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Heart Problems by plzchuckle ..... Barefooters' Library

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By: Jon Barron


06/18/2007


Heart Problems



In the last newsletter, we worked through the anatomy of the heart -- primarily to lay the groundwork for this issue. By using what we learned in the last issue, we can now explore:



Incidentally, if you haven't read the previous newsletter, Anatomy of the Heart, you might want to do that now. It's not absolutely necessary, but it will make for a more rewarding experience as you read this newsletter.


Problems of the epicardium



As you may remember, the epicardium is the lining that surrounds the heart muscle -- inside and out. On the inside, it's called the endocardium, and on the outside it's called the pericardium. Let's start our discussion of heart problems by looking at the epicardium -- not because it's the most important part of the heart, but because it's a simple place to start and lets us dip our toes into the subject before plunging into deeper waters.


Problems that can occur with the heart lining pretty much fall into two categories



Physical damage is easy to understand, and usually easy to repair. You're driving in your car, you get into an accident. You're slammed against the steering wheel or an airbag. Your body stops suddenly but your heart, powered by inertia an object in motion tends to stay in motion) keeps moving forward and tears the pericardium that holds it in place before bouncing back and coming to rest. This causes bleeding in the pericardial sac, which serves as the buffer between the heart and the chest wall and lungs. The extra fluid (blood) pumps into the sac under pressure which expands the sac, thereby squeezing and constricting the heart. If the pressure isn't relieved, it can build to the point where it constricts the heart so much that it prevents it from beating. Herbs and neutraceuticals are not much use here. Fortunately, medical intervention tends to be easy and effective in these situations. A catheter inserted into the sac to drain the excess blood and relieve the pressure will usually do the trick -- along with stopping the bleeding.


Inflammation (known as "itis" in medical terminology) is a little more complex. The primary cause of inflammation of the heart lining is infection, both viral and bacterial. Depending on which part of the lining is affected, it will be called pericarditis, endocarditis, or epicarditis. The inflammation can cause chest pain, difficulty pumping, or fever. These symptoms can be mild, acute, or even chronic. Standard treatment includes the use of Antibiotics and antivirals. These are "usually" effective unless the underlying infection is resistant to the arsenal of drugs at your doctor's disposal, which is a growing problem. Fortunately, there are natural alternatives including garlic, olive leaf extract, oil of oregano, grapefruit seed extract, etc. that can work even in the case of drug resistant infections.


Problems with heart valves


Also, as we discussed last issue, your heart valves are constructed like parachutes with tendons or cords anchoring them to the heart muscle to keep them from opening too far. Their role is to allow blood to flow down from the atria into the ventricles, and then to seal shut when the ventricles pump so that blood doesn't back up into the atria, but is instead forced out into the main pulmonary artery from the right ventricle or into the aorta from the left ventricle. Problems with the valves are easy to understand and fall generally into two categories.












There can be multiple causes for both problems.




The bottom line is that the pumping process becomes less efficient, and your heart has to pump harder and faster to compensate. Treatments can range from doing nothing, to using drugs to reduce infection and inflammation, to surgically replacing the damaged valves with artificial valves.


Doing nothing you might ask? Absolutely! In most cases, that's what doctors do. Why? The heart has tremendous reserve capacity. Last issue we mentioned that you can have 70% blockage of your coronary arteries and never experience any outward symptoms. It doesn't stop there. Your heart also has a tremendous reserve pumping capacity and when called upon can increase output 5-8 times if needed. For example, in mitral valve prolapse (a condition in which the mitral valve "falls down", or prolapses too far into the left ventricle allowing for backflow into the right atrium), there are usually few symptoms or any problems. In most cases doctors will just make note of it and watch for any changes.


On the other hand, sometimes, there are symptoms. These can include:



In those cases the valves are often replaced with mechanical valves. At one time, you could actually hear the mechanical valves make a slight clicking sound as they opened and closed 70-80 times a minute. This drove some people crazy when they tried to sleep at night. Newer models have overcome that problem and are silent.


Now you might think since problems with valves are mechanical in nature that nutrition and supplements would not play much of a role in resolving them. If so, you would be wrong. Most medical doctors are not aware of this fact, but there are numerous studies showing nutrients matter -- and supplementation can actually change the mechanical aspects of valve function. For example, it has been shown that magnesium plays a role in mitral valve prolapse.



This is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, nutrition and supplementation can play a primary role in maintaining optimum heart health -- and even reversing many chronic heart problems. We will talk more about this later; but for now let's explore problems that happen within the coronary arteries.


Circulatory problems









The first blood vessels off the aorta are the two coronary arteries, which subsequently split off into numerous branches that feed the heart. Blockage of these arteries through the build up of arterial plaque is one of the most common causes of death. The net result is ischemia, which means a "reduced blood supply." As I mentioned last issue, because there is so much redundancy in the branching of the coronary arteries, you can have up to 70% blockage and yet have no obvious symptoms. At some point, though, you will have a heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction. The myocardium is the name of the heart muscle, and infarction means the "death of tissue." In other words, a heart attack is the result of loss of blood flow to the heart muscle, which causes death of heart muscle tissue. The severity of the attack is determined by:



In some cases, people do indeed die from their first heart attack. In most cases, though, the attacks are progressive -- with each attack killing more and more tissue until the remaining heart muscle can no longer carry the load. Depending on the extent of the damage, standard medical treatments include:




None of these options are perfect. Angioplasty and bypass surgery (even though they have been in use for years) are actually unproven (for those of you who think everything in medicine is backed by peer reviewed studies). In fact, recent studies indicate that they may actually give only slight temporary relief with no extension of life-- not to mention an increased risk of stroke. Both stents and angioplasties (and bypasses too, for that matter) quickly re-plug, a problem called restenosis, and need to be periodically redone or replaced. New forms of stents are coated with drugs to slow down restenosis but come with their own set of problems. Bypass surgery produces a dramatically increased risk of stroke, infection and profound depression. And heart transplants force you to stay on immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of your life.



