As early as your teenage years, fat cells can begin to accumulate in your blood vessel walls. Over time, the fat builds up, putting a strain on the walls, and triggers the release of chemicals that make the walls sticky as the body attempts to repair itself. In the process, other things stick to your blood vessel walls; things such as protein, calcium, inflammatory cells, which fuses with the fat to create a hardened plaque. Blood clots form when the hard surface of the plaque rips or tears and platelets arrive in the area. Sometimes, new blood vessels form to circumvent the blood around the trouble spot, but sometimes the clot blocks off the whole area or the new vessels don’t work quickly enough during times of exertion. This is the making of coronary heart disease, a serious medical condition that will kill 13 million Americans this year.

Most people with coronary heart disease don’t realize they have it until it’s too late, even though basic medical tests can reveal telltale signs like elevated triglycerides and high cholesterol levels. Some people may experience “angina pectoris,” which is the medical term for discomfort, heaviness, aching, burning, numbness or pain in the chest, left shoulder, arms, back or jaw. Often this pain will feel similar to indigestion but won’t occur around meal times. Depending on what kind of angina you’re suffering from, the pain may come after exertion (stable angina), when sleeping and while out in the cold (prinzmetal’s angina) or sometimes even just suddenly while resting (unstable angina). Shortness of breath, heart palpitations, dizziness, nausea and sweating often accompany the angina symptoms.

For some people, coronary heart disease seems to run in the family. However, health experts agree that many people are able to live long, healthy lives by following several key preventative measures. “If you smoke, quit,” warns cardiologist Sharonne Hayes of the Women’s Health Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. “That’s the most powerful, preventable risk factor for heart disease.” Additionally, four days per week you should be engaging in 30 minutes of moderate exercise; whether it’s biking, skating, walking, jogging, swimming or aerobics. If you can’t do it all at once, then three ten-minute intervals will show heart health benefits. Limiting saturated, polysaturated, monounsaturated and trans fats are important. By contrast, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, flaxseed oil and canola oil have proven to be very effective. Furthermore, the importance of reducing your weight and getting regular health exams cannot be overstated.

In a six-year, 2,825-patient study of coronary heart disease patients, new results brought startling realization about the power of positive thinking and recovery. “A negative outlook was an independent predictor of poor outcomes,” said Dr. Redford B. Williams of Duke University Medical Center. “And there seems to be something protective about having a more optimistic attitude that makes you feel that you are going to be ok.” Their 2008-concluded study found that patients who were more pessimistic about recovery were twice as likely to die. Health experts at Duke University agree that meditation, behavior therapy and exercise can be the key to heart health for the most at-risk patients.

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Recognizing Signs of a Stroke And Quick Treatment

If you or someone you know is having a stroke, a quick diagnosis and treatment might be the difference between life or death or permanent paralysis if the stroke victim survives. So it is essential that you know the signs of a stroke.If you can get the stroke victim to the hospital within three hours of the attack, the prognosis for full recovery is optimistic.

First, some facts about strokes and who is mmost likely to suffer one.Strokes kill one person each minute in the U.S. alone. Of the 750,000 victims each year, one-third die, and another third suffer permanent paralysis, loss of speech or memory lapses.

Strokes are caused by plaque build up in the arteries or by a plaque fragment that breaks free and lodges in the brain, shutting off the blood supply.

Persons Who Are At Risk

Your chances of having a stroke are higher if you fall into these categories
1) Hereditary–If a person comes from a family where other members have suffered strokes.
2) Gender–Women are more likely to have a stroke than men.
3) Age–The chance of having a stroke approximately doubles for each decade of life after age 55.Stroke is more common among persons over 65, but it also hits younger persons as well.
4) Race–African Americans are more likely to have one than are Caucasians.
5) Medical History–Sickle cell anemia. Sickled red blood cells carry less oxygen to the rest of the body. They also can stick to the walls of the blood vessels, which can block arteries to the brain, causing a stroke.
Persons who are prior stroke victims or who have had a mini stroke, called a TIA, are much more likely to have another stroke.

Stroke Symptoms

A simple four-question quiz will tell you if someone you’re with is having a stroke

1.) Ask the individual to SMILE. If he’s having a stroke, he won’t be able to smile normally–his smile wille be distorted.
2.) Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. Ann is a great homemaker. A stroke victim will not be able to do this easily.
3.) Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. He’ll just be able to raise one.
4.) Ask him to STICK OUT HIS TONGUE. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other,that is also an indication of a stroke.
If any of these tasks were a prblem to complete, it’s time to get to the hospital immediately. Start with 911 and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Another sign that you’ve had a TIA, or mini-stroke, is a heaviness in your leg or legs that makes it unusually difficult to walk or climb the stairs.The victim might trip going up the stairs because one leg didn’t lift high enough to clear a stair. The victim has trouble keeping his balance and might even fall down and struggle to stand up.

If this happens to you or the person you’re with it, is imperative you get to a hospital immediately.You’ll immediately be taken into the medical ward and be given tests to determine if it is a stroke and immediate treatment if it is. And you dodged a bullet today! The odds are that you’ve survived and haven’t had any permanent damage to your brain.

If you have this experience and everything works out ok, remember that this is a warning and lifestyle changes are mandatory to keep another, more serious stroke from happening again.

