Silent Death via Heart Disease

Kristyne McDaniel

The heart is a noble hunter. The heart knows. When we speak of something being at the true center of our being, we use the term "heart". Heartwood. Heart of palm. If someone is cruel they are heartless. If they are kind and giving they have a heart of gold.

For most of us, when we're young, our hearts require little care. As we age we begin to get the hearts that our genetics and behaviors give us. If our parents gave us genes that sop up cholesterol and stuff it into our arteries we get arteriosclerosis at an early age. If we are inactive the cholesterol builds up even faster. If we eat loads of animal fats, nature pays us back by sticking that animal fat into the teeny tiny arteries that surround our heart muscle.

Steve had a triple bypass surgery in 1995 at the age of 52 after what the doctors so lovingly call a myocardial infarction. He had two arteries that were more than 90% clogged at the time, as well as a third that was about 40% clogged.

Monitoring Blood Pressure Values

There are things you can do to prevent or postpone a heart attack. High blood pressure is a sleeper cause of heart attacks. Most people that have high blood pressure don't even know it. There are many high blood pressure causes you should know about. One of the best things is to work on things that are known to lower blood pressure. First, though, you might want to know what the normal blood pressure values are so you can better target them. Finally, you'll want to choose a blood pressure monitor that is easy for you to use and understand. There are many excellent and inexpensive electronic blood pressure monitors to choose from. We bought our last one at Costco!

We are also adding links to information pages as well so that we can make this a comprehensive site for mere mortals to help understand the incomprehensible. As always, your real source of information is your doctor. We hope this information will help you come up with even better questions so you can understand what is happening to you and the person you love who has heart disease.

_{Cardiac care is far and away more advanced and safer now than at any time in the past. It is still risky, but the alternative is much worse. With your heart, the devil you know is always the better one to deal with -- so get to know what is going on with your heart! Find a cardiologist you can trust and work out a plan you can follow to improve your health. Start today!}

_{This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 22, 2006}