Heart Failure: Breathe More Easily

One of the earliest symptoms of heart failure is shortness of breath. Your heart can't function well enough to pump the blood out of your heart, and this causes blood to back up in the lung blood vessels. Fluid then leaks from your blood vessels into the air sacs in your lungs. This makes it hard for oxygen to get into the blood, causing shortness of breath.

You may experience breathlessness during exertion, such as when climbing a flight of stairs, or at rest--even at night when sleeping.

You can do several things to help yourself breathe more easily:

• Eat a healthy diet and avoid sodium (salt). Keeping your sodium intake at a minimum is more than just not adding salt to food. Many prepared and fast foods already have high amounts of sodium added, so it is important to read the nutritional information on packaging. This will reduce the amount of fluid your body retains. Talk with your doctor about how to limit your sodium intake and what is best for you.

• Pay attention to what your body is telling you. If you become fatigued during an activity, stop and rest. You can always postpone finishing a task that wears you out.

• Sleep with several pillows propped behind your head and shoulders to make it easier to breathe at night. If you notice that you need to use many pillows, or more pillows than usual, to help you breathe comfortably, call your doctor right away.

• Talk with your doctor about what level of activity is appropriate for you. Your doctor can help you gauge what you can and can't do.

• Work with your doctor to develop an aerobic exercise program, then exercise every day. This will strengthen both your heart and lungs and help reduce the amount of fluid that seeps into your lungs.

Shortness of breath can be a serious problem. If you notice a sudden worsening or you feel breathless while at rest when you never have before, call your doctor immediately.

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Heart Failure: Breathe More Easily

One of the earliest symptoms of heart failure is shortness of breath. Your heart can't function well enough to pump the blood out of your heart, and this causes blood to back up in the lung blood vessels. Fluid then leaks from your blood vessels into the air sacs in your lungs. This makes it hard for oxygen to get into the blood, causing shortness of breath.

You may experience breathlessness during exertion, such as when climbing a flight of stairs, or at rest--even at night when sleeping.

You can do several things to help yourself breathe more easily:

• Eat a healthy diet and avoid sodium (salt). Keeping your sodium intake at a minimum is more than just not adding salt to food. Many prepared and fast foods already have high amounts of sodium added, so it is important to read the nutritional information on packaging. This will reduce the amount of fluid your body retains. Talk with your doctor about how to limit your sodium intake and what is best for you.

• Pay attention to what your body is telling you. If you become fatigued during an activity, stop and rest. You can always postpone finishing a task that wears you out.

• Sleep with several pillows propped behind your head and shoulders to make it easier to breathe at night. If you notice that you need to use many pillows, or more pillows than usual, to help you breathe comfortably, call your doctor right away.

• Talk with your doctor about what level of activity is appropriate for you. Your doctor can help you gauge what you can and can't do.

• Work with your doctor to develop an aerobic exercise program, then exercise every day. This will strengthen both your heart and lungs and help reduce the amount of fluid that seeps into your lungs.

Shortness of breath can be a serious problem. If you notice a sudden worsening or you feel breathless while at rest when you never have before, call your doctor immediately.

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About High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a condition that has no symptoms you can see or feel. Having your blood pressure checked is the only way to know if it is high.

Yet, untreated hypertension can result in serious illnesses, such as coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke and kidney failure, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Diet and lifestyle changes may be enough to control mildly elevated blood pressure. But your doctor may prescribe blood pressure medication and lifestyle changes if your blood pressure is moderately to severely high.

The AHA says the following lifestyle choices can help reduce your blood pressure.

Don't smoke

Inhaling cigarette smoke stimulates your heart, making it beat faster. It also narrows your blood vessels, causing your blood pressure to rise temporarily. Smoking, however, does not cause high blood pressure. The reason smoking is bad if you have high blood pressure is because both contribute to heart disease, meaning hardening of the arteries and heart attacks.

Maintain a healthy weight

Studies have found people who lose weight also lower their blood pressure. To lose weight safely, eat fewer foods high in fat and calories and increase your physical activity.

Exercise regularly

Regular aerobic exercise tones your heart, blood vessels and muscles and keeps your blood pressure low. Consult your doctor before beginning an exercise regimen if you have high blood pressure.

Learn to cope with stress

Stress may temporarily raise blood pressure, but it is not a cause of chronic high blood pressure. Meditate, listen to stress-management tapes or do relaxation exercises daily.

Drink moderately

If you drink alcohol, do so only in moderation. Heavy, regular consumption of alcohol can increase blood pressure dramatically. Experts recommend no more than two drinks a day for a man and one drink a day for a woman.

Healthy eating and limit your salt intake

The DASH diet or Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension is an effective eating plan proven to lower blood pressure. It doesn't require special foods, instead recommends a certain number of servings from a variety of food groups which include vegetables, fruits, fat-free or low-fat milk, whole grains, fish, poultry, beans, seeds, and nuts. It also calls for limiting sugar, fats, and red meat. Reducing salt (sodium) intake to 2,300 milligrams (about 1 teaspoon of table salt) or 1,500 milligrams (two-thirds teaspoon of table salt) daily. Following the DASH diet and keeping salt intake to 1,500 milligrams per day has shown the biggest benefit for blood pressure reduction in people with high blood pressure. The DASH eating plan combined with other lifestyle measures can help lower blood pressure. To learn more about DASH, talk with your health care provider.

