Heart

Question: Heart.....................? left and right sides, what it does, 2 intersting facts

Answer: right atrium - deoxygenated blood from vena cavas Right ventricle pumps this blood to lungs left atrium- oxygenated blood from lungs left ventricle- pumps blood to body septum- partition in heart btw sides only place in body cardiac muscle is found SA node fires first signal to contract

Question: How did the heart come to represent love? I've always found it rather unusual that the heart is associated with love, how and why did the heart come to represent love? And thereby, how did the heart come to be represented by the cartoon style heart shape instead of some other shape?

Answer: since primitive cultures heart was considered the main organ of the body. since the heart is continuously beating and heart beats become faster when the person is excited or in love. recently studies found some nerve tissues on the heart that deal with emotions however more studies are needed. so the old myth is not absolutely wrong.

Question: What heart problems are unable to be detected with a blood test? Hi. I've been having chest pains, and feelings of pressure on my heart as well as pain in my left arm and hand. My doctor ordered a blood test but they came back fine, so he told me my heart is ok. I'm still having problems and am incredibly tired. Are there any heart problems that can't be detected on a blood test? I just want to know if my doctor is correct or not. I hope he is, but I can't help but worry. Thanks

Answer: There are many problems with a heart that can't be detected with a blood test. Really, blood tests are only good for detecting damage to the heart which is usually acute and for detecting congestive heart failure which is when fluid builds up around the heart. Many heart defects will not be detectable by these tests although some will have an effect on the heart that might show up. If you're really worried then press your Dr. for some more thorough tests such as an EKG or stress test. I work in a hospital lab and do cardiac blood tests often. They are quite limited on detecting several problems.

Question: What's the difference between heart disease & heart failure in dogs? My Cavalier has heart disease (I think it is MVD). She has been on tablets for several months for it. On the packet it says that they are for the treatment of heart failure in dogs. I used to think that heart failure was when the heart just stopped working and the dog died, but that is obviously not the case. What does heart failure actually mean? Thanks xx

Answer: http://www.cavalierhealth.org/mitral_valve_disease.htm This has lots of info. Heart disease in cavaliers means the mitral valve(and occasionally the tricuspid valve)is diseased and leaking.Heart failure means the disease has progressed till the heart doesn't pump efficiently and the fluid builds up in the lungs,also known as chf. The most common drugs for mvd are ace inhibitors.enalapril and benazapril,with lasix added when failure occurs and pimobendan added as they hit later stages of the disease. Try and find a vet experienced in heart disease.

Question: How high does a heart rate have to go to become a heart attack? I have epilepsy and last nite I went into an aura. I also have panic disorder and when medics got to my apartment my heart rate was 210. Can I stress my heart into cardiac arrest? Also, it seems like the seizure aura is related to heart issues because as soon as the aura hits my rate goes out of control. My blood pressure also dropped to 90/60. Thanks.

Answer: A sustained run of tachycardia, in some instances can turn into ventricular fibrillation. That's why it's treated pre-hospital by paramedics on the ambulance. Sounds like your lowered B/P was due to diminished cardiac output. Your heart was beating so fast, the chambers didn't have time to refill and thus less blood was being pumped through your circulatory system. I would suspect that the only relation to your tachycardia and the aura's is panic.

Question: How does heart rate change with enlarged or smaller heart? In another word, when pumbing function is lesser, the heart tends to enlarge to pumb more blood to the body and vice vesa. Does heart beats always reduce or increase when the heart enlarges or restores back to its normal size? If so, a patient takes medicine to slower heart beats, will it cause the enlarged heart as the result? and again if a patient doesnt take pills for heart beats then can the heart return to normal size with a little more HR? Thanks.

Answer: When systolic function (pumping) declines the heart tends to beat faster to try to compensate for the systolic function. This leads to hypertrophy of the heart muscle (the heart is putting in more effort to pump so it enlarges, just like if you lift weights your arm muscles will enlarge) The problem with the heart beating fast is that it doesn't have enough time to fill up with blood. Medications are given to slow the heart rate so that the heart has time to fill with blood and then pump that blood out to the rest of the body. Once the heart is enlarged (no matter what the cause) it will not return to it's original size. Remember that the heart enlarges due to the fast heart rate not the other way around. Hope this makes sense!

Question: How does your resting heart rate translate into the amount of calories your body uses? I understand that a higher heart rate means a higher workload for your heart. I have a fairly low resting heart rate (mid 50's) and am active, so how does this compare with someone who is less active with a higher resting heart rate with the same weight/height ratio? Thanks for any input!

