Common painkillers may raise risk of heart attack by 100% – study

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Risk of myocardial infarction is greatest in first month of taking NSAIDs such as ibuprofen if dose is high, say researchers

Commonly prescribed painkillers including ibuprofen increase the likelihood of having a heart attack within the first month of taking them if consumed in high doses, a study suggests.

All five nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) examined could raise the risk as early as the first week of use, an international team of researchers found.

Related: Should I stop taking Ibuprofen?

Continue reading…

Common painkillers may raise risk of heart attack by 100% – study

"Disabled in the body, not the mind or heart": surviving polio in Nigeria – video

Unable to complete his education after contracting polio as a child, Aminu was determined not to become a beggar on the streets of Kano in north-west Nigeria. His solution was to design a bike that restored his mobility. Now he produces dozens of them, employing fellow polio survivors and helping to transform lives

"Disabled in the body, not the mind or heart": surviving polio in Nigeria – video

Backlash after report claims saturated fats do not increase heart risk

Saturated fat does not increase the risk of a heart attack by clogging up arteries, three cardiologists have said in a challenge to medical thinking, sparking a furious backlash.

In an editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine the cardiologists also write that relying on foodstuffs marketed as “low fat” or “proved to lower cholesterol” to avoid heart disease is “misguided”.

A key previous research study, they say, “showed no association between saturated fat consumption and all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease, CHD mortality, ischaemic stroke or type-2 diabetes in healthy adults”. Instead they say that a Mediterranean-style diet and 22 minutes of walking a day are the best ways to prevent heart problems.

The paper co-authored by Pascal Meier, a cardiologist at University College London and editor of the journal BMJ Open Heart; Rita Redberg, the editor of the American journal JAMA Internal Medicine; and Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist at the NHS’s Lister hospital in Stevenage, has triggered furious criticism from a range of experts in cardiology and evidence-based medicine. Some said the views were not based on reliable evidence and would mislead consumers and further confuse the public over which foods they should eat and which they should avoid.

They also dismiss the potential for a smaller intake of saturated fats to help prevent heart disease. “There is no benefit from reduced fat, including saturated fat, on myocardial infarction [heart attacks], cardiovascular or all-cause mortality,” they say.

Instead of adopting a low-fat diet, people seeking to cut their risk of heart problems should instead follow “an energy-unrestricted Mediterranean diet (41%) fat supplemented with at least four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or a handful of nuts”.

But critics responded by accusing the co-authors of naiveté, ignoring evidence which contradicts their theories and simplifying a hugely complex issue.

Dr Amitava Banrejee, a senior clinical lecturer in clinical data science and honorary consultant cardiologist at UCL, said: “Unfortunately the authors have reported evidence simplistically and selectively. They failed to cite a rigorous Cochrane systematic review which concluded that cutting down dietary saturated fat was associated with a 17% reduction in cardiovascular events, including CHD, on the basis of 15 randomised trials.”

Dr Gavin Sandercock, director of research at Essex University, rejected the trio’s claims about the benefit of “replacing refined carbohydrates with healthy high fat foods” as not true and not based on any existing evidence. “We must continue to research the complex links between fat, cholesterol and heart disease but we must not replace one myth with another”, Sandercock said.

Christine Williams, professor of human nutrition at Reading University, said the cardiologists’ dietary advice was impractical, especially for poorer people. “The nature of their public health advice appears to be one of ‘let them eat nuts and olive oil’ with no consideration of how this might be successfully achieved in the UK general population and in people of different ages, socioeconomic backgrounds or dietary preferences,” she said.

However, some experts did back the authors. Dr Mary Hannon-Fletcher, head of the school of health sciences at Ulster University, hailed their views as “the best dietary and exercise advice I have read in recent years. Walking 22 minutes a day and eating real food. This is an excellent public health message.

“The modern idea of a healthy diet where we eat low-fat and low-calorie foods is simply not a healthy option. All of these foods have been so altered they are anything but healthy. So eating real foods in moderation and exercising daily is the answer to keeping fit and healthy; it’s just too simple a message for the public to take on board,” she said.

Gaynor Bussell, a dietitician and member of the British Dietetic Association, also offered the authors qualified support. “Many of us now feel that a predominantly Med-style diet can be healthy with slightly more fats and fewer carbs, provided the fats are ‘good’ – such as in olive oil, nuts or avocados,” she said.

However, saturated fats should comprise no more than 11% of anyone’s food intake, she said – far less than the 41% fat level backed by the co-authors.

While carbohydrates should still be part of every meal, people should routinely consume high fibre or wholegrain versions, Bussell said.

Williams also accused the BJSM of publishing opinions seeking to portray saturated fats as “innocent” in the causation of heart disease in order to generate headlines. “Some would argue the journals have a very credible business model based on attracting controversy in an area of great importance to public health where clarity, not confusion, is required,” she said.

Backlash after report claims saturated fats do not increase heart risk

Wellcome science book prize goes to story of a heart transplant

A novel that “illustrates what it is to be human” has become the first translated book to win the Wellcome prize for science writing.

Maylis de Kerangal’s Mend the Living, which tracks the journey of a heart from donor to recipient over 24 hours, is only the second novel ever to scoop the £30,000 prize, which is awarded to a work of fiction or nonfiction that engages with health and medicine.

Announcing the winner, chair of judges Val McDermid said: “Sometimes you read a memoir and it is just one person’s tragedy, but this is about the tragedy and hope that comes from loss that could affect every single one of us.” She said the judges “felt very strongly” that the book had the potential to change the lives of readers and called it “compelling, original and ambitious”.

De Kerangal’s novel was translated from French by Jessica Moore, who was awarded £10,000. McDermid praised the translation, which she told the Guardian pulled off the difficult trick of shaping a book into a second language without undermining the intention or voice of the original.

Describing herself as a “long-time advocate” of translated fiction, McDermid, a bestselling crime writer, said: “Publishers have very slowly woken up to the importance to readers of translated fiction as a way of understanding a globalised world … The English language doesn’t have a monopoly on terrific writing and I am very happy to be one of the judges who chose this book.”

