The traditional way of angiography is accomplished by snaking a catheter through a patient’s blood vessels, where a dye is injected near the heart. Patients receiving this test will receive the same amount of radiation, which is found in other standard test such as nuclear stress test.
When patients undergo CT scans they receive radiation equivalent 600 chest X-rays.
The amount of radiation that that is given to a patient depends on where your health care provider sends you to have the CT scan. Some medical facilities take into consideration the size of the patient, when deciding on the dosage. The smaller …read more

A healthy heart will beat 60 to 100 times a minute, anything over that is considered Tachycardia.
When you experience rapid heartbeats it is always wise to consult your health care provider. In some cases tachycardia isn’t considered a threat, while others are life threatening.
If you are diagnosed with recurring tachycardia, your health care provider will recommend the treatment suited to your specific needs. According to the severity of the tachycardia open heart surgery may be needed.   
During an attack of tachycardia the heart is pumping at such a high rate, that the blood is not getting to the rest …read more

CRP or an inflammatory marker is a protein that is made when there is inflammation present in the body. CRP inflammation can be caused by high blood pressure, high blood sugar or smoking, it is also the way your body reacts to injury or infection.
CRP(C-reactive protein) inflammation encourages plaque to form in the blood vessels. This plaque will eventually cause the blood vessels to rupture causing a heart attack or stroke.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is often shortened to CPR. When your health care provider is explaining your disorder they will usually use the term CRP.  You will see CRP in …read more

Atrial fibrillation is caused when your heart’s electrical system is not functioning properly.
This problem is not as serious as ventricular fibrillation, this occurs when your heart stops beating. When ventricular fibrillation occurs the heart has to be shocked back to life, as you have seen on TV.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart arrhythmia, when there is a problem with the speed in which your heart beats; it is classified as a type of arrhythmia.
AF occurs when rapid, disorganized electrical signals in the heart’s two upper chambers, called the atria (AY-tree-uh), cause them to contract very fast and irregularly (this …read more

And yet another link to Alzheimer’s disease from another chronic disease process… It seems that anti-hypertensives have proven to benefit in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Such implications could aid in the ultimate cure and care of this dreadful mind altering disease. Just what anti-hypertensives made the list?
…significantly benefit from the treatment with the anti-hypertensive agent Valsartan, found to pharmacologically prevent beta-amyloid production in the brain even when delivered to Alzheimer’s disease mice at doses 3-4 fold lower than the minimal equivalent dose prescribed for the treatment of hypertension in humans. Other anti-hypertension drugs with beneficial results included …read more

I was watching How to Look Good Naked- that Carsin Palmer show on Lifetime… Have you seen it? They take women that have low self esteem and have inner issues with themselves and work with them to believe in themselves and look good naked. I love it- it makes me look at myself different as well. I guess I can love the stretch marks that gave me 3 beautiful little girls!
Anyway- there was a thirty something year old women that had issues with herself due to scares from many heart operations. She was born with a very rare type of …read more

I was asked about this twice in the last week- As a nurse, do you see many procedures and types of treatments that question “ethics”- with elders? You know that whole quantity or quality? The thing is there is so much technology and advances in medications that we can keep a very sick heart going for a very long time. Is that to say that very same heart is effectively working without discomfort, compromising one’s lifestyle, hospitalizations and every day worries? No, not at all.
Researchers found that 16 percent of these patients reported refusing one or more medical or surgical …read more

Music man Isaac Hayes died of a stroke on Sunday in his Memphis home. The deep-voiced soul singer died after he was found unconscious at his residence. Very sad- many prayers to his family.
However, it was also reported that no autopsy had been performed. No official determination has been released by the medical examiner’s office or filed with the Memphis health department, which issues death certificates.
via Perez Hilton and AP

Between the years 1997 and 2003 Gyorgy Kolonics won 15 world championships in canoeing. Gyorgy was also a canoeing gold medalist at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
Sadly, at 36 years old Gyorgy Kolonics died Tuesday after collapsing in his canoe while training for the Beijing Games.
The Hungarian Olympic Committee said that he lost consciousness and paramedics were unable to resuscitate him.  The committee cited heart failure as the probable cause of death. So sad, so young and an exceptional athlete. It reminds us that we are all vulnerable at times and heart disease is so prevalent.

Here we go again.. or so it seems. Your mental health is so important in how you deal and heal from illness. Depressed patients are more at risk for developing complications following a heart attack. It is very important that we take check and let ourselves feel and be scared and all that comes with such a life altering episode.
“There is good evidence that if a person has depression after a heart attack, they are more likely to die from cardiac causes in the following months and years,” said lead author Jeff Huffman, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard …read more