Heart attacks in healthy people: A popular shower habit could take the blame

Heart diseases have for long been the deadliest killers around the world – yet, it is shocking how the incidence of heart attacks in healthy people  has skyrocketed in the past few years, especially since the coronavirus pandemic kicked off. Several celebrities, actors, singers, and cricketers succumbed to the cardiovascular condition when blood flow to the heart comes to a halt suddenly starving the organ of oxygen. Although it is often associated with comorbidities like hypertension, high cholesterol, and poor lifestyle choices like smoking – a popular shower habit could contribute to a heightened risk of the deadly condition.

Initial heart attack symptoms include shortness of breath, jaw, and chest pain. However, certain external factors could contribute to the onset of this condition in heart disease patients – exposure to a sudden gush of water for instance.

How do shower habits contribute to heart attack risk?

According to experts, cold showers can have a negative effect on heart patients as “it could precipitate a heart attack or heart rhythm irregularities," reports The Conversation.

Cold showers can shock the blood vessels in the skin causing them to contract thereby obstructing smooth blood flow in the body. This can increase heart rate, making it harder for the heart to pump blood around the body. As a result, pressure increases causing heart attacks  even in healthy people. The American Heart Association, too, cites research published in the journal of Physiology which said that plunging into cold water during hot weather may cause heart attacks in young, fit and healthy people. This is due to an autonomic conflict which can trigger abnormal heart rhythms and may in extreme cases cause sudden death.

Are cold showers always harmful?

When taken prudently, cold showers can do more good than harm. An extensive study on the benefits of cold showers revealed that people who took them for 30 to 90 seconds a day were 29 per cent less likely to take time off from work due to sickness as this habit can strengthen the immune system.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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What all one needs to know about Epileptic seizure

According to a recent study, this is the most common neurological emergency in children and seizures are potentially fatal. In fact, up to 5 percent of affected children succumb to it and a third suffer brain damage. The longer the seizure, the greater the chance of long-term complications.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder where abnormal brain activity induces unprovoked seizures. It can affect anyone regardless of sex, race, age and cultural background. Though uncommon, this condition can sometimes cause fatal epileptic seizures.

Medications can control the seizures to a certain extent. However, surgical intervention may be needed in some cases. Most people, however, have to be on medication throughout their lives to control seizures but, for others, it becomes infrequent and then stops completely as they age. One peculiarity about this disease is that it is more common in young children and the older generation.

WHAT CAN AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE DO?

It can cause temporary confusion, uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs, loss of consciousness or awareness and psychic symptoms like fear, anxiety or déjà vu. It can also make a person stare at the same spot for the duration of seizure. Though symptoms vary from person to person, it usually remains the same for each person.

WHEN DOES AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE BECOME FATAL?

Epileptic seizures are usually not fatal and only 1 in 1000 patients die because of it, suggests some estimate. However, sometimes, it can cause death. Let us look at a few conditions that can cause fatal epileptic seizures.

Lafora disease

According to researchers  Lafora disease, an inherited form of epilepsy that results in death by the age of 30, can be caused by mutations in a gene that regulates the concentration of the protein laforin.  In Lafora disease, a person has normal development for the first decade of life, followed by an initial seizure in the second decade. These seizures become progressively worse and eventually it causes early dementia and death within 10 years of onset. Medications can help contain the initial symptoms, but there is no long-term treatment or cure yet.

Status epilepticus

This condition increases the risk of permanent brain damage and death.Usually, a seizure will stop by itself. But, at times, you may experience a long seizure or a series of seizures without recovering in between. If this carries on for 5 minutes or more, it is called status epilepticus.

What you can do: If this happens in a tonic-clonic seizure where people fall down and shake, you need to get medical help immediately. If a convulsive seizure carries on for more than 30 minutes,it can cause brain damage and even death. Call an ambulance if the patient has trouble breathing after the seizure or if one seizure immediately follows another with no recovery in between. You also need to act fast if the seizure lasts two minutes longer than usual for that person and if the seizure lasts for five minutes or more.