Mend the Living begins with vibrant young surfer Simon Limbeau suffering catastrophic injuries in a road traffic accident. Faced with a son who has been left brain dead, his parents are forced to decide whether to turn off his life support and donate his heart. The story then follows Limbeau’s heart on its way to a donor recipient and explores how people recover hope in tragic circumstances.

The novel, which was also longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker international prize, has also been adapted to film. Directed by Katell Quillévéré and renamed Heal the Living (Réparer les vivants), it stars Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner and Anne Dorval and is set for a UK release at the end of April.

Mend the Living was chosen from a strong shortlist of six books that included two novels, the other being Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss, about a family navigating the NHS as they come to terms with a child’s unexpected illness.

Ed Yong’s I Contain Multitudes, which examines how the 40tn microbes in the human body affect us, was the only debut on the shortlist. The other three books interweaved science with personal experience. Neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi was the first author to be in contention for the prize posthumously, with his memoir When Breath Becomes Air recounting his final months of life with terminal lung cancer. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Gene blends a narrative about genetics with the story of reoccurring mental illness in his family, while David France, a gay man and an eyewitness to the Aids epidemic, wrote of the struggle faced by HIV/Aids activists during the 1980s in How to Survive a Plague.

McDermid chaired a panel of judges that mixed broadcasters and writers with scientists. Cambridge professors Simon Baron-Cohen and Tim Lewens joined the Wire in the Blood author on a panel completed by broadcaster Gemma Cairney and radio producer Di Speirs.

Wellcome science book prize goes to story of a heart transplant

Harare"s park bench grandmas: "I speak to them and feel a load is lifted off my heart"

The therapy room is a patch of waste ground, and the therapist’s couch a wooden bench under a tree. The therapist is an elderly Zimbabwean woman, in a long brown dress and headscarf.

Her patients call her “Grandmother” when they come along to sit on her bench and discuss their feelings, their depression or other mental health issues.

Outside a clinic in Highfield, a poor suburb just south of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, there are lots of grandmothers – trained but unqualified health workers – who take turns on the park bench to hear stories. They listen to the battered wife who has attempted suicide twice, the man who hates women after he became infected with HIV, the unemployed single mother driven to despair by the struggle of raising four children.

The benches are a safe place for people struggling with depression, which in the Shona language is called kufungisisa, “thinking too much”.

It is a world away from conventional approaches to mental healthcare, but the Friendship Bench project has changed the lives of an estimated 27,000 Zimbabweans suffering from depression and other mental disorders.

The grandmothers, all of whom are trained to improve a patient’s ability to cope with mental stress, listen and nod, offering only an occasional word of encouragement.

One in four Zimbabweans suffers from some form of mental illness, but there are only 13 psychiatrists in a country of about 15.6 million. A solution had to be found, and it came in the way of a bench and the tradition of respect for African matriarchs.

Clinics screen their visitors for mental illness through a locally developed tool called the Shona Symptom Questionnaire. It has 14 questions, such as “Have you been struggling to sleep?” and “Have you been worrying too much?”

Patients scoring above the cut-off level are referred to the friendship bench. Those who go to the grandmothers are five times less likely to have suicidal thoughts, according to Dr Dixon Chibanda, co-founder of the scheme.

“When they first get to the bench, we use an intervention which we call kuvhura pfungwa [opening of the mind]. They sit and talk about their problems. Through that process, the grandmothers enable that patient to select a specific problem to focus on, and they help them through it,” he says.

Through at least six one-on-one sessions with the health workers, the patients are encouraged to speak about their problems and their mental illness.

Traditionally, elderly women play the role of counsellor for younger members of the community. On the bench, however, the grandmothers listen more, and lecture less.

“We used to talk a lot, ‘Do this, do that’. But now we ask them to open up, open their minds and hearts,” says Sheba Khumalo, a grandmother.

Chibanda says it is mostly women that visit the bench. “From our recent study, we found that 40% of those coming to the bench who show depression are victims of domestic violence. Whether that violence is caused by the economic situation is something that we have not looked at.”

In conservative Zimbabwe, just getting people to open up about their mental health is a victory in itself, says Joyce Ncube, another of the grandmothers.

“Many died just because they had nobody to tell their problems to,” she says, settling on to the wooden seat for a session with one of her patients. “When people keep things inside, their problems start.”

Maria Makoni is a 49-year-old unemployed mother of three who began therapy earlier this year.

“In our culture, you are ridiculed for speaking about your mental health,” says Makoni.

She is tense, but lights up when she speaks about the grandmothers. “I was desperate to find someone to talk to about my problems. When I speak to them, I feel like a load is lifted off my heart.”

When Makoni first found her way to the friendship bench, she was surprised to find she was one of many with similar problems. Now she is volunteering to bring more to the bench. “I am ready to speak to as many people as I can.”

Grandmothers working with the Friendship Bench project chat before counselling sessions begin. Photograph: Cynthia R Matonhodze

For many Zimbabweans, poverty – more than 70% of people live below the poverty line – and unemployment are a source of despair. In such a deeply superstitious and religious society, mentally ill people are sometimes seen as possessed; many are dragged to exorcism sessions at charismatic churches or traditional healers.

Chibanda says such beliefs need not be a hurdle, provided the intervention is packaged well.

“The term ‘opening of the mind’ does not sound medical at all. We have used those words to package a scientific intervention, and this is why it’s acceptable.”

The programme has had to pick its words carefully, as the grandmothers are meant to be more friends than doctors. The scheme was initially called “mental health bench” but nobody came. “The minute we changed it to friendship bench, it became acceptable, even though we are essentially providing the same thing,” says Chibanda.

Researchers say the friendship bench may be a blueprint for mental healthcare in developing countries. In Zimbabwe, the programme will now be rolled out to 60 other clinics across the country.

“This bench is filling that gap we have in providing affordable care,” says Prosper Chonzi, director of health for the City of Harare. “We are glad to see it is being applied to other cities in the country.”

Harare"s park bench grandmas: "I speak to them and feel a load is lifted off my heart"

Revealed: girl of 13 is first child in Britain to receive artificial heart

A 13-year-old girl from Worcester is the first child in Britain to have received an artificial heart, the Guardian can reveal, after doctors decided it was the only way to save her life.

