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www.jeffreybrownmd.com Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in the US and around the world. What you don’t know about heart disease can hurt you. My goal as a physician is to empower people to take charge of their health and avoid needlessly suffering from conditions like heart disease. Throughout this video, I will walk you through the basics of heart disease. You will learn just what you need to know about this illness, so that you can reduce your risk of suffering from it. If you like this video, you will love my new book Health Power 101 – www.amazon.com You can download and print-out a PDF file to follow along with this video at www.jeffreybrownmd.com View other videos like this one and receive empowering health information at www.jeffreybrownmd.com

Drs. Edelman and Blanchard discuss what you can do now to reduce your risk for heart disease. Series: Taking Control of Your Diabetes [4/2008] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 14346]

Overview: Heart disease is the number-one cause of death among men and women in the United States. Yet it is also preventable and often reversible. In this interview, youll hear from an expert about heart disease prevention. Part One: Heart function Atherosclerosis/Blockages Cholesterol: HDL and LDL Statin drugs Part Two: Heart disease prevention Aspirin and ACE inhibitors Beta blockers Cholesterol Diet Exercise Fatty fish with omega 3 Glucose (sugar) control High blood pressure control Inflammation C-reactive protein Guest: Dr. Michael Miller, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center who is head of the Center for Preventive Cardiology. Dr. Miller is also an associate professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Links: Heart Disease Prevention (Part 1) www.youtube.com Heart Disease Prevention (Part 2) www.youtube.com Center for Preventive Cardiology www.umm.edu Dr. Michael Miller www.umm.edu

NOFX

To be told you have heart disease can strike fear into anyone hearing it for the first time, however it’s not as bad as it sounds.

In this article I am going to explain some of the terms, causes and remedies associated with heart disease.

Heart disease is a general term used to describe several different conditions, all of which are potentially fatal, but are also treatable and/or preventable.

Heart disease is primarily a disease of lifestyle, and is largely preventable through risk factor awareness and modification.

However it is a serious condition and if ignored it is a major cause for heart attacks (myocardial infarction), congestive heart failure, angina pectoris, stroke, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), and ischemia (reduced blood flow).

The most common form of heart disease is coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease

CORONARY

Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease, it is caused by a narrowing or clogging of the coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygen and nutrients.

Coronary artery disease and the resulting reduced blood flow to the heart muscle can lead to other heart problems, such as chest pain (angina) and heart attacks myocardial infarction).

The risk of coronary heart disease can be reduced by taking steps to prevent and control those adverse factors that put people at greater risk for heart disease and heart attacks.

CHOLESTEROL

If you have too much cholesterol in your bloodstream, the excess is deposited in arteries, including the coronary arteries, where it contributes to the narrowing and blockages that cause the signs and symptoms of heart disease.

High levels of the wrong type of cholesterol (LDL) can be life threatening especially because this type of cholesterol has the capability to choke the arteries and thus cause a heart attack.

What happens is that the levels of the lipoprotein, which is made in the liver and in cells lining blood vessels, rise with things that make heart disease more likely, like smoking, obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Conversely the levels fall when patients stop smoking, lose weight and get their cholesterol and diabetes under control.

Cholesterol levels should be less than 5.5. If your cholesterol level is 6.5 mmol/L or greater your risk of heart disease is about 4 times greater than that of a person with a cholesterol level of 4 mmol/L.

The best defense against high cholesterol is simply controlling the risk factors that could lead to coronary artery disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and being overweight.

Regular aerobic activities have a good effect on blood vessels and cholesterol.

Dietary aids to lowering cholesterol

1. reduce cheese intake and/or substitute low fat varieties

2. choose reduced fat milks

3. substitute polyunsaturated margarine for butter

4. choose lean cuts of meat and remove all visible fat

5. eat skinless chicken, fish or beans

6. beware of pies, pasties, fish and chips and commercial cakes (hidden fat)

7. make cakes at home with polyunsaturated fat, cook chips with polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oil

8. lose weight if overweight.

High blood pressure also causes many other types of cardiovascular disease, such as stroke and heart failure.

ARTERIES

Coronary artery diseases are diseases of the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood.

If you suffer from CAD it generally means that blood flow through the coronary arteries has become obstructed, reducing blood flow to the heart muscle.

Like any muscle, the heart needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients, which are carried to it by the blood in the coronary arteries.

When the coronary arteries become narrowed or clogged by cholesterol and fat deposits (atherosclerosis), the heart cannot get enough and the result is coronary heart disease (CHD).

STROKE

Other cardiovascular diseases include stroke, high blood pressure, angina (chest pain), and rheumatic heart disease. Smoking and uncontrolled high blood pressure are important risk factors for stroke.

Although stroke is highly preventable, certain risk factors such as; family history, age, sex and race can’t be controlled.

People with diabetes are also two to four times more likely to die of heart disease and experience stroke.

