Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol

April 17, 2015

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: How they affect the Heart

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol. Blood pressure is preventable and all the preventive measures to be embraced for better health

The heart is one of the organs of the body that is very sensitive and plays very vital role in the body. A healthy heart is an indication that other organs which depends on its proper functionality are actually operating well. Despite being that important, it is very vulnerable to several attacks that hinder its abilities to function as is expected. Some of the attackers may include high blood pressure and high cholesterol among many others. For the purpose of this article, we want to center our discussion on the effects of high blood pressure and cholesterol. We spoke to doctor Dalal Akoury about these two factors and she is sharing with us some of the known effects of this tow to the heart. High blood pressure isn’t usually something that you can feel or notice, but if you have it you’re more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a stroke says doctor Akoury. The best way of ascertaining whether you have high blood pressure is to have it measured. Doctor Akoury says that it is very important that people should get to know their blood pressure. It is very unhealthy to wait until you are sick for you to visit your doctor to determine your blood pressure. In fact health professionals recommends that people of 40 years and above should get their blood pressure taken periodically as part of health check up to assess their risk for getting cardiovascular disease.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: Blood pressure and High blood pressure

One may wonder if there is any different between blood pressure and high blood pressure. If you are wondering then you are at the right place and in a moment you are finding out the difference. Blood pressure is the pressure or force of blood in your arteries the vessels that is charged with transporting the blood from the heart to the brain and to the rest of the body. For this role to be effectively done, the body needs adequate pressure or force to push the assignment successfully throughout the body systems. The pressure of the blood flowing through your arteries is regulated with your heart beats (in other words they change as your heart beats). The pressure in your arteries will be at its highest when your heart is contracting and pumping blood around your body and lowest as it relaxes while it fills with blood before pumping again. That explains what blood pressure is, nonetheless high blood pressure also known as hypertension means that there is no fluctuation in the blood pressure. The blood pressure remains at a certain high point than it is recommended. Expert says that high blood pressure is not something that you can feel or notice easily. Nonetheless if this is not addressed in good time, it can cause an enlargement on your heart making your heart to be less effective in pumping the blood to the various parts of the body. This is what in many cases result in a condition known as heart failure.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: Heart attack and Stroke

Having high blood pressure increases your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Even though this is a life threatening condition, it is regrettable that no proper reason is given as to how high blood pressure is caused. However it is believed that the following can play a part:

Luck of adequate physical activity
Being overweight or obese
Having too much salt in your diet
Alcohol abuse
Having a family history of high blood pressure.

Prevention is always the best and therefore if you are not having high blood pressure, living a healthy lifestyle is very important as it is one of the best ways of preventing this problem from occurring in the future.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: How does my General Practitioner know I have high blood pressure?

Like we had said before, this is measurable and your doctor will do just that. If your blood pressure is 140/90mmHg or higher you will probably have to have this rechecked several times. It is necessary to note that everyone’s blood pressure varies during the day. Some people have a condition known as ‘white coat hypertension’ or ‘white coat syndrome’. This is a condition where your blood pressure rises only because someone is taking your blood pressure, and not because you have an underlying medical problem. If you have white coat hypertension, your blood pressure will return to normal when your doctor or stops taking it. It can be very difficult to diagnose and this is why you may need to have your blood pressure rechecked several times, or you may be sent home with a 24 hour blood pressure monitor for the same reason.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: What do the numbers mean?

If you have been to a health institution for high blood pressure measurement, you must have noticed that every blood pressure reading consists of two figures or measurements shown as one number on top of the other and measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). If your reading is 120/80mmHg for example, you might hear your doctor or nurse saying your blood pressure is 120 over 80. The interpretation of the figures is that the top figure represents the highest level your blood pressure reaches when your heart contracts and pumps blood through your arteries – your systolic blood pressure. An example might be 130mmHg. The second (or bottom) number represents the lowest level your blood pressure reaches as your heart relaxes between beats – your diastolic blood pressure. An example might be 75mmHg. Not unless stated otherwise the human blood pressure should be below 140/90mmHg. But as for those struggling with heart or circulatory disease the recommended blood pressure should be below 130/80mmHg.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: What can I do to reduce my blood pressure?

Finally if it has been established that you have high blood pressure, then it would be advisable that you consider changing your lifestyle and engaging in healthy physical activities, losing weight, reducing the salt content in your diet, cutting down on alcohol and eating a balanced, healthy diet. In the event that you have done all these and still the high blood pressure persists, then you may need to consult with your doctor for professional advice to help you reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Effects of High blood pressure and cholesterol: How they affect the Heart

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity

April 13, 2015

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity: What damages the Heart muscles?

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity begins with changing life style in all dimensions.

While addressing the topic “Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins” in our last article, we answered some questions touching on the cardiac toxicity including what is cardiac toxicity, what causes cardiac toxicity, how is cardiac toxicity diagnosed and what are the symptoms of cardiac toxicity? Nonetheless what we did not address is how to prevent this problem from surfacing in our lives. We were also not able to address issue of treatment should this problem occur in one’s life. This that we were not able to address is what doctor Dalal Akoury is going to help us understand their effects in the effort of trying to be safe from all the attacks of cardiac toxicity. It is important to note that prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity like any other health condition is the beginning on solving the problem in it’s entirely.

