Health Tips & Information

Coronary angiography

Coronary angiography is a procedure that uses a special dye (contrast material) and x-rays to see how blood flows through the arteries in your heart.

  • Coronary angiography is sometimes performed with cardiac catheterization. This is a procedure that measures pressures in the heart chambers.
  • An area of your body (the arm or groin) is cleaned and numbed with a local numbing medicine (anesthetic). The cardiologist passes a thin hollow tube, called a catheter, through an artery and carefully moves it up into the heart. X-ray images help the doctor position the catheter.
  • Once the catheter is in place, dye (contrast material) is injected into the catheter. X-ray images are taken to see how the dye moves through the artery. The dye helps highlight any blockages in blood flow.
  • The procedure most often lasts 30 to 60 minutes.

What is Angioplasty?

Angioplasty is a procedure to improve blood flow in coronary arteries that have become narrow or blocked. Your coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart. If you have coronary artery disease, a sticky material called plaque builds up in the coronary arteries. Plaque is made of cholesterol, calcium, and other substances in your blood. Over time, it can narrow your arteries or fully block them.

  • Reduce chest pain from blockages in the coronary arteries. This type of pain is called angina. There are different types of angina. Angioplasty treats certain types.
  • Limit damage to the heart during or right after a heart attack. In this case, angioplasty is an emergency treatment.

What is High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)?

Blood pressure is the measurement of the pressure or force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls. When you have hypertension (high blood pressure), it means the pressure against the blood vessel walls in your body is consistently too high. High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer” because you may not be aware that anything is wrong, but the damage is still occurring within your body.

Your provider will diagnose you with one of two types of high blood pressure:

  • Primary (also called essential) high blood pressure. Causes of this most common type of high blood pressure include aging and unhealthy habits like not getting enough exercise.
  • Secondary high blood pressure. Causes of this type of high blood pressure include different medical problems (for example kidney or hormonal problems) or sometimes a medication you’re taking.

Untreated hypertension may lead to serious health problems including:

  • Stroke
  • Heart attack
  • Peripheral vascular disease
  • Kidney disease/failure
  • Complications during pregnancy
  • Eye damage
  • Vascular dementia

Diabetes

Diabetes is a common condition that affects people of all ages. There are several forms of diabetes. Type 2 is the most common. A combination of treatment strategies can help you manage the condition to live a healthy life and prevent complications.

Diabetes is a condition that happens when your blood sugar (glucose) is too high. It develops when your pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin or any at all, or when your body isn’t responding to the effects of insulin properly. Diabetes affects people of all ages. Most forms of diabetes are chronic (lifelong), and all forms are manageable with medications and/or lifestyle changes.

Symptoms of Diabetes include:

  • Increased thirst (polydipsia) and dry mouth.
  • Frequent urination.
  • Fatigue.
  • Blurred vision.
  • Unexplained weight loss.
  • Numbness or tingling in your hands or feet.
  • Slow-healing sores or cuts.
  • Frequent skin and/or vaginal yeast infections.

What is Thyroid Disease

The thyroid gland is a small organ that’s located in the front of the neck, wrapped around the windpipe (trachea). It’s shaped like a butterfly, smaller in the middle with two wide wings that extend around the side of your throat. The thyroid is a gland. You have glands throughout your body, where they create and release substances that help your body do a specific thing. Your thyroid makes hormones that help control many vital functions of your body.

When your thyroid doesn’t work properly, it can impact your entire body. If your body makes too much thyroid hormone, you can develop a condition called hyperthyroidism. If your body makes too little thyroid hormone, it’s called hypothyroidism. Both conditions are serious and need to be treated by your healthcare provider.

