Diagnosing Heart Disease
If your doctor suspects that you have heart disease, there are a number of tests that she can perform to find out for sure. You may get just one test or more than one. It’s normal to feel worried or anxious before having tests. Tell your doctor if your fears are keeping you from getting the tests you need.
Treating Heart Disease
If you have heart disease, it is extremely important to control it. You can help to do this by:
If you have heart disease, it is extremely important to control it. You can help to do this by:
• Eating a heart healthy diet
• Quitting smoking if you smokel getting regular physical activity
• Losing weight if you are overweight or obese
• Reducing stress
• Taking medicines as directed by your doctor
1. Medicines
Along with making lifestyle changes, you may need medicines to help control your heart disease. These medicines can include:
Along with making lifestyle changes, you may need medicines to help control your heart disease. These medicines can include:
• Cholesterol lowering medicines
• Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, or ACE inhibitors to lower blood pressure and lighten the workload for the heart
At times, other medicines may be needed:
• Antiplatelet medicines stop blood cellscalled platelets from clumping together and forming clots.
• Anticoagulants stop clots from formingin your arteries and blocking blood flow.
• Nitrates, such as nitroglycerin, widen the coronary arteries, which helps lessen chest pain.
• Thrombolytic agents break up blood clots that form during a heart attack. The sooner thesedrugs are given to someone having a heart attack, the better they are at pre-venting heart damage.
2. Special Procedures or Surgery
If lifestyle changes and medicines do not improve your heart disease symptoms, your doctor may suggest special procedures or surgery. These include:
If lifestyle changes and medicines do not improve your heart disease symptoms, your doctor may suggest special procedures or surgery. These include:
• Angioplasty . This procedure is usually done right away if coronary angiography shows problems in blood flow in a coronary artery. A thin tube with a balloon at one end is threaded into a coronary artery that has narrowed because of plaque buildup. Once in place, the balloon is inflated to push the plaque against the artery wall. This opens the artery more so that blood can flow freely.
• Stent. A stent is a mesh tube used to hold open a narrowed or weakened artery. It is put in place during an angioplasty. Some stents are coated with a medicine to keep arteries from narrowing or becoming blocked again. Not all people who have angioplasty need a stent.
• Coronary artery bypass surgery. In this procedure, a short piece of vein or artery from another part of your body is used to reroute blood around a blockage in a coronary artery. This restores blood flow to the heart.
Other Types of Heart Disease
Other types of heart disease that affect many women include heart failure and arrhythmias. These can result from coronary artery disease or other problems.
1. Heart Failure
Heart failure happens when the heart can’t pump enough blood throughout the body. Heart failure doesn’t mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop working. It means that your heart can’t fill with enough blood or pump with enough force, or both. Heart dfailure evelops over time as the pumping action of the heart grows weaker. It’s more common in people older than 65 years. Coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes are leading causes. Heart failure can affect the left side, the right side, or both sides of the heart. Most cases involve the left side, in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to the rest of the body. As a result, blood and fluid back up in the lungs and you feel short of breath. When the right side of the heart is affected, blood backs up in the body, causing swelling, mainly in the lower legs and ankles. If both sides of the heart are failing, which is often the case, you also feel tired and weak because not enough blood is flowing to your muscles. Heart failure usually can’t be cured. Treatment often involves making lifestyle changes and taking medicines. If you have severe heart failure, you may need a mechanical heart pump or a heart transplant.
Other types of heart disease that affect many women include heart failure and arrhythmias. These can result from coronary artery disease or other problems.
1. Heart Failure
Heart failure happens when the heart can’t pump enough blood throughout the body. Heart failure doesn’t mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop working. It means that your heart can’t fill with enough blood or pump with enough force, or both. Heart dfailure evelops over time as the pumping action of the heart grows weaker. It’s more common in people older than 65 years. Coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes are leading causes. Heart failure can affect the left side, the right side, or both sides of the heart. Most cases involve the left side, in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to the rest of the body. As a result, blood and fluid back up in the lungs and you feel short of breath. When the right side of the heart is affected, blood backs up in the body, causing swelling, mainly in the lower legs and ankles. If both sides of the heart are failing, which is often the case, you also feel tired and weak because not enough blood is flowing to your muscles. Heart failure usually can’t be cured. Treatment often involves making lifestyle changes and taking medicines. If you have severe heart failure, you may need a mechanical heart pump or a heart transplant.
