There are a few disorders and also diseases that can affect the heart.
Your heart muscle is the strongest and toughest muscle in the body. It is almost impossible to strain it if it is in a healthy condition. The heart has an excellent repair mechanism to offset possible disorders. Many people worry about their hearts without cause. The heart sometimes is blamed for bodily disturbances due to other causes. Below I have defined and listed various ailments that may occur to the heart.
High blood pressure is strongly linked to heart disease. High blood pressure is called hypertension. An increase in blood pressure is believed to be the result of a narrowing of the smaller blood vessels. The elevated pressure in the arteries makes the left ventricle work harder and, if not treated, the left ventricle ultimately fails. This condition is common. The result of this hypertension can be congestive heart failure. Some factors that cause hypertension are smoking, diet, stress, and heredity. The narrowing causes the heart to beat harder to pump the blood. A blood pressure of 140/90 represents borderline hypertension for adults. Higher pressure may be more serious.
Rheumatic heart disease is due to having rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is a disease caused by strep bacteria that can result in inflammation of the heart valves and muscle tissue. This swelling can damage and scar the heart valves. The damage may disturb the flow of blood through the heart and cause rheumatic heart disease in later years. The first sign of strep infection is often a sore throat. Treating the initial strep infection with antibiotics prevents heart damage from developing. The infection can lead to destruction of the heart valves.
To sustain life, the heart must pump blood throughout the body on a regular and ongoing basis. The heart muscle or myocardium requires a constant supply of blood containing nutrients and oxygen to function effectively. The delivery of oxygen and nutrient-rich arterial blood to cardiac muscle issue and the return of oxygen-poor blood from this active tissue to the venous system is called the coronary circulation. Coronary heart disease results from the narrowing of arteries that nourish the heart. If the coronary arteries are healthy, then the linings remain smooth and clear carrying a steady stream of blood to the heart. If the inner walls become rough and thick deposits have formed. The formed deposits contain cholesterol, connective tissue and smooth muscle cells. These form a process called atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. An artery can become clogged completely and when this happens the clogged coronary arteries cut off the blood supply to the heart. A heart attack will occur after the blood supply to the heart ends as heart muscle dies.
Angina pectoris is a term used to describe the severe chest pain that occurs when the myocardium is deprived of adequate oxygen. It is often a warning that the coronary arteries are no longer able to supply enough blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. A temporary lack of oxygen in the heart muscle causes a feeling of suffocation and chest pain. Angina is a symptom rather than a disease. Attacks of angina usually occur during periods of heavy physical or emotional stress. They generally last only as long as the stress continues. People who suffer from angina may never have heart attacks. Angina does indicate that there is some blockage in the coronary arteries.
A condition in which the arteries become hard is called arteriosclerosis. This is often called hardening of the arteries. In this condition, calcium often builds up in the artery walls. Less blood can move through the hardened arteries, because the walls thicken and the passageways narrow. It slows the flow of blood to the parts of the body fed by the affected arteries. Arteries leading to the legs and brain are most often affected. If the arteries to the brain are affected, victims may get dizzy or suffer temporary loss of sight.
The most important form of arteriosclerosis is atherosclerosis. This is a disease caused by the buildup of fatty masses in the walls of the arteries. If the buildup is too great, the flow of blood can be reduced to a trickle or even stopped. When a blockage occurs in the arteries feeding the heart muscle, the disease can lead to heart damage.
A disease of the heart muscle is cardiomyopathy. This disease directly alters the structure or function of heart muscle. It can appear as either hypertrophic or congestive. If it is hypertrophic, the muscle fibers composing the bulk of the heart wall begin to thicken. After these fibers thicken the septum will swell, impeding the blood flow from the left ventricle to the body. It can distort a leaflet of the mitral value, causing leakage. There is a heredity link to the swelling of the septum. A malfunction of the heart's electrical system called cardiac arrhythmia can develop.
The form of congestive cardiomyopathy means the heart cavity enlarges. After the heart cavity enlarges, the myocardium tends to degenerate, and fibrous tissue supplants healthy muscle. Clotting arises as the blood flow becomes slack through an enlarged heart. The clots over a period of time can break free from the muscle wall and flush into the systemic or pulmonary circulations.
Endocarditis or myocardial infarction can damage the heart's conduction system and thereby disturb the rhythmical beating of the heart. The term arrhythmia is used to refer to rhythm abnormalities.
A heart block is one kind of dysrhythmia. In AV node block, impulses are blocked from getting through to the ventricular myocardium, resulting in the ventricles contracting at a much slower rate than normal.
Bradycardia is a slow heart rhythm with the heart beating below 60 beats per minute. A slight bradycardia is normal during sleep and in some instances when awake. Abnormal bradycardia can result from improper autonomic nervous control of the heart of from a damaged SA node.
Tachycardis is a rapid heart rhythm with beats of over l00 beats per minute. Tachycardia is normal during and after experience and during the stress response. Abnormal tachycardia can result from improper autonomic control of the heart, blood loss or shock, the action of drugs and toxins, fever, and other factors.
Sinus dysrhythmia is a variation in heart rate during the breathing cycle. The rate increases during inspiration and decreases during expiration. This is very common in young people.
Premature contractions or extrasystoles are contractions tat occur before the next expected contraction in a series of cardiac cycles. These occur after a loss or sleep too much caffeine, nicotine, or too much alcohol. Frequent premature contractions can lead to fibrillation, a condition in which cardiac muscle fibers contract out of step with each other.