Chloe Narbonne had the device installed in a complex nine-hour operation that involved 30 NHS staff at the Royal Brompton, a specialist heart and lung hospital in London. The artificial heart kept the then 12-year-old girl alive until a human heart became available a few weeks later.

While others have had a device known as a “Berlin heart”, which replicates its functions outside of the body, Chloe is the youngest person in Europe to have had an artificial heart implanted. With her fourth heart now beating in her chest almost a year on, she told the Guardian: “I feel well, like my normal self, but not quite my normal self, not after what I’ve been through. I guess the artificial heart was my lifesaver; it’s what kept me alive until I got another heart. What I’ve been through is life-changing.”

Chloe and her mum, Fabienne. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Chloe was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was four weeks old. Her heart failed when she was 11 and still at primary school. She then had a stroke while waiting for a new heart, and when that first transplant failed to work, she was left close to death.

At that point, medics decided an artificial heart was the only option to keep her alive until another heart could be transplanted. André Simon, the director of heart and lung transplantation at the Royal Brompton and Harefield specialist hospitals, flew back early from a conference in the US to operate on Chloe last May.

What doctors said was an “extremely risky” surgery involved two medical firsts. Chloe was the first person in the world to be transferred from one hospital to another with her chest open and while on a life-saving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, which delivers oxygen to a patient from outside the body. And Simon had to rebuild her heart’s atrium, or upper chamber, which had been removed during the failed transplant days earlier. A few weeks later, after her health stabilised on the artificial heart, she received the new heart.

Chloe’s mother, Fabienne Narbonne, said: “How they saved Chloe should be recognised for what it is – a miracle. Without the artificial heart she would be dead. It kept her alive for those crucial few weeks. By the time she got it she had run out of options.”

Simon, who has carried out all 13 artificial heart surgeries that have occurred in London hospitals, believes the success of Chloe’s operation should prompt other specialists to consider the devices for more children.

Heart surgeon André Simon. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Chloe’s long waits for a transplanted heart have made her and her parents, Fabienne and Todd, passionate advocates for a change in the law on organ donation. Chronic shortages of donated hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys result in thousands of people a year dying while on the transplant waiting list. The family want the rest of the UK to follow the example of Wales, which in December 2015 switched from the opt-in system of organ donation to one of opt-out, where people have to specifically refuse consent for organ retrieval if they die.

Fabienne Narbonne said: “We owe eternal thanks to the donors and their families, without whom none of this would be possible as without donors there is no point being on a waiting list, however long you have to wait. We cannot thank them enough for offering Chloe a second chance at life, no words can explain how it feels and we have nothing but respect and gratitude for their gift of life.”

how it works

Only 1,690 people in the world have ever received an artificial heart. Of those, 34 were under 18. The oldest person in the UK to receive one was 62. Chloe is the third youngest in the world, after a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old in the US.

“Chloe is an example of a patient who would have been out of options without the 50cc total artificial heart,” said Michael Garippa, the president of SynCardia, the American firm which makes the devices. “It was the only device that could save her.”

Revealed: girl of 13 is first child in Britain to receive artificial heart

Bioactive Compounds in Cucumbers That Fight Heart Disease and Cancer

Bioactive Compounds in Cucumbers That Fight Heart Disease and Cancer

Moderate drinking can lower risk of heart attack, says study

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Drinking in moderation helps protect heart, with study finding it lowers risk of many conditions compared with not drinking

Moderate drinking can lower the risk of several heart conditions, according to a study that will further fuel the debate about the health implications of alcohol consumption.

The study of 1.93 million people in the UK aged over 30 found that drinking in moderation – defined as consuming no more than 14 units of alcohol a week – had a protective effect on the heart compared with not drinking.

Related: Life-saving alcohol services face devastating cuts

Continue reading…

Moderate drinking can lower risk of heart attack, says study

This Spice Stops Heart Attacks, Fights Cancer, and Restores Gut Bacteria

This Spice Stops Heart Attacks, Fights Cancer, and Restores Gut Bacteria

Drug which cuts "bad" cholesterol can help prevent heart attacks and strokes

A new drug can prevent heart attacks and strokes by cutting bad cholesterol levels, scientists have found.

An international trial of 27,000 patients found that those who took the drug evolocumab saw their bad cholesterol levels fall by around 60% on average.

The patients in the trial were already taking statins, which are used to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Despite this, the patients who took evolocumab saw their bad cholesterol levels fall even further. They were also less likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke than those who took the placebo.

The study found that for every 74 people who took the drug for two years, one heart attack or stroke would be prevented.

However, the findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the drug had no impact on the rate of cardiovascular mortality.

Prof Peter Sever, from Imperial College London – which led the UK branch of the study, said: “This is one of the most important trials of cholesterol-lowering since the first statin trial, published 20 years ago. Our results suggest this new, extremely potent class of drug can cut cholesterol dramatically, which could provide great benefit for a lot of people at risk of heart disease and stroke.”

There are approximately 2.3 million people living with coronary heart disease in the UK, according to the NHS. It is responsible for more than 73,000 deaths a year in the UK, and occurs when fatty substances build up in the arteries, making it harder for blood to get to the heart.

Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Coronary heart disease is the single biggest killer in the UK and worldwide and ‘bad’ LDL-cholesterol is a major cause.

“While statins have had a significant impact in reducing the risk of heart disease for millions of people, they are not tolerated by everyone and only reduce cholesterol by a certain amount.

“A promising new approach is blocking the action of PCSK9, a molecule which reduces the breakdown of LDL-cholesterol in the liver. Creating new treatments which use this approach could prove life-saving for patients with high cholesterol and those who can’t tolerate statins.”

Drug which cuts "bad" cholesterol can help prevent heart attacks and strokes

7 Chest Pains Often Mistaken for A Heart Attack

Experiencing chest pain can be terrifying, especially when you immediately assume it is a heart attack. And you would definitely call 911 to get immediate medical attention.