Take your medicine

Follow these guidelines if your doctor prescribes blood pressure medication:

• Take all your medication as prescribed.

• Take your pills at the same time each day.

• Never skip your pills because you have side effects or don't believe your blood pressure is high. Call your doctor to discuss your concerns.

• Refill your prescription before it runs out.

• Don't stop taking your medication because your blood pressure tests normal. It's normal because you're taking the medication.

Adult Stem Cells Can Repair Damaged Heart

FRIDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Adult stem cells appear to help repair heart attack damage, a new study shows.

The phase 1 study of 53 patients found that stem cells from donor bone marrow promoted the growth of new blood vessels in heart tissue damaged by heart attack.

The patients received the stem cell injections within 10 days of having a heart attack. During follow-up, they were compared to patients who had received a placebo injection.

After six months, those who got the stem cells were four times more likely to be better off overall, pumped more blood with each heartbeat, and had one-quarter as many irregular heartbeats, when compared to the placebo group. There also were no serious side effects with the stem cell treatment, according to the report published in the Dec. 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

This is the strongest evidence so far that adult stem cells can repair heart attack damage, the Rush University Medical Center researchers said. It had been believed that only embryonic stem cells could turn into heart or other organ cells.

"The results point to a promising new treatment for heart attack patients that could reduce [death] and lessen the need for heart transplants," Dr. Gary Schaer, head of the Rush Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, said in a news release from the university.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about heart attack.

SOURCE: Rush University Medical Center, news release, Dec. 2, 2009

Accepting Help Improves Survival Among Diabetics

THURSDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- People with diabetes do much better, in terms of survival, if they can turn to others for support in times of need, new research suggests.

The study found that those who are more independent and feel they don't need help from others have a 33 percent increased risk of dying over a five-year period.

"These are self-reliant, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, self-starters and go-getters. But, in the health-care setting with a chronic illness, what is normally an advantage can become a liability over time," said Dr. Paul Ciechanowski, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

"Day-in, day-out, when you have the mortgage to pay, the kids to get to soccer, work deadlines, medications to take and refill, exercise that needs to be done, healthy food that needs to be cooked, and doctors' appointments, it all starts to break down if you're trying to do it all on your own," he said.

"And, the health-care system is one size fits all, so people like this fall through the cracks. They may get labeled as difficult patients, when the truth may be that they're overwhelmed but have a hard time reaching out and trusting. People who are comfortable collaborating well are the ones who do best in our health-care system," noted Ciechanowski.

Previous research has found that people who have chronic illnesses, including diabetes, who lack a good support system are more likely to die, according to background information in the study.

Ciechanowski and his colleagues wanted to expand on past research and see what effect personality type had on the risk of mortality in the presence of chronic illness.

To do this, they recruited 3,535 non-depressed adults with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. All of the study volunteers were part of a health maintenance organization in Washington state.

The researchers found that 53.8 percent of the study participants had an interactive relationship style, meaning that they had a greater propensity to reach out to others, according to the study. The remainder -- 46.2 percent -- had an independent relationship style. These people have difficulty reaching out to others and may have a hard time trusting other people, the study found.

The death rate for those in the interactive group was 29 per 1,000 individuals, compared to 39 per 1,000 in the independent group. That means independent people have a 33 percent increased risk of death, according to the study.

Results of the study were published in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

"Much of this study is quite intuitive," said Dr. Vasudevan Raghavan, director of the cardiometabolic and lipid clinic, and the medical weight management service at Scott & White Healthcare in Temple, Texas. "Having a support system provides additional incentive to do the right thing. For example, if you have a mother who visits or calls frequently, she may remind you to get to your doctor's appointment and refill your medication, which prompts you to do it."

Raghavan said one finding that was particularly telling was that even though people with an interactive style had a higher body mass index (BMI), they still had a lower risk of death. Normally, a higher BMI in people with diabetes would tend to be associated with a higher risk of death. (BMI is a measurement that takes into account a person's height and weight.)

Unfortunately, Raghavan said, "you can't provide a social prescription. You can't mandate that people reach out to or live with others."

Both Ciechanowski and Raghavan said these findings should prompt doctors to try to consider a person's relationship style in treatment.

"We need to develop different approaches for people who aren't able to collaborate. Often, they'd love extra help, but are afraid to reach out," said Ciechanowski. Possible options are e-mails, telephone calls or appointments with other health-care professionals, he said.

More information

Learn more about the people who should be part of your health-care team from the American Diabetes Association.

SOURCES: Paul Ciechanowski, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, associate director, Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship, University of Washington School of Medicine, program director, CHAMMP Training Institute, Harborview Medical Center, affiliate investigator, Group Health Research Institute, and CEO/founder, Samepage, Seattle; Vasudevan A. Raghavan, M.B.B.S., M.D., director, cardiometabolic and lipid clinic and medical weight management service, division of endocrinology, Scott & White Healthcare, Temple, Texas; March 2010, Diabetes Care