Varicose Veins

Symptoms

1. Swollen, twisted clusters of purple or blue veins.

2. Swollen legs.

3. An ache or heavy feeling in the legs.

4. Itching around affected veins.

5. Brown discoloring of skin.

6. Sores.

What to Do Now

1. Wear elastic support stockings, available at most drugstores.

2. Stay off your feet as much as possible.

3. When you need to stand for long periods, take frequent breaks to sit down and put your feet up.

 

When to Call a Doctor

1. If you have cut a varicose vein-it may bleed heavily. First lie down, elevate the injured leg, and apply gentle, firm pressure with a clean cloth. Get help as soon as possible after the bleeding has slowed.

2. If varicose veins make walking or standing painful.

3. If you develop sores.

 

How to Prevent It

1. If your are overweight, take steps to loose the extra pounds.

2. Exercise regularly. Activities that work the leg muscles, such as walking or jogging, help pump blood toward the heart.

3. Don’t wear tight clothing.

4. Don’t cross your legs.

5. Avoid long periods of sitting or standing.

6. Sit or lie down and elevate your legs to about hip level at least twice a day for 30 minutes at a time.

Stroke Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

If you or a family members experience any of the following, Go to an emergency facility immediately:

1. Dizziness, unsteadiness, or sudden loss of consciousness.

2. Abrupt weakness or numbness of the face, arm, or leg, usually on one side of the body.

3. Loss of speech, or trouble talking or understanding speech.

4. Sudden difficulty seeing or loss of vision, particularly in only one eye.

5. Sudden and severe headache.

 

When to Call a Doctor

Go to an emergency facility immediately if you or someone else experience any of the symptoms of a stroke. You can reduce the risk of permanent damage by getting prompt treatment.

 

How to Prevent It

1. Control your blood pressure: High blood pressure is the single most important risk factor for stroke.

2. Find a healthy outlet for stress, such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing.

3. Exercise regularly, and eat plenty of low fat, high-fiber foods, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

4. Don’t smoke. If you do, quit.

5. If you have diabetes, take steps to control. This disease can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of stoke.

6. If you have cardiovascular disease, your doctors may suggest anticlotting medications such as aspirin or a prescription drug to reduce the chance of clots. Your doctor may also discuss surgical procedures to widen narrowed vessels in your neck.

Palpitations

Signs and Symptoms

1. Rapid heart rate.

2. An uneasy, persistent awareness of your heartbeat.

3. A thumping, fluttering, pounding, or racing beat in your chest.

4. Shortness of breath, chest pain, light-headedness, or fainting.

5. Slow heart rate.

6. Nausea.

 

What to Do Now

If you experience frequent or severe palpitations, call a doctor for an immediate appointment.

 

When to Call A Doctor

1. If you notice an unusual heartbeat and feel light-headed or dizzy.]

2. If you have irregular heartbeats that are intense, painful, or more than fleeting.

3. If you have fainting spells.

4. If you are taking drugs your doctor has prescribed for palpitations and you notice a new, irregular heartbeat pattern; or you have nausea, vomiting, fainting, diarrhea, or rashes.

How to Prevent It

1. Eliminate caffeine from your diet (i.e., coffee, tea, chocolate, and caffeinated soft drinks).

2. Don’t drink alcoholic beverages, and don’t take decongestants, diet pills, or stimulant drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines.

3. Don’t smoke.

4. Get regular exercise, such as brisk walking, jogging, swimming, or bicycling, to help regulate your resting heart rate.

5. Find a healthy outlet for stress. Try deep breathing, mediation, yoga.

6. Eat balanced, low-fat meals. Your doctor may also suggest mineral supplements; calcium, magnesium, and potassium that help moderate the heartbeat.

Narrowed Arteries

Symptoms

There may be no symptoms before narrowed arteries have caused significant damage to your health. That’s why prevention and early detection are important. Watch for symptoms of the following:

Stroke:

If you experience unexplained loss of balance, speech, or vision; or the sudden onset of tingling, numbness, or paralysis in a limb.

Heart attack:

If the pain lasts, gets worse, occurs more often, or occurs during rest; this could mean you’re about to have a heart attack.

Heart disease:

Dull chest pain (angina) or simply a feeling of tightness or heavy pressure. It’s usually in the center of the chest but can spread into the arms an jaw. With rest, angina goes away in 30 seconds to five minutes.

Peripheral vascular disease:

1. Weakness, muscle fatigue, or pain in the buttocks or legs during exertion, usually in the calves while walking.

2. Cold feet.

3. Discolored skin, sores that won’t heal, and sudden, sharp pains in the legs or feet during rest.

 

What to Do Now

There is no quick remedy. But long-term changes in lifestyle, including those described below, may slow the progress of the disease or even reverse it.

