Table of Contents
Introduction to Heart Health
Dear friends,
In my last post aboutmy motto- prevention is better than cure- I wrote about how one of my friends had a heart attack and how he was saved. But remember, whenever you get a heart attack or for that matter stroke[hemorrhage in the brain], a part of that organ is damaged which is permanent and then life becomes slow and cautious.
It is similar to an accident where you may lose a limb. So, if you can prevent accidents in life by being careful and watchful, similarly, you can prevent many illnesses like a premature heart attack or stroke[also known as cerebrovascular accident].
The Mechanics Behind a Heart Attack
Let us now try to understand the mechanism behind a heart attack. You all are familiar that our heart is a non-stop pump [provided by the almighty GOD] which does not rest until it stops completely, meaning after one’s death.
So, anything that increases the load on your heart, for eg. high blood pressure, non-stop stress, high-intensity exercises, etc. increases the oxygen consumption of the heart which is met by the coronary arteries supplying the heart[see the picture below]
This picture shows how the heart receives its blood supply.
Now, suppose there was a partial block or 2 in one of the arteries, the blood supply to that part of the heart gets cut off while you are exercising or having stress[eg. an emotional outburst like anger, sadness, etc.] and the heart muscle cries for oxygen and that is the time when we experience chest pain.
This pain is called angina, which gets relieved after taking rest or by taking a medicine called nitroglycerine [kept below the tongue] but it is a warning sign that you visit your doctor for getting your tests done to rule out that your heart does not have blocks.
Investigations to rule out heart attack
The basic tests that your doctor might advise are:-
1] Complete Blood Checkup[CBC]
2]Blood Profiles like:-
a] Lipid Profile [serum cholesterol] b] Diabetic profile c] Renal profile
3]Electrocardiogram[ECG]
4]Treadmill Test[TMT]
5]Cardiac Angiography.
Final Words
Having said this, I will highlight the meaning and importance of these tests in my next blog.
