Besides a very pleasant disease called LOVE, there are quite a few unpleasant diseases that afflict our heart. Broadly, they include the following types of heart diseases:

Ø     Congenital Heart Disease

Ø     Rheumatic Heart Disease

Ø     Hypertensive Heart Disease

Ø     Coronary Artery Disease

Ø     Heart Failure

Congenital Heart Disease:  It is unfortunate that some babies are born with a damaged heart. The defect apparently arises from some infection or injury to the baby’s heart during the first three months after conception.

Rheumatic Heart Disease: Rheumatic fever is a very serious disease that mainly affects children and teenagers. The real serious part of this disease is the damage it does to the heart. Although rheumatic fever affects heart as a whole, the most serious permanent damage occurs in the valves –the important doorways leading from one chamber to another. Out of every 100 children  with some form of heart disease, only two will have congenital heart disease, while 98 will have rheumatic heart disease.

Hypertensive Heart Disease: Malignant Hypertension is not the consequence but the cause of heart disease. For Hypertension, refer to the section dealing with it.

Coronary Artery Disease: This is the most common of all forms of heart diseases today. More people die from coronary thrombosis than from all other forms of illness put together. To understand this disease, we have to understand the role of  coronary arteries in the functioning of our heart.

Every working muscle in our body needs a supply of blood to bring it oxygen and nourishment and carry away its wastes. The Heart–as the body’s hardest working muscle– needs a lot of oxygen and nourishment. In simple terms the two coronary arteries are the supply line of our heart. If any of the coronary artery closes up because  fat and calcium have thickened and stiffened  it, or it is choked or obstructed by blood clot (called Thrombus), the blood supply to the heart is interfered  and as result, the heart remains undernourished.

The coronary insufficiency may cause Angina pectoris– a sharp, stabbing, or crushing pain felt mainly in the chest. Sometimes the pain is also felt in other areas–left shoulder, arm or jaw. These pains are brought on by either by exercise or by emotional stress. Sometimes the angina  comes on while climbing stairs, walking against the wind, passing through some period of excitement, and after taking a heavy meal.  The angina pains may last from 20-60 seconds. If it lasts much longer than this, it may be a symptom of coronary thrombosis. These sharp pains are valuable protests that the heart muscle makes about its illness, telling us in no uncertain terms that it is not getting enough oxygen because of diminished blood supply. They are also very useful warnings to take a timely action!

Coronary thrombosis  is far more serious than angina where the pain is only temporary and is due to an insufficient amount of blood supply to some portion of the heart muscle. In coronary thrombosis, which is also notoriously known as Heart Attack is simply the most extreme of oxygen deprivation.  The blood supply is completely cut off to some area of the heart wall and eventually whole region of the heart muscle cells begin to die. In some cases a large clot (thrombus) may form over part of the inner surface of the heart.  Fragments may then break-off and be carried by the blood stream to the lungs, the brain, the kidneys, and other organs, a phenomenon called Thrombo-embolism.

Heart Failure is a serious condition that develops when the heart is no longer able to carry on its normal work.  It occurs in most patients with serious heart disease at some time or the other in the course of their disease.  Heart failure may arise from a number of different conditions such as: high blood pressure, coronary thrombosis, kidney disease, rheumatic fever, diphtheria, and low or high thyroid activity.  Anything obstructing the normal flow of blood, such as mitral  or aortic stenosis will eventually produce severe heart failure.