Heart Disease Health Video

Heart disease is a general term including many diseases that deteriorate the heart's function or structures, including coronary heart disease and cardiomyopathy. Learn more about heart disease, including warning signs and treatments in this video.

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Treat your blood pressure
Maintain control of diabetes
Exercise regularly
Manage diet
Do not smoke or use illegal substances

About this Author

Dr. Dave Weiland has been practicing cardiology in the Bay Area for 21 years. On top of operating a practive in San Pablo, CA for the past 15 years, Dr. Weiland works with eight other doctors in traveling all around the Bay Area to treat patients everywhere. Dr. Weiland graduated from the Ohio State Medical School in 1981; following that with an additional six years of study at Tufts University. Dr. Weiland received his training in cardiology at the New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and now teaches medical students about cardiology.

DAVE WEILAND: Hi. This is Dr. David Weiland. I've been asked to talk today about heart disease. This is a very wide subject. Heart disease would basically refer to any disease of the heart. The diseases we as heart physicians most worry about are coronary artery disease, blockage of the coronary arteries; valvular heart disease, disease of the valves of the heart, and arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are abnormal heart rhythms. In addition, factors such as diabetes, and high blood pressure as well as high cholesterol can make patients more prone to develop heart disease. Symptoms of heart disease are quite varied. With blocked arteries of the heart, we often worry about chest pain, but chest pain can often be very varied from pressure in the chest to pressure in the shoulder, neck, jaw, back, or left arm. With diseases of the valves, we worried more about symptoms of congestive heart failure which would include shortness of breath or swelling of the ankles. With arrhythmias of the heart, we are more concerned with patients feeling lightheaded or feeling palpitations in the chest. Occasionally, patients even faint when their hearts stops for two or three seconds, and that again would be a sign of an arrhythmia of the heart, which is one type of heart disease. As far as treatment of heart disease, the underlying cause is the yet most important measure of treatment. The things we worry about as heart specialists in trying to prevent heart disease from occurring are treatment of blood pressure, careful control of diabetes, regular exercise, watching one's weight, certainly overweight patients are more likely to develop heart disease, and last but not the least, cessation of tobacco use or other toxic substances such as cocaine or amphetamines. Prevention of heart disease again would be the same factors: Controlling intake of toxic substances, regular followups with one's physicians, keeping an eye with your cholesterol and your blood pressure. How to take action: For patients with heart disease, oftentimes a general internist or a general physician can manage the normal day-to-day blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol. However, if your physician feels that it is out of his control, it is always good to see a cardiologist if there is a serious form of heart disease.

Heart Disease Health Video

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