Heart failure

There are somethings which make even the strongest of men to shudder. Among themare heart attack and its cousin heart failure. The fear is understandable because theorgan affected is the one which is most essential for survival; and of course, the dramawhich is implied by the way the condition is named – ‘attack’. So what exactly happens inan attack? What does heart failure mean?The heart is made up of a large number of heart cells. When the cells collectivelycontract and relax, the heart is able to pump the blood around the body. Like any otherorgan, the heart is nourished by blood flowing through its blood vessels. The rawmaterials for the cells to survive and work – oxygen and glucose are supplied by thearterial blood vessels.There are two main arteries which by dividing repeatedly, ensure adequate blood supplyto all parts of the heart. If either of the artery or any of its divisions gets blocked,then, obviously, the cells supplied by that particular blood vessel are cut off from thesupply of raw materials, and become weak; and if the block persists for sufficiently longtime, then the cells die of starvation. This process of an artery getting blocked withbad effects on the heart cells is called heart attack (In French attaque cardiaque).The commonest cause of a block is a blood clot. The chances of having a blood clotincreases due to smoking, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol abnormalities andsedentary life style.Alternatively, when small arteries get blocked, the remaining cells are enough to keepthe heart pumping. If a major artery gets blocked, or multiple small ones, then theremaining cells fail to keep the heart pumping. This failure of the heart to do itspumping function is called heart failure (In French insuffisance cardiaque) . Though themost common cause of a failure is an ‘attack’, there are other causes too, like alcoholintake, nutritional deficiency, hormonal problems, genetic abnormalities.There is a tendency to associate a diagnosis of heart attack or failure with a bleakoutlook. But that is not necessarily the case. Advances in science have improved ourunderstanding of the basic process and increased the options available to manage theseconditions, enabling most sufferers to live a productive life.

Everyone wants to live a life free from stress and diseases but not many of usunderstand the importance of exercise and heart care in the young age itself. Heart isactually a muscular organ pumping and delivering pure blood to all the organs of humanbody. Proper diet and apt life style should be followed in order to prevent from the lifethreatening heart attack disease and it is vital to maintain a fit body and protectourselves from heart failure.All of us agree that we do take the drugs prescribed by famous physicians withoutquestioning him /her about its ingenuity and yes we trust a doctor and his prescription.However the recent news from the Toronto Clinical studies has shocked millions and weneed to ask ourselves are we talking in the approved safe medicine for preventing heartfailures. This is because the studies have clearly revealed the name of popular heartfailure (In French insuffisance cardiaque) prescription drug as contagious and deadly.This truth might be unknown to many heart patients as they on their part wouldexercise, stick to proper diet and take in the prescribed drugs to stay away from theheart disease. All of a sudden this healthy person might experience massive heartattack (In French attaque cardiaque) and he/she might pass away. Those who werenear and dear to the dead person would mourn and later leave the whole issue. Now ifone is very prudent and skilled in checking all the prescribed drugs he/she had takenthey might come to know that the dead person would have unknowingly taken in aprescription drug named Spironolactone and this would have triggered the slow butsteady failure of the heart. The deadly nature of this drug was unknown until last yearand when studies and research from Toronto Medial Studies proved about the drug’sharmful nature it is indeed surprising to see that not only many common people but eventhe famous physicians stood for the drug.“I have no doubt that this drug when used in the right patients and with more carefulmonitoring is still a good drug combination…..”These are the words of a researcher who advocates the Spironolactone .This drug hascaused more than 30% of heart failure death in many countries and more than 27,000

hospitalizations each and every year. So we, the ones affected by the drug should notremain idle.We the general public should voice and raise campaigns against the pharmaceuticalmanufacturer of this drug .This drug should be yanked off from the consumer marketand ignorant people should be made aware and they need to be very sure if they take inthe correct as well as safe drug for their heart failure prevention.Having a heart attack can dramatically change the lifestyle of an individual. It isconsidered as the habit changing and life changing event which can be a difficult eventto recover. Though the attack is a very terrifying event but it is extremely necessarythat, after the attack one must start the recovery process at an immediate basis. Thetwo most important factors that contribute in recovery are diet schedule and exercise.Diet is one of the most effective and simple way of recovering from this kind of illhealth and that is the reason why proper and disciplined food habit needs to beimplemented. The primary aim after such a difficult disease of heart failure is tomaintain proper weight with correct amount of nutrition which helps to maintain thehealthy heart and lower the risk of similar situations in the future. The first importantinclusion in dieting habit is good amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. It should beconsumed at least 5 times in a day, keeping in mind that it shouldn’t be processed foodas they cannot match the nutritional value of the fresh ones. Secondly, high fatconsumption should be avoided and it should be replaced by lower versions of meat, fishand dairy products. For an heart failure (In French insuffisance cardiaque) patientconsumption of sodium, cholesterol and fat is not at all healthy so the third initiativewould be to take read the labels while purchasing food and try to avoid as much aspossible those foods which contains the mentioned nutrients. Even if it cannot beavoided, the consumption level should be lowered. Fiber intake is always a good optionto keep heart and body healthy and fit. So the fourth diet inclusion would be the intakeof whole grains as it has more nutrients that processed breads providing betternutritional value.The fifth important step towards making a healthy diet chart for these patients wouldbe to restrict much alcohol intake as it can be injurious to a heart attack (In French

attaque cardiaque) patient. About one or two glasses of red wine may be good for heartbut the same is not true for other drinks. Lastly one must also lessen down the intakeof fried, oily, salty, sugary and breaded foods as this will hamper the heart functioning.Following these habits one can surely improve heart functioning. These are proven factsas discussed by different eminent doctors and as per them only, maintaining this isbound to fetch results. Contact VDM Group S.A. Houten Schoen 24 9100 Sint-Niklaas Belgique

Heart failure

by lisabrun on Jul 13, 2011

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Heart failure Document Transcript