The ways to avoid heart attack

Heart attack is myocardial infarction, which means that the heart muscle died because of the inadequate supply of blood. This mainly happens due to clogged coronary arteries (arteries that give blood & nutrition to the heart muscles) and hypertension induced arteriosclerosis (the arteries lose their flexibility due to constant high blood pressure).

Both of these things can be due to many other reasons like too much fats &sugars in the food with lots of alcohol and smoke. Now with the heart attack we are also concerned for cardiomyopathy ( a disease which damages the heart muscles) high sugar is basically the number 1 cause of it. And also the structure of the valves and chamber as to how they are contracting and working, whether there is any regurgitation (back flow of blood) or less EF(ejection fraction) cause heart failure in the long run.

Now, what you should do:

1. Avoid smoking, taking alcohol, too much starchy or fatty foods.
2. Keep a check on the BP and relax.
3. Take all the medications including statins and blood thinners at time & regularly.
4. Moderate to good exercise as advised by your cardiologist.
5. Keeping a check on blood glucose (sugar) and BP. Blood sugar should be lower than 110mg/dL after 12 hours of fasting and BP should be around 120/80mm of Hg.
6. Thyroid profile.
7. Weight management.
8. Eating lots of green vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin b-complex( or taking b- complex supplements).
9. Drinking good amount of water and doing yoga.
10. Avoiding stress and having your lipid profile done (along with triglycerides) twice a year with an ECG and Echocardiography. Total cholesterol should be lower than 200 mg and Triglycerides lower than 170mg.
11. Immediately report to the doctor if you have swelling in the ankles or knees( as this is the first sign of beginning left ventricle dysfunction leading to heart failure.
12. Check, if you need angioplasty, stint, or bypass surgery and go for it, when required.

If you follow this routine and eat minimal butter, sugar and red meat, you will surely live many years. It all depends upon your will, prognosis with medications and the grace of God.

I must tell you one more thing, high cholesterol is not a killer in itself, it is an agent that makes all the compounds in our body, but also works as a healer. High cholesterol means that your blood vessels( basically the arteries are damaged, so the cholesterol comes like a good mason to patch it up. But its patching could result in plaque formation and result in blocked artery causing heart attack. High triglycerides (which are fats in the blood floating in VLDL[very low density lipo protein] are also dangerous.

These together with cholesterol can make blood thicker and block arteries. And any extra calorie that your body cannot burn is turned into triglyceride by the liver as stored in the fat cells all over our body.

So, eat only as much as you can digest and take short meals, like small meal after 3 hours instead of taking three large meals a day. Never over eat and keep everything normal.

Life is a gift, enjoy it and celebrate it! Your life is in the hands of the almighty creator and if he desires you shall live a 100, may be this myocardial infarction is a sign from him to you, that you change your habits and lifestyle and live happily with discipline in future.

PS-If any of my personal opinions have hurt you, then I am sorry but as a doctor and as a human being, I thought it best to write it this way.
TC & be healthy!!