 

When to Call a Doctor

1. If you feel crushing pain in your chest. This may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting sweating, shortness of breath, weakness or intense feelings of anxiety. You may be having a heart attack.

2. If you have symptoms of peripheral vascular disease such as pain in the legs or feet.

3. If you’ve had chest pain before, but this time it doesn’t go away in 10 to 15 minutes.

4. If you’ve had chest pain before, but it’s getting worse or you have it while resting.

5. If you have any symptoms of a stroke, such as loss of speech or balance, or numbness.

How to Prevent It

1. You can help prevent the problem from developing, slow its progress if it has begun, or perhaps even reverse it by taking the following steps:

2. Include lots of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables in your diet. Go easy on meats, diary products, and processed foods.

3. If you have high blood pressure, take steps to get it under control.

4. Exercise regularly. But check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program, especially if you are at risk for narrowed arteries.

5. Don’t smoke. If you do, quit. Smokers have a much higher risk of narrowed arteries than do nonsmokers.

6. Have your cholesterol level checked, and if it’s too high (more than 200 milligrams per deciliter of blood), work with your doctor to lower it.

7. If you are overweight, take steps to lose the extra pounds.

High Blood Pressure Symptoms and Primary solutions

Symptoms

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is called the “silent killer”. In most cases, there are no clear warning signs, even as the condition of damaging your health.

What to Do Now

If you’re in a high-risk group, have your blood pressure checked as often as doctor recommends. The doctor could check your blood pressure; or you can buy a blood pressure cuff and check it yourself, but it takes some practice.

When to Call a Doctor

1. If you have or suspect you have high blood pressure and you experience any of the following: recurring headaches, numbness and tingling, confusion, or blurred vision, chest pain or tightness, frequent nosebleeds.

2. If you or someone else checks your blood pressure repeatedly over several days and it is consistently much higher than before.

3. If you’re pregnant and you develop high blood pressure. This can harm both you and your unborn child.

4. If you have high blood pressure and you develop side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, or impotence. You may need a different drug. But never discontinue your blood pressure medication without telling your doctor; stopping abruptly can be dangerous.

How to Prevent It

1. Exercise regularly, try brisk walking, swimming, or biking. If you have been totally sedentary, check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.

2. Make an effort to lose pounds.

3. If you drink alcohol, give up. Eat no more than 2 grams of salt a day. (One teaspoon of salt equals about 2 gram) Fresh vegetables and fruits are low in fat; fast food and processed foods contain a lot of it.

4. If you smoke, quit.

5. Find a healthy outlet for stress. Try mediation or yoga to relax.

6. If you use birth control pills, consider a different contraceptive method. The Pill can cause high blood pressure in some woman.

Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms and primary solutions

Symptoms

1. Shortness or breath during even light physical activity or while lying down. This breathlessness might cause wheezing that is mistaken for asthma.

2. Weakness and fatigue.

3. Dull ache or pain in the chest.

4. Need to sleep on more pillows than usual or to sleep sitting up.

5. Swelling in the feet, ankles, and legs.

6. Persistent cough with foamy, blood specked mucus.

7. Irregular or rapid heartbeat.

8. Feeling of abdominal fullness.

9. Weight gain from fluid retention.

10. Frequent need to urinate, especially at night.

11. Swelling of neck veins.

12. Nausea, vomiting, and or loss of appetite.

What to Do Now

1. At first diagnosis the disease.

2. Get plenty of rest. Later, as your symptoms ease, increased physical activity (with your doctor’s consent) will be very important.

3. Eat less salt; it increases fluid retention and swelling.

4. Don’t drink caffeinated beverages; if you’re having heart palpitations, caffeine can make them worse.

5. To make breathing easier when lying down, raise your head by putting a wedge under your mattress or using extra pillows.

6. Put your legs up when sitting.

7. Use elastic support stockings to control swelling in your legs. Ask your pharmacist which kind is most appropriate for you.

When to Call a Doctor

1. If you experience severe chest pain or breathlessness.

2. If you frequently become breathless and exhausted after mild physical activity.

3. If you gain more than a couple of pounds over a few days.

4. If you’re being treated for congestive heart failure and your symptoms get worse.

How to Prevent It

1. Avoid alcohol.

2. Do what you can to prevent the underlying problems, such as high blood pressure or narrowed arteries.

3. If you know you have high blood pressure or heart disease, follow your doctor’s advice about treating the condition.