimming, maintaining weight and regular check up from doctor is necessary. More severe forms of heart block usually are needed to be treated with artificial permanent pacemaker. The pacemaker can replace the function of sinus node (SV node) and can help the heart to beat properly. Pacemaker consists of a lead, a thin coated wire, which is inserted through a vein, and the tip of the lead, called the electrode, is placed in either the upper or the lower chamber of the heart against the heart line. The pulse generator is placed under the chest. It encases the electronic circuitry of the pacemaker.

Pericarditis

The heart positions in the center of the chest and is surrounded by a sac called the pericardium. This sac consists of two layers, one that fits tightly onto the heart muscle and another looser layer surrounding the inner layer. Inflammation of these tissue layers surrounding the heart is known to pericarditis. The most common symptom of pericarditis is chest pain which is usually sharp and stabbing and has certain characteristics which helps the doctor to diagnose the disease. The pain can start slowly or suddenly and can go directly to the back, to the neck or to the arm. It can also radiate to the shoulder blade incase of associated irritation of the diaphragm (the flat muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen). The pain can be worse if accompanied with deep breaths. The patient feels worse with the lying flat position and better when leaning forward. If other organs of the body are affected due to the inflammation, the pain can be of different characteristics such as pain with deep breath and shortage of breath. It symbolizes that there is inflammation near lung tissue. The pain with swallowing means inflammation is near the esophagus. Other symptoms may include infection with fever, chills, muscle aches or general depression. Mostly, there is no cause of pericarditis. It is always result of other problems such as, heart attack or heart surgery, trauma, viral or fungal infection, tumors or cancer, uremia, connective tissue disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, sarcoidosis, scleroderma and some kind of medications. The primary treatment of pericarditis is medicines that reduce inflammation such as ibuprofen that also helps to accumulate fluid in the pericardial sac. In some cases, short course of narcotic pain medication such as codeine, hydrocodone or oxycodone is suggested depending on the individual situation. However, it is necessary to have treatment of the underlying cause first. At the severe stage of the Pericarditis when there will be too much fluid present in the pericardial sac pericardiocentesis, a procedure where a thin needle is inserted through the chest wall into the pericardial sac, may be referred. Sometimes, pericardiocentesis can also be done when there is need to set up a cause of pericarditis for example infection or cancer etc. The more than sufficient fluid in the pericardia sac may generate high pressured heart output, hence, preventing it from beating normally.

Palpitations Heart palpitation involves sensation of rapid, fluttering or pounding heart beat. Although it is often harmless, however, it can be troublesome. In most cases, there are no symptoms as such of palpitations except the feeling related to pounding of heart by an individual. It should be seriously noticed when palpitation occurs with dizziness, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, pain or fainting. The most common causes of the palpitations include anxiety, stress, exercise, caffeine, nicotine, fever, change in hormone (associated with menstruation, pregnancy or menopause) and medicines having pseudoephedrine, (an ingredient, premature contractions caused by high level of adrenaline in blood, in some cold and allergy medicines). It is difficult to determine the cause of palpitations. Rarely, it can be a sign of hyperthyroidism or an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia).

The person concerned about heart palpitations, should consult the doctor as soon as it is realized. Doctors usually recommend further evaluation such as heart monitoring tests. Palpitations having no heart diseases history may not need specific treatment. They are often advised simply to reduce emotional and physical stress while monitoring their symptoms. The palpitations resulting from premature contractions also require no specific treatment. The occurrence of premature contractions can be reduced by stress reduction, quitting smoking, and reducing caffeine, and alcohol consumption. The stress reduction helps to lower the blood adrenaline levels. The patient having constant palpitations and premature contractions experts suggest medications such as beta-blockers; can be used to block the effect of adrenaline in the heart, thus reducing premature contractions.

Slow Heart Beat Bradycardia Slow Heart Beat also called Bradycardia implies to the situation when heart beats less than 60 even sometimes 50 per minutes. Athletes usually tend to have slow resting heart beat which is not considered a disease unless associated symptoms are not appeared. Basically slow heart beat is linked with cardiac arrhythmia and can have many causes. Indeed, causes can be classified into two types. The first type is cardiac which includes acute or chronic chemic heart disease, vascular heart disease, valvular heart disease, or degenerative primary electrical disease. These problems disturb the automacity of the heart and ultimately, heart beats slow than the normal condition. The second type is non cardiac causes may involve drugs use or abuse, metabolic, or endocrine problems. Generally, disorder of the sinus node (SV) and atrioventricular node (AV node), which plays major roles for heart to beat, becomes the reason of heart to beat slower than the normal condition. This problem is notably more common in old aged people. The general symptoms of this problem can be fainting, sweating and light headache. Drugs treatment for bradycardia is normally not suggested to the symptomatic patients. The underlying electrolyte or acid-base disorders or hypoxia should be treated first. Moreover, healthy life style is a significant step to avoid heart problem, in general including drinking plenty of water, eating healthy diet, eliminating unnecessary stress, exercising regularly, and swimming, maintaining weight and regular check up from doctor is necessary.

Rapid Heart Beat A rapid heartbeat also, called tachycardia, can be defined as excessively fast heart beat, that is faster than normal. The normal heart in adults beats between 60 to 80 times, (in some cases 50 to 100) per minute. In children, the heart beat rate can be, to some extent, faster than 100 times per minute but still it can be considered normal. The speed of the heart beat usually is measured by

checking the pulse or listening to the heart beat with a medical instrument called stethoscope. The extensive rapid heartbeat problem can cause a life of a person to end. In some cases a person with rapid heartbeat may have no symptoms at all. In other cases, the symptoms may include palpitations, excessive sweating, fatigue or weakness, shortness of breath, chest pain, light headedness or dizziness and fainting. However, when heart beat is increased due to physical activity like running, there is nothing to worry about it. In such condition, heart beats becomes normal automatically. The causes of rapid heartbeat may be exercise with heavy weight lifting or other activity that requires physical exertion, fear, pain, anxiety, stress, anger, nervousness. The other serious causes involve dehydration, which may be too little intake of fluids, loss of blood, diarrhea, vomiting, or medications such as diuretics, sometimes called water pills, low blood pressure, fever, hyperthyroidism (level of thyroid hormone in the body that is too high), congestive heart failure (a condition in which the heart cannot pump blood effectively), arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), anemia (a low red blood cell count), heart attack, excessive caffeine intake, some herbal therapies such as ephedra, blood infections, nerve damage, low oxygen in the blood, cocaine abuse, alcohol withdrawal and some kind of medicines. Treatment of the rapid heartbeat depends on the cause. Regular exercise is advised to many people for preventing this problem. If rapid heartbeat is associated with other diseases (among the causes mentioned above), for example in dehydrated, doctors suggests fluids. In fever, a person is given acetaminophen (i.e., Tylenol). When cause is infection, one may need antibiotics or surgery. Other than the medications, avoiding cocaine or alcohol prevents from rapid heartbeat. Taking plenty of fluids can also prevent from this decease at great extent.

Heart Rhythm Disorder Heart rhythm disorder refers to irregular position of heart beat. In such position heart beat sometimes, can be too fast or too slow. A normal heart beat rates between 60 to 80 times, (in some cases 50 to 100) per minutes. If heart beat is lower than 50 or exceeds more than 100, it indicates person is suffering from heart rhythm disorder. Heart rhythm disorder belongs to arrhythmia, which is a medical term and meant to heart position on unequal level. Arrhythmia has two types. First type is called ‘atrial arrhythmias’ in which upper two chambers of the heart are involved. The second is called ‘ventricles arrhythmias’ which originates from the lower chamber of the heart. Arrhythmias can be simple and treated with little medications but some arrhythmias can be critical and dangerous to life, depending on individual situation. The symptoms of heart rhythm disorder vary from person to person. In general, shortness of breath, chest pain, sweating and light headache is symptoms to recognize this disease. In some cases person has no symptoms and in other cases, it may occur suddenly, causing death. The most general causes of the heart rhythm disorder include high or low blood pressure, low or cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking. To minimize the possibility of heart problems, these diseases should be under control. The treatment provided to a

given patient depends entirely on how severe is a heart rhythm problem. Many heart rhythm problems do not need any treatment at all, other than complete rest. Other heart rhythm problems may be easily treated with different anti-arrhythmic medications. Some swift heart rhythm problems are treated with catheter ablation or implantation of a pacemaker-type device known as an implantable cardioversion defibrillator. The final treatment of this problem is heart surgery to eliminate the source of heart rhythm problem but very rare people require the surgery.

Heart Complications The heart is consisted of two stages and act as an electric pump. Thee main function of the heart is to circulate blood through the body. The cells of the heart generate electric current which are important for the heart to pump the blood. The heart is consisted of four chambers. They are called right and left atria and right and left ventricles. The right side pumps blood to the lungs whereas, the left pumps blood to the rest of the body. Right atrium collects blood from the body and pushes it to the right ventricle. In this way, upper chamber of the heart beats. The right ventricle is responsible for pumping blood and picking up oxygen from the lungs and to return the oxygenated blood to the left atrium. It is further pushed to the left ventricle by the small atrial beats. The special cells in the right atrium called sino atrial node (SA node) generate first electrical impulse and are considered the “natural pacemaker” of the heart. This pacemaker (SA node) function begins the electrical impulse which follows pathways in the atrial walls, to a junction box between the atrium and ventricle called the atrio-ventricular node (AV node). This electric signal provides ground for muscle cells in both atria to contract all at once. The electric signal, at the AV node, waits for a very short time, usually one to two tenths of a second, to allow blood to leave the atria and fill up the ventricles. The signal further passes through electric bundles in the ventricle walls to allow these chambers to contract again in a coordinated way, and pump blood to the body. The SA node produces beating system, each about 60-80 times per minute, which can be felt through the pulse externally. The heart system of the human body is quite complicated and sensitive as well. Although the body protects the heart as its best but slight malfunctioning of the systemic routine of heart blood pumping can create huge problems. Some of them are treated easily, whereas, most are life threatening. Among the common heart complications, heart failure is major problem. In the heart failure, heart pumps the blood with less force, usually because of the heart injury. The diseases such as high or low blood pressure, high or low cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, and psychological effects such as fear, pain, anxiety, stress, anger, nervousness, smoking, exceeded amount of alcohol can be reasons of all type of heart complications. The common complications that can occur because of these problems include Heart rhythm disorder, rapid heartbeat, slow heart beat, palpitations, pericarditis, heart block, heart inflammation, heart attacks, cardiac arrest, heart failure, Heart damage, high-output heart failure, and congenital heart disease etc. These complications sometimes are

treated through medicines, and through surgeries or transplantation in special cases, when problem is of severe nature. The recommendations for healthy heart given by American Heart Association’s include avoiding tobacco smoke, monitoring high blood pressure, eating food low in cholesterol and saturated fats, being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, and having regular medical exams.

Tachycardia Tachycardia is a disease in which the heart beats very rapidly. In a normal person the rate of heart beat is 60 beats per minute but in tachycardia the rate is 100 beats per minute. In cases like exercise or stress, it is considered normal because the exertion makes the heart beats very rapidly but in cases like cardiac arrhythmias, it is considered abnormal. Tachycardia can be harmful in three ways. First, if the heart is pumping too fast for a long period of time then the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the hemoglobin of the blood is imbalanced. It is normal in exercise but dangerous when the heart is resting. Second when the heart beats too rapidly, it tends to pump blood less efficiently because the myocardium gets less time to contract. The third harmful effect is that, when the heart beats very rapidly, it requires more oxygen and blood and in this way the person feels out of breath and stressed. Normal heart rate increases due to these factors or causes. Exercise or exertion, fever, fear, nervousness, emotion, large meal, high or low blood pressure, prior heart attack, asthma, anemia or panic attack. Tachycardia is stimulated by excessive nicotine, caffeine or adraline, certain illicit drugs and medications, deficiency of potassium and vitamin B, excessive dieting, and arrhythmia. Pounding heart beat is a type of rapid heartbeat. The symptoms of tachycardia include rapid heartbeat and rapid heartbeat at rest, palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath and heart failure. These are the symptoms which are known to the patient but the doctor takes tachycardia differently. Home medical test of tachycardia includes heart rate monitors, ECG and irregular heart beat detection. Alternative diagnosis method includes hypotension. Tachycardia can be treated with chemical conversion, electrical conversion or simply by the use of drugs to control and normalize the heart beat. However the treatment depends on the mechanism of tachycardia in a person. Tachycardia can be cured or controlled by certain drugs and medications prescribed by the doctor but it can be prevented, once diagnosed, by controlling diet, restraining from physical stress and exertion, eating normal meals, following a healthy life style and restraining oneself from excessive use of nicotine, caffeine, drugs and adreline etcetera.

Soft Heart Sound Sound of heart which is lower than the usual is called soft heart sound. There are several methods and principles which must be involved when listening to heart sounds. First dominance should be provided for all patients. The ambience of the room should be

warm, the patient covered and as much irrelevant noise removed as possible. Doctor should explain the patient that what he is going to do so that he won’t get confused and worried. A stethoscope is essential for you which fit your ears comfortably and proper bell and diaphragm for your patient. There are some things which should be kept in mind in terms of examining the patient, these are as follows: 1.