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)

This is rare, but the risk is there. Only about 1 per cent or 1 in 1000 epilepsy patients die of SUDEP. Death usually occurs suddenly when the patient is sleeping, either during or after a seizure and the cause is often inconclusive. Most experts are of the view that this could be due to heart or respiratory health.The risk is greater in patients who have frequent tonic-clonic seizures or those whose seizures are not controlled by medications. This is more common in people with poorly controlled epilepsy and is rarely seen in children.

Though the exact cause of SUDEP is not known, experts suspect that it could be due to pauses in breathing during a seizure, which can cause death if they go on too long. A convulsive seizure may also result in an obstructed airway, which leads to suffocation. Though it is rare, a seizure may sometimes induce a cardiac arrest and this can result in sudden death.

What you can do: SUDEP is related to seizures. To reduce the risk of death, it is important to control seizures and especially tonic-clonic seizures. You can also reduce the risk of SUDEP by listening to your doctor and taking the prescribed anti-epileptic drug on time. Also, if there is any change in medication, see that it is gradual. Talk to your doctor about controlling seizures at night and use a seizure alarm if you have to. Keep yourself healthy.

A few other complications

Having a seizure at an inconvenient time can be dangerous to yourself as well as others. This is especially true if you drive. If you have a seizure in the middle of traffic, you may cause an accident and injure yourself and others. Such accidents, at times, can be fatal. In fact, many countries have very strict rules regarding issuance of driver’s license to a patient of epilepsy. You may also hurt yourself seriously if you suffer a fall during a seizure. Drowning is also a real possibility if you suffer one while swimming or even in a bathtub.

People with epilepsy can also die from problems that can happen during or after a seizure. One can inhale vomit, and this can be fatal. If you see anybody having a seizure, turn them onto one side immediately. This will allow saliva, vomit or other fluids to drain out of the mouth and not enter the lungs.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CONTACT A DOCTOR?

Consult a doctor immediately if you experience or see somebody experiencing the following symptoms:

• An  epileptic seizure that continues for 5 minutes or more.
• Breathing becomes slow and consciousness doesn’t return even after seizure stops.
• Recurrent seizures with no recovery time in between.
• Temperature is high.
• There is any injury due to seizures.
• A pregnant or diabetic person undergoing seizure          
  
   
  THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                     https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Marijuana edibles can affect heart health in elderly

With marijuana legalisation sweeping the US, an increasing number of people believe that “weed” is the safest recreational drug, and carries health benefits that outweigh its risks.

However, according to a new study, each marijuana formulation may affect and sometimes even compromise the cardiovascular system in older adults.

“Marijuana can be a useful tool for many patients, especially for pain and nausea relief. At the same time, like all other medications, it does carry risks and side effects,” said a researcher.

The study, examined the case of a patient who developed crushing chest pain and myocardial ischemia after consuming most of a marijuana lollipop.

The “inappropriate dosing and oral consumption of marijuana resulted in distress that caused a cardiac event and subsequent reduced cardiac function,” he said.

The report describes a 70-year-old man with stable coronary artery disease, taking the appropriate cardiac medications, who ate most of a lollipop that was infused with 90 mg of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) to relieve pain and aid sleep. The lollipop caused him to have a potentially serious heart attack.

According to the report, he consumed a much larger dose than the 7 mg that is typically ingested by smoking a single joint or taking the 2.5 mg starting dose of a synthetic THC.

The patient’s ingestion of an unusually large amount of THC caused the unexpected strain on his body from anxiety and fearful hallucinations and likely triggered the cardiac event, the researchers said.

While previous research on marijuana-induced myocardial ischemia has mostly focused on younger patients, healthcare providers need to understand and manage cannabis use and its complications in older patients, particularly in those with cardiovascular disease, the researchers noted.

A number of prior case reports, as well as epidemiological studies, have described the association between cannabis use and acute cardiovascular adverse events, including myocardial infarction, stroke, arrhythmias and sudden death.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/       

                                                                                                                                                               FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           
                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com