Answer: Nearly every time you pick up a magazine or newspaper these days, you see advertisements for products that supposedly raise your metabolism. Whether they're trying to sell you exercise equipment or food supplements, these ads claim that the products turn up the heat in your body so you burn more calories even when you're not exercising. Sounds logical enough, but is it true? No question, in today's fitness world people are mad for everything metabolic. But what exactly is this thing called "metabolism" and how much do we really know about raising it? For example, what's better for the boost- weight training or aerobics? And is it true that eating hot chili peppers fires up your rate of fat combustion? Here are some burning questions about burning calories, plus some answers that are sure to surprise you. What does "metabolism" mean? Your metabolism is the sum of processes involving energy production- specifically, the chemical changes in your living cells by which energy is provided for your vital processes and activities and new material is assimilated. You can also think about your metabolism as the number of calories you're burning at any given moment, whether you're watching "Seinfeld" or pumping away on the StairMaster. Naturally, your metabolic rate- the rate of energy production and expenditure- will be higher when you're exercising than when you're crashed on the couch. Will aerobic exercise raise your resting metabolic rate? Several studies have failed to show any significant increase in resting metabolic rate due to aerobic workouts. One, for instance, found that men who jogged three times a week for 30 minutes at about 70 to 80 percent of their maximum heart rate did not increase their RMR. But they were certainly burning lots of calories on the run. What is "afterburn"? This term refers to the fact that your metabolic rate stays elevated after you do any kind of exercise. But the effect varies greatly depending on the type of workout, how hard and, to some extent, how long you just exercised. In a recent study, Christopher Melby, Dr.P.H., associate professor of nutritional science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and his colleagues monitored seven men who did a killer, 90-minute weight workout- six sets of 10 exercises with very little rest between sets. Two hours after the workout, their metabolic rate was 11 percent higher than normal. When the subjects were measured the next morning, 15 hours after the workout, their metabolism was still elevated by a hefty 9 percent, which could translate into as much as 150 extra calories burned. In another study, Melby cut the workout down to five sets of each exercise and let the subjects rest longer between sets. The subjects' post-exercise metabolic rate also was 11 percent elevated after two hours; but by the next morning, the increase had dropped to less than 5 percent. "What that indicates is, the post-exercise metabolic rate [of a weight-training workout] is a function of exercise intensity primarily, and to some extent duration," Melby says. The numbers in both studies were impressive, but the workouts were far longer and more strenuous than most people have the time, strength, stamina and motivation to maintain. Melby believes that the concept of afterburn gets too much hype. After all, the calories you burn post-exercise are negligible compared to what you burn during the workout. Does aerobic exercise also give you an afterburn? Yes, but it probably doesn't last as long as the weight-training afterburn- unless you work out intensely or do interval training. Most studies have found that mild to moderate exercise elevates metabolic rate for only a few minutes to a few hours. If, for instance, you jogged at 70 percent of your maximum heart rate for a half-hour, you probably wouldn't experience an afterburn for more than an hour. "For most people it'll be less than that," Melby says, burning no more than 15 to 30 calories. On the other hand, highly trained athletes who can run for, say, 90 minutes at 75 percent of their maximum heart rate, might have significant afterburn for several hours. The bottom line: Focus on burning calories during your workout, not after. As for why strength training has more of an afterburn than moderate aerobic exercise, scientists aren't sure. One possible explanation, Melby says, is that anaerobic exercise, such as weight training, might elevate levels of the hormone epinephrine, which stimulates metabolic rate. Another theory: The repair of microscopic tissue damage caused by weight lifting might expend more energy. What about aerobic interval training? Go for it. Afterburn seems to depend mainly on workout intensity (duration doesn't have nearly as much effect). So if you do aerobics, interval training with alternate bursts of activity will get the best post-workout rise out of your metabolism. "If you did a number of short bouts, say on the treadmill or the bike, at 95 percent of your max, the afterburn would be significantly greater than if you used the same number of calories, or even more, doing one longer, lower-intensity bout at 50 or 70 percent of your max," says Melby. "Your metabolic rate would be elevated for a longer period at a higher magnitude." So there is truth in advertising. Some kinds of equipment can rev up your body's calorie-burning rate; just be sure to do high-intensity interval training for the best metabolic results. Is there any way to lower metabolism? Yes. Go on a very low-calorie diet. Your body will sense that it is being starved and will fight back by slowing down. "If you don't get enough calories, your metabolic rate can go down profoundly, says Callaway. Severely anorexic women, he says, burn 30 to 40 percent fewer calories a day- sometimes 50 percent- than women who eat normally. (In other words, an anorexic who takes in only 200-300 calories a day uses it up much more slowly that her normal counterpart.) It's not clear how much of a calorie deficit triggers a drop in RMR- there's probably a continuum. But, says Callaway, you can get into trouble by consuming fewer calories than your RMR requires. Can't you prevent your resting metabolism from dropping by exercising when you diet? Not necessarily, especially if you're on a very low-calorie diet. Two late-breaking studies divided subjects into four groups: diet only, diet plus aerobic exercise, diet plus weight training, and diet plus aerobics and weight training. After many weeks, After many weeks, both studies found no significant weight loss among any of the groups. "When you add a lot of exercise on top of a marked caloric restriction, you're not going to prevent resting metabolic rate from falling," says Thomas A. Wadden, Ph.D., a psychology professor and director of the weight and eating disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia who conducted one of the studies. That doesn't mean you should skip the exercise. To the contrary, you should diet and work out with moderation. In Wadden's study where the diet was severe- 128 obese people ate only 925 calories a day for the first 16 weeks and 1,500 daily for the next 32- there were no significant differences in weight or body composition changes among the groups. (Both calorie amounts were severe for this population.)