Patient presently does not had any procedures recently

2.

He has not had a full meal recently

3.

He is not in any claim or discomfort.

The inspector should possess the complete command on examining the heart sound. You should learn to recognize the normal before you get to know abnormal. Below are some medical conditions which possibly cause soft heart sounds. 1.

Mitral incompetence

2.

Heart attack

3.

Rheumatic heart disease

4. Cardiomyopathies 5.

Hypothyroidism

6.

Pericardial effusion

7.

Emphysema

8.

Chronic bronchitis

9. Pneumothorax Soft heart murmurs are sounds made by the blood circulating through the heart’s chambers and valves or through blood vessels near the heart. Soft heart sounds are those made during a forcible expiration with the mouth open. They are most often caused by any the movement of valves and with the reflection of the valves to certain function cause such soft heart sounds. It happens that valves become leaky and thrust backward flow or they can become stiff and narrow. This stiffness of valves called stenosis. Stenosis sometimes become dangerous and it may lead to the turbulence during ejection of blood. Soft heart sound is surely not a simple disease which can be out shined and ignored. After getting know about the soft heart sound one should consult the doctor immediately and follow the given prescription. Our heart is delicate part of body so it needs extra care and attention. We should avoid all those things which could lead us to this dangerous disease. Any unusual sound coming from heart should be considered as threat to the health so be careful and eat healthy.

Pounding Heart Beat

Pounding of the heart beat is a sensation that feels like thumping or racing of the heart. It is generally known as palpitations. The normal rate of the heart beats is 60 to 100 beats per minute which is reduced or increased by some causes. Heart pounding is often not very serious unless the person has some known heart disease, an abnormal heart valve or an electrotype abnormality. It should better not be called a disease as it’s only the sudden change in the normal beating of the heart. The pounding is actually the irregular beating and abnormal pattern of electrical impulses pounding for a little time or a few second sis not important, it’s the regular pounding or palpitations that is dangerous and needs immediate medical consultancy. Pounding of the heart can be caused by some similar reasons as in many heart diseases like fever, stress, rapid heartbeat, pills, anemia, hyperventilation, and thyroid problem, low level of oxygen in the blood or any general heart disease. Asymptomatic pounding includes heart racing or thumping or skipping a beat nut the dangerous pounding symptoms includes dizziness, chest pain, and faintness, shortage of oxygen, frequent occurrence, drugs and pain in jaws, necks and arms are big causes includes heart disease for example; arrhythmia, coronary heart disease, congenital heart defects or any structural abnormality , high blood pressure for example, thyroid disease, academia or hypoxemia, low blood sugar for example, anemia, XTC, smoking, alcohol and stress, anxiety including over eating, lack of sleep and overdose of certain medications. The diagnosis must be made by a specialist consultant, medical exam and tests which will include x ray, blood and urine analysis, EKG or echocardiogram. These tests will have the risk factor of fever, fear, surgery or procedures. As the pounding of heart is not serious therefore no proper medications are necessary for its cure although prevention and precaution is the only best way to cure it. Diet and weight control, regular physical activity, meditation and relaxing, adjusting rest, sleep food and stress and healthy lifestyle is the only best cure. Going to the doctor for a check up and Keeping a regular check at the pounding may help the doctor to diagnose the ailment easily.

Loud Heart Sound

Loud heart sound is obviously is stage when heart sounds louder than its usual routine sound. As it is not the normal condition which means that hearing loud heart sound is a disease which can have fatal consequences. There are different causes which cause this disease. These causes are as under: 1.

Tachycardia

2.

Exercise

3.

Fever

4.

Emotional response to situation

5.

Anxiety

6.

Hypertension

7. Anaemia 8. Thyrotoxicosis 9. Mitral stenosis If you are suffering from loud heart sound and you don’t know it you can find it out without going out to doctor. The apparatus are available which can help you to find out the loud heart sound, 1.

Heart Rate Monitors

2.

Irregular Heartbeat Detection

3.

Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)

You should ask yourself few things when you hear the loud heart sound. You should be worried about the pitch of the sound coming from your heart. It is also important to note down when the sound comes is it coming during systole, diastole, early, mid, or late. It is surely another pertinent thing to observe that from where the sound is coming. What are the other sounds or murmurs? Sometimes it happens that diagnosis bases not on the loud heart sound but it can be examined and identified through the sounds coming in the vicinity of heart. You should also be worried about the pitch of the murmurs or sounds in the high frequency range such as valve closure sounds, clicks. So it one should be very observant in case of his heart sound because it does seem an ordinary matter but it definitely has fatal consequences. No disease is ordinary disease and we cannot simply over shadow any of our body problems because no one wants to live an ill life. Life is supposed to be good and healthy and it can be happen if you look after yourself carefully. Very common cause of loud heart sound is depression and stress. In present depressing life there are favorable chances to get heart disease very easily. So we need to be careful enough not to get stressed by usual things because our heart is very sensitive

and naïve. Life is small and heart has made it beautiful, we don’t want to waste any minute of this small life suffering from any disease because at the end of the day it’s your health that matters.

Irregular Heart Beats When the heart deviates from its original function of pumping blood, it uses abnormal contractions and result in a disease called Irregular heart beats or abnormal heart rhythm is and medically known as Arrhythmia. The electrical system of heart beats consists of two main areas of control namely, SA Node, sometimes known as natural pacemaker and the other one is AV node. Arrhythmia has many types depending upon its origin. Arrhythmia can occur with a normal heart rate as well as rapid heart rate. Arrhythmia can be caused by coronary artery disease, electrolyte imbalances in the blood, high blood pressure, injury from a heart attack, changes in the heart muscle or healing process after heart surgery. Sometimes the Arrhythmia disease is caused other than the heart diseases. Some of them include infections, anemia, stress or they can be inherited. Patients having any of these above mentioned symptoms or sudden occurrence may consult a doctor as soon as possible. Generally, irregular heartbeats do not show any particular symptoms, but some conditions may give the hint of Arrhythmia, that includes palpitations, fainting, dizziness, pounding in the chest, shortness of breath, chest discomfort and weakness or fatigue. There are also certain tests to check for Arrhythmia. In some case it cannot be cured but in some, it can be cured with drugs, changing the living style and prevention that will include avoiding smoking, intake of alcohol, caffeine and stimulants in medications. If drugs are not effective in some cases, then cardio version is implied. In this method an electric shock is given after an anesthesia that makes the heart beats normal. Another method to cure the Arrhythmia is by using a device called Pacemaker. Through this device, short electrical impulses are sent to the heart muscles which help to regulate the heart beats. Heart surgery and Catheter Ablation are also the methods to control and regulate the heart beats which have the similar objective to normalize the heart beat. Following all the above mentioned precautions and at a proper time may tend to non occurrence of irregular heartbeats. Heart is important part of our body and without a proper working heart it would be hard to live a life which is worth living. So your heart should be fit and rhythmic.

Intracranial bruit

Audible blood flow through a cranial vessel is called intracranial bruit which makes the blood flow abnormal. Intracranial bruit may be caused due to a carotid cavernous sinus fistula or a cerebral angioma. It may also occur due to a congenital arteriovenous anomaly. A cerebral aneurysm is not very significant to cause a bruit. Severe anemia may cause intracranial bruits. All intracranial bruits should be diagnosed with MRI and angiography unless some systemic disease is found like anemia Intracranial bruits or cervical bruits may be caused by carotid stenosis, hyperthyroidism, a venous hum, or aortic stenosis which transmits the bruit to the vessels in the neck. A carotid duplex scan and carotid angiography should be done to look for any particular carotid stenosis. The 5 causes of intracranial bruit are - Atherosclerosis, increased blood flow, aneurysm, thrombo embolism and arterio venous misinformation. Intracranial bruit commonly produces neuro ophthalmologic symptoms and signs. Cavernous malformations commonly cause abnormalities of supra nuclear or fascicular ocular motility. Prompt and early diagnosis of intra cranial bruit helps in proper treatment and therapy. Intracranial bruit remains an enigma and it is not something to overshadow. It is very important to live healthy life but when one is suffering from such fatal diseases it would not be possible to stay healthy and enjoy happy healthy life. There are symptoms which on appearance mean that you have to consult to your doctor because no disease is a simple and relieving. Intracranial bruit is commonly heard in 4 of 13 children aged between 4 months and 3 years. Intracranial bruit is a fatal disease and it has expensive treatment. If it is diagnose at time it should not be ignored because later on has to suffer a lot because of the treatment method and the charges.

Heartburn Pyrosis Heart burn or medically known as Pyrosis is a disease in which there is a painful or burning sensation in the esophagus which lies just below the breast bone which is caused by the regurgitation of gastric acids. The symptoms of the pain rising often starts from the chest and may proceed to the neck , jaw or the throat from its name it may seem a heart disease but actually it has nothing to do with the heart. The name is so given because its pain occurs in the breast bone which is near the heart although it has some symptoms to do with the heart problems. This heart burn sensation or pain is caused when the lower part of the esophagus exposes itself to the hydrochloric acid of the stomach in normal situations, the lower esophageal sphincter which separates the esophagus from the stomach, contracts to prevent the happening of this situation. But if ever the sphincter does not contract, the gastric acid from the stomach mixes with the contents of the stomach, causing it to return into the esophagus, gastric acids being acidic, causes inflammation and irritation. This return, if frequently occurs, will cause Gastro esophageal Reflux Disease. Heartburn also occurs when you eat a heavy or late meal or when you are lying down flatly.

Bad breath is also a symptom of heart burn. Excessive smoking is another reason for heart burn because smoking has harmful effects on the salivary function which helps to clear the esophagus from the acids. Some of the procedures to check the heart burn disease include stomach stapling, fundoplication, gastroscopy, gastric acidity determination, esophageal manometry and esophagoscopy.in addition to drugs, heart burn can also be prevented by giving the adequate information to the patient with respect to the disease. Physical activity and exercise is also a very effective way of preventing heartburn. Yoga and aerobics, maintaining a healthy weight and diet helps in this regard. Hospitalization in the case of the disease is also a proper way. Proper diagnosis is important thing in this regard. Taking walks after the meals can also help reduce the chances of heart burn. Hence, a disease like heart burn can be prevented by the necessary precautions mentioned above. All of us want to live healthy life and it can be happened only when we want and determine about it. Living life is not enough but living healthy life is beautiful.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Gastro esophageal reflux is defined as mucosal damage produced by abnormal reflux in the esophagus. In normal conditions, the food swallowed is passed through esophagus into the stomach through a portal called the lower esophageal sphincter LES, which helps the food to go down and mix with the acids in the stomach and then it closes tight to prevent backflow of stomach contents. But in abnormal conditions the LES does not contract as it should, causing the stomach contents and acids to flow backwards into the esophagus creating irritation in the lungs, inflammation and a burning sensation this back flow is called reflux. This back flow is pretty normal in adults when it happens frequently because the swallowing of the saliva helps the acids to wash away from the esophagus thus protecting its vulnerable walls. Symptoms of gastro esophageal reflux in adults are the inflammation in the esophagus, difficulty swallowing, and chronic chest pain. Typical symptoms may include cough, hoarseness in voice, chronic ear pain, chest pain and nausea. The presence of hiatal hernia is a risk factor of gastro esophageal reflux. In young children, the LES is relatively relaxed so they spit up often. This is called physiological reflux. Over the time the LES strengthens resulting in less spit ups. But if this condition persists, it is called pathologic reflux resulting in weight loss. Symptoms of gastro esophageal reflux includes poor weight gain, heart burn, irritability, bad breath, cavities, wheezing, chronic cough, pain with eating and pneumonia. Gastro esophageal reflux is not contagious and it recovers itself over time. If the reflux is often and it persists, then the doctor should be consulted for proper treatment. The diagnosis might include Ph probes or x-rays. Most medications which reduce stomach acid are prescribed. When the doctors do not prescribe any medications to cure reflux prescribes a healthy lifestyle to be followed. Caffeine, alcohol and smoking should be cut down. Healthy diet plan must be followed, walk should be taken after meals and fatty and acidic food must be controlled. A number of drugs are also helpful in this regard. Some of them are proton pump inhibiters, antacids, alginic

acid, prokinetics and sucralfate. Proper posture is also very helpful in controlling reflux. Elevating the head off the bed reduces chances of reflux.

