Why Is There An Increased Rate Of Heart Disease?
Diabetes puts you at risk of heart disease (even if you have ‘normal’ looking cholesterol and no symptoms). This is because diabetes can change the chemical makeup of some of the substances found in the blood and this can cause blood vessels to narrow or to clog up completely. Heart attacks and strokes are up to four times more likely in people with diabetes For this reason, often people with diabetes are on blood pressure lowering medications, often in combination Maintaining fitness with regular physical activity combined with some weight loss can help reduce high blood pressure Diabetes can change the chemical makeup of some of the substances found in the blood and this can cause blood vessels to narrow or to clog up completely. Maintaining fitness with regular physical activity combined with some weight loss can help reduce high blood pressure. Blood pressure lowering medications are often required for people who have diabetes. Symptoms Often people do not know they have heart disease until they develop symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness or excessive fatigue when walking or exercising. It is important to note that symptoms may be mild to severe and sometimes there may be none at all. Examples of some other warning symptoms may be: Arm or jaw discomfort Indigestion Weakness Nausea. If you think you are having a heart attack, phone 000 IMMEDIATELY. How can I reduce the risk? One of the most important things to do to reduce the risk of heart disease is to meet with your doctor and/or Credentialled Diabetes Educator to discuss your individual risk factors and how to reduce them. In general terms you can reduce the risk by: Being physically active Losing weight if you are overweight Not smoking Managing blood fats Managing high blood pressure Ta Continue reading >>
Silent Killer: 40% Diabetics Suffer Painless Heart Attack
CHANDIGARH: In case of diabetics, heart attack can occur in 40 out of 100 patients and without any obvious symptoms like chest pain or angina. Moreover, the attack will be so massive that you will get no time to manage it as 80% of deaths in diabetics are due to heart diseases. As Dr K P Singh, endocrinologist, Fortis said, "Cardiovascular diseases (heart attack and stroke) occur 10-15 years earlier in diabetics as compared to a similar risk factored patient. Painless heart attack can occur in 40% of diabetics (so no angina or chest pain)." Though no reason has been ascertained for pain-free heart attack, the absence of this obvious symptom makes the heart disease more severe. "The patient is unable to report on time. Prior to an attack a diabetic feels breathless, the pulse and heart rate either falls down or increases," said Dr Singh. Those with diabetes have a two to four-fold risk of stroke than people without. Even after adjusting for other additional risk factors such as hypertension there remains an excess risk for CVD in people with diabetes. "Death from stroke and heart attack are the leading causes of mortality in type 2 diabetes. As patients with hypertension or heart disease are more likely to have obesity, so they are more likely to have diabetes," said Dr Rajat Gupta, endocrinologist at the Alchemist, Panchkula. Doctors emphasize on weight loss as obesity, heart diseases and diabetes are interconnected. "Lesser the waistline longer the life. Keep the waistline less than 90cm preferably less than 85cm in Indians. This will reduce the burden of both diabetes & CVD," said Dr Singh. "Regular indulgence in physical activity can be very useful," Dr B S Bhatia, medical specialist based in Sector-35, said. Continue reading >>
What Happens To Your Body During A Heart Attack?
According to the American Heart Association, a heart attack can occur when the blood supply cannot reach the heart due to narrowed heart arteries, commonly known as ischemic heart disease About 735,000 Americans suffer from heart attack every year, 15 percent of which succumb to death Some people may experience mild or no symptoms of heart attack at all – this is called silent heart attack. It happens mostly to people with diabetes Heart attack patients say that the pain they experienced was like a clamp squeezing their chest, and may last from several minutes to many hours By Dr. Mercola A heart attack can strike suddenly. Its symptoms are quite common, and many people don't initially realize that they're already having one. At times, there may be only ONE symptom and this makes the heart attack even more difficult to diagnose. But what really happens when you have a heart attack? Read on to find out more. What Is a Heart Attack? The heart is an extraordinary organ that can still function even when detached from your body, as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen.1 It must work relentlessly to pump blood throughout your body. (For more interesting facts about the human heart, I recommend you to check out my infographic below.) If you want to know how incredibly important - and complex - the human heart is, check out this interesting infographic: 11 Fascinating Facts About the Human Heart. Use the embed code to share it on your website or visit our infographic page for the high-res version.<img src="alt="human heart facts" border="0" style="max-width:100%; min-width:300px; margin: 0 auto 20px auto; display:block;"><p style="max-width:800px; min-width:300px; margin:0 auto; text-align:center;">If you want to kno
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Silent Heart Disease In Diabetes: "why Don't I Feel It?"