IMPORTANT NOTE: However, if you experience unexplained, sudden, or severe pain, you should not wait to get urgent medical care. Call for an ambulance straight away.

All this while, you have heard about heart attack symptoms which have always been talked about everywhere, including on the net. For some reason or another you, including many other people are lacking knowledge about other health conditions that can manifest as chest pains.

The followings are explanations of some types of chest pains which may have nothing to do at all with your vital organ, the heart.

Costochondritis

Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage in the rib cage which affects specific ribs, notably the fourth, fifth and sixth ribs.

The sufferers usually feel pain on the front chest wall that may radiate to his abdomen or back. Costochondritis pain, the affected areas are painful to touch, mostly affects the left side and is sharp or pressure-like.

Costochondritis pain often presents itself without apparent reasons, becomes worse after strenuous exercise or resulted from an infection of the upper respiratory tract or minor trauma. It is a relatively harmless musculoskeletal chest pain and usually resolves without treatment.

A simple way to determine if your chest pain is caused by costochondritis is the pain gets worse when you take a deep breath, cough, change position, or raise an arm over your head.

Home remedy: Goldenseal, grapefruit seed extract, olive leaf, neem, and Triphala guggul.

Heartburn

One day, while driving a car to pick up your son at school you suddenly experience excruciating chest pain. And a few seconds later you feel the pain has gained control over your heart, You stop breathing!

You wonder in panic and asking yourself whether you are having a heart attack.

You pull over and open the car door. As soon as you feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face you suddenly feel the pain faded away and you manage to breathe again.

Afterward, your doctor tells you that you have severe heartburn.

Heartburn is a very common symptom created by acid reflux when stomach contents (including stomach acid) splashes from the stomach up into the esophagus. This usually creates a burning pain right behind the breastbone and usually after a meal.

Symptoms: A burning sensation in the esophagus (food pipe) which usually happens just above the stomach. The stomach acid can also reach higher up, possibly even as far as the back of the mouth which may be perceived as chest pains by sufferers.

Home Remedy: If your doctor finds your heart is in a good working condition, next time you experience heartburn you may try eating a handful of almonds every day.

Panic attack

Due to lacking knowledge in panic attack symptoms, people who are having it often mistaken for having a heart attack. Tightening of the chest, heart palpitations, sweaty palms, lightheadedness are all the symptoms of both conditions.

If you suffer from panic attack it would be best to talk to your doctor so that he can evaluate your heart health. If he finds there is nothing wrong with your heart, consequently, when the next time a panic attack occurs, you need not worry about your heart. You are already prepared to address the attack.

Symptoms: Some of the common symptoms of a panic attack include pounding, racing heart; sweating; shaking; shortness of breath; choking sensation; chest discomfort; nausea; dizzy; and feeling faint.

Note: During such an attack and you find it’s difficult to determine the symptoms origin, go to the emergency room.

Home Remedy: Eat foods high in omega-3 such as mackerel, salmon, sardine, walnuts, and flaxseed. Take SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine). Apply relaxation technique of your choice in your daily life.

Shingles

Shingles can cause a very painful sensation if it affects the chest, which mimics a heart attack.

It is a reactivated form of the chickenpox viral infection, which has remained dormant in the body.

It can cause severe pain – a constant burning or sharp, stabbing pains that come and go occurs on one side of the body. The pain can radiate around one side of the rib cage which usually accompanied by a significant rash, however, in some cases, it’s so small that sufferers may not notice it.

You should suspect shingles if the pain follows the line of a rib and the affected area shows any types of skin changes.

Some of the most common symptoms:

• Acute pain, tingling, numbness, and itching on a specific part of the skin, on a single side of the body.


• 1-5 days after the pain begins, a rash appears.


• Red blotches emerge that develop into itchy fluid-filled blisters.

Home Remedies: Neem (capsule) – 2 capsules thrice per day. Use a cotton ball dipped in apple cider vinegar plus cayenne powder and rub on the affected area.

Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that is painful, develops quickly, and can, in some cases, be fatal.

Symptoms: Its typical symptoms include a sudden onset of pain in the center of the upper abdomen, below the breastbone (sternum). In rare cases, the pain is first felt in the lower abdomen.

The pain, especially the former, is said to be possible to radiate in the chest which causes the sufferers to think that the perceived pain is heart-related. Some sufferers may also experience coughing, vigorous movements, and deep breathing, all of which usually terrify sufferers even worse.

Home Remedy: Aloe Vera dan Papaya Juices, ½ cup of each, thrice per day.

Note: The mortality rate of pancreatitis is still around 10 percent, despite medical advancement.  Talk to your doctor to determine the cause of the pain so that your doctor can make the proper diagnosis.

Pneumonia

Fluid issues in pneumonia can cause chest pain and pressure which quite often causes sufferers to think of a heart attack. Pneumonia also can cause fast heartbeat and chest pain when breathing in.

Both pneumonia and heart disease are serious medical conditions. Seeking medical attention to determine what has caused your unexplained chest pain would always be the best option.

Home Remedy: Colloidal silver, garlic, wild mountain oregano oil, apple cider vinegar, and vitamin C.

Note: some herbs/supplements many aggravate the symptoms, stop using them and try others.

Gastritis or Stomach Ulcer

Pain in the stomach can radiate to the chest. The pain of gastritis or stomach ulcers may manifest as chest pain based on the premise that says anything from the mouth down to the stomach can be the cause of chest pains.

Get yourself evaluated by your doctor in order to determine whether or not your chest pains are from ulcers.

Home remedies:  cabbage, boiled unripe banana with its skin, a liquid extract of simmered chunk potato includes its skin, manuka honey, and apple cider vinegar plus sodium bicarbonate.

7 Chest Pains Often Mistaken for A Heart Attack

Clogged Heart Artery – You Can Reverse It Naturally

Many people today rely on their doctors to prescribe harmful drugs, including statins to treat their clogged heart arteries. When the blockage becomes worse they opt to install a stent to improve the blood flow.

Another invasive option is to go for a bypass surgery, which sometimes makes them die faster due to complications which many times we hear due to infections.

