The Myth Surrounding Heart Disease Symptoms

The Misconception about Heart Disease Symptoms is a major obstacle to understand the truth about heart disease. What you know about heart disease may not be the truth. As a matter of fact, sometimes journals are broadcasting the wrong information.

What you are going to find out about heart disease symptoms will blow you away cause the way you understand heart disease is actually not the way it is. We are far from reaching the final destination of curing heart disease especially heart attack.

Judging from the statistic about heart failure, it seems the figure keeps increasing by the year. There were not known cases of heart disease in any text book prior to 1910. The older cardiologists back in the year 1950's could not recall any case related to heart attack. Yet in the last 50 years, heart disease especially heart attack become the leading disease to overcome.

Surprisingly, heart attack is concentrated to a specific ethnic group and country specific. It can be summarize in one word that affects the population. DIET.

The myth surrounding Heart Disease Symptoms are:

• heart attack is an old age disease which only attack those who are 40 years old and above. This adage is purely ignorant. Heart failure can happen to anyone and any age. With the current diet adopted in most modern urban living, the victim could be anyone at young schooling age.

Atherosclerosis is the main culprit to cause heart disease. The process which lead to hardening to arteries can start as early as in teens. Fatty streaks found in arteries are the strong evidence to believe atherosclerosis in heart attacks cases.

• strong presence of Cholesterol is the main cause of heart attacks. That is why you hear the fear on the big 'C' the Cholesterol. Everybody has been fearing Cholesterol because someone started to fear and the domino effect continues till today.

When the endothelial layer that lines the blood vessels gets damaged by even the most common elements such as chlorine and fluoride which appears abundantly in our tap water, this ignite the inflammation process.

 

Dr Paul Ridker of Harvard Medical University made a discovery through Framingham Heart Study about the relevance in cholesterol level between heart disease patient and those who are not. In the study, they found out that there are no significant difference of cholesterol levels between them. This point to the cholesterol level has no direct reference to heart disease symptoms.

• heart attack occur mostly in men. There was a study that show 33% of women perish from heart attacks compare to only 4% with breast cancer. (Pilote and Hlatky, Am Heart J 1995)

The only difference between men and women in relation to heart attack is:

• 66% of women perish suddenly without prior heart disease symptoms

• women are generally older than men when they suffer a heart attack

• women have different symptoms when heart attack occur. Women tend to have neck and shoulder pain, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and shortness of breath. Some Doctors misjudge women with other disease.

• due to the improper diagnosis, treatment are rarely precise. Therefore the heart attack treatment are not administered.

• due to the wrong diagnosis by the Doctor, patients are wrongly admitted. Instead of admitting to CCU (Coronary Care Unit) to have clot busting treatment, the patient are treated with normal admission.

• heart attack occur in women usually during post menopause

• a new study suggest that a different in gender may react differently for heart attack patients who have the same medications.

• heart attack that occur in the heart artery are badly blocked by plaque. This notion actually it not the case. The usual cases that case heart attack are those patients with unstable, new forming soft plaques that have yet to 'mature'. These young plaques are easily rupture when the patient goes through stress either emotionally or physically.

When the plaque ruptures, a process called thrombosis which ignite the blood clot in the artery that block the normal blood flow. When this happen, heart attack occur and cause irregular heart beat that sends chaotic electrical conductivity condition that can cause heart beat failure. In this scenario, usually the patient has an artery blockage of 50%.

• thread mill stress test is the most complete method to detect heart disease. According to American College of Cardiology, tread mill stress test is only accurate for the patients who have blockages which exceed 65%-70%. This test is unnecessary at this stage because if the patient is able to survive at 50% blockage, the chance of him or her surviving at 65%-70% is much higher due to the stable plaque in their arteries.

The general understanding of heart disease symptoms are the major obstacle that need to be addressed and understand by all communities in order to have a clear picture about heart attacks.

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