Getting Tested for Heart Disease

You may be reading this book because you think you might have heart disease but aren’t yet sure. Keep in mind that heart disease doesn’t always announce itself with symptoms. That means you could have heart disease and still feel perfectly fine. The best course is to talk with your doctor about your personal degree of heart disease risk and about whether getting tested is a good idea.

Most screening tests for heart disease are done outside of the body and are painless. After taking a careful medical history and doing a physical examination, your doctor may give you one or more of the following tests:

Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) makes a graph of the heart’s electrical activity as it beats. This test can show abnormal heartbeats, heart muscle damage, blood flow problems in the coronary arteries, and heart enlargement.

Stress test (or treadmill test or exercise ECG) re c o rds the heart ’s electrical activity during exercise, usually on a treadmill or exercise bike. If you are unable to exercise due to arthritis or another health condition, a stress test can be done without exercise . Instead, you can take a medicine that increases blood flow to the h e a rt muscle and shows whether there are any problems in that flow.

Nuclear scan (or thallium stress test) shows the working of the heart muscle as blood flows through the heart . A small amount of radioactive material is injected into a vein, usually in the arm, and a camera records how much is taken up by the heart muscle.

Echocardiographic changes sound waves into pictures that show the heart’s size, shape, and movement. The sound waves also can be u s e d to see how much blood is pumped out by the heart when it contracts.

Coronary angiography (or angiogram or arteriography) shows an x ray of blood flow problems and blockages in the coronary arteries. A thin, flexible tube called a catheter is threaded through an artery of an arm or leg up into the heart. A dye is then injected into the tube, allowing the heart and blood vessels to be filmed as the heart pumps. The picture is called an angiogram or arteriogram.

Ventriculogram is frequently a part of the x-ray dye test described before. It is used to get a picture of the heart’s main pumping chamber, typically the left ventricle.

Intracoronary ultrasound uses a catheter that measures blood flow. It creates a picture of the coronary arteries that shows the thickness and other features of the artery wall. This lets the doctor see blood flow and any blockages.

In addition, several new, highly sensitive screening tests have been developed. Ask your doctor about these tests:

Carotid doppler ultrasound uses sound waves to detect blockages and narrowing of the carotid artery in the neck, both of which can signal an increased risk for heart attack or stroke.

Electron-beam computed tomography is a superfast scan that provides a snapshot of the calcium buildup in your coronary arteries.

Your Help Can Change A Life.

Your Help Can Change A Life.

Hi, I’m Kevin McGill and this is my story. Not long ago my life was quite normal. I had dreams and ambitions about my future and strived to make them happen. But suddenly everything changed. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and triple cardiovascular disease. My whole world collapsed…

Trying To Overcome The Obstacles.

Since, I haven’t been able to work for a while, money has been short. If that wasn’t enough, my old truck died and I now have no means of transportation. Getting to and from doctor appointments and the drug store has been a real struggle, since there is no public transportation that I can use, and the closest drug store is almost an hour in walking distance.

A Small Donation Can Have A Huge Impact.

Given the chance, I plan on buying a cheap used car that will help me visit my doctor, the drug store and the local grocery store. Due to my condition, I require constant medical attention, but don’t have a way to get there. Your invaluable support and generous donations can fill my life with hope again. If you share my belief that everyone deserves a chance to live with dignity, you can make my dream come true.

Challenges Make Life Difficult, But OvercomingThem Makes Life Meaningful.

my gofundme page click anywhere on article

Hello my name is kevin and I am disabled with diabetes and heart disease , I just recently lost my car because it finally gave out due to high millage and I need a way to the doctors every week , I will use the donation money to buy a descent car, I am not asking for a brand new car just something really dependable that can get me back and forth from my doctors appointments this means a lot to me because without my condition being monitored they can not make the adjustments necessary to my heart disease and I will be so grateful if someone can help me out because to me getting to the doctors and getting my meds the only reason I'm still alive.

Cardiovascular Disease & Diabetes

The following statistics speak loud and clear that there is a strong correlation between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes.

