Introduction
Heart disease is a general term used to refer to a wide variety of heart conditions that can affect the heart muscle, valves, blood vessels, structure, electrical system, or coronary arteries.
Heart disease includes conditions such as cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, valvular disorders and congenital heart defects. Although each disease affects the heart differently, the main problem with all types of diseases is that they can somehow interfere with the vital pumping activity of the heart.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Russia for both men and women.
What are the symptoms of heart disease?
The clinical picture and symptoms of heart lesions are very diverse. In most cases, the symptoms of heart disease will be:
- Pain behind the sternum and in the area of the heart muscle. Pain may be associated with insufficient blood supply or acute blockage of one of the branches of the arteries supplying blood to the heart. The nature of the pain is different: burning, pressing, sharp, squeezing, bursting, etc. They occur at rest and during physical activity. Sometimes pain in such diseases can radiate to the arm, stomach, back and other parts of the body.
- Dyspnea. This is a condition in which the patient feels short of breath. At the beginning of many diseases, it develops only during physical activity, and as the pathological process progresses, it can bother the patient even at rest.
- Change in heart rate. Normally, the patient does not feel his heart beating. When sick, the heart rate may increase, and the person complains that the heart is “beating like crazy and jumping out of the chest.” Some heart diseases, on the contrary, are accompanied by a decrease in heart rate (bradycardia).
- Cough and choking. These symptoms of the disease are most often signs of chronic heart failure of the pulmonary circulation. Congestion in the blood vessels leads to irritation of cough receptors in the lungs and bronchi and causes coughing.
- Weakness, lethargy, fatigue. These are nonspecific signs that the body is experiencing problems with its internal organs.
- Edema. The appearance of edema indicates that the heart cannot cope with pumping blood. Such swelling develops in the lower extremities.
- Pressure surges. Some patients notice them only with the help of special equipment, others can determine the rise in pressure by their condition. Weakness appears, “spots before the eyes”, dizziness, hands tremble.
- Temperature increase. Inflammatory diseases occur with high fever and severe symptoms of intoxication of the whole body.
- Other symptoms: nausea, vomiting, fainting, collapse, shock.
There are many different heart diseases that come with painful symptoms. Before starting their treatment, you need to find out the cause of the problem and, if possible, eliminate it.
The cardiovascular system
The heart is a powerful and tireless pump. It consists of muscular chambers that compress blood through the vascular system and a series of valves that ensure that blood moves efficiently in the right direction. There is a self-regulating electrical system that senses the heart rate and coordinates the sequential beating of the various chambers of the heart.
To do all this muscular work around the clock, the heart needs a large and continuous supply of oxygen-rich blood. Coronary arteries are vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle, making them extremely important to the heart and life.
List of heart diseases
The normal functioning of the heart and vascular system can be disrupted by a large number of different diseases. Several umbrella categories are often used, from which different types of diseases branch.
Atherosclerotic disease
While many disease processes can affect blood vessels, the term "cardiovascular disease" generally covers disorders of the blood vessels (arteries) that are associated with either atherosclerosis, hypertension, or heart disease.
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque made up of fat, calcium, cholesterol and other substances builds up and hardens in the arteries, impairing blood flow.
There are different types of atherosclerotic diseases, including coronary artery disease, carotid artery disease, and peripheral artery disease.
Coronary heart disease (CHD), common in most parts of the world, can lead to heart attacks (myocardial infarction) and is the most common type of heart disease. In coronary artery disease, atherosclerotic plaques form in the lining of the coronary arteries, hardening and narrowing the arteries.
Atherosclerosis and high blood pressure (hypertension or hypertension) can lead not only to coronary artery disease, but also to carotid artery disease, which affects the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck, and peripheral artery disease, which can affect almost any other artery in organism.
How to deal with this symptom
Commonly accepted means
- It is necessary to take antipyretics at a temperature of 38.5 C, and if febrile convulsions were previously noted, then the medications are taken even earlier (at 37.5 C).
- You must remember to drink plenty of warm water, and if it is delayed, drink diuretics. This will help bring the condition back to normal faster. It is better to use drugs in rare cases, but you should not delay a visit to the doctor. For short-term treatment, you can use the following before use: Paracetamol,
- Analgin,
- Nurofen,
- Aspirin,
- Ibuprofen.
If the temperature is elevated for a long time, a mandatory examination is necessary. It can be difficult to accurately determine the diagnosis when visiting one doctor, so it is better to undergo examination by several doctors. There can be many reasons for this problem, but constantly taking antipyretics and antibiotics is strictly prohibited.
Self-medication with such serious drugs can lead to a deterioration in heart function, which, against the background of the underlying pathology, will lead to a worsening of the condition.