If we could succeed in the prevention aspect of it, then life would be very healthy and comfortable. But with that entire story telling heart problems can be prevented by changing the quantity of drug administered (dose) to the patient at a time, method of administration and type of anthracycline. Besides that, in the process of making effort in trying to find workable solutions to this problem, a lot of special medications which are very effective in the prevention of the damages caused from doxorubicin have been developed says doctor Akoury. Now let us consider these treatment options one by one as we progress into the discussion:

Dosage: In the journey of prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity a lot will have to be done. However, one of the main ways to prevent cardiac toxicity is to limit the cumulative dose of drugs that damage the heart, and more so the anthracyclines. It is important to note that there is a defined amount of doxorubicin that can be given with a lesser risk of complications, like for instance if your total dose of doxorubicin is less than 550mg/m², you may just have about 1% of experiencing cardiac toxicity. On the other hand when your total dose of doxorubicin is say between 560mg/m² and 1155mg/m², your risk is likely to go up to 30%.

Besides that experts have also established that individual patients will tolerate differently the medication of doxorubicin. Like for example some patients may receive high doses of doxorubicin without ever developing heart damage while some have problems at relatively low doses of even less than 550mg/m² total dose. These variances are all applicable when making effort in preventing the prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity.

Method of administration: It has been noted in certain cases that there is some supporting evidence that the method of drug administration may affect the risk of cardiac toxicity. Rapid administration of drugs for instance may results in high blood levels, which is likely to cause more heart damage than if the same quantity of drugs given over or spread over a longer period of time. In other words giving smaller doses of drug more frequently can be a perfect prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity since it will be instrumental in decreasing the toxicity compared to large doses of drugs at longer intervals.

Liposomal anthracyclines: The risk of cardiac toxicity from anthracyclines has been reduced by making them in a different way. Liposomal anthracyclines have been encapsulated, or enclosed in a liposome, a tiny globule of fat. Because of it capability to hide the drug in fat, it is able to stay in the body much longer because the immune system doesn’t target it for elimination and the liver doesn’t break it down as quickly either. The currently ongoing studies indicate that the risk of heart problems is considerably lower with liposomal doxorubicin formulations than with conventional doxorubicin. Types of liposomal anthracyclines include:

Liposomal daunorubicin (DaunoXome®)
Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil®)

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has been studied most extensively and has demonstrated the most significant reductions in heart problems. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has shown a similar anti-cancer effect to doxorubicin, but with less cardiac toxicity.

Dexrazoxane (Zinecard®): This drug has been shown to prevent or reduce the severity of heart damage caused by doxorubicin. Dexrazoxane is thought to protect the heart muscle by blocking the formation of oxygen free radicals. One of the ways that radiation and chemotherapy drugs damage cells is by forming free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules which are formed during many normal cellular processes that involve oxygen, such as burning fuel for energy. They are also formed from exposure to elements in the environment, like tobacco smoke, radiation and chemotherapy drugs.

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity: How is cardiac toxicity treated?

When a disease has invaded the body, treatment becomes necessary. At this point we can’t talk of prevention since we are already affected. In the past cardiac toxicity used to be treated by stopping or reducing the dose of the medication that is deemed to be causing damage to your heart. After that, the treatment of cardiac toxicity was changed and it was now done in the same way just like it is done in other causes of heart failures. Therefore your doctor may prescribe medications to thin your blood and make it easier for your heart to move and medications that help your heart beat more efficiently. The following are some of the medications that your doctor is likely to prescribe for you.

Diuretics: Damage to your heart may cause you to retain water and have swelling in your ankles. A prescription of a diuretic to increase the amount of water you excrete in the urine may become necessary. Like for instance the use of diuretic is furosemide (Lasix®) could be applicable.

Digitalis drugs: Digitalis refers to a whole group of drugs that make the heart beat more efficiently and increase the amount of blood that is pumped to the body. This can also be efficient in offering the much needed solution.

ACE inhibitors: These drugs also make it easier for your heart to pump blood to the body by opening your arteries and lowering your blood pressure. This improves blood flow to your kidneys, which do not function properly with low blood flow. Some examples of ACE inhibitors include benazepril (Lotensin®), enalapril (Vasotec®) and fosinopril (Monopril®).

Beta-blockers: These medications slow down your heart rate and may be used if you have a myocardial infarction (heart attack.) Examples are: metoprolol (Lopressor^®), propranolol (Inderal^®) and atenolol (Tenormin^®). This article may be loaded with heavy medical terminologies and therefore if there is anything you need to be clarified, you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for direction.

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity: What damages the Heart muscles?

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins

April 13, 2015

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: Cardiac Toxicity

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins can be corrected if timely treatment is sought.

