Coronary heart disease, more commonly known as heart disease, is the most common illness affecting people all over the world. It affects men and women from middle age and into the senior years of life. It may also affect children in rare cases. It is a lifestyle disease, which means our poor food habits coupled with lack of exercise and an erratic way of life cause this problem.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
If you are 35 years or above in age, an occasional drinker with little or no exercise, and eat out at least twice in a week, you may be at risk of having a heart problem. The best way to keep the disease at bay is to prevent it. Some changes in your lifestyle habits and eating habits can go a long way in prevention of the disease.
- Stress related to work and other problems should be avoided at all costs.
- Keep a watch on your LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure through regular medical check-ups.
- Manage your diabetes with medicine and care.
- Too much consumption of alcohol may be bad for the heart.
- Smokers must quit smoking immediately.
- Exercise regularly. It is important to bring down your LDL cholesterol levels and increase your HDL. It is also essential to maintain a healthy weight and not become overweight.
- Eat a healthy and nutritious diet containing high fiber, vitamins, minerals and proteins.
- Visit a doctor immediately if you have any symptoms like pain in your chest or left arm or difficulty in breathing.
Treatments For Heart Disease
There are various treatments available for heart problems. The treatment plan may vary from patient to patient and depend upon the condition of the disease. The main purpose of the treatment is to increase the flow of blood to the heart. The various treatments are as follows:
Medicine: Medicine has been used very successfully in controlling heart conditions in patients. The different type of heart medications are: beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, statins, and angiotensins, among others.
Angioplasty: In cases where medicine does not help improve blood flow to the arteries, a non-surgical process called angioplasty is carried out. This procedure helps to expand the blocked coronary arteries by dilating them with the help of an inflated balloon.
Bypass Surgery: Bypass surgery is suggested by a doctor when the patient cannot benefit by balloon angioplasty. The surgeon creates a new passage for the flow of blood to the heart by using a vessel graft from another part of the body. The graft may be taken from the thigh muscle or mammary arteries positioned under the chest wall.
Pacemakers: Pacemakers, also known as electrophysiological devices, do the job of maintaining the required heart rate by providing electrical beats to the heart. Pacemakers are electronic devices containing batteries, wires and circuits that are attached to either the right ventricle or right atrium of the heart, or in some cases, to both.
Thus, with proper care given to heart disease prevention & treatment, it is possible to keep the disease well under control and avoid any further damage to the heart.