It will be possible to avoid a rise in temperature in the future if you follow all the recommendations given regarding the treatment of the disease that provokes the symptom. Additionally, it is worth taking a course of physiotherapeutic procedures (massage, mud therapy, balneotherapy, etc.) to improve immunity.
This video will tell you how to lower a child’s temperature:
Symptoms and signs
Symptoms of heart disease depend on what condition the person has. However, the most common signs that occur during many different types of heart disease include chest pain or discomfort, rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness or dizziness, syncope, fatigue and shortness of breath.
Symptoms of blood vessel diseases
Clinical signs of vascular damage most often begin to appear in a person after 40 years of age. Headache, fainting, dizziness, memory loss, tinnitus, poor concentration, causeless anxiety - this is a list of symptoms that may be signs of circulatory problems in the blood vessels of the head and neck. There may be a decrease in a person’s reaction speed, worsening sleep, decreased intelligence, and decreased performance. With age, a feeling of heaviness and pain in the legs appears, even at short distances, the hands, feet and legs swell, varicose veins progress, trophic disorders appear in the area of the legs, including difficult-to-heal ulcers. Hypertension may appear, intestinal function deteriorates, and sexual function decreases. These are symptoms of vascular diseases of the extremities.
Causes of heart disease
Because there are many types of heart disease, there are many different causes that cause it. Some causes are unclear, and some are obvious, such as a genetic abnormality, a birth defect, or as a result of certain underlying conditions or medications or drugs.
Many of the risk factors for heart disease are based on a person's lifestyle, such as diet, activity level, weight (obesity), smoking, and treatment and management of chronic diseases.
Diagnostics
To diagnose heart disease, your doctor will take a complete medical history, conduct a detailed physical examination, and choose from a variety of tests. Depending on what the doctor is looking for, these tests may include an electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, ambulatory monitoring, computed tomography (CT), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, stress testing, and electrophysiology testing.
Treatment
Treatment for cardiovascular disease is variable and depends on the type of disease.
For almost all types of heart disease, lifestyle changes such as healthy eating, daily exercise, weight loss, quitting smoking and stress management are key.
If these changes do not help, your doctor may prescribe medications. There are many options that can be considered, from ACE inhibitors to anticoagulants, from beta blockers to calcium channel blockers and many more.
There are also surgeries, special procedures and medical devices that can be used in severe or special cases.
If you have been diagnosed with any heart disease, rest assured that after long-term treatment, people are living longer than ever. Managing heart disease means making lifestyle changes, learning what symptoms to watch for, and possibly taking medications. Lifestyle changes that may be needed include quitting smoking, eating healthy, exercising regularly, losing weight and managing stress.
When your heart hurts, what to do
If your heart hurts from worries, worries, nervous tension, after a breakdown, then herbal sedatives, Validol, Corvalol phyto will help. If such attacks recur, then you need to contact a cardiologist to identify the cause of the pain.
From worries
If your heart hurts from constant worries, then you should regularly take relaxing and calming medications:
- Novo-Passit,
- peony tincture,
- Persen
- Magne B6.
It is recommended to drink them all the time while the traumatic situation persists. This will help prevent heart pain.
For nervous tension
Heart pain with severe nervous tension will be relieved by:
- Validol under the tongue;
- Corvalol (20 drops per quarter glass of water);
- a mixture of hawthorn and mint tinctures (15 drops each).
After a nervous breakdown
The heart hurts after a nervous breakdown due to the massive release of stress hormones. In this case, it is recommended to supplement the intake of sedatives (motherwort, valerian, Sedaphyton) with drugs that improve metabolic processes. They will help restore nutrition to the heart muscle, normalize its functions and resistance to stress factors. Shown:
- Kratal,
- Doppelhertz coenzyme Q10,
- Kudesan,
- Magnicum,
- Vitrum superstress.
When excited
If heart pain occurs during excitement, then taking herbal tinctures or extracts in tablets (hawthorn, motherwort, peony) will reduce them. A soothing tea is also prepared from herbs. For this use:
- mint leaf,
- hawthorn color,
- oregano herb,
- lemon balm leaves.
You can take one plant or mix 2-3 in any proportion. For a glass of boiling water you need a level teaspoon of plant material, the mixture is infused for 15 minutes. It is good to add half a teaspoon of honey to warm tea. You can drink 3-4 glasses of this drink throughout the day.
Prevention
The most common forms of heart disease are largely preventable if you pay attention to your heart risk factors and take smart steps to reduce them. Ideally, you should work with your doctor to conduct a formal risk assessment, but you can also make a fairly accurate risk assessment on your own. If your risk is low, that's great.