2. Arrhythmia
An arrhythmia is a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat caused by a disorder in the heart’s electrical system. There are many types of arrhythmias. Most are harmless, but some can be serious or even life threatening. The most common type of serious arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, or AF. With AF, the walls of the atria quiver very fast (called fibrillation) instead of beating normally. As a result, blood isn’t pumped into the ventricles as it should, and it pools in the atria. This can cause blood clots to form in the atria. If a clot breaks off, it might get stuck in a blood vessel and cut off blood supply to the brain. This is a type of stroke. People with AF sometimes take blood thinners to prevent clots and medicines to slow the heart rate. Arrhythmias that start in the ventricles can be very dangerous. With ventricular fibrillations (v-fib), blood is not pumped out to the body. If the heart stops pumping entirely, the condition is known as sudden cardiac arrest. In a sudden cardiac arrest, a person will faint within seconds and die within minutes if not treated quickly.
An arrhythmia is a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat caused by a disorder in the heart’s electrical system. There are many types of arrhythmias. Most are harmless, but some can be serious or even life threatening. The most common type of serious arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, or AF. With AF, the walls of the atria quiver very fast (called fibrillation) instead of beating normally. As a result, blood isn’t pumped into the ventricles as it should, and it pools in the atria. This can cause blood clots to form in the atria. If a clot breaks off, it might get stuck in a blood vessel and cut off blood supply to the brain. This is a type of stroke. People with AF sometimes take blood thinners to prevent clots and medicines to slow the heart rate. Arrhythmias that start in the ventricles can be very dangerous. With ventricular fibrillations (v-fib), blood is not pumped out to the body. If the heart stops pumping entirely, the condition is known as sudden cardiac arrest. In a sudden cardiac arrest, a person will faint within seconds and die within minutes if not treated quickly.
Living with Heart Disease
If you are taking medicines or have undergone special procedures or surgery to treat coronary artery disease, you still need to stick with those healthy lifestyle changes to keep plaque from clogging up your arteries again. Follow your doctor’s advice on what foods to eat, how to ease back into a physical activity routine if you have had surgery, and how to reduce stress. And if you smoke, it is vital that you quit.Taking care of your emotional health is also important. People with heart disease are often depressed, especially those who have had a heart attack. If you have heart disease and find yourself feeling depressed or “blue,” talk with your doctor about ways to get help. Treating depression may do more than just help you feel better emotionally. If you have had a heart attack, antidepressants may lower your chances of having a second heart attack or dying of heart disease. So don’t wait to seek help if you are feeling down.
If you are taking medicines or have undergone special procedures or surgery to treat coronary artery disease, you still need to stick with those healthy lifestyle changes to keep plaque from clogging up your arteries again. Follow your doctor’s advice on what foods to eat, how to ease back into a physical activity routine if you have had surgery, and how to reduce stress. And if you smoke, it is vital that you quit.Taking care of your emotional health is also important. People with heart disease are often depressed, especially those who have had a heart attack. If you have heart disease and find yourself feeling depressed or “blue,” talk with your doctor about ways to get help. Treating depression may do more than just help you feel better emotionally. If you have had a heart attack, antidepressants may lower your chances of having a second heart attack or dying of heart disease. So don’t wait to seek help if you are feeling down.
Good News about Heart Health
More women are becoming aware that they are at risk of heart disease, which is the crucial first step. Even better, more women are also taking heart-healthy action.If you haven’t already joined this grow-ing trend of heart-savvy women, now is the time to start. Urge your children and other family members to join you in your efforts to lower heart disease risk. Living heart healthy takes effort. But the rewards can mean a healthier, longer life for you and your loved ones.
More women are becoming aware that they are at risk of heart disease, which is the crucial first step. Even better, more women are also taking heart-healthy action.If you haven’t already joined this grow-ing trend of heart-savvy women, now is the time to start. Urge your children and other family members to join you in your efforts to lower heart disease risk. Living heart healthy takes effort. But the rewards can mean a healthier, longer life for you and your loved ones.
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