Thyroid Disease can affect anyone — men, women, infants, teenagers and the elderly. It can be present at birth (typically hypothyroidism) and it can develop as you age (often after menopause in women). You may be at a higher risk of developing a thyroid condition if you:

  • Have a family history of thyroid disease
  • Have a medical condition (these can include pernicious anemia, Type 1 diabetes, primary adrenal insufficiency, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome and Turner syndrome).
  • Take a medication that’s high in iodine (amiodarone).
  • Are older than 60, especially in women.
  • Have had treatment for a past thyroid condition or cancer (thyroidectomy or radiation).

What is a Heart Attack?

A myocardial infarction (commonly called a heart attack) is an extremely dangerous condition that happens because of a lack of blood flow to your heart muscle. The lack of blood flow can occur because of many different factors but is usually related to a blockage in one or more of your heart’s arteries. Without blood flow, the affected heart muscle will begin to die. If blood flow isn’t restored quickly, a heart attack can cause permanent heart damage and death.

A heart attack is a life-threatening emergency. If you suspect you or someone you’re with is having a heart attack, call 911 (or your local emergency services phone number). Time is critical in treating a heart attack, and a delay of even a few minutes can result in permanent heart damage or death.

  • Chest pain (angina). This can be mild and feel like discomfort or heaviness, or it can be severe and feel like crushing pain. It may start in your chest and spread (or radiate) to other areas like your left arm (or both arms), shoulder, neck, jaw, back or down toward your waist.
  • Shortness of breath or trouble breathing.
  • Fatigue.
  • Trouble sleeping (insomnia).
  • Nausea or stomach discomfort. Heart attacks can often be mistaken for indigestion or heartburn.
  • Heart palpitations.
  • Anxiety or a feeling of “impending doom..
  • Sweating.
  • Feeling lightheaded, dizzy or passing out.
  • Coronary artery spasm.
  • Rare medical conditions: An example of this would be any disease that causes unusual narrowing of blood vessels.
  • Trauma: This includes tears or ruptures in the coronary arteries.
  • Obstruction that came from somewhere else in your body: A blood clot or air bubble (embolism) that gets trapped in a coronary artery.
  • Electrolyte imbalance.
  • Eating disorders: Over time, these can damage your heart and ultimately result in a heart attack.
  • Takotsubo or stress cardiomyopathy.
  • Anomalous coronary arteries (a congenital heart defect you’re born with where the coronary arteries are in different positions than normal in your body. Compression of these causes a heart attack)..

What is Coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause respiratory illness in humans. They are called “corona” because of crown-like spikes on the surface of the virus. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and the common cold are examples of coronaviruses that cause illness in humans.

The new strain of coronavirus — SARS-CoV-2 — was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. It has since spread to every country around the world.

Coronavirus is likely spread:

  • The virus travels in respiratory droplets released into the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, sings or breathes near you. You may be infected if you inhale these droplets.
  • You can also get coronavirus from close contact (touching, shaking hands) with an infected person and then touching your face.

Persons at greatest risk of contracting COVID-19 include those who:

  • Live in or have recently traveled to any area with ongoing active spread.
  • Have had close contact with a person who has a laboratory-confirmed or a suspected case of the COVID-19 virus. Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
  • Are over the age of 60 with pre-existing medical conditions or a weakened immune system.

Stroke

Strokes appear if any artery gets blocked in the brain

  • Numbness in arm, leg, or face
  • Extreme headache
  • Having difficulty in vision (of one eye or both eyes)
  • Difficulty in walking
  • Trouble in speaking.
  • Stroke is common among people with high BP and cholesterol
  • People with Diabetes
  • Among people who are chain smokers
  • People with brain Hemorrhage
  • People with Heart diseases

Tuberculosis (TB)

Tuberculosis infects the lungs as well as other body parts and is a life-threatening disease. However, it is a curable disease.

  • Fatigue
  • Blood in cough
  • Fever and chills
  • Sweats at night
  • No or less appetite
  • Weight loss without reason.
  • Weak immune
  • Living in areas that cause conditions for such disease
  • Coughing and sneezing of infected people reach healthy people.
  • Keep away from close contact with infected people
  • Getting Vaccinated
  • Eating healthy food.

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