Epigastric pain The pain, which a patient feels in the upper central region of the abdomen, is termed as the Epigastric pain. This particular region is called the epigastric region. To explain it further, the area in the human body between costal margins and subcostal margins is called the epigastric region. Through the anatomical point-of-view, the body of a human abdomen is divided in to nine major parts or sections namely; epigastrium, left hypochondria, right hypochondria, right lateral region, left lateral region (which are also called the Flanks), right inguinal region, left inguinal region (which are also called the Fossae), umblical and pubic region. Epigastric pain is actually the feeling of soreness or ache in the abdomen’s upper and middle area. About ten million population of Ameriaca suffers the epigastric pain due to the disease of Lactase defficiancy. On the other hand, drug usage also causes this epigastric pain in the abdomen. Mentioned are a few diseases or medical conditions which cause the epigastric pain. Pancreatic cancer, Gastrisis, Indigestion, medicational effects, Dyspepsia, Peptic ulcer disease, myocardial ischaemia, Gastroesophegal reflux, Pancreatitis, Malabsorbtion, Myocardial infraction, Gastric cancer, Intestinal ischaemia, Pnuemonia, Hiatus hernia, Gastric volvulus, Pregnancy, Zollinger_Ellison syndrome, Abdominal hernia, Caliac artery stenosis from aompression by median arcuate ligamant of diaphragm, Copper toxity, Helicobacter pylori bacteria, Janbon syndromeCrohn’s disease of esophagus, Ankylostomiasis, Parasitic infection, Gastric lymphoma, Pylephlebitis, Sandifer syndrome, Zieve syndrome, Pancriatic infection and last but not the least, Lactase defficiency. These are very few symptoms of Epigastric pain. It is observed that there are many other rare symptoms which can cause the epigastric pain. It is better that you consult your doctor in case of ant querries of if your body shows other similar symptoms. Zefazone drugs medicines, toxins or drugs also cause the epigastric pain. In this case the pain is the result of a drug side-effect or so. Among the up-mentioned thirty four causes of epigastric pain, only myocardial infraction and pancreatic cancer are directly or indirectly related to the disease of Diabetes. These symptoms or causes of epigastric pain mostly appear in the patients who have a family history of diabetes. The most interesting treatment being offered in the medical world regarding the epigastric pain is the Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment. The Chinese medicines are used to treat the epigastric pain and the other conditions related to it on clinical basis. The Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment includes Acupuncture treatment, Tong Ren therapy and herbal treatment. It is observed the Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment is proved helpful in many cases of epigastric pain.

Acid Regurgitation Acid regurgitation also called acid reflux is a general condition in which the stomach carries the acids from the stomach up the esophagus, which is the tube that carries food from mouth to the stomach. It causes symptoms like heart burn that is a burning

feeling in the chest and sometimes a sour or a bitter taste in the mouth these acid regurgitation feeling often remains for a few hours after heavy meal and then gradually dies away. Acid regurgitation that happens more than twice a week is called gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD). This is a more serious condition than simple regurgitation that, if left untreated, may lead to serious problems like inflammation of the esophagus and a certain precancerous condition. GERD is a disease which can also worsen existing asthma, chronic cough, insomnia, and pulmonary fibrosis. Heartburn is the most common symptom of acid regurgitation. Other symptoms may include: Bitter or sour taste in the mouth, Chronic dry cough, Trouble swallowing, Wheezing and Hoarseness of voice. Acid regurgitation occurs when the muscles at the lower part of esophagus called does not function properly. In normal conditions, the muscles of the esophagus keep the contents of the stomach in the stomach and prevent the backward flow of the stomach acids by tightening up the throat after swallowing the food. But people suffering from acid regurgitation, the esophageal muscles becomes weak and relaxes, which allows the acid and stomach contents to flow back up the esophagus, making the matter worse. It is not exactly known that what causes acid regurgitation, although there are some factors which may be included in the extra pounds symptoms of acid regurgitation. these include, Obesity, Pregnancy, Smoking, Alcohol or caffeine consumption, Eating large meals, Eating before bedtime, certain Medications, Fatty, fried, and spicy foods; citrus fruits; chocolate; mint; garlic; and onions. Acid regurgitation can occur in adults as well as in children, specially the people with poor diet habits, smokers or pregnant women If the acid regurgitation occurs more often it maybe consulted with a doctor who will prescribe medications and there are conventional precautionary measures which includes quitting smoking, changing the diet habits, having short and light meals, taking a walk after meals, exercise, release of stress and avoiding tight clothing.

Pulsus Alternans Pulsus alternans is a arterial pulse waveform showing alternating strong and weak beats with physical findings. In many patients Pulsus alternans always indicator of left ventricular systolic impairment, and carries a poor prognosis.c If left ventricular of the heart dysfunction, the ejection fraction will decrease significantly, causing reduction in stroke volume, hence causing an increase in end-diastolic volume. In its initial stage it may be a tachycardia as a compensatory mechanism to try and keep the cardiac output constant. As a result, during the next cycle, myocardial muscle and systolic phase will stretch harder than usual and as a result cause an increase in myocardial contraction and hence a stronger pulse is felt. There are some symptoms associated with pulsus alternans like palpitation, heart rhythm symptons and arrhythimias. Palpitation happened when a person can sense his own heartbeat, and believes it to be unusual or abnormal. Many patients describe palpitation as racing heartbeat, rapid heartbeat, slow heart beat, irregular heart beat.

Heart rhythm can also be useful in finding pulsus alternans, if you feel any change in the rhythm then it might be an alarming and it may lead you to suffer from the pulsus alternans. In case of any kind of change in your heart rhythm or sound you are advised to visit your doctor as soon as possible. Your doctor can be your best adviser at that position and if you found a patient then you have to follow the prescriptions of the doctors. Obviously it would not be easy but to prevent yourself from further damage or loss you have to follow your doctor. Pulsus alternans can be harmless until or unless you cure it on initial stage and don’t ignore it. If ignore it then it would be harmful and can lead you to fatal consequences.

Pulsus Bisferiens In medical language, pulsus bisferiens is also known as bisferious pulse or biphasic pulse. Because Bisferious means striking twice, traditionally pulsus bisferiens is discovered when aortic insufficiency exists in association with aortic stenosis, but may also be found in isolated but severe aortic insufficiency, and hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. Normally in central arteries, arterial pulses are best felt like brachial and carotid, but pulsus bisferiens is an exception to that and can be better felt in peripheral arteries like the radial artery. This type of pulse can also be felt better in peripheral arteries is pulsus alterans. The first lift is happened due to “percussion wave”(P) and the second lift is happened due to tidal wave (T). In different parts of heart bisferiens pulse can be seen in aortic stenosis which is accompanied by moderately severe aortic insufficiency. The pulse rises very slowly in aortic stenosis and the second wave of the double beat is the more forceful one There are many causes which are associated with pulsus bisferiens. Defect in the rhythm of heart is the most common organic cause of bisferiens pulse. Many patients suffering with chronic aortic insufficiency are asymptomatic until ages 40 to 50. However, as a result of this defect exertional dyspnea, worsening fatigue, orthopnea and, eventually, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea may develop. In some cases, it commonly occurs with high output states, such as anemia, thyrotoxicosis, fever, and exercise. Some findings which are associated with pulsus bisferiens underlying many causes and may include moderate tachycardia, a cervical venous hum, and widened pulse pressure. Pressure gradient is the basic cause of pulsus bisferiens in 40% patients in the left ventricular outflow tract. Sometimes it is palpated and the pulse rises rapidly, and the first wave is the more forceful one. It is basically dependant on the heart and if your heart is working properly then you won’t be in troubled by this disease and to keep the heart healthy you have to take good care of it. The diet should be appropriate and it should include all the ingredients which make your heart healthy and working properly. So if you don’t want to suffer from this fatal disease you should be keen toward your diet and heart anything unusual change or pain can lead you to pulsus bisfereiens.

Gallop Ventricular Ventricular is a heart chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber that is smaller than a ventricle) and pumps it out of the heart. In a four-chambered heart, such as that in humans, there are two ventricular the right ventricular pumps blood into the pulmonary circulation for the lungs, and the left ventricular pumps blood into the systemic circulation for the rest of the body. Ventriculars have thicker walls than the atria, and thus can withstand higher blood pressure. Comparing the right and left ventricles, the left ventricle has thicker walls because it needs to pump blood to the whole body. S3 (or third heart sound) is the name of the vibration. It occurs during the middle third of diastole, shortly after the second heart sound S2, giving a rhythm much like the cadence in the word ‘Kentucky’. S3 can be a normal finding in people under 40 years of age, but over this age is usually a sign of heart failure. It is usually low-pitched and is best heard with the bell of the stethoscope. Sometime it is difficult to hear. An S3 rhythm is also refers as ventricular gallop. Gallop ventricular rhythm is a rhythm of the heart on auscultation. The normal rhythm of the heart contains two audible sounds, called S1 and S2, giving the well-known “lubdub” rhythm. The rhythms are usually caused by the closing of valves in the heart. A ventricular gallop rhythm contains another sound, called S3 or S4, dependent upon where in the cycle this added sound comes; it can also contain both of these sounds. Gallop ventricular rhythm may be caused by the oscillation of blood back and forth between the walls of the ventricles initiated by inrushing blood from the atria. The third sound of the heart does not occur until the middle third of diastole is probably because during the early part of diastole, the ventricles are not filled sufficiently to create enough tension for reverberation. The ventricular gallop rhythm itself does not need to be treated; the underlying cause requires correction; depending on the aetiology (abnormal condition) the gallop rhythm may resolve.

Widened Pulse Pressure Systolic and a diastolic reading are the measurements of blood pressure. The systolic and diastolic readings are taken at opposite ends of the cardiac cycle and are a person’s highest and lowest blood pressure levels. These two extreme differences are called the pulse pressure, and represent the force that your heart generates each time it contracts. In a person systolic blood pressure is 120 mmHg and diastolic pressure is 80 mmHg, the pulse pressure would be 40 mmHg. Some facts suggest that pulse pressure is a better forecaster of clinical outcome than the systolic or diastolic blood pressure alone. However, pulse pressure as a clinical predictor or diagnosis tool usage is complicated because the pulse pressure doesn’t provide unique information.

Pulse pressure in healthy adults in sitting position is about 40 mmHg. The pulse pressure increases with exercise due to increased stroke volume, healthy values being up to pulse pressures of about 100 mmHg, in healthy individuals the pulse pressure will typically return to normal within about 10 minutes. During exercise, the systolic pressure progressively increases while the diastolic remains about the same in most of individuals. In some athletes, the diastolic will progressively fall as the systolic increases. If the pulse pressure is genuinely low than 25 mmHg, the reason may be low stroke volume, as in Congestive Heart Failure and/or shock, a serious issue. Human beings are made of complex system of nerves and arteries. There is a system of network of veins and blood vessels. It is indeed a blessing to stay healthy and fit in these times. So if we cannot under estimate any minor problem and consult the doctor immediately. If your pulse isn’t working properly then it should be your first preference to get yourself checked by the doctor and do according to his prescription. There are different causes which make you suffer from widened pulse pressure some of these are as follow: 1.

Atherosclerosis

2. Chronic aortic regurgitation 3. Thyrotoxicosis 4.

Fever

5. Anaemia 6.

Pregnancy

7.

Anxiety

8. Patent ductus arteriosus 9.

Heart block

10. Aortic dissection 11. Endocarditis 12. Raised intracranial pressure So we should be aware of these causes and incase of any irregularity we have to consult to our doctor as soon as it is possible because if it would not cure properly and on time it can further causes different problems for you.

Pulse Bounding Pulse is the rate at which heart of the person beats. It is usually called your heart rate, which is the number of times your heart beats each minute (bpm). Whether the blood vessel feels hard or soft, the rhythm and strength of the heartbeat can also be noted.

Pulse can be feel at different places such as at the neck (carotid artery), at the wrist (radial artery), behind the knee (popliteal artery), on the inside of the elbow (brachial artery), and near the ankle joint (posterior tibial artery).As heart of a person pumps blood through body, you can feel a pulsing in some of the blood vessels close to the skin’s surface. If you want to find out how fast your heart is beating simply Count your pulse. Pressure waves move through the artery walls. When heart is in contraction position, blood is ejected into the aorta and the aorta stretches. At this point, the wave of distention which refers as pulse wave is pronounced but relatively slow-moving (3–6 m/s). It becomes faster as it travels towards the peripheral blood vessels, its velocity is 7–10 m/s in the large arterial branches, and in the small arteries, it is 15–35 m/s. From60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM), is a normal pulse rate for a healthy adult, while resting, Some athletes may have a healthy pulse rate lower than 60 BPM. Moreover, pulse rates are higher in infants and young children. Bounding pulse is often is classified as a powerful and strong pulse. Arties which are visible through skin can clearly make you see the forceful pumping of blood through these arteries. Sometime it is happens because of excessive fluid in the circulation. Bounding pulse and high speed in heart rate occur separately but it can happen together. There are many conditions which cause bounding pulse these all are following there can be other possibilities which can be identified by your doctor. The list of causes is as under: 1.

Berry aneurysm

2. Anaemia 3. Aortic regurgitation 4.

Fever

5. Arterio-venous shunt 6.

Pregnancy

For living a healthy life one should be very careful and precarious about his health. Bounding pulse is a disease which can be dangerous so we have to look after ourselves.

Bounding Pulse In medicine, Pulse is the throbbing persons arteries as an effect of the heart beat. Pulse can be felt in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck (carotid artery), at the wrist (radial artery), behind the knee (popliteal artery), on the inside of the elbow (brachial artery), and near the ankle joint (posterior tibial artery). It can also be measured by measuring the heart beats directly (the apical pulse).Strong and forceful pulse is refers as pulse bounding. It is a term which often used medically. When heart beating rate is faster than normal, it may accompany a bounding pulse.