Whenever something bad happens there is an irrational thought process that causes each of us to try to assess “blame”. This is no different for doctors than it is for other people. I can’t think of anything much stranger than the discussion I hear from physicians after a young patient comes in with a heart attack. You can almost see the gears turning in each doctor’s head. The first thought is that the patient has a family history, high blood pressure, uses cocaine or alcohol or tobacco, has high cholesterol, is diabetic, has congenital heart disease or rheumatic fever or any other problem that differentiates him/her from the doctor. After all, the doctor doesn’t want to feel that this could happen to him/her. The next thought is that the patient must have been doing something to cause this catastrophe (not like the doctor), and certainly the patient should have known that something was wrong. These are common thoughts that people have (doctors included). We don’t want to think that heart attacks can just sneak up and hit us. Unfortunately, not every heart attack is preceded or accompanied by symptoms. This is often not because the patient is ignoring the problem (though sometimes people do this or hide their symptoms from everyone). Approximately 15% of heart attacks are “silent”, meaning that they are discovered during a time when the patient has an electrocardiogram or echocardiogram for another reason. In diabetics, the percentage of heart attacks that are “silent” is somewhat higher (25%). It is thought that this is because there is a problem with the nerves that carry the symptoms of pain to the brain due to the diabetes. Why should we be surprised that a blood vessel can get blocked without a warning? Strokes often happen the same way. No warn Continue reading >>
Heart Disease In Diabetics
Angina in Diabetics Angina With Diabetes Mellitus CAD risk and Diabetes Cardiac Disease in Diabetes Mellitus Cardiac Disease in Diabetics Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetes Mellitus Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetics Coronary Artery Disease in Diabetes Mellitus Coronary Artery Disease in Diabetics Diabetes and Chest Pain Diabetes and Heart Disease Diabetic CAD Diabetic Coronary Artery Disease Diabetic Heart Disease Heart Disease and Stroke in Diabetes Mellitus Heart Disease and Stroke in Diabetics Diabetes is an illness where the body's blood sugar level is too high. If your blood sugar stays too high for a long time, there will be damage to your nerves and blood vessels. This may increase your risk for having a stroke and heart disease. Plaque buildup in the blood vessels Metabolic syndrome − A group of risk factors that raise your chance for heart disease and diabetes. These include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, as well as excess body fat around your waist. Insulin resistance − Your body is not able to properly use the insulin that it makes. Insulin helps to lower your blood sugar. You are more likely to have heart disease if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Problems like angina (chest pain) or heart failure after having a heart attack are also more common in diabetics. Often, heart disease exists without any signs like chest pain or shortness of breath. This is called silent ischemia or a silent heart attack. A person with diabetes may not have the usual sign of chest pain. Signs may be vague and mistaken for less serious conditions like indigestion. Some signs include: Feeling weak, dizzy, or tired Muscle pain Heartburn Upset stomach or throwing up Trouble breathing Cold sweats Problems sleeping Neck or jaw pain If you feel any Continue reading >>
Signs Of Silent Heart Attack In Women
You may think you know what a heart attack looks like - someone clutching their chest in pain. But nearly half of all attacks - especially in women - don't have those symptoms. They're called silent heart attacks. "It started off as nausea, vomiting, sweating, chills," said Marketta Davis. Thirty-five-year-old Marketta Davis thought she had food poisoning two days before Christmas. She ignored it for a day-and-a-half, until she started having pain in her jaw, then her chest. "I could put my hand there, and feel major pumping," said Davis. A family member called 911. Marketta finally realized she was having a heart attack when they gave her aspirin to chew in the ambulance. "I'm too young. I thought I was going to die," said Marketta. She did have some heart damage, and needed a double bypass operation. Dr. Vincent Figueredo of Einstein Medical Center says women, seniors and diabetics are more likely to have heart attack symptoms that aren't typical. "Such as the worst flu you've had in a long time, indigestion beyond what you normally feel, a muscle pull in your back that just is nagging," said Dr. Figueredo. Women often dismiss the warning signs. On average, they wait 54 hours to seek care, while men wait 16 hours. "That can have devastating effects, as far as their ability to recover from a heart attack, or even survive the heart attack," said Dr. Figueredo. Marketta is regaining her strength, with the help of her biggest supporters - her sons Semaj and Taaheed. And she's looking forward to working again. But she's learned a vital lesson - always listen to your body. "If you feel any type of difference in your body, get it checked out," said Marketta. "You never know." Continue reading >>
