Heart Disorders

There are special cells in the heart that act as a natural pacemaker, sending electrical signals through their fibers to the heart muscle and regulating the heartbeat. An electrocardiogram reproduces these electrical patterns as a tracing. When there is a disturbance in any part of this conduction system, the heart may beat irregularly, or the rate may become either very slow or very fast. Irregular heartbeats can be life threatening in some cases, because the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently.

Myocardial infarction is the leading cause of death for adults in the United States, Each year, 1.5 million Americans have a heart attack and one-third of these people die. Some factors that predispose people to heart attacks cannot be modified: family history of heart disease, growing older, and being male. But there are other risks that can be reduced or elimiated: cigarette smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diet high in saturated fats, and lack of exercise. By not smoking, eating a healthful diet, exercising regularly, and treating their high blood pressure,many people can avoid having heart attacks.

Symptoms of a heart attack vary, but the most common is a persistent, crushing chest pain that may spread to the left arm, jaw, neck, or shoulder blades and last as long as twelve hours. Sometimes a heart attack causes just a mild pain that can be mistaken for indigestion, but ingestion can ususlly be relieved by antacids.

An abnormality in a valve is usually discovered when the doctor hears a murmur while listening to the heart with a stethoscope. Disorders of the valves may be caused by congential abnormalities or by infection or inflammation. A heart murmur does not always mean that a person has a serious disease.

Women who have diabetes, high blood cholesterol or who take the contraceptive diabetes, high blood cholesterol or who take the contraceptive pill are all more likely to develop heart disease if they smoke too. The good news is that if you stop smoking, no matter how long you have been a smoker, your risk of heart disease starts to go down. Within three years of giving up, your risk of dying is almost the same as for someone who has never smoked.

Increased heart rate, abnormal heart rhythm, shortness of breath, cough, fluid buildup in the body leading to swelling of the feet and ankles or abdomen, weakness, nad fatigue are some of the signs of heart failure. These vary, depending on the severity of the failure and the part of the heart affected. A variety of drugs can be prescribed to widen blood vessels, prevent the buildup of fluids, and strengthen heart contractions. In heart failure, the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. This may be due to heart muscle being weakened by conditions such as high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, or a mechanical failure in the valves. Heart failure does not mean that the heart stops pumping-that's called cardiac arrest-but rather that the heart is not working efficiently.

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One of the common heart disorders is nonetheless, coronary heart disorders. Coronary heart disorders results from a restricted suupply of blood to the heart muscle. When arteries become clogged, or narrowed, by deposits of hardened fat, cholesterol, and other substances called plague, blood does not flow through them easily.
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