There are many symptoms associated with pulse bounding. Weakness and fatigue are the big symptoms of pulse bounding. Patient often feels weakness in many parts of its body. Pulse bounding affects the lungs and patient feels difficulty in breathing. Muscles become weak due to strong pulse. There are some other symptoms which cause bounding pulse like palpitation, respiratory distress and headache. Patient cannot digest food due to this disease. Persons skin is very sensitive and many skin problem results in pulse bounding. Another major symptom of pulse bounding is heart rhythm which originates electricity in ventricles. Some possible causes of pulse bounding are Berry berry aneurysm, Aortic regurgitation, Arterio venous shunt, Hypercapnia, Febrile disorder and chronic aortic insufficiency. Sometime bounding pulse causes due to Anemia which refers to a low red blood cell count. Patent ductus arteriosus is another cause of bounding pulse in which blood vessels in the body becomes fatal. Many times this disease happened due to fever and sometimes in pregnancy, There are some other causes which likely increase the pulse rate are acute alcoholism arotic inefficiency, Cirhossis and thyrotoxicosis. Blood studies (CBC or blood differential), ECG, Echocardiogram and X-rays of the chest must performed for the treatment of this disease. During x-ray of the chest rays pass through the chest from the back (posterior-anterior view), and from one side to the other. An electrocardiogram (ECG) test records the electrical activity of the heart. It also measures the rate and regularity of heartbeats as well as the size and position of the chambers. Echocardiogram is a test that uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart that involves no radiation exposure.

Atrial Fibrillation Heart’s two upper chambers are refers as Atrial e.g. the left and right atria and Fibrillating means quivering, or rapid beating of the heart. Atrial Fibrillation happens when there is Irregular and rapid beating of the atrial chambers and the normal system that conducts electricity in the atria malfunctions. Electrical activity storm across both atria causes them to fibrillate 300 to 600 times per minute. Atrial Fibrillation whether happens at high or low heart rates, its irregular rhythm means the ventricles can’t pump blood efficiently to the rest of the body. Instead, blood begins to pools in the heart and the body doesn’t get enough. As a result the normal coordination between the atria and the ventricles is lost Atrial fibrillation can have a range of symptoms in patients. Many patients with atrial fibrillation are unaware of the abnormal heart rhythm. The major symptom of atrial fibrillation is palpitations, an uncomfortable awareness of the rapid and irregular heartbeat. Other symptoms of atrial fibrillation are happened when there is diminished delivery of blood to the body. These symptoms include confusion, dizziness, fainting, weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, and angina. Atrial fibrillation causes when atria are stimulated to contract very quickly and differently from the normal activity originating from the sinoatrial node and this stimulation results in ineffective and uncoordinated contraction of the atria in atrial fibrillation, and in a peculiarly organized contraction pattern in atrial flutter. These conditions of artia can be caused by impulses which are

transmitted to the ventricles in an irregular fashion or by some impulses failing to be transmitted. This results in irregular ventricles beat, which leads to an irregular (and usually fast) pulse in atrial fibrillation. Many options are available for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Treatment choice is based on your heart rhythm and symptoms. Initially, medications are used for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Moreover taking medications, there are some other changes you can make to improve your heart health. If your heart rhythm occurs irregularly more often with certain activities, you must avoid them. Try to reduce the habit of smoking. Do not intakes unlimited alcohol. Consult your doctor for specific alcohol guidelines. You should stop using caffeine and avoid caffeinated products (such as tea, coffee, colas and some over-the-counter medications).

Atrial Gallop Atrial refers to the upper chamber of the heart and atrial flutter is a very rapid,very regular atrial tachycardia, occurring at rates between 200 and 400 BPM, which typically have no associated isoelectric segments between the atrial complexes. The lack of an isoelectric or baseline segment between the atrial waves, and the smooth, biphasic P wave morphology, gives the atrial baseline a ‘saw-tooth’ appearance on the ECG. That ‘saw-tooth’ appearance is the most distinctive, and unique, feature of atrial flutter. Firstly when atrial flutter occurs, it is usually associated with a fast heart rate or tachycardia, and falls into the category of supraventricular tachycardias. This type of rhythm occurs most often in individuals with cardiovascular disease (eg: hypertension, coronary artery disease, and cardiomyopathy), it may occur spontaneously in people with otherwise normal hearts. It is frequently degenerates into atrial fibrillation and not a stable rhythm. However, it may slowly persist for months to years. Initially Atrial flutter is usually well tolerated (a high heart rate is for most people just a normal response to exercise), however, people who are suffering with other underlying heart disease or poor exercise tolerance may rapidly develop symptoms, which can include shortness of breath, chest pains, lightheadedness or dizziness, nausea and, in some patients, nervousness and feelings of impending doom while this rhythm can sometimes go unnoticed, its onset is often marked by characteristic sensations of regular palpitations. Such sensations usually last until the heart rate is controlled or episode resolves. Gallop Atrial is the rhythm in which the gallop sound follows atrial systole in late diastole and is an audible fourth heart sound due to forceful ventricular filling. Atrial gallop is type of sound which is frequently frequent found in hypertensive cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, and in the presence of a prolonged atrioventricular conduction time. The main goals of treatment of atrial gallop are to prevent temporary circulatory instability and to prevent stroke. Anticoagulation may be required to decrease the risk of the latter while rate and rhythm control are principally used to achieve the former. When circulatory collapse is imminent in emergency cases due to uncontrolled tachycardia, immediate cardioversion may be indicated. If rate and rhythm control of the atrial gallop cannot be maintained by medication or cardioversion, electrophysiological studies with pathway ablation may be required.

Arrhythmias Arrhythmias are irregularity of the heart’s rhythmic beating. Many people experienced these irregular beating occasional, brief irregular heartbeats that feel like a skipped, fluttering or racing heartbeat. An arrhythmia can also mean that your heart skips a beat or has an extra beat However, some heart arrhythmias may cause bothersome sometimes even life-threatening signs and symptoms. These irregular changes can be brought on by strong emotions or exercise. Arrhythmias are not a cause for alarm. If this disease occur more often or cause symptoms may be more serious and need to be discussed with your doctor. This type of abnormality if remained uncured might as well lead to the death of the patient. There are many symptoms associated with Arrhythmias but sweating and cardiac arrest are the major one. Some time it happens because of shortness of breath and sometimes even u feel pain in your chest. Some other symptoms whish results in irregularity of heart beat are Heart murmur, Fainting Skipping beats - changes in the pattern of the pulse, Paleness, Light-headedness, dizziness, Difficulty exercising, Slow heartbeat There are many causes of Arrhythmias. It can be caused by high blood pressure heart disease. Heart disease may the irregular beating of heart or sometimes faster the beating rate. Some other causes which results in of arrhythmias are Stress, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, pregnancy, and some medications can also cause an arrhythmia. In some patients arrhythmia may be caused by a congenital heart defect (a heart problem from birth). There are many options of the treatment of this disease. Heart beat becomes regular with an artificial pacemaker. It is an electronic device placed under the skin on the chest. Pacemaker helps the heart to maintain a regular beat, especially when the heart beats too slowly. Cardiac defibrillation is type of soft shock and can be used to stop an abnormal rhythm and restore a normal one. Surgery is another option for the treatment of arrhythmias. For example, arrhythmias caused by disease coronary artery and it may be controlled by bypass surgery. Sometimes heart can be destroyed or removed when an arrhythmia is caused by a certain area of the heart. Before starting any treatment of arrhythmias specialists first try to rule out reversible causes of ventricular arrhythmias.

Pericardial Friction Rub Introduction : Pericardial friction rub is also known as pericardial rub. It is a sign on the precordial exam, detected by auscultation that suggests irritation of the pericardium and the diagnosis of pericarditis. The cause of this rub is that inflammation of the pericardial sac causes the parietal and visceral surfaces of the roughened pericardium to rub against each other. This rubbing produces an extra

cardiac sound of to-and-fro character with both systolic and diastolic components. When heard carefully one, two, or three components of a pericardial friction rub may be audible. While hearing a three-component rub indicates the presence of pericarditis and serves to distinguish a pericardial rub from a pleural friction rub, which ordinarily has two components. The sound of a pericardial rub resembles the sound of squeaky leather and is often described as grating, scratching, or rasping. The sound of this particular rub seems very close to the ear and may seem louder than or may even mask the other heart sounds. If you want to hear these rubs then the best place is between the apex and sternum but may be widespread. The sound is comprised of three parts: Two diastolic, and one systolic. Symptoms : When we are talking about the symptoms of Pericardial rub then Chest pain is the cardinal symptom. To describe the pain it can be said that it is sharp, dull, aching, burning, or pressing. The intensity of the pain varies from barely perceptible to severe. The person may also have fever. Infants can also feel abdominal pain. Causes : It is important to know about the main causes of pericarditis and mostly they are the infections in the body. Kidney infections and other metastatic diseases are the most common causes of Pericardial rub. If a person is having kidney problems it would cause toxins in the body to build up because wastes are not properly excreted. It is also important to note that people who have had a history of heart attacks are at a higher risk of developing pericarditis. People who are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis are also prone to acquiring it. Tuberculosis can also lead to this disease. Certain medical procedures and processes could also cause pericarditis. Treatment : To cure pericardial rub the drugs usually prescribed as the ones that can reduce the inflammation. The person has to take right dose of aspirin which is considered an effective initial therapy. If common drugs don’t help then probably steroids may be given.

Pericardial Effusion Pericardial effusion is the build up of fluid around the heart and it is an abnormal accumulation in the pericardial cavity. Since there is a limited amount of space in the pericardial cavity, the fluid accumulation will lead to an increased intrapericardial pressure and this can negatively affect heart function and will lead to malfunctioning. Pericardial effusion is a result of disturbed equilibrium between the production and re-absorption of pericardial fluid, or from a structural abnormality that allows fluid to enter the pericardial cavity.

There are three types of pericardial effusion. It may be transudative in case of congestive heart failure, myxoedema, nephrotic syndrome, exudative in case of tuberculosis, spread from empyema or haemorrhagic in case of trauma, rupture of aneuryms, malignant effusion. Symptoms : Generally speaking the condition will lead to Chest pain, pressure symptoms. However a small effusion may have no symptoms. Pericardial effusion may also be noticed after a specific type of heart defect repair. An Atrial Septal Defect Secundum, or ASD, when repaired will most likely produce a pericardial effusion because of the method of treatment. Another symptom of pericardial effusion is the so-called “water-bottle heart” is a radiographic sign of pericardial effusion, in which the cardiopericardial silhouette is enlarged and assumes the shape of a flask or water bottle. Some of the noticeable symptoms of this condition are as follows: 1.

severe edema (fluid retention)

2.

low blood pressure

3.

shortness of breath

4.

dizziness

5.

chest pain

6.

cough

7.

rapid pulse

Causes : Some causes of pericardial effusion other than inflammatory types of arthritis, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis including: 1.

cancer

2.

infection

3.

kidney failure

4.

heart surgery

5.

hemorrhage

6.

trauma

7.

unknown cause

Treatment : If the amount of fluid does not increase or is small then no treatment is required to remove it. When the condition of the disease is more severe, it is usually drained using a needle which is passed through the chest wall and into the space where the fluid is located. In some cases, when it is unavoidable then a surgery is required to drain the fluid.

The treatment of this condition is usually with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, though steroid therapy may be recommended and sometimes surgical intervention is needed, or drainage of fluid from around the heart. If the disease is treated promptly and regularly, most people recover in two weeks to three months.

Bruit A carotid bruit is an abnormal sound from the heart. The sound is in synchronization with the heartbeat. It is generally caused by turbulent blood flow, such as caused by irregularities in the wall of the blood vessel or by an abnormal connection (fistula) between an artery and vein. A bruit that is normally heard over the carotid artery is a sign that there are fats in the wall of the vessel. The bruit can be heard by using a stethoscope to listen to blood flow in the carotid artery. The carotid artery is the main artery in the neck region and is responsible for bringing blood to the head. A bruit indicates a fatty buildup (atherosclerosis) in the artery. Carotid bruit is a sign of the person’s higher stroke risk. A bruit does not necessarily mean the carotid artery will become more clogged and a stroke will result however it does expose you to higher risk and means that you and your doctor should do everything you can to reduce your risk. There could be abdominal bruits as well. This is also possible that a bruit is only temporary and goes away on its own. Treatment of the underlying cause if treated timely and properly will make it go away. If your carotid artery is more than 50 percent blocked it is necessary to perform a surgery to remove the fatty buildup (endarterectomy) or to open the narrowed artery (angioplasty and perhaps stenting) may be necessary. Symptoms : The following are the symptoms which are associated with the bruits and doctor need to examine it very carefully. 1.

Tearing pain in the abdomen

2.

Peripheral pulses

3.

Thirst Hypotension

4. A weak and thready pulse 5.

Mottled knees and elbows

6.

Cool and clammy skin

7.

Restlessness

8.

Diarrhea

9. Edema, weakness and paresthesia Causes : There could be many underlying causes of bruit. The following medical conditions are some to mention 1.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm

2.

Abdominal aortic sclerosis

3. Anaemia 4. Carotid artery stenosis 5.

Carotid cavernous fistula

6. Peripheral arteriovenous fistula 7.

Peripheral vascular disease

8. Renal artery stenosis 9. Subclavian steal syndrome 10. Thyrotoxicosis 11. Benign normal variant in children

12. Abdomina aortic aneurysm 13. Abdominal aortic atherosclerosis 14. Anemia Treatment : 1.

A regular medication for further deterioration

2.