6 Signs Of A Silent Heart Attack
Heart disease is our country’s leading cause of death, claiming close to 610,000 lives each year. In fact, roughly every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a heart attack, and many are fatal. People often assume they’ll know when a heart attack hits, expecting crippling chest pain or pain that travels down the left arm. But not every heart attack is accompanied by these “classic” symptoms. Approximately 15-20% are considered “silent” heart attacks. What is a silent heart attack? A silent heart attack happens when less obvious heart attack symptoms either aren’t felt or aren’t recognized. These silent heart attack signs include: Lightheadedness Shortness of breath Nausea Vomiting, indigestion or other gastrointestinal distress Severe fatigue Sweating In my practice, people who survive a silent heart attack often report they ignored one or more of the above symptoms, or they attributed the symptoms to something else. They may have thought vomiting and severe fatigue were caused by a viral infection. Or, they may experience new shortness of breath while climbing stairs but just assume they need to exercise more. People with compromised pain perception (such as the elderly or those with diabetes) are also more likely to miss these subtle symptoms. Silent heart attacks are not generally noted until the patient’s next routine electrocardiogram (EKG), which will show the characteristic markings of a prior heart attack. In more unfortunate circumstances, a silent heart attack may not be detected until a second heart attack sends the person to the hospital. How you can avoid a silent heart attack To prevent a heart attack, it’s important to know your risk. See your doctor regularly and answer honestly and completely when he or she asks questions about your m Continue reading >>
7 Silent Signs Of A Heart Attack
istock/Yuri_Arcurs Dr. Stacey E. Rosen, MD, a Go Red For Women cardiologist at North Shore-LIJ Health System, says this is one of the most common symptoms she sees (especially in women heart attack patients). “In my 25 years of practice, people on the verge of a heart attack report feeling tired and not able to do their usual activities,” she says. During a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is reduced, putting extra stress on the muscle, which could make you feel exhausted, according to WebMD. Don’t be afraid to ask your doctor to do an electrocardiogram (EKG), which checks heart activity. “Sometimes when people present with lethargy, doctors won’t immediately order an EKG, which can detect a heart attack; but you should request one from your doctor, just to be safe,” says Annapoorna Kini, MD, of The Mount Sinai Hospital. Here are some other tests for your heart that could save your life. istock/gpointstudio Noticeable pain or soreness in the back, chest, or either arm is often a silent heart attack sign. As MyHeartSisters.org explains it: “When heart muscle cells begin to run out of oxygen during a heart attack because of a blocked artery preventing oxygenated blood from feeding that muscle, they begin to send off pain signals through the nervous system. Your brain may confuse those nerve signals with signals coming from the arm (or the jaw, shoulder, elbow, neck or upper back) because of the nerve proximity.” Because the pain is often not accompanied by the typical chest heaviness associated with heart attack, people tend to ignore it, says Dr. Rosen. “I’ve had patients say they only felt the pain when they were working out, so they assumed it was just from exercise, but that’s not right,” says Rosen. “If the symptom is something new, tha Continue reading >>
Silent Heart Attack
A heart attack that does not produce the hallmark symptoms of chest pain and difficulty breathing. It is estimated that as many as 4 million Americans have had silent heart attacks, and diabetes raises the risk of having one. A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, occurs when low blood flow to the heart starves it of oxygen, damaging it. Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries, the arteries that carry blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. A clot most often forms in a coronary artery that has been narrowed by atherosclerotic plaque. Risk factors for heart attacks include a family history of heart attack, being male, diabetes, older age, high blood pressure, smoking, and blood lipid abnormalities, especially high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Typically, a heart attack produces chest pain, which may radiate to the arms, shoulders, neck, teeth, jaw, abdomen, or back. Other common symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and anxiety. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek medical care immediately. But people with diabetes may not feel these symptoms due to diabetic neuropathy (nerve disease), which can damage the nerves that control the heart, as well as mask the chest and back pain that usually accompanies an attack. Continue reading >>
