“A healthy diet is one of the best weapons you have to fight cardiovascular disease. The food you eat (and the amount) can affect other controllable risk factors: cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and overweight. Choose nutrient-rich foods — which have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are lower in calories — over nutrient-poor foods.”
American Heart Association
If you have been reading regularly on this blog than you know this day is dedicated everywhere for the health topic “WORLD HEART DAY”.
Governments and non-government organizations celebrate and promote World Heart Day with activities such as fun runs, public talks, concerts, and sporting events. The World Heart Federation organizes awareness events in more than 100 countries. They include:
The World Heart Foundation organizes World Heart Day, an international campaign held on September 29 to inform people about cardiovascular diseases.
Coronary heart disease is a common term for the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries that could lead to heart attack. But what about coronary artery disease? Is there a difference?
The short answer is often no — health professionals frequently use the terms interchangeably.
However, coronary heart disease , or CHD, is actually a result of coronary artery disease, or CAD, said Edward A. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., an American Heart Association volunteer who is the Leon H. Charney Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and also of the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology and Disease Program at the NYU School of Medicine.
Coronary heart disease is a common term for the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries that could lead to heart attack. But what about coronary artery disease? Is there a difference?
The short answer is often no — health professionals frequently use the terms interchangeably.
However, coronary heart disease , or CHD, is actually a result of coronary artery disease, or CAD, said Edward A. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., an American Heart Association volunteer who is the Leon H. Charney Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and also of the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology and Disease Program at the NYU School of Medicine.
With coronary artery disease, plaque first grows within the walls of the coronary arteries until the blood flow to the heart’s muscle is limited. View an illustration of coronary arteries. This is also called ischemia. It may be chronic, narrowing of the coronary artery over time and limiting of the blood supply to part of the muscle. Or it can be acute, resulting from a sudden rupture of a plaque and formation of a thrombus or blood clot.
The traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease are high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, diabetes, smoking, being post-menopausal for women and being older than 45 for men, according to Fisher. Obesity may also be a risk factor.
“Coronary artery disease begins in childhood, so that by the teenage years, there is evidence that plaques that will stay with us for life are formed in most people,” said Fisher, who is former editor of the American Heart Association journal, ATVB. “Preventive measures instituted early are thought to have greater lifetime benefits. Healthy lifestyles will delay the progression of CAD, and there is hope that CAD can be regressed before it causes CHD.”
Living a healthy lifestyle that incorporates good nutrition, weight management and getting plenty of physical activity can play a big role in avoiding CAD.
“Coronary artery disease is preventable,” agreed Johnny Lee, M.D., president of New York Heart Associates, and an American Heart Association volunteer. “Typical warning signs are chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations and even fatigue.”
What is a “widow maker”? Well for starters, this is the deadliest heart attack. The symptoms you need to know to possibly prevent the results of this widow maker. It occurs when there is a complete blockage of the left artery feeding the heart with blood. This causes a cut off of oxygen supply to one of the large parts of the heart muscle, which can cause it to stop beating, causing you to die.
A heart attack is when one of the coronary arteries becomes blocked.
The heart muscle is then robbed of vital oxygenated blood, which if left untreated, can cause the heart muscle to begin to die.
A heart attack is a life-threatening emergency.
A widow maker heart attack is caused when the LAD artery becomes blocked.
It occurs when there’s a complete blockage of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, one of two main arteries that brings OXYGENATED blood to the heart=FOOD TO THE HEART MUSCLE (O2).
When it is blocked due to a build up of plaque it is most often deadly, hence the name “widow maker”. How to we get plaque build up?
Cholesterol plaques can be the cause of heart disease. Plaques begin in artery walls and grow over years. The growth of cholesterol! The plaques slowly blocks blood flow in the arteries. Worse, a cholesterol plaque can suddenly rupture. The sudden blood clot that forms over the rupture then causes a heart attack or stroke.
Blocked arteries caused by plaque buildup and blood clots are the leading cause of death in the U.S. Reducing cholesterol and other risk factors can help prevent cholesterol plaques from forming. Occasionally, it can even reverse some plaque buildup.
