Heart Diseases

Your heart is the organ that pumps the blood throughout your body. It is made up almost entirely of muscle and works nonstop as a blood pump right up until the moment you die. Anything that causes your heart to not function properly, is an immediate problem for the rest of your body. You just cant "tough it out" when it comes to heart disease, like you might be able to with other diseases.

The term heart disease, is a term that refers to a broad scope of ailments, that effect the heart and the job it has to do. They are all very serious, though some are more serious than others. Some are also more treatable than others. The following are some of the most common diseases of the heart but are not all of them.

Coronary heart disease, is a disease of the heart, that is caused by a build up of plaque, within the walls, that supply the heart, with the blood that it needs to survive. The heart also needs a blood supply to it, just like nay other organ, or muscle in your body and if the hearts blood supply is cut off to any part if it, this will cause a heart attack. A heart attack is when part of the heart dies, due to lack of blood flow to it.

Ischaemic heart disease is another disease of the heart, that is brought on by reduced blood supply to the heart. Unlike other muscles in your body, your heart can not ever take a rest, it works even while you sleep. So any interference with its blood supply is a serious threat to your life. Cardiovascular disease is a term that describes a number of diseases that affect the blood vessel system, as it pertains to your heart.

It is very difficult to have a disease of the blood vessels and not have it effect your heart also. The main blood vessels of your body run right through your heart. Your heart is interconnected with your blood vessel system. So almost any problem that affects your blood vessel system as a whole, is going to have some negative affect on your heart. This is not a blanket rule though and there are exceptions.

Cor pulmonale is a failure of the right side of the heart. Hereditary heart disease is any type of heart disease that you inherit through your families genes. This can be any one of a number of type of disorders of the heart muscle.Inflammatory heart disease is cause by the heart getting bigger than it should be. This might not seem like it would be too much of a problem but in actuality is life threatening.

Your heart is enclosed in a limited amount of space that it has to work in. When it becomes inflamed, or grows larger than it normally should be, it cant do its job as well as it should do it. This disease can also affect the tissue surrounding the heart.

Experiments have been done, involving a radical operation, that involves removing a section of the heart and then stitching it back together, to reduce its size, but research is still ongoing and the operation is still not approved for humans in the United States. It has been performed successfully in other countries though.

Valvular heart disease is a disease that affects the valves of the heart. Heart valves must open and close properly for your heart to pump blood effectively. Damaged or malfunctioning heart valves, allow blood to leak by them, or if they aren't opening properly, not enough blood to pass through them.

As pumps go, your heart is as complex as you can get. So remember to take care of it because unlike other organs in your body such as your kidneys or your eyes, you only have one.

Article by Sven Ullmann, who runs Deserved Health - information on health for you and your family. Read more about heart disease. Get our health newsletter.