What Causes Heart Attacks and Heart Failure

Causes of Heart Attacks

We have all heard of heart attacks, this article sheds light on what causes heart attacks. A heart attack has many causes: however one occurs due to lack of oxygen rich blood in the heart coronary arteries are the blood vessels which supply the heart with oxygen and blood, blockage of coronary arteries causes injury to heart muscle.
So what causes heart attacks ?


Atherosclerosis

This is usually a gradual process in which plaques or collections of cholesterol get deposited around artery walls. These plaques harden the artery walls, narrowing the lumen which is the inner channel of the artery. In many people, atherosclerosis can go unnoticed for years, in some cases beginning even from teenage years. The symptoms and health problems do not occur until later on in life when the narrowing of the artery becomes severe. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and diabetes are just some of the things which accelerate atherosclerosis, especially in people with a family history of heart attacks.

Artery Spasm

An artery spasm is caused by constrictions of arteries which prevent oxygen rich blood from reaching the heart. The spasms are often caused by blood clots, fatty acid build ups on the artery wall and blood clots caused by plaque. Though spasms, don’t cause heart attacks each time the artery is affected but an artery spasm can cause permanent heart damage.

Drug Use

Drugs which speed up the cardiovascular system have been known to induce heart attacks. Cocaine usage on a regular basis can cause heart attacks due to the high dosage used to achieve the high. methamphetamine's have also been known to cause heart failure.

Causes of Heart Failure

Heart failure usually occurs after other conditions have weakened and damaged the heart. Over time the heart becomes too weak to perform its duty of pumping blood to the body. The ventricles which are the heart’s pumping chambers become stiff and are unable to properly fill in between the beats. The heart muscle weakens to the point that it cannot pump blood effectively throughout the body. Heart failure begins on the left ventricle. Signs of heart failure include: fatigue, chronic coughing, a rapid/ irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath amongst other symptoms.

Heart disease is a term used to cover conditions such as coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrest, congenital heart diseases and heart attack.The survival rate of cardiac arrest outside hospital is less than 2%. It takes only four to six minutes after a cardiac arrest for a person to experience brain death followed by loss of life.Most heart attacks occur in the morning. Reason being the stress hormones is higher and blood is usually thicker hence harder to pump as one is partially dehydrated.
Heart disease risk factors

Most heart disease risk factors are controllable with simple lifestyle changes. Some of these include: Smoking, unhealthy diets, stress, physical fitness as well as high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels which is a type of fat found in blood. Uncontrollable risk factors include: a family history of heart disease, age and gender.
Heart problems if left untreated can lead to death.

Having known what causes heart attacks, it is important to consult a doctor in case of any of the above signs.

Causes of Heart Disease

Causes of Heart Disease

Coronary artery disease, the most common form of cardiovascular disease, is one of the leading causes of death today. But thanks to many studies involving thousands of patients, researchers that have been able to shortlist certain factors that are the Causes of Heart Disease in a person. These are called risk factors. These risk factors contribute to two categories: major and contributing. The major Causes of Heart Disease are:

High Blood Pressure (Hypertension): High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Though other risk factors can lead to high blood pressure, you can have it without having other risk factors. Blood pressure can vary with activity and with age. A healthy adult who is resting generally has a systolic pressure reading between 120 and 130 and a diastolic pressure reading between 80 and 90.

High Blood Cholesterol: this is another risk factor that causes of Heart Disease is high blood cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fat-like substance carried in your blood. This is found in all of your body cells. Your liver produces all of the cholesterol your body needs to form cell membranes and to make certain hormones. Extra cholesterol enters your body when you eat foods that come from animals

Diabetes: Heart problems are the leading cause of death among people with diabetes, especially in the case of adult-onset. If you know that you have diabetes, you should already be under a doctor's care, because good control of blood sugar levels can reduce your risk. If you think you may have diabetes but not sure, you must consult your doctor for tests.

Obesity and Overweight: Extra weight is thought to lead to increased total cholesterol levels. High blood pressure, increased risk of coronary artery disease. Obesity increases your chances of developing other risk factors for example, heart disease, especially high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol.

Smoking: Most people realize that cigarette and tabacco smoking increases your risk of lung cancer, but fewer realize that it is one of the causes of Heart Disease and also other peripheral vascular disease.

Heredity: Heart disease tends to run in families. For example, if your siblings or parents had a heart or circulatory problem before the age of 55. But then you are at greater risk of heart disease than someone who does not have complains for heart disease in their family history.

Age: Older age is a risk factor for heart disease. In fact, about 4 out of every 5 deaths occur due to heart diseases that occur in people older than 65.

In addition to this, there are also certain contributing factor that enhances the causes of Heart Disease. They are: Stress, Sex hormones, Birth control pills and Alcohol. Stress is considered an important contributing risk factor for heart disease. The effects of behavior habits, emotional stress, and socioeconomic status on the risk of heart disease and heart attack have not been proven

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy is a common type of heart disease caused by the congestive heart failure due to coronary artery disease. There are many names given to this heart disease like Ischemic heart disease. This disease is one of the main causes of congestive heart failure. In United States maximum number of people suffer from this disease. This disease happens when the arteries are blocked and results in inadequate supply of blood to the oxygen. Ischemic cardiomyopathy when the cholesterol level of the body increases and create plaque in the arteries. Arteries are one of the major parts of the body which brings blood and oxygen to the body. The patients suffering from this disease can experience angina, heart attack and unstable angina. In many cases the symptoms are unnoticed which can be very dangerous in future. The reasons why this heart disease happens are obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high fat diet, smoking, high blood pressure, etc. The symptoms of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy are breathing difficulty, decreased urine output, fatigue weakness, shortness of breath, irregular pulse, chest pain and cough.

If the patient is found with these symptoms then immediate check up is required. The patient should be frequently under medical supervision of the doctor. Tests must be done in every months to know about the status. Improper diet is also one of the main causes of ischemic cardiomyopathy. The patients of Ischemic cardiomyopathy are suggested to lay more emphasis on diet and exercise. Usually doctor perform many tests on the patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy. This disease is one of the types of cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is one of the types of heart disease in which the heart becomes enlarged and eventually results in the improper ability of muscles to pump the blood. Abnormalities in ischemic cardiomyopathy is common to see. The disease can be diagnosed physical exam and the patients medical history test. The tests done by the doctor include CT scan, radionuclide studies, cardiac catheterization, chest X-ray, MRI scan, blood tests, exercise stress test, electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiogram. ALL these tests are necessary to detect the risk and complications. These tests will help the doctor to see the depth of the disease. There are many medications available which will improve the heart conditions. But it is suggested to take the medications after the tests are done.

Medications for the patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy are given for two reasons to treat the symptoms and to improve the cardiac function. Whatever may be the medications and tests but if the patient improve his or her diet it can help to remove many symptoms and complications. Regular exercise and maintaining healthy diet is necessary to improve the heart condition. Some patients also undergo many therapies to improve the cardiac conditions. If the disease is extreme then emergency necessary must be done. The rate of heart patients is increasing with each year especially in developed countries. One of the main reasons for the increasing heart risk is the change in the lifestyle.