What Is A Silent Heart Attack? Silent Heart Attack Symptoms
The idea of a silent heart attack that we don’t feel is confusing and scary for most people. When one thinks of a heart attack, we often think of the typical crushing chest pain we are used to seeing on TV. The truth is, most heart attacks do not give you any symptoms. Silent heart attack symptoms: Silent heart attacks either don’t cause any symptoms, or the symptoms they cause are so mild you don’t feel them. The heart itself does not have a way to let you feel pain coming from it. When the heart is hurt, as in a heart attack, the symptoms come from the parts of your body that are around the heart, like the lungs, the pericardium and the stomach. This is what causes the pressure or burning sensation in the center of the chest. If a heart attack happens slowly or is small enough, the parts around the heart can miss it—and so will you. Silent heart attacks tend to occur more often in older people and those with diabetes. Sings of a silent heart attack in older people As we get older, it is harder for us to feel a heart attack. This is probably because the parts of the body responsible for sensing pain or pressure in the chest also get old and less sensitive. This is why older people who show up to the hospital with heart attacks usually complain of something besides the typical chest pain (angina). Most often they say they are out of breath when they were never out of breath before. Diabetes damages some of the nerves responsible for alerting you of a heart attack. This is the reason why diabetics are more likely to experience silent heart attacks. Another reason why a silent heart attack can happen without symptoms is the body’s ability to adjust to changes in blood pressure. When we walk, run or change our position, the heart and the body play a complicated b Continue reading >>
Hidden Risks Of Diabetes: What Is Silent Heart Disease?
Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks have saved lives and improved prevention efforts. Patient education typically covers the classic symptoms, as well as the unusual symptoms (which are more common in women). Unfortunately, symptoms do not precede or accompany every heart attack. At least 15 percent of myocardial infarctions (the medical term for heart attacks, also called MIs) are “silent” and are only discovered by tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs) at routine office visits. Diagnosis of a past silent MI surprises both the patient and healthcare providers, and it increases the risk for additional heart disease. That makes identification of these events crucial to long-term preventive care. Heart risks in people with diabetes: they don’t feel it People with diabetes have an even greater risk of silent heart disease, which is more relevant than ever because people with silent MIs are three times more likely to die than people without an MI. Heart attacks result from blockages in the heart’s own blood vessels. Generally, the damage is caused by high cholesterol that clogs arteries and form clots, or sometimes by inherited blood vessel weaknesses. In people with diabetes, nerve damage from excess sugar affects vision and limb sensations, and it also injures the nerve system that helps the heart. When this autonomic nerve system fails, pain from blood vessel spasms isn’t felt. More important, symptoms from the heart attack don’t alert someone with diabetes to get help, so repeated and lasting heart damage can occur. The risk of blood vessel damage is two to four times greater with diabetes. Two causes of that damage—high blood pressure and diabetes-related nerve damage—are primary risks for silent heart damage. However, silent MIs can Continue reading >>
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The Deadly Threat Of Silent Heart Attacks
For more than six months, Harriett Cooke had been uncommonly tired, panting when she walked her sixth grade science class to the cafeteria and struggling to keep her eyes open when she drove home at night. One day, during a class trip outside the school, she just couldn’t go on. “I sat there on the side, I put my head down on the table, and I knew I shouldn’t be feeling like this,” said Ms. Cooke, 67, who lives in Durham, N.C. Making excuses, she left and stopped at her doctor’s office, where staff ordered an electrocardiogram (EKG). The test showed that Ms. Cooke had suffered a so-called “silent heart attack” at some indeterminate point, perhaps months earlier. Few people know about this type of heart attack, characterized by a lack of recognizable symptoms. Yet silent heart attacks are even more common in older adults than heart attacks that immediately come to the attention of doctors and patients, according to a recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association. What’s more, they’re equally deadly. The research underscores the importance of paying attention to lingering, hard-to-pin-down symptoms in older adults, experts say. Many elderly men and women tend to dismiss these; caregivers shouldn’t let that happen. The JAMA report is based on data from 936 men and women ages 67 to 93 from Iceland who agreed to undergo EKGs and magnetic resonance imaging exams to detect whether heart attacks had occurred. EKGs assess the heart’s electrical activity, while M.R.I.’s look at its mechanical pumping activity. So-called “recognized” heart attacks were identified when signs of heart damage were evident, and the patient’s medical record indicated that medical attention had been sought and a diagnosis rendered. “Silent” heart attac Continue reading >>