Unacceptable Excuses

Is that so? I am not a heart surgeon but I think an impaired cell repair that results in the newly sewn artery does not adhere as it should to the heart artery can be one the cause of the complications.

How many times have you ever heard about this post-heart surgery complication possibility from your relatives, friends, or neighbors? Maybe rarely or NONE.

Of course, after prescribing you appropriate drugs or after you are discharged from hospitals where a stent has been placed into your arteries or a bypass surgery has taken place, your doctors would advise you on how you should adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Another Attack

Unfortunately, after a few months or years, you are struck by another harsh heart attack. You would have dedicatedly been taking the drugs and adopting the healthy lifestyle as suggested but it seems something goes wrong somewhere.

You don’t know what it is. If you ask your doctor what might have gone wrong with the prescribed drugs he would probably say that the drugs were carefully tested by scientists for their efficacies before being approved by the FDA. So, you go home and continue to take the drugs for many more years.

Do you have other options perhaps alternative ones that can replace the ‘wonder drugs’ that might trigger a heart attack and serious damage to liver and kidneys?

The Answer is YES

If you take high strength statins you are 34% more likely to end up hospitalized with kidney issues, experts say.

Mayo clinic expert suggests that although you know statin side effects can be annoying consider the benefits of taking a statin before you decide to stop taking your medication. He further asserts that you should talk to your doctor so he may be able to come up with an alternative treatment plan that can help you lower your cholesterol without uncomfortable side effects.

What he tries to convey about the alternative treatment is that your doctor might suggest other types of statins with ‘less side effects.’ Really?

Since you have been reading my article this far, why don’t you read thru the rest of the article so that you can get some idea as to how natural remedies can help you to reverse your clogged arteries.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES

Most of the lifestyle elements I discuss below might have already been conveyed to you by your doctors or your friends. Anyway, some of the details can be a bit different from what you have heard. So, read on with an open mind.

Oxidative Stress

Oxidative occurs when antioxidants are lacking to neutralize free radicals effectively. Excess free radicals due to oxidative stress can eventually lead to oxidative damage.

Damage done by free radicals to cell membrane molecules can result in atherosclerosis (plaque build-up).

The followings are things you can do to prevent oxidative stress.

Avoid Sugar

Added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, grains (rice, wheat, and others), and processed carbs, all of which can cause oxidative stress. These are foods you need to avoid.

Avoid Fried Foods

Vegetable oils such as sunflower, corn, and soy are categorized as polyunsaturated fats as they contain two or more double bonds in their fatty acid molecules. The double bonds are easily oxidized when during production, shipment, storage, cooking, and in your body.

If oxidized polyunsaturated fats are parts of your arterial cell membranes, then proteins in the membranes, including calcium channel are prone to being malfunctioning. This results in too much calcium getting into your arterial cells and cannot get out due to malfunction, then your endothelial and intimal cells would end up clogged up by calcium.

This build-up is what most scientists and doctors call as cholesterol build-up. Funny isn’t it?

So, avoid using these vegetable oils in cooking. Use healthier cooking oil such as extra virgin coconut oil, palm oil, and coconut oil.

A recent research has shown that eating fried fish can increase your risk of heart disease. Study authors think that fried fish itself is at fault. Instead, eating fried fish may be a litmus test that indicates an unhealthy lifestyle, which is more likely to lead to heart disease.

Note: As all cooking oils get oxidized when heated, and oxidized oils can leed to oxidative stress, then avoiding fried foods altogether would be best if you wish to accelerate your heart disease reversal.

Avoid Processed Foods

Artificial colorings are one of the additives in processed foods thought to cause oxidative stress. Other ingredients such as hydrogenated fats and acrylamides in crackers, muffins, and cakes are also thought to cause similar thing.

Quit Smoking

Smoking won’t benefit you in any way. Period.

Cigarette smoke contains hundreds or perhaps thousands of chemical compounds containing benzene rings that can cause oxidative stress. If you smoke try to find ways to quit today.

Drink or Quit

Resveratrol contents in red wine are revered as potent antioxidants, Red wine is said to be better in term of antioxidant activities compared to white wine.

How about alcohol content in wine? It is changed to ethanol, an aldehyde that is very harmful to your cells! It is said to be cytotoxic, meaning it can damage any cells in your body, including that of your arteries.

That’s why some experts believe that drinking little alcohol also can harm your health. To them, quitting might be the best choice.

Avoid Overeating

Overeating makes your liver work harder to detoxify chemical contents in your foods. If you make overeating as a habit, you would really burden your liver to work harder and harder.

Habitual overeating is believed can cause toxic overload that circulates in your bloodstream throughout your body, including your heart. The circulating toxins usually are in the form of free radicals (unfinished detox due to too many foods you consumed over time that lacking appropriate antioxidants to neutralize them) that can cause damage to your heart’s arterial cell membrane components.

Manage Stress Well

Chronic stress is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. Managing your stress can help reduce cortisol, hence prevents oxidative stress.

Eat Lots of Fruits and Veggies

Antioxidants are vital in helping your body to detoxify efficiently as well as helping your body’s natural antioxidants such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase to do their jobs in neutralizing free radicals.

Assorted fruits and veggies are loaded with potent antioxidants. Eat them in every meal and nibble on them when you feel to snack on something.

Other Details

You may explore further details on the healthy lifestyle by reading my article titled Healthy Living – Definition and How to Go About It.

Herbal Interventions

Honey elixir containing ginger, garlic, lemon, apple cider vinegar and honey may help reverse clogged arteries, hence reverses your heart disease.

Liquid lime extract taken regularly, thrice per day, is also believed to help reverse clogged arteries.

A teaspoonful of clove powder taken with ghee or whole milk, twice per day, can also help reverse the clogged arteries. It is best taken along with a teaspoonful of Triphala Churna (powder).

Clogged Heart Artery – You Can Reverse It Naturally

4 Smoothie Recipes that Fight Cancer, Inflammation, and Heart disease

4 Smoothie Recipes that Fight Cancer, Inflammation, and Heart disease

Prevent Heart Disease With Healthy Lifestyle and Diet Choices

It’s vital for us to be informed on making good lifestyle and diet choices to prevent heart disease and help us live longer.