• At least 68 percent of people age 65 or older with diabetes die from some form of heart disease; and 16% die of stroke.
• Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than adults without diabetes.
• The American Heart Association considers diabetes to be one of the seven major controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
   

Why are people with diabetes at increased risk for CVD?

Diabetes is treatable, but even when glucose levels are under control it greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. That's because people with diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, may have the following conditions that contribute to their risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

• High blood pressure (hypertension)
  High blood pressure has long been recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Studies report a positive association between hypertension and insulin resistance. When patients have both hypertension and diabetes, which is a common combination, their risk for cardiovascular disease doubles.
• Abnormal cholesterol and high triglycerides
  Patients with diabetes often have unhealthy cholesterol levels including high LDL ("bad") cholesterol, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and high triglycerides. This triad of poor lipid counts often occurs in patients with premature coronary heart disease. It is also characteristic of a lipid disorder associated with insulin resistance called atherogenic dyslipidemia, or diabetic dyslipidemia in those patients with diabetes. Learn more about cholesterol abnormalities as they relate to diabetes.
• Obesity
  Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has been strongly associated with insulin resistance. Weight loss can improve cardiovascular risk, decrease insulin concentration and increase insulin sensitivity. Obesity and insulin resistance also have been associated with other risk factors, including high blood pressure.
• Lack of physical activity
  Physical inactivity is another modifiable major risk factor for insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. Exercising and losing weight can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, reduce blood pressure and help reduce the risk for heart attack and stroke. It's likely that any type of moderate and/or vigorous intensity, aerobic physical activity—whether sports, household work, gardening or work-related physical activity—is similarly beneficial. For overall cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association recommends:
  
   – At least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity at least 5 days per week for a total of 150
  
  OR
  –At least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity at least 3 days per week for a total of 75 minutes; or a combination of moderate-and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity
  
  AND
  
  –Moderate-to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days per week for additional health benefits.
   
• Poorly controlled blood sugars (too high) or out of normal rangeDiabetes can cause blood sugar to rise to dangerous levels. Medications may be needed to manage blood sugar.
• Smoking
  Smoking puts individuals, whether or not they have diabetes, at higher risk for heart disease and stroke. Learn how to kick the habit.
   

Individuals with insulin resistance or diabetes in combination with one or more of these risk factors are at even greater risk of heart disease or stroke. However, by managing their risk factors,  patients with diabetes may avoid or delay the development of heart and blood vessel disease. Your health care provider will do periodic testing to assess whether you have developed any of these risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.

The Pains of Sleep

Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,

It hath not been my use to pray

With moving lips or bended knees;

But silently, by slow degrees,

My spirit I to Love compose,

In humble trust mine eye-lids close,

With reverential resignation

No wish conceived, no thought exprest,

Only a sense of supplication;

A sense o'er all my soul imprest

That I am weak, yet not unblest,

Since in me, round me, every where

Eternal strength and Wisdom are.

But yester-night I prayed aloud

In anguish and in agony,

Up-starting from the fiendish crowd

Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me:

A lurid light, a trampling throng,

Sense of intolerable wrong,

And whom I scorned, those only strong!

Thirst of revenge, the powerless will

Still baffled, and yet burning still!

Desire with loathing strangely mixed

On wild or hateful objects fixed.

Fantastic passions! maddening brawl!

And shame and terror over all!

Deeds to be hid which were not hid,

Which all confused I could not know

Whether I suffered, or I did:

For all seemed guilt, remorse or woe,

My own or others still the same

Life-stifling fear, soul-stifling shame.

So two nights passed: the night's dismay

Saddened and stunned the coming day.

Sleep, the wide blessing, seemed to me

Distemper's worst calamity.

The third night, when my own loud scream

Had waked me from the fiendish dream,

O'ercome with sufferings strange and wild,

I wept as I had been a child;

And having thus by tears subdued

My anguish to a milder mood,

Such punishments, I said, were due

To natures deepliest stained with sin,—

For aye entempesting anew

The unfathomable hell within,

The horror of their deeds to view,

To know and loathe, yet wish and do!