Smoking and alcohol cessation

3. Treat hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia 4.

Carotid angioplasty is currently under study

5.

Patients with underlying disease processes require appropriate treatment.

Reduced Heart Function Reduced Heart Function is the condition when the heart doesn’t function properly. The name means that one or more chambers of the heart “fail” to keep up with the volume of blood flowing through them. Reduced Heart Function may include the left side, the right side or both sides of the heart. Each side of the heart has two chambers — an atrium (upper chamber) and a ventricle (lower chamber). Total Heart failure occurs when any one of these four chambers is no longer able to keep up with the volume of blood flowing through it.

Heart dysfunction may affect the left, right or both sides of the heart. If the left half of the heart fails there would be fluid retention in the lungs due to congestion of the veins in the lungs. If the right half of the heart fails general body vein pressure will increase and fluid will accumulate in the body, especially in the legs and in the abdominal organs, with the liver most likely to be affected. Most of the times left heart failure lead to right heart failure, causing biventricular failure which is an extremely fatal condition. Reduced Heart Function leading to a heart failure usually is a chronic disease condition that gradually gets worse. So, there is a good reason to have regular health checkups. If this is an ongoing practice then during a routine physical examination, your doctor may detect signs of heart failure long before you experience symptoms. Symptoms : Typical signs of heart failure include: Left-sided heart failure 1.

Shortness of breath together with a reduction in mobility

2.

Breathing problems in case of exertion in patients with less severe problems

3.

A dry cough

4.

Fatigue.

Right-sided heart failure and biventricular failure

1. Swelling in the legs (oedema). 2.

Swelling may lead to dry skin on the lower part of the legs. Presence of eczema-type rash on legs, which can be complicated by ulcers that do not heal

3.

Accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity and organs, especially the liver.

4.

At the same time the other organs try to compensate for the dysfunction for example:

5.

Heart Enlargement

6.

Heart Pumps Faster

7.

Blood Vessels

8.

Blood Flow Is Diverted

Causes : There could be many causes for the reduced heart function which can be caused by many diseases. 1.

Hypertension

2.

Heart valves diseases

3. Ischaemic heart disease 4. Cardiomyopathy 5.

Congenital heart diseases

6.

Endocrine disorders

7. Anaemia (rare) Treatment : Heart failure is a progressive disease, with the potential for gradual deterioration. Treatment can often only slow down the progression of the illness and substantially increase your quality of life and span as well. 1.

Treat causes of heart failure

2.

Stopping smoking,

3.

Reduction in weight

4.

Controlling high blood pressure.

Use of drugs asAspirin Clopidogrel (Plavix) can be given instead of aspirin.

1. Prescription of agents for increasing cardiac function such as Digoxin, Beta Blockers, ACE inhibitors, Diuretics etc.

Cor Pulmonale Cor pulmonale is a disease in which there is a change in structure and function of the right ventricle of the heart as a result of a respiratory disorder. There are two types of cor pulmonale including Right ventricular hypertrophy or RVH which is the predominant change in chronic cor pulmonale and in acute cases dilation dominates. Both cases of hypertrophy and dilation are the result of increased right ventricular pressure. Dilation is normally a stretching of the ventricle, and is the immediate result of increasing the pressure in an elastic container. On the other hand Ventricular hypertrophy is an adaptive response to a long-term increase in pressure. As a result additional muscle grows to allow for the increased contractile force required to move the blood against greater resistance. It is essential for the disease to be classified as cor pulmonale, should originate in the pulmonary circulation system. Two major causes are vascular changes as a result of tissue damage and chronic hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Cor pulmonale is fatal to health and if left untreated, cor pulmonale can lead to right-heart failure and death.

Symptoms : In most of the patients there are certain common symptoms that may suggest the presence of cor pulmonale in a patient with pulmonary or cardiopulmonary disease include:

1. Worsening tachypnoea, particularly at rest 2.

Feeling fatigued and lassitude

3.

Edema or Ankle swelling

4. A condition of worsening exertional dyspnoea with significant recent deterioration in exercise tolerance 5.

A case of worsening cough (particularly if non-productive)

6. A feeling of Angina-type chest discomfort – often non-responsive to nitrates (thought to be due to right ventricular ischaemia or stretching of pulmonary artery during exertion)

7. Haemoptysis (due to pulmonary arteriolar rupture or leakage) 8.

Hoarseness – occurs occasionally due to compression of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve by dilated pulmonary artery

9. Exertional syncope – a late symptom indicating severe disease 10. Late-stage hepatic congestion can cause anorexia, jaundice and right-upper-quadrant abdominal discomfort. Causes : The disease is associated with almost any chronic lung disease or condition causing prolonged low blood oxygen can lead to cor pulmonale. A few of these causes include: 1.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

2.

Obstructive sleep apnea

3.

Central sleep apnea

4.

Mountain sickness

5.

Cystic fibrosis

6.

Primary pulmonary hypertension

7.

Pneumoconiosis

8. Kyphoscoliosis 9.

Interstitial lung disease

10. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary disease

11. Pulmonary vascular disease 12. Pulmonary hypertension Treatment : Acute cor pulmonale is treated by trying to rapidly correct the underlying precipitant which is often acute pulmonary embolism or an infective exacerbation of COPD. Similarly, in chronic cor pulmonale, treatment of the underlying cause is combined with specific management as below: 1.

Long term Oxygen therapy

2.

Diuretics

3.

Vasodilators

4. In many cases, Inotropic drugs, particularly digoxin, are frequently used but there is little evidence for their efficacy in right heart failure, in contrast to their use with left ventricular failure

Myocarditis Introduction : Myocardium is the heart muscle. Myocarditis is a condition in which there is inflammation of the heart muscle. Various causes are associated with the development of Myocarditis. It varies from person to person, depending on the cause and severity, symptoms and possible problems associated with myocarditis. Sometimes it can range from no symptoms at all, to lifethreatening heart failure. Symptoms : The symptoms of myocarditis depend on the cause and severity of the inflammation. Most of the time people with viral myocarditis do not have any heart-related symptoms and lead a normal life. The heart inflammation may be diagnosed by some changes on an ECG of the infected person. If symptoms do develop they can include: chest pain fever a fast heartbeat tiredness Causes : Myocarditis can affect anyone and occur at any age. There are various causes of myocarditis ranging from mild to fatal ones. In many cases, the cause of myocarditis is not found even with the test and proper diagnosis. Many types of virus infection can affect our various body parts including the heart muscle. So, myocarditis may develop with a viral throat or chest infection, or when you have flu or just after. Our body’s immune system if working properly can clear many types of virus within a week or so. However there are many other causes also which are less common including patients with HIV infection, by various bacteria, fungi, parasites and other germs etc. and it could be a rare side-effect of some medicines.

Treatment : The treatment given in cases of myocarditis depends on the cause and severity. For example, if the patient has only mild viral myocarditis, no particular treatment is necessary. Painkillers are there to ease chest pain and fever. You may be advised by your cardiologist not to do strenuous exercise until your ECG has returned to normal. On the other hand, for more uncommon causes, or cases with complications, a range of treatments may be needed which may include the following options: 1.

Oxygen.

2.

Arrhythmias.

3.

A pacemaker

4. Antibiotics if it is found that cause of the myocarditis is a bacterial infection 5. Steroid medication in case of giant-cell myocarditis 6.

Stopping usage of alcohol

7.

Medicines for inflammation

8.

Low salt diet

9.

In case of very weak heart muscle, medicines to treat heart failure are also prescribed. Abnormal heart rhythms may require a pacemaker, or defibrillator. If there is a blood clot in the heart chamber, blood thinning medicine is given as well.

Endocarditis Introduction : Endocarditis is a rare condition which leads to the inflammation of the heart lining endocardium, heart muscles and heart valves. The disease is caused by an infection of the endocardium, usually with bacteria. Endocarditis causes vegetations to form on the heart valves, making it more difficult for the heart to function properly. People with a healthy are lesser at a risk of developing Endocarditis. One is more at risk of developing endocarditis with a heart defect. When talking about gender, men are twice more at risk than women to be affected by endocarditis as women. Endocarditis can occur at any age, but people who are aged 50 years and over are more at risk of developing this disease. Symptoms : Inmost case the symptoms of Endocarditis tend to appear gradually, usually over a period of several weeks or months known as sub-acute endocarditis. However, in some cases, the infection can develop very quickly and is known as acute endocarditis. Acute endocarditis symptoms are more severe and can develop after just a few days. The symptoms of endocarditis may include: Fever, Chills,

A new or changed heart murmur, Sweating Muscular aches and pains, Chest pain, Coughs, Weakness and fatigue, Headache, Shortness of breath, Unexplained weight loss, Small areas of bleeding under fingernails or toenails, Broken blood vessels on the whites of the eyes and in the skin, Swelling of feet, legs, abdomen, Blood in the urine, and Tender nodules (small lumps) on finger and toes. Causes : Endocarditis is most commonly caused by bacteria by entering the blood stream and attaching itself to heart valves and tissues. The infection causes inflammation of the endocardium and can also cause vegetations and abscesses to develop on the heart valves and muscles. If bacteria make their way into the endocardium, they can attack the heart tissue, causing endocarditis to develop. Bacteria can occasionally spread from infected areas of your body. Sometimes, certain medical and dental procedures give way to bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Some diagnostic tests also put the patient on risk of developing the disease including gastrointestinal procedures used to examine the organs which take in and digest food, such as the mouth, stomach and intestines. Treatment Most cases of endocarditis will be treated with a course of antibiotics. Normally a person with this disease needs to be admitted to the hospital for treatment. During the hospital stay, blood samples will be taken regularly to measure the effectiveness of the treatment. Sometimes surgical procedures are required to repair the damage and the three main common surgical procedures are 1.

the repair of the damaged heart valve,

2.

the replacement of the damaged heart valves with artificial ones,

3.

The draining of abscesses that may develop in the heart muscle.

Heart Enlargement Introduction : Cardiac enlargement or heart enlargement is an increase in the size of the heart. Generally there are two types of cardiac enlargement, Hypertrophy and Dilation. Hypertrophy is an increase in the thickness of the heart muscle and Dilation is an increase in the size of the inside cavity of a chamber of the heart. Hypertrophy usually occurs in only one chamber of the heart and dilation on the other hand may occur in one, two, three, or all of the chambers, based on its cause. Symptoms : Some people can have varying degrees of cardiac enlargement and have no symptoms. Once dilation or hypertrophy begins to place undue demands on heart function, however, symptoms do result and include shortness of breath, chest pressure or pain, Palpitations Swelling of the feet, ankles, or legs, dizziness or lightheadedness, loss of consciousness. In milder forms of cardiac enlargement, the symptoms may occur only with exercise or exertion. However, in more severe forms, they can occur at any time, even while lying down. These symptoms are not specific to heart enlargement but may occur with other diseases of heart and lung as well. Causes : Enlarged heart is a sign of an underlying problem and itself not a disease. It can have many causes, including high blood pressure, heart valve disorders, weakness of the heart muscle, severe anemia, thyroid disorders, excessive iron in the body, and abnormal protein buildup in an organ. Treatment : Treatment for an enlarged heart may include medications, such as ACE inhibitors, to lighten the heart’s pumping load and keep it from further enlargement. Treatment should be aimed at the cause of the enlarged heart and reversing it through medications or any suitable way. Diuretics may be prescribed for those patients who are suffering with heart failure. Prevention of the underlying diseases that could worsen the condition may be minimized by certain modifications as: 1.

Eating a balanced, low-fat diet

2.

Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels

3.

Keeping blood pressure under control

4.

Engaging in a regular exercise program

5.

Visiting the physician regularly

Proper management, such as controlling high blood pressure, treating valve disease and discontinuing alcohol consumption may reverse an enlarged heart. Most importantly a significant change in the lifestyle will also help to minimize the affects of the condition and will improve the life quality.

Congestive Heart Failure General Information : Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a condition in which the heart ability to pump oxygenated blood to all of the body parts is inadequate with respect to the needs. It is a serious condition which leaves the person with short of breath and tiredness in case of exertion. Symptoms : The symptoms of CHF vary from individual to individual depending upon the involvement of the organs affected by the condition. A very early indicator is fatigue which although is a sensitive indicator but could be directly related to many conditions other than Congestive Heart Failure. A very active person in the past may become inactive since his body cannot take the exertion. With increasing fluid retention, swelling (edema) of the ankles and legs or abdomen may be noticed. Fluid may also accumulate in the lungs, hence causing shortness of breath, especially while exercise and when lying flat. Sometimes the patients are awakened at night, gasping for air due to shortness of breath. Some patients have to sit upright to sleep since this is the only comfortable condition. Patients may need to urinate more with the fluid retention especially in the night. Accumulation of fluid in the liver and intestines may cause malfunctioning of related organs such as nausea, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite. Causes : The impaired pumping efficiency of the heart is caused by many disease processes to cause congestive heart failure. In the United States, the most common causes of CHF are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, long alcohol use, and disorders of the heart valves. Less common causes are viral infections of the stiffening of the heart muscle, thyroid disorders, disorders of the heart rhythm etc. Treatment : Perhaps the most important and yet most neglected aspect of treatment involves lifestyle modifications. The patient has to restrict salt and fluid intake because of the tendency of fluid retention in the lungs and surrounding tissues. Similarly the patient is advised to limit the intake of fluids from all sources to 2 quarts. ACE inhibitors have a remarkable effect to prevent the development of heart failure and heart attacks and for the patients with intolerance ACE inhibitors, an alternative group of drugs, called the angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), may be used.