Globally, heart disease is the leading cause of death, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).  In the United States, 2,200 Americans die from heart disease each day.

Causes of Heart Disease

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a poor diet, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes are among the most influential lifestyle choices that put people at a higher risk for heart disease.  Plaque buildup in the coronary arteries is the most common type of heart disease.

A diet based on wholesome nutrition is a major factor in fighting plaque build-up in coronary arteries.   Additionally, health experts recommend limiting processed or fatty foods, highly processed or salty foods, sweets, solid fats, and “sugary drinks” in order to maintain a healthy diet to prevent heart disease.

Prevention

Health professionals — including the CDC and AHA — advise everyone to eat more vegetables and fruits.  They also recommend that we should consume less sugar and sodium.

Carleton Rivers, RDN, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions is an expert on nutrition and dieting and nutrition.

Rivers highly recommends that eating fresh fruits and vegetables cooked using a low-fat method is a great way to prevent heart disease.

“Choose vegetables that have a rich color like dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and zucchini.  Just be sure not to substitute fresh fruits with 100 percent fruit juice or dried fruit.”

Dried fruit and fruit juice are high in sugar content.  And fruit juices lack the fiber needed to control blood sugar.

Carleton says protein and fiber are important, as well.

“Fiber is important for gastrointestinal motility, blood sugar control and lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.   Fiber is great for appetite control because it can fill you up and keep you feeling fuller for longer.”

Protein is needed to build and maintain muscles.  Protein is found in a variety of sources such as lean meats cooked using a low-fat method, like baking.

Prepare and Cook at Home

It’s much easier to eat a healthy and balanced diet if meals are prepared and cooked at home.  Most restaurants add salt and butter to dishes — increasing the calorie amount.

Here’s a list of superfoods to help prevent heart disease:

• Garlic — Reduces blood pressure and coronary plaque


• Oranges — Reduces cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and health failure


• Lentils — Reduces blood pressure


• Red Wine — Boosts HDL, reduces unwanted clotting


• Kale — Prevents atherosclerosis


• Pomegranates — Reduce atherosclerosis


• Almonds — Reduce LDL and fatal arrhythmias


• Dark Chocolate — Reduces blood pressure


• Sardines — Lower triglycerides, raise HDL

This list is only a start to a healthy diet.  A healthy diet includes a broad range of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts — not just a select few.

So while you’re shopping for kale, also consider spinach, romaine, arugula, and Swiss chard.  Oranges are great, but so are bananas, apples, strawberries, and kiwifruit.

As much as the AHA and the CDC encourage a healthy diet to prevent heart disease, Rivers says it’s okay to have a “cheat day” every now and then.  A cheat day allows you to have a little bit of what you’re craving.  It also helps prevent you from quitting the diet all together.

Hippocrates understood the concept more than 2,000 years ago: “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.”

Prevent Heart Disease With Healthy Lifestyle and Diet Choices

6 Heart Health Mistakes Made by Women—and How to Avoid Them

Overview

Despite the fact that the heart disease is the number one cause for death of women in the US, there is still a common misperception that it is a guy thing. Often women fear breast cancer more although they are eight times more likely to die of the heart disease. As per Pamela Ouyang, MBBS, director of the John Hopkins Women’s cardiovascular health center, “The message is getting out more but women still need help to understand their risk factors”. Now let us check out if any of these heart health mistakes often made by women apply to you.

Believing You’ll ‘Know’ When You Need to Get Your Blood Pressure Checked

Its great to be in tune with your body, but this approach will alone has its limits. Women often tell the doctor, “I got dizzy, so I knew my blood pressure was high”. You won’t know when you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol which are silent conditions.

How to proceed:  Get the blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar measured regularly by your doctor. These tests can flag your risk for future heart trouble.

Installing an Exercise Bike in the Home

Having a bike or a treadmill itself is great. The trouble is that you have to use it often and that’s where many women go wrong. Hence, they decide to embark on a new exercise program which is not that fun, convenient and so far after an initial push as they slack off.

How to Proceed:  Pick up an activity which is fun for you or so you’ll want to do it often such as running with a friend or walking around the mall.

Smoking Weight Down

Keeping your weight in a normal range is great for your heart. But using cigarettes for weight control snuffs out the good effects. This is because smoking is a leading cause of the cardiovascular disease.

How to Proceed:  Control your weight with exercise and diet. Do not count on e-cigarettes, either. According to Dr. Ouyang, “They may not be as healthy as it has been hoped initially as it is still nicotine”.

Not Knowing the Warning Signs of Heart Trouble for You

A heart attack can be present differently in women than it does in men. Expecting a chest crushing episode, women will ignore other danger signs.

How to Proceed: If you notice abdominal pain, nausea, difficulty breathing or other bothersome symptoms which are unusual for you. Therefore it is important to consult with your doctor.

Avoiding Hormone Replacement Therapy at Menopause Because It’s Bad for the Heart

Some women may suffer unnecessarily through intense hot flashes and sleep disturbances. While it’s no longer believed that the hormone replacement therapy can help protect the heart at menopause, it doesn’t mean you need to avoid it. Ouyang says, “For most women in their 50s, the established cardiovascular risk is low and it is safe to take hormones”.

How to Proceed:  If you need to take hormones for menopausal symptoms relief. Try a prescription at the lowest possible dose for the shortest period of time.

Thinking Certain Health Problems of Pregnancy Ended with Your Child’s Birth

Though your baby may no longer be inside you, but your heart, arteries and other organs still are. If you have hypertensive issue in pregnancy such as preeclampsia, pregnancy induced hypertension or gestational diabetes, then you are at increased risk of heart problems later in life.

How to Proceed: Always inform a new doctor about your full health history so that he/she has necessary information to consider your individual needs.

Source:

4 Risk Factors of Heart Diseases in Women

Heart Health for Women: What You Should Know

6 Heart Health Mistakes Made by Women—and How to Avoid Them

Nutritional & Tasty Turmeric-Ginger Ice Tea Good For Your Heart, Brain and Immune System

Turmeric, this amazing spice has been used in India for more than 2500 years. And more and more studies have found its benefits to health, from treating various diseases to improving organs’ functions.