Such griefs with such men well agree,

But wherefore, wherefore fall on me?

To be loved is all I need,

And whom I love, I love indeed.

By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Almost well again :) test results

Transthoracic Echocardiography Report (TTE)

Demographics

Patient MCGILL KEVIN Gender Male
Name CORTEZ

MR ****** Race Caucasian

Account  ********* Room # 0000

Corporate DOS 07/05/2016
ID

Accession # ******* Referring Physician Jerry Champ MD

DOB 08/19/1975 Sonographer Jarobvey Matthews RVT,
RDCS

Age 40 year(s) Interpreting Jerry Champ MD
Physician

Ordering Physician Jerry Champ MD

Procedure

Type of Study

TTE procedure:ECHOCARDIOGRAM WITH DOPPLER \T\ COLOR FLOW.

Procedure Date
Date: 07/05/2016 Start: 02:01 PM End: 02:33 PM

Study Location: AnMed Health Cardiovascular Diagnostics Center OP
Technical Quality: Fair visualization

Indications:Cardiomyopathy, ischemic and Shortness of breath.

Patient Status: Routine

Height: 69 inches Weight: 165 pounds BSA: 1.9 m\S\2 BMI: 24.37 kg/m\S\2

Rhythm: Normal Sinus Rhythm with occasional PVCs HR: 72 bpm BP: 118/76 mmHg

M-Mode Measurements (cm)

LVIDd: 5.81 cm LVIDs: 5.06 cm
IVSd: 0.78 cm
LVPWd: 0.78 cm AO Root Dimension: 3.2 cm
Rt. Vent. Dimension: 2.85 cm LA: 4.1 cm
LVOT: 2.3 cm

Findings

Mitral Valve
Structurally normal mitral valve. No evidence of mitral valve stenosis.
There is trivial mitral regurgitation. No valvular masses or vegetations
are seen on the mitral valve.

Aortic Valve
The aortic valve is trileaflet with no thickening and normal function.
There is no significant stenosis or regurgitation. No valvular masses or
vegetations are seen on the aortic valve.

Tricuspid Valve
Tricuspid valve is normal in appearance and function. No evidence of
tricuspid stenosis. There is trivial tricuspid regurgitation. No valvular
masses or vegetations are seen on the tricuspid valve.
Estimated RV systolic pressure is 27 mmHg.

Pulmonic Valve
The pulmonic valve was not well visualized.
No evidence of any pulmonic regurgitation.
No evidence of pulmonic valve stenosis.

Left Atrium
The left atrium is mildly dilated. No left atrial mass or thrombus is
identified.
No color flow is seen across the interatrial septum.

Left Ventricle
The left ventricle is mildly enlarged. Normal left ventricular wall
thickness. Left ventricular systolic function is moderately diminished.
Ejection fraction is estimated at 30-35%. The apex is akinetic. No
evidence of left ventricular mass or thrombus noted. No evidence of
ventricular septal defect.

Right Atrium
The right atrium is normal in size and function. No right atrial mass or
thrombus identified. No color flow is seen across the interatrial septum.

Right Ventricle
The right ventricular systolic function is normal. The right ventricular
dimensions and wall thickness are normal.

Pericardial Effusion
The pericardium is normal without pericardial effusion.

Pleural Effusion
No evidence of pleural effusion.

Vessels
Aortic root dimensions and IVC dimensions are normal.

Conclusions

Summary
MODERATE LV SYSTOLIC DYSFUNCTION WITH SEGMENTAL WALL MOTION ABNORMALITIES.
MILD LEFT ATRIAL ENLARGEMENT.
MILD LV DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION.
NO SIGNIFICANT VALVULAR ABNORMALITIES NOTED.

Signature

----------------------------------------------------------------
Electronically signed by Jerry Champ MD (Interpreting
physician) on 07/05/2016 at 04:31 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------

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