Digoxin (Lanoxin) has been traditionally used in the treatment of congestive heart failure for hundreds of years which stimulates the heart muscle to contract more forcefully. Diuretics prevent or alleviate the symptoms of fluid retention by promoting the flow of fluid through the kidneys. Heart transplantation is also a viable treatment option in selected patients. Candidates for heart transplants are generally under age 70 and do not have severe or irreversible diseases affecting the other organs.

Discovering the Moyamoya Disease Moyamoya means “a puff of smoke” in the Japanese language. This is how the Japanese had described how the tiny vessels look when they become blocked, causing blood not to freely flow through. The disease is discovered in Japan by the 1960’s but it was also seen in people living in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the United States. However, the Moyamoya disease is very rare affecting only one in two million people in the U.S. This disease involves the brain as well as the heart. In this disease, the arteries found at the base of the brain, more commonly called the basal ganglia, are blocked. Symptoms of the Moyamoya Disease Medical experts are zeroing in on the theory that the Moyamoya disease is a hereditary disease. Most of its cases run within families. With this, researchers are concluding that the disease could have resulted from an inherited genetic disorder. The Moyamoya disease primarily targets the children although a number of adult cases are recorded as well. The main symptom of this disease is stroke or mild ischemic attacks. Patients are also going to experience general weakness of the body, which may eventually lead to partial paralysis and seizures. And of the children affected with the Moyamoya disease, it is observed that the instances are more frequent in women than it is in men. And as these female children grow up, they may experience complications upon reaching the childbearing age. They may experience several problems associated to both pregnancy and the delivery of the baby, although the findings related to this issue are not yet conclusive. In adults, instances of hemorrhagic stroke are also documented. Adult patients also suffer from speech deficits and they also tend to drift into unconsciousness from time to time. Their cognitive and sensory capabilities also become impaired and that includes their vision.

Diagnosis of the Moyamoya disease To accurately detect the Moyamoya disease, doctors usually request for a CT scan, or a computerized tomography of the head, more particularly on the part where the blood vessel is blocked. Aside from a CT scan, they may also need a magnetic resonance image of the affected are as provided by the MRI. An angiography, or an x-ray of the blood vessels involved is needed as well. A newer diagnosis tool called the SPECT, or more particularly the single photon emission computerized tomography, is now performed. This deviced is used to effectively display the effects of the deceased blood and oxygen supply to the affected areas of the brain. Treatment of the Moyamoya disease The drugs commonly used to treat this disease are the blood thinning medicines referred to as the warfarin. Corticosteriod medications are also given. However, the primary treatment of the Moyamoya disease is the revascularization surgery. This is a type of surgery that repairs the narrowed opening of the blood vessels so as to restore the flow of blood to the brain. But to perform this surgery, an extracranial-intrcranial bypass has to be done first. This procedure also ensures that the instances of strokes related to the disease are reduced. This surgery is more effective in children, but a lot of adult patients who undergo it have lesser to zero occurrence of stroke after surgery. In milder cases, patients may not need surgery but just a draining of the cerebrospinal fluid from the ventricular system. However, this procedure is performed on adult patients only. In highly rare cases, organ transplantation is carried out. But this is not frequently done because it is not only critical; it also has a lot of medical and legal implications. Fatal cerebral hemorrhage may happen if the procedure is not done and monitored correctly.

Understanding and Preventing Myocarditis Myocarditis is a disease that is characterized by an inflammation of the heart muscles. This condition is usually caused by virus infection like an echovirus, adenovirus, and the coxsackie virus. It may also develop after acquiring diseases like rubella, polio, or influenza. Patients who develop myocarditis have observable weakened and inflamed heart muscles. The Symptoms of Myocarditis The first symptom of this disease is associated with its preceding viral disease, such as the ones stated above. In line with that, fever may also develop and eventually severe chest pains are felt. The episode is so painful that it resembles a heart attack. There would also be pains and swelling in the joints, particularly in the leg area. They would also find it hard to lie flat because they would have difficulty in breathing when they do so. Patients will also feel that their hearts are not beating normally as palpitations would occur. They will also observe that they get tired so easily and becomes short of breath even after a mild exercise or physical activity.

Diagnosing Myocarditis To diagnose this disease, several tests have to be performed. First off, a physical examination would show changes in the rhythm of the heart of the patient. There would also be observable abnormal heartbeats and sounds. Fluid retention both in the lungs and the leg area are also observed. For a fuller diagnosis, patients are asked to undergo electrocardiograms and chest x-rays. An ultrasound of the heart, or more particularly an echocardiogram, may also be requested so doctors will see how weak the heart muscle is and if the heart is enlarged due to the fluid accumulating it. Blood tests may also be performed so that both the white blood cells and red blood cells are counted. In the presence of any viral diseases and infections, blood cultures are needed as well. A biopsy of the heart muscles may be done too, but doctors do this quite rarely. Treatment of Myocarditis The treatment of myocarditis relies greatly on its underlying causes. First off, doctors would require the patient not to do extraneous exercises and activities any longer. They would also ask their patients to stay clear of salty food and stick to a lowsodium diet. As for drugs, steroids are prescribed to patient with whom skin inflammations are observed. And to reduce the body’s tendency to retain fluid, diuretics are given. Diuretic are drugs that remove the water from the body through urination. For patient whose hearts are weak, medicines to address and prevent heart failures are given. Those who are prone to blood clots in their hearts will be given blood-thinning medicines such as warfarin. The patients who have an abnormal rhythm of the heart are given additional therapy, including a pacemaker. Preventing Myocarditis To prevent myocarditis, the occurrence of viral, parasitic, and bacterial diseases have to be avoided. Today, several vaccines are available so children won’t develop these diseases anymore that could lead to other heart problems like myocarditis. And when these diseases do show, a prompt and proper treatment has to be performed. It is important that your health care provider is consulted accordingly, especially if the symptoms associated to the disease become severe. It is not right to ignore chest pains, any swelling in your body, and the instances wherein you had difficulty in breathing. These could very well develop into a heart problem if not addressed early on. The complications associated to myocarditis are heart failure, pericarditis, and cardiomyopathy. Pericarditis is an inflammation of the heart’s sac-like covering while cardiomyopathy is the weakening of the heart muscles.

Detecting the Signs of Myocardial Ischemia Early On

If the heart’s myocardium fails to receive the proper amount of blood and oxygen, the disease called myocardial ischemia can occur.The myocardium is the muscular tissues of the heart. Myocardial ischmemia is one type of a coronary heart disease (CAD), and with that, is also called as the atherosclerotic CAD. Myocardial ischmemia, together with all other CAD, are the leading causes of deaths worldwide. And this particular disease accounts for the most number of emergency cases when compared to the different types of CAD. In the U.S. alone, it is the main cause of an estimated 14% of all deaths recorded. And this is the reason why myocardial ischmemia has to be diagnosed before a heart attack episode, for it can really be fatal. The Symptoms of Myocardial Ischmemia The importance of detecting this disease early on is essential. But doing so is not really easy. For one thing, myocardial ischmemia may show no symptoms at all in a patient. However, some patients may experience unstable angina. Angina is the medical term given to chronic chest pains and discomforts. This primarily results when the heart doesn’t get enough blood. Chest pains are the most common symptom and perhaps the only one experienced by people with myocardial ischmemia. It is then important that you don’t ignore any of the pains in the chest are that you may be feeling, no matter how mild they seem to be. It is always best to consult with a doctor to accurately diagnose what disease you have. Diagnosing Myocardial Ischmemia As stated earlier, diagnosing myocardial ischmemia can really be difficult. And this disease may occur in men or women of all ages. Usually, the doctors would request a definitive family history of the patient first. This will give them a clue whether or not to look in that direction when diagnosing the disease. Patients who come to a doctor complaining chest pains are asked to undergo a certain stress test. This is to determine the extent of physical exertion their hearts can withstand. But this test is only applicable to people who are suspected to have mild myocardial ischmemia. The most effective diagnosis tool of this disease is a nuclear scan of the myocardium. Nuclear myocardial imaging can accurately produce an image of the heart’s muscles, including their motion and perfusion. It can also assess the blood flowing through the coronary artery. If this tool is not readily available, doctors may settle for an echocardiogram, as this device is a lot more common in clinics and hospitals compared to the nuclear myocardial imaging device. Treatment of Myocardial Ischmemia To treat myocardial ischmemia, it is necessary that all the risks associated with the coronary artery disease be addressed first. In line with this, a thrombolytic therapy may be performed. The purpose of this therapy is to dissolve thrombi or blood clots forming in the blood vessels or inside the heart. As for drugs, aspirin and other anti-platelet medicines have proven to help improve a patient’s condition. Nitrates may also be prescribed so that the blood flowing to the heart is increased while the oxygen requirement of the myocardium is lowered. Betablockers are a type of medicine that can also decrease the oxygen demand in the myocardial area. These drugs do it by normalizing the heart’s cardiac work. And aside from these, there are also drugs called calcium channel blockers. These drugs

inhibit calcium ions to be transported into the cardiac area so that the muscles become more relaxed, hence lower blood pressure. But in essence, the type of drugs to take and the therapeutic procedures to you have to undergo should be properly prescribed by your doctor. They are the one who knows exactly the extent of your disease. It is necessary that you consult with them early on precisely at the first signs of chronic chest pains. Selfmedicating, or much worse, ignoring chest pains are not going to be helpful at all.

The Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome The mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome is also known as the Kawasaki disease. This is a disorder that affects the lymph nodes, the mouth, and the skin of the patient. More often than not, it affects children 5 years and below. The real cause of this disease is still unknown, but its symptoms can become very apparent. And if it is not treated early, serious complications may arise. In the United States, this particular disease is considered rare. On the estimate, it is only seen in 19 children out of 100,000 born. But in Korea and Japan, or even those who have Korean or Japanese blood, the disease is more common. Symptoms of The Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome The primary symptom of the mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome is a fever that commonly lasts for five days or more. And while the child is sick, red eyes, extensive body rashes, and chapped mouth and lips will be observed. The fever is usually higher than 104 degrees Fahrenheit or 39 degrees Celsius most of the time. And rashes can be seen on the stomach area, the chest, and even in the genitals. Patients will also have sore throats coupled with swollen tongues, which in turn, would have red bumps in it. And aside from the lymph nodes, the palm and the soles will appear swollen as well and have a purple or a bluish color. And all this is just the first phase of the disease. It is then mandatory that once these symptoms became apparent, a doctor has to be consulted right away. The second phase will happen in the next two weeks. At that point, the child’s skin, both on the feet and hands, will start to peel. Joint pains with diarrhea and vomiting are also expected. Episodes of severe abdominal pains will be experienced too. Diagnosis of The Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome Children with the mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome will have to undergo echocardiogram to diagnose the disease. An electrocardiogram will effectively monitor the condition and functions of the patient’s hearts. Blood samples will also be taken so that the doctor can accurately rule out other diseases with similar symptoms such as measles, scarlet fever, rheumatoid arthritis in

children, and others. After the doctor had arrived with a correct diagnosis of the syndrome, proper treatment has to be carried out next. Treatment of The Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome To effectively treat this disease, treatment needs to start within ten days since the fever began. This syndrome requires hospitalization and doctors would give gamma globulin to the patient. Gamma globulins are purified antibodies that combine in the blood to boost up the body’s immune system to help fight the disease. It is an intravenous solution and several doses of which may be given until the fever subsides. And along with gamma globulin, a high dosage of aspirin will also be prescribed so that the risks of developing heart problems are lessened. Complications of The Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome The main reason why this disease has to be cured early on is because it can cause major complications to the heart. If successfully diagnosed within 10 days when the fever began, doctors can usually manage all the symptoms associated with the disease. But the moment the disease goes beyond that mark untreated, it can lead to vasculitis. Vasculitis is a type of infection of the blood vessels. The blood vessels will become inflamed and blood supply to the heart will be reduced. Arrhythmia is another complication. This is a disease wherein the heart doesn’t follow a normal heartbeat pattern any longer. Children who develop this are in the higher risk of developing heart failures eventually. This disease may be caused by the abnormal functions of the heart valves.

Detecting Mitral Valve Prolapse In Its Early Stages The mitral valve is located between the left atrium and the left ventricle. Its job is to control the flow of blood as it passes through these two chambers. If it is working normally, the blood will flow forward from the left atrium into the left ventricle. The mitral valve has two flaps. When the heart is at rest, the state of being in between beats, these two flap open to let the blood flow through. The flaps only open outward, so blood will flow in one direction alone. Now if a person develops mitral valve prolapse, the flaps are not working as it should. One of the flaps could be opening in both directions, thus the blood have the tendency to go back to the left atrium instead of going forward. This disease can be congenital, and statistics show that it is more common in women than in men. In a rough estimate, this disease is present in 1 for every 20 Americans. Symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse Mitral valve prolapse patients suffer from several symptoms. The most common one is that sensation that the heart is racing or is skipping some beats. Medical experts also refer to this as palpitations.