Here is a list of the remarkable health benefits of using turmeric regularly:

1. Prevents cancer, especially effective for preventing prostate and skin cancer;


2. Boosts brain function and prevents Alzheimer’s disease;


3. Good for your eyes;


4. Aids in weight loss;


5. Acts as a natural painkiller due to its strong anti-inflammatory properties; (11 Healthy Foods That Can Block Inflammation and Ease Pain)


6. Protects your liver from damage;


7. Prevents Parkinson’s disease;


8. Cures depression;


9. Cures skin and dental problems as it has antibacterial properties;


10. Helps you sleep well.

Ginger

Originally from Asia, ginger is one of the most popular spices. Nowadays, it has been widely used all over the world because of its excellent medicinal properties. Studies are finding that this spice works great to treat various illnesses and improve your health naturally.

1. Ginger protects you against Alzheimer’s disease;


2. Prevents cancers such as prostate, lung, colon, skin, breast and ovarian cancers;


3. Aids in digestion;


4. Fights obesity;


5. Relieves migraines;


6. Cures cold and flu;


7. Reduces joint pain;


8. Removes bad breath;


9. Boosts immune system;


10. Relieves menstrual cramp.

The combination of these 2 super ingredients makes the nutrients in them more readily accessible for use in the body’s systems.

Ginger: An Amazing Spice That Promotes Healthy Life

How to Combine Turmeric and Ginger For Better Health

Turmeric Ginger Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons dried turmeric


• 4 teaspoons dried ginger


• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper


• 1/4 cup raw honey


• water

Directions:

Put the turmeric, ginger and black pepper into a saucepan. Pour in 1 cup water and boiling them.

Simmer for a while with a lower heat. Turn off the heat and let it cool for some minutes and then add honey.

Cover the saucepan and let the mixture steep for some hours.

Strain the mixture to remove the gritty powder out.

Save this concentration in the fridge and add some to your water to drink.

The join of a small amount of black pepper and honey will make the drink more tastier, and you’ll get more nutrients at the same time.

Sources:

healthdiaries.com
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Nutritional & Tasty Turmeric-Ginger Ice Tea Good For Your Heart, Brain and Immune System

Overweight patients less likely to die in hospital after heart operations

Patients who are overweight or obese are less likely to die in hospital after a heart operation than those who are a healthy weight, a study has found.

The results of the British Heart Foundation (BHF)-funded research suggest it is wrong to deny people surgery because they are overweight and that underweight patients could benefit from gaining weight prior to a heart operation.

A team at the University of Leicester collected data on about 400,000 adults in the UK and Ireland who underwent cardiac surgery between 2002 and 2013, categorising them into different weight categories, according to their BMI (body mass index).

Of those included, 11,511 patients died in hospital, including 4.4% of patients who were of healthy weight, compared with only 2.8% of those who were overweight and 2.7% in obese class I (with a BMI of 30 to 35). The study, published on Friday in the journal Circulation, found that 8.5% of patients who were underweight died in hospital.

Gavin Murphy, BHF professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Leicester, said: “We saw a 25% reduction in death by being overweight as opposed to being normal [healthy] weight. That’s a bigger effect on mortality than statins.

“It changes one of the most basic approaches behind surgery, which is that people need to lose weight before surgery. Obese patients are generally considered unfit for surgery. This study shows the very morbidly obese – with a BMI greater than 40 – did not have a greater risk. It shows that no patient should be rejected for surgery on the basis of body mass.”

The authors believe the study confirms the existence of the much-debated obesity paradox, whereby obesity can cause illnesses, such as heart disease or a heart attack but at the same time have certain protective effects.

Murphy said they found a linear association between increasing BMI and lower risk of acute heart failure or acute stroke but the relationship did not hold for all adverse outcomes post-surgery (infections, for example). How being overweight or obese protects patients who undergo surgery is unknown but the researchers plan to investigate this in future.

“If you imagine that having a heart operation is like climbing a mountain, you’re probably better doing that if you’re nutritionally nourished than if you’re under-nourished, if you’re having an energy surplus than having an energy deficit, although it’s probably a bit more complex than that,” said Murphy.

The researchers found that overweight or obese patients had greater protection regardless of age and even if they had experienced complications associated with obesity, such as hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease.

They also reviewed data from 557,720 further patients included in studies across Europe, the United States and Asia, finding similar results.

BHF’s associate medical director, Prof Jeremy Pearson, said: “We always recommend a healthy waistline, which significantly reduces lifetime risk of heart disease and therefore a person’s risk of needing cardiac surgery. However, this large study strongly suggests that being overweight can give patients added protection when facing major heart surgery, reducing their chance of complications or death before leaving hospital.”

A large number of NHS groups are believed to have placed restrictions on access to surgery for overweight people, although, in most cases this applies to elective procedures for non-life-threatening conditions such as hip and knee replacements.

Overweight patients less likely to die in hospital after heart operations

My dad"s heart operation taught me a few things about being a doctor

“Look at this.”

My dad handed me an information leaflet open on a page titled Sex after major heart surgery.

“It says I can’t put weight on my arms!”

“Right.” I said, not even sure what the joke was, and refusing to engage in any discussion.

Dad was due for major heart surgery. He’d recently been rushed to hospital with breathlessness, and a couple of hours later I was at his bedside adjusting to the new perspective of family member. His heart was struggling and it was serious; he needed a complicated, life-threatening operation. The operation was just before Christmas; I would be in hospital every day over the festive period, alternating between working as a junior doctor and visiting my father. As a comedian, I also had a few gigs in London lined up one evening.

Beforehand, humour kept things light. He joshed avidly with my brother that he wouldn’t be “following the light”. But below the surface we were suffering. Christmas was cancelled, no big celebration, retail and decorations stripped down to minimum. As the date grew closer we all noticed subtle changes; every hug goodbye a bit tighter, every moment as a family more appreciated.