“When the main artery down the front of the heart (LAD) is totally blocked or has a critical blockage, right at the beginning of the vessel, it is known as the Widow Maker. (The medical term for this is a proximal LAD lesion). No one knows exactly who came up with the term, but the reason they did is likely that if that artery is blocked right at the beginning of its course, then the whole artery after it goes down. This essentially means that the whole front wall of the heart goes down. As far as heart attacks go, this is a big one, with big consequences if not dealt with appropriately and FAST!”
myheart.net/Dr. Ahmed – an Interventional Cardiologist and Director of Structural Heart Disease at Princeton-Baptist Hospital.
A widow maker heart attack has the same symptoms as any other heart attack.
They can be difficult to spot for sure, because they can vary from person to person.
The most common signs include:
The first port of call for treatment, is for doctors to treat the blocked artery.
There are two main procedures used to open up the blocked blood vessel.
The first, a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is an emergency coronary angioplasty.
It opens the blockage and helps restore blood supply to the heart.
The second treatment, is thrombosis, also known as a “clot buster”.
It involves injecting a drug into the vein to dissolve the blood clot and restore blood supply to the heart that way. In some cases this procedure can be performed in the ambulance.
While these treatments are common, in some cases they will not be right for the patient and so won’t be performed. The MD Cardiologist will know the right Rx.
Take good care of your HEART, the engine to the human body! First do all preventative measures to prevent getting any cardiovascular diseases but if you have cardiovascular diseases then follow your M.D. instructions on any meds if he prescribed them for you, eat the proper foods for a cardiac diet, and balance rest with exercise. See your cardiologist as he or she recommends.
“Malnutrition results from a poor diet or a lack of food. It happens when the intake of nutrients or energy is too high, too low, or poorly balanced. Undernutrition can lead to delayed growth or wasting, while a diet that provides too much food, but not necessarily balanced, leads to obesity.”
Medical News Today
“Recent studies suggest that the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease are in a diabetic state, partly due to the decrease in or insensitivity to insulin. There are many similarities in the brains of people with diabetes and the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease; however, diabetes only remains a risk factor.”
Alzheimer Society Canada
“However, reevaluation of the older literature revealed that impairments in cerebral glucose utilization and energy metabolism represent very early abnormalities that precede or accompany the initial stages of cognitive impairment12–14 and led us to the concept that impaired insulin signaling has an important role in the pathogenesis of AD and the proposal that AD represents “type 3 diabetes.”
PMC U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
“Sepsis has been named as the most expensive in-patient cost in American hospitals in 2014 averaging more than $18,000 per hospital stay. With over 1.5 million sepsis hospital stays in 2014 per year, that works out to costs of $27 billion each year.”
SEPSIS ALLIANCE (www.sepsis.org)
“Platelets are needed for clotting of the blood. In patients with ITP, a person’s own immune system creates antibodies that mark healthy platelets as “foreign substances” and then mistakenly attack and destroy them. As an autoimmune disease that results in the destruction of platelets, patients with ITP have a tendency to bleed or bruise.”
ITP Foundation (www.itpfoundation.org)
“After examining Bob Probert’s brain tissue, researchers said they found … the first contemporary hockey player to show C.T.E. after death. 1″
“NFL players suffered more concussions in 2017 than in each of the previous five years, according to data released by the league. There were 281 reported concussions that season, including head injuries suffered in preseason games and practices. That is the highest number in the past six years and an increase of 15.6% over the five-year average.2”
1-CNN 2-USA Today
1NY Times
“As part of brain injury research effort, the NFL announced in 2013 its plan to invest $60 million to improve mTBI diagnosis.36 To make the game of football safer, it is important that the NFL continue to strive for concussion management, including prevention and treatment strategies.”
“A blood and bone marrow transplant is currently the only cure for sickle cell disease, and only a small number of people who have sickle disease are able to have the transplant. There are effective treatments that can reduce symptoms and prolong life. Early diagnosis and regular medical care to prevent complications also contribute to improved well-being. Sickle cell disease is a life-long illness. The severity of the disease varies widely from person to person.”
National Heart,Lung and Blood Institute