Silent Heart Attack
This site is dedicated to the Silent Heart Attack which is by far the most damaging myocardial infarction (AMI or MI). Twice as many people die from a silent heart attack as compared to those that experienced a myocardial infarction with chess pain. Silent Killer: The key to recovering from a heart attack is the speed as which the patient received treatment. In the case of a silent heart attack, the patient is not aware of the infarction and because valuable time is wasted, the heart becomes permanently damaged. Heart Attack Finding out that your heart is seriouly damaged because you did not act right after a silent attack can be devistating. Many are told they only have a few years left! I'll explain who is most likely to experience these silent killer, but first let me cover the standard heart attack. A heart attack is a very serious and very sudden condition and occurs when a section of the heart does not receive blood. This lack of blood flow can cause the heart tissue to die and scar. Heart attacks can range from mild to severe affecting areas both small and large areas of the heart. Almost always, heart attacks are life threatening and require immediate attention. Silent heart attacks can happen to anyone, but people most likely to experience silent heart attacks are those that have had a prior heart attack, individuals who have diabetes, women, men and women over the age of 65 and those prone to strokes. Individuals taking medication on a regular basis may also experience a silent heart attack. Symptoms of a Silent Heart Attack The best way to identify this disease is through careful study of medical history, ECG (electrocardiogram; measures heart activity) and testing blood for cardiac enzymes. The most important treatment in silent heart attack is restoring the Continue reading >>
The Silent Heart Attacks That Can Strike Diabetics Without Warning
Property consultant Michael Green was adamant that his type 2 diabetes was nothing to worry about. 'It's the non-serious type,' he'd say dismissively. Michael's laid-back attitude is in some ways understandable. The father-of-one had never suffered any obvious ill-effects from the condition he'd lived with for 28 years, and he'd been diagnosed not as a result of any troubling symptoms, but by chance following a routine blood test. Compared to a family friend who had type 1 diabetes, he was lucky, he insisted. At least he didn't have to monitor his blood sugar levels every few hours, and inject insulin. Then one night, two years ago, he went to sleep and never woke up. At just 53, he'd suffered a 'silent heart attack' - a little-known complication of diabetes. A silent attack is almost symptomless and occurs without any of the chest pain normally associated with a heart attack. Yet they can be just as dangerous - if not more so - as a normal heart attack. They're also surprisingly common. It is estimated that around a quarter of the 175,000 heart attacks in the UK each year are the silent type - and people with diabetes are at greatest risk. This is because the nerve damage linked to their condition can prevent warning signals being transmitted in the usual way. This, in turn, can lead to a delay in seeking treatment and result in damage to the blood vessels and heart muscle that make the heart attack more lethal. Heart attacks occur when there is a blockage in the artery supplying blood to the heart. Normally, this is as a result of a fatty plaque breaking off from the artery wall, triggering a blood clot. When the blood supply to the heart is reduced, the body produces chemicals that affect nerves and trigger pain. Often, people describe the pain of a heart attack as a Continue reading >>
Silent Heart Attack: Symptoms, Causes And Prevention
The term “silent heart attack” describes the situation in which evidence of a prior heart attack is picked up during medical testing in a patient who did not realize that they have had a heart attack. Many people do not experience the typical chest discomfort that most people think of when they imagine what is like to have a heart attack, and this is how these heart attacks can be missed. For example, we know that patients with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease, but they are also more likely to experience atypical chest pain or no chest pain at all when having a heart attack. We also know that there are different mechanisms by which patients can have heart attacks. While the end result is inadequate blood flow to a portion of the heart resulting in damage, there are many different ways that this can happen. Silent heart attacks have real consequences, and we are learning to take them just as seriously as heart attacks that manifest with traditional symptoms. Continue reading >>