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When it comes to ulcers there are a wide variety of body locations where they can develop. You need to know the differences in locations because it can mean a different treatment for each one. Peptic ulcers are not the same thing as leg ulcers, foot ulcers or skin ulcers because they differ in the location. One is found in the gastrointestinal tract and the others are found on the skin surface. It is important to know those basic differences because it means a different treatment method.

First off most ulcers are peptic ulcers. There are a few different kinds and they are named for the part of the body where they are found. A stomach ulcer is also called a gastric ulcer because it is found in the actual stomach. Duodenal ulcers are found in the Duodenum. Esophageal ulcers are found in the esophagus. Your esophagus, duodenum, stomach and small intestine are all part of your gastrointestinal tract. There are complications that can occur if you were to go untreated for an ulcer. It is important that you know these complications.

There are five different complications that can occur from ulcers located in the gastric region. These are: gastrointestinal bleeding (bleeding ulcer,) perforation (where the stomach contents or intestines spill into the body cavity,) penetration, scarring and Pyloric Stenosis. You definitely do not want any of these to happen to you. An untreated ulcer is nothing to scoff at because sometimes it can lead to great sickness and even death. If you have, or think you may have an ulcer, then you need to see your doctor to seek treatment as soon as possible. This is your health and your life that you are risking by not seeking out medications to help.

Peptic ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori are serious. Ulcers are not caused by stress, spicy foods or being a certain blood type, but those certainly can aggravate the ulcer and cause a painful flare-up. There are other factors that put you at risk as well, such as the long term use of NSAIDS, the use of laxatives for an extended amount of time or a family history of duodenal ulcers. You are in luck though. Many ulcers will heal with over the counter medications.

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While a heart pacemaker should not be confused with the natural pacemaker of the heart, an artificial pacemaker is a medical device which serves to help people who suffer from heart problems. Many people are unaware as to how a pacemaker works. It is a fairly simple device that works by using electrical currents which come into contact with the heart’s muscles by way of electrodes. This in turn helps to regulate the beating of the heart.

The heart’s natural pacemaker is responsible for regulating the heart’s beats at a certain pace. However, if sometimes the natural pacemaker fails in doing so. That is where artificial pacemakers step in to fulfil the role of the heart’s natural pacemaker.

For more severe cases, technology has made it possible to combine a defibrillator into the electronic heart pacemaker unit. Modern medical and technological advances have also allowed pacemakers to become more easily programmable from external sources.

While experiments were taking place into pacemakers as far back as 1889, it was not until 1958 that an artificial and implantable pacemaker was first used. The first patient to use the device was Arne Larson who used twenty-two such devices over the course of his life.

Implantable pacemakers are inserted into the patient by way of a straightforward surgery process. A local anesthetic is always used and antibiotics are provided afterwards to prevent any infection that could be caused as an effect of the operation. With an incision made just below the left collar bone, the pacemaker is inserted into the body and the leads are wired up to the heart with the use of a fluoroscope to make sure everything is going into the right place.

A person who lives with an artificial heart pacemaker is usually required to visit the doctor once in a while so that the doctor can see that everything is working correctly and that the patient is remaining healthy.

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Although it is not necessary to understand all the details of the relationship between fish oil and LDL cholesterol on your health, a little basic knowledge should be useful to encourage you to get regular amounts of fish oil. First we must recognize that cholesterol is usually broken down into two major categories. What is known as HDL cholesterol is generally good in that it is able to move easily to the liver to be processed out of the body. On the other hand, LDL cholesterol is much less dense than HDL cholesterol and tends to cling to the walls of the blood vessels narrowing them with plaque. LDL cholesterol on average today comprises some seventy-five to eighty percent of the total cholesterol in the human body which contributes to plaque formation in the blood adding significantly to the potential development of heart disease as well as.

Drugs or Fish Oil?

Reducing the LDL cholesterol should be a critical need in the desire to reduce heart disease risk. Generally speaking if the LDL cholesterol level is over 100 mg/dl it is wise to begin researching a way to reduce that level. Of course synthetic drugs made for this purpose may accomplish this but along with these medicines come the potential for side effects that could possible not be better than not taking the drugs at all. Whether these medicines are appropriate for you or not should only come after consultation with your doctor.

Nonetheless, there are some alternatives to these synthetic drugs. History and testing have shown that fish oil and LDL cholesterol interact in such a way that the LDL cholesterol is facilitated in acting like HDL to move the excess cholesterol back to the liver for processing. Fish oil is high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The ability of these three fatty acids, ALA, EPA and DHA to bond with the LDL cholesterol diminishes the chances of it creating plaque in the blood vessels. The overall effect is that the combination of fish oil and LDL cholesterol is that it achieves similar results without exposeure to the harmful side effects as the synthetic drugs.

Best Source of Fish Oil

The book seems to still be open on what the best source is for the Omega 3 fatty acids. Some say that at least three times a week fish such as tuna or salmon that is high in Omega 3 should be eaten. Others say that a good capsule processed by a reputable manufacturer is the way to go. The debate will more than likely go on for sometime but it is not about fish oil and LDL cholesterol but rather about how to take the fish oil.

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