On the morning of the operation I drove in at 6am and sat with dad until he was called to theatre. I’d never been to the hospital he was in, and although as a doctor I knew what the signs meant and where things were, I felt a stranger in the place. I walked down the corridors and passed the discharge lounge and superstitiously thought that might be a good sign. I then turned a corner and passed the bereavement lounge and, amazed at how close they were, decided not to be superstitious. I sat and chatted until he was called to theatre, then we hugged goodbye and I walked down the corridor.

I left. I got into my car and cried. I was so tired, and the weeks of holding it together had built up. As I sat with his phone and glasses in my hands, my feet crunching against empty sandwich packets from last-minute meals before hospital shifts and comedy gigs, I saw all the unread well-wishing messages flash up, including mine.

When you work in a hospital you are so consumed by the job, so busy working out what the patient needs, that it’s almost impossible to take time to consider what the family has already been through. For families it all starts much earlier: the initial concern, the anxiety, the waiting, the unknown outcome.

In the days that followed, while working I was acutely aware of this when seeing families of patients. As family, you are a team for that one patient, every waking moment is about them, everything is time critical. When working as a doctor you have to care for many people, so you do the best you can for every patient you see and prioritise. Communication is paramount. I suddenly saw myself in the families’ shoes and empathised more than I’d been able to previously.

After dad’s operation, the surgeon and nurses were cautious – there were complications, but it had gone as well as expected and he wouldn’t be waking up today. My brother and I went to see dad in intensive care, we were asked to come back in 30 minutes. We returned and were told the same, returned a third time and told again at which point we panicked and asked what was happening. Was he in trouble? It turned out they meant “at least” 30 minutes and they were just getting routine things ready. A stark reminder of how communication is so important, how timely and accurate information is essential.

Working in hospital was a strange relief; a juxtaposition of doing a job but being constantly reminded of what was happening by familiar tests, results, and medications. I was reassured by all the brilliant staff I work with – doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and more – all of them professional and caring, consoling me that dad was surrounded by similar people.

The evening after the operation complications arose that the intensive care team were struggling to sort out. I discussed with them some of the tests and instantly realised how serious the situation was; they didn’t know how it would go. We called almost every hour for updates – no change. The only reassurance was in talking to nurses and doctors who were calm and in control. They’d contact us if he deteriorated further – so we barely slept. By morning everything had changed and dramatically improved, with the previous 12 hours seeming like a nightmare.

That morning I walked in and saw him awake, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. “Bloody hell dad, you scared the crap out of us.”

“But I told you I wouldn’t go towards the light,” he said wearily.

By Christmas day he had been moved to a ward, almost out of the woods. Yesterday he was discharged into my mum’s exhausted but delighted arms.

After dad heard how serious the situation was, he called and told me he’d asked a nurse overnight: “Did you know how serious it was for me?” The nurse smiled, put her arm round him and said: “Yes we all did. You, sir, were our Christmas miracle”.

Comedian and doctor Ed Patrick is performing his debut show Junior Optimist across the UK. For tickets and locations visit www.edpatrickcomedy.com

If you would like to contribute to our Blood, sweat and tears series which is about memorable moments in a healthcare career, please read our guidelines and get in touch by emailing sarah.johnson@theguardian.com.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more about issues like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

My dad"s heart operation taught me a few things about being a doctor

A Miracle Immune System Booster: Make This Juice to Combat Diabetes, Infections, Heart Diseases and Even Cancer!

The immune system plays a significant role in keeping you healthy and in fighting against illnesses and infections. As people today have to deal with many virus and toxins from the environment, all of us realize the importance of a healthy immune system, which protects and improves both physical and emotional health.

There are some lifestyle habits you should adopt to protect your immune system, the first line of defense for diseases.

1. Sleep enough for maintaining balanced hormones;


2. Limit the alcohol intake, as well as cigarette;


3. Include proper nutrition into your diet, and lower the amount of fats and sugar;


4. Exercise regularly;


5. Drink enough water.

A healthy diet is vital to boost a healthy immune system. Here is a natural homemade drink you can make with some common ingredients in your kitchen to stimulate your immune system in a great way.

An Amazing Juice to Make Your Immune System Work Properly

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh beets


• 1/2 kg carrots


• 1 medium lemon


• 1 kg raw honey


• 2-3 apples


• 2-3 oranges

Directions:

Wash the beets, carrots, and apples, cut them into small pieces.

Juice the oranges and squeeze the juice from the lemon.

Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend them to get a homogeneous drink.

Put the drink in a glass bottle and save in fridge.

How to use:

Drink 1 glass of this juice before breakfast every morning.

It’s especially good for people with a weaker immune system. You will feel more energetic after 10 days of keeping drinking it.

The main ingredients are beets and carrots of this drink, both of which are great foods that are loaded with nutrients.

Eat beets to own a healthy immune system to fight against chronic diseases.

Beets are rich in betalains, an antioxidant that has anti-inflammatory properties to help battle inflammation-related chronic health problems, including obesity and even cancer. This sweet vegetable also benefits to you in other ways:

Carrot – The health benefits of this super power food are countless

Carrot provides great amounts of vitamins and a host of other essential nutrients for a healthy immune system, it’s such a miracle plant that slows down aging, improves vision (Natural Foods &Home Remedies in Protecting and Improving Your Eyes), prevents cancer and other diseases.

It also assists the liver function to flush out the toxins out of the body, clean organs give you a healthy immune system to protect you from the illnesses. And carrot has been found to be able to reduce the risk of stroke, a study from Harvard University showed those who consumed 5 or more carrots every week had fewer chances to suffer from a stroke than people who consumed fewer carrots.

Make this juice and drink it when you feel a lack of energy. Natural solutions are always top-picks, a healthy and happy immune system to all!

Additional sources: healthguidance.org, care2.com

Related Reading:

9 Herbal Approaches to Cleanse Your Lungs and Respiratory System

10 Foods That Will Lower Your Cholesterol

5 Healthy Foods to Eat For Treating Chronic Health Issues

A Miracle Immune System Booster: Make This Juice to Combat Diabetes, Infections, Heart Diseases and Even Cancer!

A 10-Year Study Links Diet Soda to Stroke and Heart Disease

A 10-Year Study Links Diet Soda to Stroke and Heart Disease