PREVENTION

Although heart disease is a serious condition that requires constant monitoring, there are many things you can do to reduce your risk for cardiovascular problems and live a full, active life, even if you should suffer a heart attack.

Study results indicate that heart disease is almost twice as likely to develop in inactive people as in those who exercise regularly.

However studies have also shown that after five years of giving up smoking, the risk of developing heart disease is the same as for someone who never smoked.

As well, if you exercise on a regular basis, the chance of your developing heart disease is about half that of people who do no exercise at all.

UCSF’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute presents Dr. Deepak Srivastava of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Srivastava discusses the genetics of heart disease. Series: “UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public” [8/2006] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 11730]

www.jeffreybrownmd.com Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in the US and around the world. What you don’t know about heart disease can hurt you. My goal as a physician is to empower people to take charge of their health and avoid needlessly suffering from conditions like heart disease. Throughout this video, I will walk you through the basics of heart disease. You will learn just what you need to know about this illness, so that you can reduce your risk of suffering from it. If you like this video, you will love my new book Health Power 101 – www.amazon.com You can download and print-out a PDF file to follow along with this video at www.jeffreybrownmd.com View other videos like this one and receive empowering health information at www.jeffreybrownmd.com

Animation by David Aten (atenmedicalart.com) depicting new treatments for end stage heart disease. Music by Ron Harrity (ideaofnorth.com). Copyright 2002 Aten Medical Art.

There are many types of heart disease, but this article will explore five types of heart disease that are common to happen. Hopefully, this article can add your knowledge concerning this leading cause of death disease.

#1 congenital heart disease

There is a fallacy of thinking that many people do when they believe that all heart disease is brought about by outside factors or that it needs some periods of time for heart disease to build up. This is, of course, not true as one of the most common types of heart disease is congenital heart disease.

The term congenital or hereditary heart disease refers to heart disease which is passed down through the family, and this is considered as being a congenital type of heart disease as it is principally inevitable and unpreventable. If you have an account of early heart disease in your family then you also are at danger for congenital heart disease.

The most first-degree family members that you have who have endured from heart disease, such as your mother, father, brother, sister and so on, in particular those who experienced it at a younger age, the higher your risk of getting it as well.

Although congenital heart disease can be caused by many factors, some of them are actually preventable. For example if heart disease is clustering in your family, then it may just be because of the way that your family lives, including unhealthy practices such as poor diet, little or no exercise, and smoking. All of these aspects can contribute to heart disease and can create the sequence of congenital heart disease.

# 2 congestive heart failure

Congestive heart failure is when the heart does not pump adequate blood to the other organs in the body. Congestive heart failure can often result from heart disease and constricted arteries. Congestive heart failure results in a heart which works a lot less efficiently than it should and can make further problems. Symptoms regularly consist of swelling and edema, shortness of breath, and kidney problems which in turn can lead to mysterious weight gain. Even elevated blood pressure and alcohol abuse can lead to congestive heart failure.

A patient may be examined for congestive heart failure if they have suffered from heart disease in the past, are alcoholic, have a family history of heart problems or show one or all of the symptoms that are caused by congestive heart failure. There are choices of examinations that aid a doctor in diagnosing this heart crisis. Treatment should begin without delay, starting with changes to diet and exercise, as patients should abolish salt from the diet altogether and sternly limit their fluid intake. Further treatment should be done by a professional.

#3 coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is the most frequent type of heart disease of all, and is also the leading reason of heart attacks. Coronary heart disease is a term that refers to damage to the heart that happens because its blood supply is decreased, and what happens here is that fatty deposits build up on the linings of the blood vessels that provide the heart muscles with blood, resulting in them narrowing. This narrowing decreases the blood supply to the heart muscles and causes pain that is identified as angina.

There are a few factors which are considered as being responsible causes of coronary heart disease. One in particular is high cholesterol that can increase fat concentration in your blood and create the building up of fatty deposits. Another one of the major factors of coronary heart disease is cigarette and tobacco smoke, as a smoker’s risk of getting heart disease is two times that of a nonsmoker, and studies have actually revealed that after five years of quitting smoking, the risk of developing heart disease is the same as that of someone who had never smoked in their life.

#4 pulmonary heart disease

Pulmonary heart disease is heart disease that comes from a lung, or pulmonary, disorder, or a complication of lung problems where the blood flow into the lungs is slowed or even totally blocked, resulting in increased pressure on the lungs. There are a number of different symptoms that typically come with pulmonary heart disease, such as shortness of breath, syncope, dyspnoea, and chest pain.

It is a state which is often misdiagnosed, and has frequently progressed to late stages by the time that it is actually correctly diagnosed. It has been previously chronic and untreatable with a poor survival rate. However, there are now numerous new treatments which are accessible which have extensively improved the overall prognosis of this disease.