Far and away the biggest problem with all of these treatments, though, is that they only treat one manifestation of the problem, not the underlying cause -- the fact that the arteries are blocking in the first place. It is here that alternative therapies excel -- both short term, and long term. For example:



Blood Clots


Another aspect of coronary heart disease is the blood clot or thrombus. (If it becomes dislodged and floats free, it's called an embolus.) In larger arteries, a clot will only impede the flow of blood. In smaller arteries, it can completely block it. Thrombi form most often in the veins of the leg, where they then float off (now called emboli) and end up lodging in and blocking the smaller arteries of the heart, lungs, and brain. There can be many triggers for the formation of clots and emboli, but one of the more interesting is deep vein thrombosis -- the formation of blood clots as the result of prolonged sitting in airplanes and cars








Preventing blood clots reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack and pulmonary embolism. The standard treatment for those at risk of embolisms involves the use of drugs such as Heparin or warfarin (a form of rat poison), which are anticoagulants used to inhibit the formation and growth of existing blood clots.


But these drugs are dangerous and require constant watching and regulating since they can cause internal bleeding. Far safer (and better since they also dissolve arterial plaque and help promote the repair of arterial tissue) are proteolytic enzyme formulations that incorporate specialized enzymes such as nattokinase.



Problems with the heart muscle -- the myocardium


In the end, when you're talking about the heart, it mostly comes down to the myocardium -- the heart muscle. The danger of coronary heart disease, for example, is that it starves the myocardium of oxygen and kills it. The danger of a valve problem is that it forces the myocardium to work too hard. The danger of a bio-electrical/conductivity problem is that it throws the heart muscle out of rhythm and causes it to lose its beat, or to fibrillate. (Fibrillation occurs when a heart chamber "quivers" due to an abnormally fast rhythm and can no longer pump blood well. Fibrillation of the atrium is called atrial fibrillation; in the ventricle it's called ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation usually leads to death.) To paraphrase the Clinton campaign in the ‘90's, "It's all about the myocardium."


Problems in the atria


For the most part, problems in the atria are not life threatening. Even if both atria totally lose their ability to pump or weaken and balloon out, you lose maybe 30% of your total heart function. Without pumping, gravity and suction will still bring most of the blood down into the ventricles. There are, of course, times your doctor will want to address problems, but for the most part, you can live for years with barely functioning atria.










Problems with the ventricles


Ah, but the ventricles are a different story. When the left ventricle goes into fibrillation, we're talking cardiac arrest. It's time to pull out the electric paddles. So what kinds of problems are we talking about?



Unfortunately, modern medicine comes up short when it comes to problems of the myocardium. Mostly it just deals with the aftermath.




When it comes to the muscle itself, nothing! But as luck would have it, here's where alternative therapies shine.



Heart rhythm disorders


The heart is an unusual organ. It has millions and millions of cells, and each cell has the potential for electrical activity. In the normal heart these electrical impulses occur in regular intervals. When something goes wrong with the heart's electrical system, the heart does not beat regularly. Unlike most organs in the body, all the cells in the heart are wired together so that if a single cell fires prematurely or late, the neighboring cells will be activated and a mistimed wave will travel over the heart. The irregular beating results in a rhythm disorder, or arrhythmia.


To quickly review from last issue.



So what can go wrong?



Medical Treatments



Alternatives




Conclusion


Let's take a break here, and next issue we'll conclude our discussion of the heart by exploring what happens in your doctor's office:



For now, though, it's worth reviewing a key concept:


Although many problems with the heart may seem to be biomechanical in nature and beyond the purview of nutrition and supplements, that's not necessarily true. As we've seen:



As usual, it's not just about pharmaceutical drugs and surgical procedures. Following the principles of the Baseline of Health Program can change your heart…and your prospects for long-term survival.



Typical medical treatment involves drugs such as adenosine, calcium channel blockers (e.g., diltiazem, verapamil), short-acting beta-blockers (e.g., esmolol), and digitalis.


The other option, of course, is the pacemaker. The pacemaker uses electrodes attached to the heart that take over from the SA node to control the beating of the heart. The pacemaker is run by a small computer installed in the body. Modern pacemakers are externally programmable and allow for the selection of optimum pacing modes for individual patients. Some can even self-regulate and adapt to changing requirements such as stress or exertion. And some combine a pacemaker and defibrillator in a single device.


Drugs and pacemakers work reasonably well at keeping the heart going, but still address the problem after the fact. Keep in mind that in most cases the rhythm of the heart was lost through degradation based on nutrition or disease. Installing a pacemaker does not address that problem; it merely bypasses it. On the other hand, it is possible to reverse many of those conditions nutritionally and thus reverse many of the associated problems.






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