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It has possibly been described as THE disease of the 20th Century and is certainly the one of the Century's biggest killers but what exactly is Heart Disease and what exactly is a Heart Attack? Coronary heart disease is a condition that arises from increased amounts of atheromatous plaques that gather within the arteries. Many people who develop this condition may not begin showing symptoms until years after they developed the disease. Angina or heart pain is a painful or uncomfortable feeling in the chest. It occurs as a result of narrowing of the coronary arteries caused by Atheroma. Tests may be necessary if you have angina pain. Certain population groups are at a higher risk of getting angina. When the doctor recommends a coronary angiogram to someone close to you, the initial reaction is denial and non acceptance. Some people also believe that anyone who undergoes this test would invariably have to go through bypass surgery. Others believe that it will be painful, requiring prolonged hospital admission. But the truth is that it is a simple X-ray of the heart blood vessels, virtually painless and requires a short stay. How cholesterol testing can help... Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), commonly known as coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic heart disease or ischemic heart disease, is a result of formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner side of the arterial (type of blood vessels) walls that supply oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium (heart muscles). Heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. Coconut oil protects the arteries from injury caused by bacteria, viruses and free radicals. By protecting the arteries from further damage, coconut oil prevents heart disease and allows the body to heal the arterial walls. Of the numerous types of cardiovascular conditions, the one that is most likely to lead to a heart attack is what is known as Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Heart attack is all about flow of blood which gets blocked and oxygen supply get hampered. This can result in a severe damage to heart muscle that can claim life or disable someone. You may have already been aware of the role that arteries are playing in human body. Heart attack is just about those arteries which get blocked. In heart attack, coronary arteries start to get blocked with the accumulation of plaque. This blockage consists of fats, calcium, cholesterol and some other substances that are found in blood. Just consult any medical glossary and they will tell you that heart disease is a kind of disorder in which heart loses its abilities and its normal functioning is affected. The coronary arteries in the heart are responsible for supplying blood into the heart.
Coronary heart disease is the main cause of death in America. There are several contributing risk factors to heart disease and cholesterol is one of them that can be controlled. Not all cholesterol is bad, so a good understanding and knowledge of the facts about cholesterol can help you to live a healthier life. Cardiovascular disease is a very broad term. Cardiovascular disease refers to diseases of the heart (cardio) and diseases of the blood vessels (vascular), hence cardio-vascular disease. However, diseases affecting the heart are referred to as heart disease. Medication or no, your first response to angina should be to sit down and relax, says Dr. Ouyang. If you're having an arterial spasm, it will subside in a minute or two and release its grip on your artery. If clogged arteries are to blame, relief upon resting may suggest that whatever you were doing when the pain hit required more oxygen than your clogged arteries could deliver. Sitting down reduces the workload on your heart and should relieve the pain. Angioplasty and stent placement is a common angina treatment strategy. Heart disease is not really disease of the heart itself, but of the blood vessels supplying it. Conditions such as "hole-in-the-heart" and problems with heart valves (sometimes a consequence of rheumatic fever) can occur, but most problems with heart valves are now the result of their becoming hardened and leaky with age. With all the talks of obesity and America's race for thin bodies, cholesterol has suffered a beating. It is even one of the main figures in the development of hypertension, that contribute much to coronary heart disease. Often seen as the culprit in "fattening" America, cholesterol has become a food taboo, something that must be avoided at all costs. For most doctors, blood pressure lowering treatment does not necessarily mean medications especially for young adults in their 20s. Most doctors would recommend that providing you get your weight down and take some more exercise, you don't need any other treatment for it at the moment. Angina (an-JI-nuh or AN-juh-nuh) is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when an area of your heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen-rich blood. Angina may feel like pressure or squeezing in your chest. The pain also may occur in your shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. It can feel like indigestion. It is not easy to diagnose CHD in women who develop chest pain more often than men. The chances for these chest pains to progress to heart attack are rare. It is thought that in America there are eight million women living with Heart Disease and of those it is estimated that just over 400,000 women have heart attacks each year. The condition is in fact one of the most deadly and it is one of the biggest killers of women each year. Two of the biggest causes of death in the Western world are heart disease and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis clogs up the hearts arteries and is then known as coronary artery disease or heart disease. Heart disease may develop slowly and the first symptom may be a heart attack. Some people develop arrhythmia and suffer from dizziness and heart palpitations. A common myth is only heart attacks can occur when cholesterol levels are high. In addition to a heart attack, an individual with high levels of cholesterol can suffer from a stroke as well. This is because plaque can build up not only in the coronary arteries but also in the arteries that supply blood to the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood clot is formed in these arteries and the blood supply and oxygen supply to the brain is blocked.
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