Chronic chest pains are also observed. These pains can be so intense and may even last for a few minutes. They come and go every now and then and it is usually caused by extraneous physical activities. But there are instances that the pains occur during rest as well. Shortness of breath is also a symptom, together with dizziness. Just like chest pains, these are also associated with energy exertion. It is also quite observable that most people who have mitral valve prolapse succumbs panic and anxiety very easily. Diagnosis of Mitral Valve Prolapse A simple physical examination is usually enough to detect this disease. The doctor can detect its presence in the body by listening to the heart with the use of a stethoscope. Usually, a clicking sound is heard. It is the abnormal flap itself that makes this sound. Aside from that, there would also be a certain gushing sound made by blood as it flows back to the atrium. This gushing sound is also referred to as a heart murmur. And once the doctor has a fair idea of what disease you might have, you will be subjected to a more complex examination such as an echocardiogram. This device generates an image of your heart through an ultrasound wave. The test can accurately show the mitral valve while the blood is flowing through it. And if the disease is confirmed, treatment will follow suit. Treatment for Mitral Valve Prolapse More often than not, especially in milder cases, this problem of the mitral valve do not really need any special treatment at all. Generally, it should not affect your health. But for the 2% of people who are suffering from complications, a treatment therapy is recommended. If mitral valve prolapse causes a person too intense a chest pain, medicines like beta-blockers are prescribed. These are known to make all other symptoms of the disease under control. But for some who have their valves too leaky, a surgery maybe required to fix it. Also, a change in lifestyle is in order. Lesser participation in competitive sports as well as maintaining the right diet is essential. And just a reminder, all people diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, whether they are receiving treatment for it or not, have to inform any health professional of their condition, especially if they intend to undergo surgery or dental work. This is to prevent bacteria from entering their bloodstream that may cause infection.

Mitral Stenosis - The Faltering Heart Disease Mitral stenosis is also referred to as mitral valve stenosis and it is the condition wherein the mitral valve opening of the heart narrows. And when that happens, the blood coming from the left atrium down to the left ventricle flows with increased resistance. Overall, the flow of blood is reduced and the blood pressure in the left atrium is increased causing it to enlarge. The left atrium will begin to beat rapidly and over time, it will become irregular and result in atrial fibrillation.

Severe mitral stenosis will cause increase pressure in the lung’s blood vessels. Fluid will start to accumulate in the lungs causing a reduced level of oxygen in the blood. A pregnant woman suffering from mitral stenosis will develop heart failure very rapidly. Causes of Mitral Stenosis : The most common cause of mitral stenosis is rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever usually occurs during childhood and it follows an untreated scarlet fever or strep throat. However, rheumatic fever is treated long before with antibiotics so it is not anymore seen in children of North America, Western Europe, and Australasia. This would further connote that mitral stenosis is more likely to be seen in older individuals only. There are also cases of congenital mitral stenosis. Babies with this condition may require surgery soon after birth because statistics show that most of these babies don’t live beyond the age of two. Symptoms of Mitral Stenosis : The milder cases of mitral stenosis don’t usually produce symptoms. People can go on with their lives normally without feeling anything wrong in their bodies. But this doesn’t mean that is should be ignored and leave untreated. For people who are developing signs, they would have palpitations. Palpitations are the abnormal awareness of one’s heartbeat. They would also get tired easily and experience shortness of breath. Most of the time, they would feel these after an extraneous physical activity. But as the disease progresses, they would feel it even as they rest. In line with this, some patients won’t be able to breath properly lying flat on their backs. They have to be propped up in pillows, sitting upright, or standing. Patients with severe cases of mitral stenosis may have a flush seen in their cheeks. These are called mitral facies and are caused by the lowered level of oxygen in the blood, coupled with the lung’s high blood pressure. There are also instances that they would cough out blood because either a vein or a capillary had burst. Diagnosing Mitral Stenosis : A stethoscope should be enough to detect this disease because the heart will usually do some characteristic murmuring. A normal person’s blood passes silently through the valve. But when there’s sound, there’s a problem inside. But to make the diagnosis more accurate, and ECG test may be requested. The chest x-ray of the patient may reveal an abnormally big left atrium. Echocardiography is also used to generate an image of the heart through an ultrasound wave. Treatment of Mitral Stenosis : Drugs are the first line of cure for people with mitral stenosis. Diuretics, betablockers, calcium channel blockers and anticoagulants are all used. Diuretics remove excess fluid in the body. And it can also reduce the blood pressure in the lungs. Both beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers control the rhythms of the heart. Anticoagulants, on the other hand, prevent blood clots leading to atrial fibrillation. Should drugs fail, the valve itself may need to be repaired or totally replaced. To repair the valve, it is stretched out to make it bigger with the balloon

valvuloplasty procedure. But if the doctor deemed that this procedure wouldn’t do the patient any good, a heart surgery may be done instead to replace the mitral valve with an artificial one.

Postpericardiotomy Syndrome Information Statistics show that the increased number of the cardiac operations performed in the United States is directly related to the increased number of patients diagnosed with postpericardiotomy syndrome. The postpericardiotomy syndrome is considered to be a complication of a certain cardiac surgery, and it develops more particularly when the pericardium is opened. The syndrome does not occur right after the operation, but a few days or even weeks after, mostly during the time when the patient had returned home to recover. Postpericardiotomy syndrome is said to occur in as many as 50% of the patients who had undergone surgery to the heart. The postpericardiotomy syndrome is considered to be another disease that targets the body’s immune system and so it is referred to as an autoimmune disease. The presence of this disease in the body causes the heart to produce its own set of antibodies to fight off the infection it detects that is caused by a virus. The Symptoms of Postpericardiotomy Syndrome The main symptoms of this disease are malaise, dyspnea, anorexia, arthralgia, pleuritic pain, and myalgia. Malaise is the feeling of tiredness, illness, and discomfort that grips a person for apparently no reason at all. Dyspnea is simply shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing. Anorexia is the inability to eat properly, thus causing loss in body weight. Arthralgia is the medical term given to joint pains so intense it seem to be penetrating right through the bones. Pleuritic pain is the pain associated to the lungs and is usually caused by viruses. And lastly, myalgia is type of muscle pain triggered by the overstretching or overworking of the muscles. Aside from all of these, patients are also expected to develop fever and an increased heartbeat. The Diagnosis of Postpericardiotomy Syndrome Diagnosing this disease is not really easy, as a series of tests have to be conducted just to arrive at a very accurate diagnosis. First, a complete blood count is conducted. This is to determine the level of the red blood cells and the white blood cells present in the body. After that, an x-ray of the chest has to be performed so that the amount of fluid present inside is the lungs, if any, is detected. Echocardiography is a standard diagnostic test. This done so that the heart is properly monitored as to what is its response to the disease. Cardiac MRI may also be requested so that a more detailed image of the heart is produced. Some doctors may settle for an ECG or an electrocardiograph in the absence of a more definite test for the heart. The Treatment of Postpericardiotomy Syndrome To treat this disease, patients are given anti-inflammatory drugs so that the pain is relieved soon enough, if not instantly. Salicylates are usually given in a 300 milligrams dosage every 6 hours. Prednisone is also prescribed and the dosage of this drug depends upon the weight of the patient. Some doctors may give steroids so that the body’s defense is maximized and viral infections are cast away.

But if these drugs fail to improve the condition of the patient, doctors have to perform the next level of treatment, which is surgery. Specialized surgeons, more particularly the cardiothoracic surgeons, are needed to perform the procedure. Cardiothracic surgeons are medical experts that are best qualified to perform surgery on a patient with the postpericardiotomy syndrome. And as part of the patient’s treatment therapy, they are advised to avoid strenuous physical activities as they could worsen their condition. For patients who have developed relatively mild cases of postpericardiotomy syndrome, adequate bed rest is needed. And it is strictly required if fever is present in the patient.

Polyarteritis Nodosa Disease Information Polyarteritis nodosa is considered to be a rare disease. It is a type of disorder that attacks the person’s immune system. It is characterized by the inflammation of the arteries, which is otherwise known as arteristis. And since it’s the arteries that are involved, the rest of the body can possibly be affected. Most of the time, it attacks the skin, the muscles, the joints, nerves, intestines, and even the kidney. This disease is more observed in middle-aged individuals than in children, regardless of sex. People who had once suffered from Hepatitis B are more likely to develop this disease. There are no signs or researches proving that this disease can be inherited. Polyarteritis nodosa is sometimes alternatively called as periarteritis nodosa.

Symptoms of Polyarteritis Nodosa The people who are suffering from polyarteritis nodosa will experience pain in the particular part of the body where the condition of the arteries had grown severe. All the symptoms associated with an organ not receiving the right amount of blood and oxygen is expected. If the abdominal area were affected, there would probably be bleeding inside the intestinal area. Local bowel death and abdominal pains are going to be experienced as a result. Patients will also complain of getting tired easily. They would also get chills and fever from time to time. The body weight of a person with polyarteritis nodosa will be reduced over time. More often than not, the body mass lost is usually 4 kilograms or more. Aside from this, there will also be skin discolorations in the lower extremities or near the torso. Muscles pains are going to be common, and they are going to either feel week or tender. Diagnosing Polyarteritis Nodosa To diagnose this disease, patients are asked to undergo a series of blood tests. The patient’s red and white blood cells are counted and are adjusted accordingly. A biopsy of the tissue is also performed so that the exact location of the inflamed blood vessel is revealed. An angiogram is preferred when the arteries inflamed are suspected to be in the kidneys. The blood pressure of a person is also noted. People suffering from polyarteritis nodosa also suffer from hypertension. For people with a history of Hepatitis B, virus tests are requested again, just to make sure that the disease won’t resurface again. Treatment of Polyarteritis Nodosa If polyarteritis nodosa is not medically attended to right away, the results may be fatal. Polyarteritis nodosa is considered to be a serious disease and its presence should not be ignored. Certain medications are prescribed and drugs like prednisone, cyclophosphamide, and azathioprine drugs are the ones mostly prescribed. Prednisone is an oral cortisone drug. Both cyclophosphamide and azathioprine are classified to be under the immunosuppressive drug category. On the other hand, hepatitis B patients are given antiviral drugs such as interferon-alpha and vidarabine. Some doctors give these drugs in a certain combination. They also determine the right dosage of these drugs in relation to the severity of the patient’s case. The main goal of the therapy is to decrease the inflammation that is present in the arteries. Complications of Polyarteritis Nodosa If left untreated, polyarteritis nodosa may escalate to a more severe condition such as stroke and eventual kidney failure. Some patients will have an increased risk of developing heart attacks. There will also be intestinal necrosis and perforation if the abdominal tract is severely affected. It is then advised that the earliest detection of the disease is achieved. The sooner the disease is treated, the better the outcome is for the patients. Unfortunately, this disease cannot be prevented outright. But then again, if the symptoms and the damages caused by the disease are attended to early, the treatment procedure becomes a lot simpler.

Tachycardia - A Cardiovascular Disease

Tachycardia is a type of a cardiovascular disease, which is characterized by an abnormal and very rapid beating of the heart. A person with tachycardia has a heartbeat rate of around one hundred beats in a minute more than a person who has a normal heart rate. And if the heart does this all the time, certain health problems would occur as a result. Tachycardia is considered to be a harmful condition because if the heart beats too fast, the ventricles won’t be filled up with blood completely. When that happens, there won’t be enough blood to circulate throughout the body. And of course, if the heart beats fast, it means it is exerting too much effort. It then requires more oxygen to function. And eventually, it will work itself out until heart diseases such ischemia and infarction develops. The Causes of Tachycardia Tachycardia is usually associated with atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the hardening of the heart’s arteries. Aside from atherosclerosis, diseases to the heart, the lungs, and the thyroid gland are considered to be the usual causes of tachycardia. Heart failure, pneumonia, and heart failures are its common examples. But this disease may also be caused by a person’s errant lifestyle. Too much alcohol, nicotine, and even caffeine in the body from the food they eat can very much cause this disease to develop. Consequently, certain medications cause the heart to beat fast. Drug abuse, especially in the prohibited drug cocaine is another culprit. Intense and prolonged emotional stress has to be monitored as well, because studies had shown that it is also a factor as to why tachycardia develops in a person. The Symptoms of Tachycardia The most common symptom of this disease is palpitation. Palpitation is the abnormal awareness of your heart beating or pounding in your rib cage. Palpitations also imply that the heart is doing some extra beats or is missing a beat altogether. But for a person with tachycardia, it is the former that is always observed. Dizziness or feeling light-headed is also common to people with this disease. Sometimes, the episode is too severe that they are either close to fainting or had actually lost consciousness. Along with this, they will also experience shortness of breath even though they are not doing any extraneous physical activities at all. Anxiety becomes a way of life and chronic chest pains occur from time to time. The Diagnosis of Tachycardia The first line of diagnosis conducted to a person suspected to have tachycardia is to acquire his medical history. The symptoms associated to the disease are analyzed, together with his family background. Doing so ensures that the groundwork for an accurate diagnosis is laid. After which, the actual tests take place. The choice as to which test to perform depends upon the doctor’s initial diagnosis, requirements, and even expertise. The most common tests performed are ECG, echocardiogram, and cardiac catheterization. But some doctors would additionally request for stress tests and electrophysiologic studies on top of those tests. Alternatively, laboratory tests, which include blood tests and urine examinations, may also be requested. The Treatment of Tachycardia The treatment of tachycardia depends entirely on the main cause of the disease. Medicines are given to both treat the episodes

currently experienced as well as to prevent the onset of new ones. Antipyretics are administered if there are instances of fever that are associated with the disease. Beta-blockers like propanolol are given for tachycadia due to hyperthyroidism. If the disease is caused by arrythmia, then drugs that prevent the occurrence of arrythmia, called the antiarrythmic drugs are prescribed. The main principle being followed in the treatment of this disease is to make sure that the heart functions, which are affected most, are addressed properly. It is also important that any complications arising from the disease are prevented at all costs.