Unless we expand our knowledge about the dangers of diseases around us, we are likely to sink with them. There are very many health conditions affecting people from all walks of life and the sooner we pool together to fight them from a common front the better for everyone. Most of these diseases could be avoided if we chose to live a healthy lifestyle. What we eat and how we live our lives contributes greatly to the risks of some of these conditions. For instance damaging the heart using toxins could be prevented if we eat the right organic foods and live an active life. You may be wondering how best you can protect yourself and your children from the effects of such health problems. If this describes you then you are at the right place and a team of experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury will be helping us discuss the real issues and how to go about them.

Doctor Akoury says that chemotherapy drugs are toxins in themselves and can cause injury to your heart. This is what is referred to us as cardiac toxicity. These injuries to the heart will incapacitate the heart and render it in effective. When this happens the heart will be unable to pump enough blood to supply the body with essential oxygen and nutrients. Even though several chemotherapy drugs may cause cardiac toxicity, the most common cause of cardiac toxicity in cancer patients is treatment with chemotherapy drugs known as anthraxcyclines. Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®) is a frequently prescribed anthraxcyclines. Although the best way to currently prevent cardiac toxicity from anthraxcyclines is to limit the amount of anthraxcyclines administered, forms of less toxic anthraxcyclines drugs and drugs that may relieve side effects are being developed to supplement the on what is already available. As we progress into the discussion, doctor Akoury is going to respond to some of the questions that are being raised by many patients from time to time. The questions include:

What is cardiac toxicity?
What causes cardiac toxicity?
How is cardiac toxicity diagnosed?
What are the symptoms of cardiac toxicity?
How can cardiac toxicity be prevented?
How is cardiac toxicity treated?

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: What is cardiac toxicity?

Damage to the heart muscle by a toxin is called cardiac toxicity she says. Cardiac toxicity may cause arrhythmias which are changes in heart rhythm or it can develop into heart failure. Remember that when we talk heart failure it does not mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop. It simply means that the heart muscle cannot pump with enough force to supply the body with blood containing essential oxygen and nutrients. Heart failure develops over time as the pumping action of the heart grows weaker.

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: What causes cardiac toxicity?

There are many possible causes of cardiac toxicity. In cancer patients, cardiac toxicity may be caused by radiation to the chest and some chemotherapy drugs. One of the commonly known causes of this problem is the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (Adriamycin®). This drug is also known as an anthracycline. It is often used in the treatment of leukemia lymphoma, multiple and breast cancer. Cancer being what it is in human life is very paining emotionally. A lot is being done for its proper medication to be established. So far what is in use are just like any other medications has some side effects to the patients. Most of those drugs side effects are linked to abnormalities in the heart rate commonly known as rhythm. Examples of those medications include:

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg®)
Idarubicin (Idamycin®)
Melphalan (Alkeran®)
Paclitaxel (Taxol®)
Tretinoin (Vesanoid®)

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: How is cardiac toxicity diagnosed?

For cardiac toxicity to be effectively diagnosed a number of tests must be done studied and appropriate result delivered. The following are some of the steps that your doctor is likely to take you through:

Heart sounds: Your doctor will listen for abnormal heart sounds with a stethoscope. Any extra sound other than the normal “lub-dub” is called a murmur. If this murmur is present, then that may be an indicator that some damage is in the offing in your heart.

Chest X-ray: An x-ray provides a one-dimensional picture of your heart and lungs. An enlarged heart on a chest x-ray may indicate that the heart muscle is damaged.

Electrocardiogram (ECG): An ECG machine records the electrical activity of your heart. Ordinarily this is used to measure the rate and regularity of your heartbeat.

Echocardiogram: This test uses sound waves to create a picture of the heart. It shows how well the heart is filling with blood and pumping it to the rest of the body. An echocardiogram is one of the most useful tests for diagnosing heart failure.

Multi Gated Acquisition (MUGA) scan: This procedure takes specialized pictures of the heart after a radioactive substance is injected into a vein. The contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood supply to the heart can be visualized from the pictures.

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: The symptoms of cardiac toxicity?

This must be taken seriously because cardiac toxicity is a very serious condition. Patients must be well informed of the signs and symptoms and when they spot any, then an immediate appointment with the doctor must be soughed. The following are some of the signs to watch out for:

Fatigue
Shortness of breath on exertion, worsening to shortness of breath at rest
Discomfort lying on your back
Swelling of the ankles

The problem of cardiac toxicity is not anything that you would even wish to happen to your worse enemies. Our objective at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is to change lives and cause people to live healthy all the days of their lives. The magnitude of this condition is very devastating ant the only best way of handing it is by prevention. We need to do all it takes to keep distance from cardiac toxicity. In our next article doctor Dalal Akoury is going to take us through the prevention and treatment of this condition should it occur in your life? In the meantime you may want to schedule for an appointment with her for any concern you may be having in your health and she will be of great help to you and your loved ones

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: Cardiac Toxicity

Tag Archives: Cardiac toxicity