Save the heart to be hale and hearty

Olympia Shilpa Gerald

source;The Hindu  

 

Treatment within one hour from heart attack can save life

Every year international campaigns turn the spotlight on better heart health on World Heart Day, citing cardiovascular ailments (heart disease and stroke) as the world's biggest killer disease. But not only is heart disease preventable with lifestyle modification but timely treatment by identifying symptoms and seeking medical attention can prevent death due to heart disease and salvage heart muscle.

“Much of the problem lies in denial of symptoms and delay in treatment,” says M.Chenniappan, senior cardiologist and president, ECG-ECHO Club. “Treatment within 30 to 60 minutes from the onset of attack, called as golden hour, can not only prevent death but save the heart muscle. Delay in treatment may save the patient's life but would leave him with poor quality of life and reduced heart health.”

“Though thrombolytic drugs can be administered up to 12 hours of the attack, immediate attention adds quality and quantity to a patient's life”, reiterates Nallusamy Senthilkumar, cardiologist, KMC Hospitals.

Though all chest pain is not identified with cardiac pain ( ulcer, muscle and bone pain being other causes) it is important to seek medical care at the nearest treating centre if pain persists for over 20 minutes. Cardiac pain is usually compressive and is accompanied by perspiration and palpitation.

Those who experience symptoms for the first time would do well not to ignore it even if chest pain is of the pricking, burning or pressing kind, warns Dr. Senthilkumar.

Symptoms are not similar

Noting that diseases don't read textbooks, Dr.Chenniappan cautions symptoms are not of a similar pattern. “Don't diagnose or decide treatment if you fall into the high-risk category: smokers, persons with diabetes, hyper tension, high cholesterol, obesity or mental stress.” Heart attack symptoms are also usually typical in diabetics characterised by unusual tiredness and hiccups, which can be confused with low sugar symptoms.

Dr.Chenniappan stresses on the need for multi-specialty hospitals to adopt a special policy to handle chest pain in order to achieve best results. “Chest pain cases should be attended promptly instead of putting the patient through prolonged emergency procedure. Even angioplasty is effective if performed within 120 minutes of heart attack.”

Improving care in periphery and rural areas is a prerequisite to ensure that someone who has a heart attack does not suffer due to lack of access to a cardiologist, he adds.

The ECG-ECHO club trains general practitioners in rural pockets to administer preliminary treatment for cardiac emergencies. By networking with physicians in tertiary care hospitals, advanced care is provided with minimised time delay as practitioners apprise counterparts in city hospitals and arrangements are put in place before patients reach the hospital.

Prevention

According to Dr.Senthilkumar, smoking is the major cause for heart attacks in persons below 40, while Dr.Chenniappan says that mental stress as a contributory factor cannot be underestimated. It is lifestyle modification and public education, not advanced technologies, which have brought down heart attack rates in some parts of the world, he adds.

CHAT WITH DR DEVI SHETTY- HEART SPECIALIST

Chat with Dr.Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya
(Heart Specialist) Bangalore was arranged by WIPRO for its employees .
The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone.
source: Janab Choudhary,mumbai


Qn: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?

Ans:
1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil
2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a longtime
3. Quit smoking
4. Control weight
5. Control blood pressure and sugar

Qn: Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart?

Ans: No

Qn: It's still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person
gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?

Ans: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Qn: Are heart diseases hereditary?

Ans: Yes

Qn: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress?

Ans: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.

Qn: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart?

Ans: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints

Qn: You have done so much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to do so?

Ans: Mother Theresa , who was my patient

Qn: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?

Ans: Extremely rare

Qn: Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age
(I'm currently only 22) or do you have to worry about it only after you are above 30 years of age?

Ans: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

Qn: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ?

Ans: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

Qn: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?

Ans: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.

Qn: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?

Ans: Yoga helps.

Qn: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?

Ans: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.

Qn: Which oil is better - groundnut, sunflower, olive?

Ans: All oils are bad .

Qn: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test?

Ans: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP, Treadmill test after an echo.

Qn: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?

Ans: Help the person into a sleeping position , place an aspirin tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to a coronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first hour.

Qn: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble?

Ans: Extremely difficult without ECG.

Qn: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems.

Ans: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, s edentary lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Qn: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Ans: Yes.

Qn: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it true?

Ans : Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not have a software engineer as a child

Qn: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions would you recommend?

Ans : When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Qn: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?

Ans : Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Qn: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?

Ans : No.

Qn: How would you define junk food?

Ans : Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , samosas, and even masala dosas.

Qn: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Ans: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Qn: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?

Ans : No.

Qn: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)?

Ans : Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Qn: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems?

Ans : No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.

Qn: Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs in the house, work as a substitute for exercise?

Ans : Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chair and sitting helps a lot.

Qn: Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?

Ans: Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics are more vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.

Qn: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?

Ans : Diet, exercise, drugs on time , Control cholesterol, BP, weight.

Qn: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared to day shift workers?

Ans : No.

Qn: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?

Ans : There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to
reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Qn: Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heart attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?

Ans : Nature protects women till the age of 45.

Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

Ans : Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for health checkup s if you are past the age of 30 ( once in six months recommended) ....