#5 rheumatic heart disease

Rheumatic heart disease frequently derives from strep throat infections. This can be a reason for alarm for many because strep throat, while often preventable, is a quite common condition that affects many people who do not treat a minor sore throat infection in time. However, there is no reason to be because rheumatic heart disease that comes from strep throat is fairly rare. Actually, the sheer volume of cases of rheumatic heart disease has decreased considerably since the 1960’s.

If rheumatic fever, which happens due to chronic strep throat, is contracted and leads to rheumatic heart disease, the situation can be treated in a way that is much easier than the common treatments for other types of heart disease. This treatment usually involves taking cortisteroid anti-inflammatory medication to reverse any possible cardiac problems the fever might make. This does not rule out the risk for the requirement for more advanced treatment such as surgery, but it does signify the probability for a simple, yet effective treatment.

There is a lot of important information on heart disease that you should be familiar with, not only if you already have heart disease but also just in general, so that you can take the essential steps in order to defend yourself from receiving heart disease in the future the best that you can.

One of the most main pieces of information on heart disease is about what heart disease really is. It is a wide, all-encompassing term and is not a single form or disorder but rather is a set of diverse different diseases and conditions. The term ‘heart disease’ then refers to any problem in any of the different parts of your cardiovascular system, which consist of your heart and as well the blood vessels all through your body.

There are a number of people who are at danger for heart disease and the majority will be those who have a family lineage of heart disease. So, if inherited or hereditary heart conditions are ordinary in your family lineage, then it would be prudent to make certain you discuss this heredity with your doctor and to ensure you maintain regular annual check ups to look for any latent problems. If you do this, then you can evade serious problems down the road.

Heart disease remains one of the key reasons of early death in the world today. While this news might sound depressing on the surface, the actuality is that the sheer volume of early deaths brought about by heart disease has declined considerably in recent years.

The reason for this is that remarkable steps have been achieved in terms of the treatment of coronary disease. The development of drugs designed to stop heart attacks as well as surgeries intended to eradicate problems and reinstate proper heart functioning have become quite extensive and the amount of dead caused by heart disease have been spectacularly reduced.

Origins of heart disease

Another of the most vital information on heart disease is about how it is caused, and there are in fact a number of diverse things that are believed as being accountable for causing heart disease. Although you are likely to hear a lot regarding preventing cardiovascular disease the truth is that sometimes no matter what you do you just cannot stop it.

After all, there are several kinds of heart disease that are inherited, meaning that you are born with them. In addition, there are other forms which are obtained, and normally in this regards you tend to develop them over the course of your life. The difference between these obtained forms and the inherited forms, is that you can typically prevent the obtained forms whereas the inherited forms you cannot.

Heart disease prevention

Perhaps the most significant and valuable information on heart disease of all involves prevention. There have been a number of available preventive measures that can significantly lessen the problems. The awareness of the public has been raised to a great extent in terms of educating people in regards to the benefits of appropriate diet, keeping away from smoking and drugs, and investing time in a strong cardiovascular exercise program intended to make the heart much stronger.

A regular check up with your physician may not prevent all types of heart disease from taking place, but it undeniably can have a major effect on catching a heart problem before it turns into a serious matter. As with any problem or condition, catching the problem early on will provide the momentum for getting treatment as soon as possible. When treatment is carried out rapidly, the ability to avoid or successfully treat the problem before it becomes life threatening is a high likelihood.

Several other preventive measures that you can do are: keep a healthy weight, get at least thirty minutes of work out every day, maintain your cholesterol levels within healthy ranges, control your blood sugar if you have diabetes, control your blood pressure, and make certain that you eat a diverse diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables.

Heart disease research

Heart disease research is critical when it comes to learning regarding what heart disease is and the causes of it, as well as solutions that can be employed to help treat and even prevent heart disease. There are a number of incredible organizations out there that perform heart disease research.

One heart disease research organization in particular is The Research Center for Stroke and Heart Disease, which is an organization that is non-profit, and which was founded in order to raise understanding and prevent stroke and heart disease worldwide. It designs, puts into practice, and evaluates a variety of projects in order to educate individuals and as well as inspire them to adopt certain practices which have been shown to decrease risk factors.

Another heart disease research organizations is the British Heart Foundation, which is an organization that is deemed as being the nation’s heart charity, and which concentrates on three very important things in particular: investing in revolutionary research, supporting and caring for heart patients, and offering fundamental information to help people decrease their own risk of dying prematurely from a heart or circulatory related sickness.

Harvard Medical School is another center that focuses a great part of their concentration on heart disease research, and they have actually been doing this for some decades now. They recommend a vast amount of information on heart disease, such as about what it is, what causes it, new research findings and statistics, and so on.

This research on heart disease is in fact the single thing that can help the grim situation involving heart disease in the world these days, and hopefully sometime in the near future this research will show the way to findings on how heart disease can be totally avoided altogether.