Question: What different types of heart diseases do they have? I'm 23 & I saw a heart doctor yesterday, & so far, he told me that it doesn't look like I have heart disease from the EKG & ultrasound, but he has to run a stress test on a treadmill to see how I handle it. I get chest pains very easily simply just from walking the 1st 2 minutes. I know I'm overweight & I'm trying to lose it. But how can I if every time I try to exercise, I get chest pains? My Dr. said I'm too young for heart disease, & my PCP told me my cholesterol is a little high but not enough to be put on medication. What kinds of heart diseases do they have? I hope I don't have it, & I'm trying to do my best to prevent it.

Answer: I have angina and wear a nitro patch..Ask about daily aspirin.. A coated childrens asprin takes the chest pain away quickly. you dont need a prescription for spray nitro.The side efects not pleasant :; pounding head etc.

Question: How can the heart in a relaxed state move blood through arteries? If the systolic is the product of heart contraction how can a relaxed heart squirt blood throughout the circulatory system? Why does a pressure (Diastolic) is the result of a non motion action (relaxed heart) Not even my teachers can explain this.They 've been taught the way it is but they can't explain why there's still blood moving (blood pressure) between heartbeats. Please help!

Answer: So your right, the systolic is the number in which the amount of pressure is in the artery of the heart during contraction. Diastolic however is the minimum pressure reading which occurs near the beginning of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles are filled with blood. Diastolic is not based on the contraction of the beat, although the heart is relaxed its still working as it refills with blood, in return is where you obtain the minimum pressure in the heart when this occurs.

Question: What heart disorder would cause you to have a heart attack during sexual activity? I need to know because I have few, but very strong heart palpitations nearing a climax which made me stop all sexual activity.

Answer: Is that the "He's home early" syndrome? LOL Seriously, that's worth a doctor's appointment regardless of what activity started it.

Question: What is the most irregular heart beat you have had? For example my heart beat went from 120-160 in seconds whilst I was in hospital which is a pretty big gap - and it was really irregular, I had an injection to regluate it. Anyone else had a heart beat thats been really irregular? Just wondered what is the MOST irreglar heart beat because surely if your heartbeat becomes too irregular wouldnt it class as heart failure and you would die?

Answer: The most irregular heart beat I had was 211 beats per minute. Thank goodness I was in the ER when this event happened, had a early event in the morning at home. Now have a heart failure pacemaker/defibrillator.

Question: How long can a heart transplant patient live for on average? I remember reading something about "over a year" when I thought people who got heart transplants could live for as long as normally healthy people. What happens after a while? Does the body start rejecting the new heart? Does it not last as long? Why do people with a new heart still die early?

Answer: Patients who recieve transplants have to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of their lives. These meds don't work forever in all patients, and then the body may attack the transplanted organ. People with new hearts have to care for their bodies very well and follow up closely with the doctors. They can live up to normal life expectancy and are able to do almost anything, but usually if they needed a heart transplant, that's not the only issue with their health. What you might have seen with the "one year" issue is that the transplant is considered "successful" if the patient lives a full year after the transplant... in other words, having the transplant did not kill them, their body has 'accepted" the new organ and it is working well.