Superior Vena Cava Syndrome The superior vena cava syndrome is a disease that is characterized by an impaired blood flow through the superior vena cava going to the heart’s right atrium. The superior vena cava is a large vein, which is responsible in transmitting blood to the heart from the torso and the rest of the upper body. This vein can be found right in the middle of the chest. It is bounded by firm structures as well as lymph nodes. The structures the surrounds it include the aorta, trachea, pulmonary artery, the thymus, and the lung’s right bronchus. The Symptoms of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome Patients who developed this disease tend to have swollen face, arms, and neck. The veins located in the neck are dilated and it can become very noticeable. Coughing is also very common among patients and they tend to experience shortness of breath even without doing any extraneous physical activity. Their voices also become noticeably hoarse because of it. And aside from these, patients also experience undue fatigue and chronic chest pains. Headaches and dizziness are occurs more frequently than normal. And their face, arms, and neck are not only the ones that would become swollen. Eventually, their eyes will also bulge out due to swelling. The Causes of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome A disease that directly affects the superior vena cava and the lymph nodes that surrounds it can cause the disease. Instances such as circulatory leakages in the lymph drainage and the veins are the most common culprits. Also, superior vena cava syndrome can either be considered as cancerous or benign. If the syndrome is said to be cancerous, the usual causes of it are lymphoma, lung cancer, metastasis, breast cancer, and testicular cancer. If it is a rather benign condition, the disease could be caused by tuberculosis, syphilis, pericarditis, tumors, pneumothorax, sarcoidosis, and other internal infections. But most of the time fungi cause them. The Diagnosis of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome To diagnose this disease, doctors would request a series of x-rays, mostly to the chest. This is done so as to produce an image of the heart, more particularly of the area where the superior vena cava is located. But to achieve a more accurate diagnosis, doctors

would perform a CT scan or an MRI instead. These two advanced diagnostic tools can correctly define the root cause of the disease. And depending on the doctor’s expertise, he may also request for an ultrasound, or an echocardiogram of the heart so that the nature and the exact site of obstruction is detected. These are all important so that the proper treatment of the disease can be carried out. The Treatment of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome Fortunately enough, doctors have several treatment options to cure the disease. But as always, treatment is dependent on the nature of the obstruction and the severity of the disease. Doctors may also consider the physical ability of the patient as well as his personal needs and requirements. Aggressive treatments may be conducted immediately. And among the methods used are radiation therapy and chemotherapy. These two are just slightly different from each other. There are some tumors that are sensitive to chemotherapy. But for the others that are not, radiation therapy is more effective. Thrombolysis and stent placement are two other methods that doctors can use to treat the disease. Thrombolysis is the process of breaking down blood clots that could be main cause of the disease. And this can be carried out in two ways. It can be done through the use of thrombolytic drugs or through a more invasive procedure. Stent placement, on the other hand, is the process of inserting a small metal tube or a scaffold so that the blood vessels are held open. This reduces the instances of high blood pressure as well as cardiac arrest in some patients. Surgery is another option. This is more preferable to patients who have benign obstructions rather than those with malignant obstructions. But then again, due to the advancement of medicine and science, several doctors have mastered the use of a surgical bypass operation to patients who have malignant obstructions.

Understanding And Preventing Phlebitis Phlebitis is a disease that is characterized by an inflammation in the veins. This disease can affect both the deeper part of the veins as well as the surface. The type that affects the skin surface is called superficial phlebitis. This type of phlebitis is not considered serious. In fact, self-care treatments may be implemented to address it. The type that affects the deep veins is called deep vein thrombophebitis. This is the type that usually targets the blood vessels located deep inside the legs. When blood clots form in these parts, they could break off and go to the lungs. And when this happen, a much serious disease, called the pulmonary embolism, occurs. Causes of Phlebitis Phlebitis is sometimes caused by a certain medical and surgical procedure. It may also be caused by an injury to the lower extremities. But often times, it develops primarily due to a person’s lifestyle. Prolonged inactivity, such as sitting still for hours

traveling or overstaying in bed, would cause the blood not to flow properly into the legs. As a result, blood would pool and blood clot forms. This is the onset of phlebitis. People who don’t get much exercise are also prone to this disease. Increased blood flow is usually triggered by physical activities. If a person chooses to be a slouch potato he has the tendency is to be obese. Both obesity and a sedentary lifestyle could cause phlebitis. Smoking cigarettes and taking birth control pills or hormone replacement pills can also be the root of phlebitis. People suffering from cancer and any other blood-related disorders have an increased chance of developing this disease as well. Injury to the limbs, as well as the presence of varicose veins in the leg area, can also be the culprit. In some women, pregnancy may prompt phlebitis. Symptoms of Phlebitis Deep vein phlebitis has more symptoms than superficial phlebitis. People suffering from superficial phlebitis will observe some long and thin red lines along their legs, as well as some tender regions near the area. These regions will also seem swollen and feel a little itchy at times. Some would feel it burning while throbbing. And if the area is severely infected, the skin will breakout and there is pain associated with that. Fever will also accompany the swelling and the redness. Patients with mild phlebitis will also observe that the pain gets worse if they lower their leg, like when they attempt get out of bed during mornings. Deep vein phlebitis has symptoms similar to superficial phlebitis. But additionally, patients will develop some skin ulcers in the area where the blood clot had occurred. There will also be noticeable discoloration on that part of the skin. Bacterial infections are also expected. Diagnosing Phlebitis To diagnose this disease, a physical examination has to be conducted. Then blood tests are requested so that type of blood clots is examined. After that, the doctor would put the patient for an ultrasound examination so that he can pinpoint with precision the area where the problem originates. But if the blood clot cannot be detected with the use of an ultrasound, venogram may be performed. This method is capable of identifying blood clots in the smaller veins that are invisible to an ultrasound. A certain dye or substance is injected into the vein. And then an x-ray is performed and the dye injected is seen on the image produced. Treating Phlebitis Mild superficial phlebitis can be treated at home. Usually, anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin are effective enough in reducing the pain and swelling associated with the disease. Leg compression stockings may also be worn to improve blood flow.

For those with deep vein phlebitis, it is necessary to see a doctor. Depending upon the severity of the case, a doctor may prescribe an antibiotic or an anticoagulant. In some cases, hospitalization is required so that the extent of the disease is properly assessed and treated.

The Way to Properly Detect Mitral Regurgitation Mitral regurgitation is often times called as mitral insufficiency. It is a disorder wherein the mitral valve of the heart fails to close normally. It usually happens rather suddenly and a single incident it is enough to cause the blood to flow backwards into the left side of the heart. And when that happens, the whole body becomes affected. Other organs will not get the right amount of oxygen. And so in response, the heart will work harder just to compensate. More often than not, this condition is caused by the failure of the heart’s supporting structures. Symptoms of Mitral Regurgitation Patients with mitral regurgitation may experience rapid breathing or shortness of breath prior to the attack. And this condition may even increase when the person is lying flat on his back. Also, the heart tends to beat a lot faster and intense chest pains are felt. Coughs are also a good indicator that an episode of mitral regurgitation is developing. Diagnosing Mitral Regurgitation To detect this disease, a simple stethoscope test to the heart will disclose a certain murmur, more especially if palpitations are occurring. And this disease may affect the lungs as well. When a stethoscope is placed against the back to check the condition of the lungs, crackles are usually heard. This is because of the fluids that might have backed up into it. And for a more accurate diagnosis, an echocardiogram and a color flow Doppler exam may both be conducted. But simpler tests like chest x-rays and an ECG may be requested first. However, if these tests prove to be futile, a chest MRI or a CT scan may be performed subsequently. Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation Just like most heart diseases, the symptoms are addressed first to eventually treat the disease. For the milder cases of mitral regurgitation, antibiotics are prescribed. Antibiotics have to be taken in regular doses especially if endocarditis or some bacterial infections are detected. Anti-arrhythmics, or more specifically the drugs that are given to regulate the rhythm of the heart, may also be required. Vasodilators, or the drugs whose job is to dilate the blood passing though the blood vessels, and Digitalis, the ones used to strengthen a patient’s heartbeat, are both essential in the entire treatment process. There are still other drugs used, specifically diuretics and anticoagulants, whose job is to remove excess fluids and thin the blood respectively. If a more severe case mitral regurgitation is detected, hospitalization is the best treatment for the patient. This is to fully diagnose the extent of the disease as well properly teach each and every symptom observed.

But if none of these methods are projected to work, there might be no other option but surgery. And if in case the patient’s blood pressure is hard to maintain, especially in an emergency situation, an intra-aortic balloon pump needs to be used just to make the blood flow into the aorta, instead of backward to the left atrium. Mitral regurgitation can be a life-threatening disease. This would also mean that aside from the disease itself, complications could arise because of it. For one, patients with this disease are more likely to have heart failure. And aside from that, pulmonary edema, or the accumulation of fluid in the lungs is very likely to happen. Blood clotting leading to stroke is also possible. With all these said, it is then very important that proper medical therapy is solicited from a specialized heart professional. Get in touch with them immediately the moment any of the symptoms appear. Doing so will reduce probability of developing the different risks that are associated with the disease.

The Sneddon Syndrome - A Mysterious Disease The Sneddon syndrome is a disease the affects both the brain and the heart. This is a rare disorder that targets the blood vessels. It also causes skin problems as well as neurological abnormalities. This disease can cause reduced blood flow to the brain. Reduced blood flow is medically referred to as cerebral ischemia and it has become the main complication of this disease. The Snedden syndrome is discovered in 1965. The Symptoms of Snedden Syndrome The patient with Snedden syndrome will experience chronic headaches. They would also feel dizzy from time to time and it is associated with the sense of being disoriented with his surroundings. Most patients will also develop hypertension. The patient’s blood pressure will be abnormally high and it can’t be associated to anything the he did or had eaten. Several heart diseases can also be considered as a symptom of the Sneddon syndrome. And since this disease affects the brain, patients will also have episodes of stroke, which could range from mild to severe. Doctors usually refer mild strokes to be ministrokes. Skin lesions, also known as infarcts, may also develop in some patients. This is because the disease affects the central nervous system. The overall reduction in the body’s blood flow is the direct reason for these lesions. And along with skin problems and other overt symptoms, patients will also observe that their mental capacity is reduced and their memory becomes weak over time. These symptoms are referred to as the neurological effects of this disease. Difficulty in memorizing and remembering names are the best examples of the disease’s neurological symptoms. The Causes of Sneddon Syndrome The exact cause of Sneddon syndrome is yet to be discovered. But there have been theories as to the disease being caused by immunological, genetic, and environmental factors. It has been observed that a family member who is a carrier of this disease can possibly pass it on to his offspring. But then again, the disease won’t show in the child unless it is triggered by certain circumstances.

The Diagnosis for Sneddon Syndrome To accurately diagnose this disease, doctors request patients to undergo certain tests such as magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. An MRI is considered to be the most effective diagnosing tool for this disease because it can produce a vivid image of the heart and the brain. Other tools such as a CT scan and a cerebral arteriography are also used. All of these tests are performed with the intention of revealing lesions as well as blockages in the patient’s brain. Skin biopsies may also be performed. This procedure involves the surgical removal of a tissue so that a microscopic study of it may be conducted. A biopsy of the skin could confirm an arteriopathy. Arteriopathy is a progressive type of an arterial disease. This is one of the primary characteristics of the Sneddon syndrome. The Treatment of Sneddon Syndrome There is yet to be a defined treatment method for this disease. As of this moment, its treatment depends greatly on the symptoms as observed on the patient. And all the while, the necessary support systems are also being developed so that the patient will be able to live his life as normally as possible despite the disease. The drugs administered to patients are usually anticoagulants, vasodilators, and immunosuppressive drugs. Anticoagulants are drugs that prevent blood clots and ensure that the normal flow of blood is facilitated. The common examples of this drug are warfarin and aspirin. Vasodilators, on the other hand, are drugs that dilate or widen the blood vessels. This effectively reduces the occurrence of high blood pressure in the patient. An example of this drug is nifedipine. Immunosuppresive drugs are used to regulate the elevated intensity of antiphospholipid antibodies in the patient’s blood. This condition is very common in people with Sneddon syndrome.

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