Question: What are emotional effects after a heart attack? I am a 62 year old woman and had a heart attack two weeks ago which ended with a femoral angioplasty. I came home from the hospital this weekend and I'm finding it difficult to sleep because I am afraid I may not wake up or I will wake up with another heart attack. I am weepy and emotional for not apparent reason. Can someone who has experienced a heart attack and/or heart surgery tell me if this is common? Should I see a doctor about it or will it go away shortly?

Answer: Hi felixetal.... You have been through a very traumatic situation. Your life has changed dramatically, literally. I know, I went through it as well. Don't be so hard on yourself. I don't know how anyone could go through what you have and not have it weigh on their mind. I had to learn to look at what happened to me in another light. I was 45 when I had my heart attack and it ended up with me having bypass surgery. Two weeks after the surgery two of the four bypasses they performed collapsed. I have all the same symptoms today that I did prior to the surgery, just not as severe. So I live with the constant reminder of what I have experienced. Key word being live. I live everyday. I refuse to stop living. I know for certain that the day will come that I stop living. In fact, there have been times where when I have gone to bed at night that I didn't know whether or not I would see the next morning. It is scary so I know how you feel. I *choose* to look at each and every day as a gift. Every day is a day that I would not have had without receiving the treatment I did. I only tell you all of this so that you can see you are not alone. You went through alot. Your body has gone through alot. Your mind is along for the ride my dear. Based on what you have said and how you have said it, I have to ask, have all of your symptoms that you had prior to the angioplasty disappeared? If so that is wonderful. If not then that has got to be weighing on your mind. If they haven't you need to speak with your Cardiologist. Please don't be afraid to do so. You are a strong woman, you've been through the hardest part. Facing the heart attack and facing your own immortality. Anything they throw at you now is workable. Are you on meds, what are they if I may ask? Is it possible that the meds are affecting your emotions? Did the Dr prescribe nitro pills? Are you taking aspirin? I assume you are on Plavix or Clopidogrel or something similar. By the way, if you are taking aspirin just realize that after a period of time it may play havoc with your digestive system. I used Nexium for several months after my surgery to fend off the effects of using aspirin on a regular basis. Now I keep a bottle of Maalox tablets on hand and I also use Pepcid when necessary. You know what I have in my medicine cabinet that I use as a "security blanket"? Nitroglycerin Transdermal System patches. I only use them when I start having chest pressure that just hangs on and won't go away. Normally within 15 minutes after applying the patch the symptom subsides. Talk to your Cardiologist about them. If for no other reason, just to get you through this time until you can come to terms with what you have experienced. Put one on at night before going to bed. You can wear them for 12 hour periods. The most important advice my Dr gave me was not to live my life as if I had a heart condition. So I don't. I know I have the problem and I deal with it but I don't dwell on it. I pray that what I have said here makes sense to you. I don't know of any other way to help you through this. Just know this, you are NOT alone. Here if I can be of anymore help... Tammy.

Question: How many people with heart transplants are still alive with the transplanted heart? My husband is coming up on the 19th anniversary of his heart transplant and has not had to be retransplanted. I am wondering how many people with heart transplants (not retransplants) have more than 18 years? I don't know how to find the answer on the web. I don't know how to phrase the question for a search.

Answer: According to what I could find on the web, using the search term 'heart transplant statistics', the survival rate at 10 years is around 50%. I haven't found a statistic that goes beyond 10 years, and figures for both the US and UK look roughly the same (links below). Your husbands doctor will likely be able to give a more accurate figure. I'd say your husbands transplant was a resounding success. Here's to you both having many more happy years together.

Question: How do you make the distinction between normal awareness of heart beat and heart palpitations? Heart palpitations are the irregular awareness of the heart beating. You dont have to necesarilly have an irregular, fast, or slow heart beat to have palpitations. So how does one make the distinction between a normal awareness of heart beat and an "irregular awareness" of heart beat? aka palpitations. I know that many people are able to feel their heart beating while at rest and this is considered normal. So why are those people not labeled as having "palpitations" ?

Answer: If you can actually FEEL your heart beating in your chest you are having palpitations. Point Blank Period

Question: What does it mean when your heart physically hurts? I get this regular heartaches/heart throbs every once in a while. Usually it lasts about 10 minutes but the other night it was hurting more then regular for a lot longer. Everyday after physical activities, my heart begins to throb horribly. What does this mean? Heart problems or what? I know it's NOT heart burn!

Answer: you're healthy... do nothing