Nutritional Supplements for Congestive Heart Failure and Arrhythmia
According to the American Heart Association, congestive heart failure – often just called heart failure – affects roughly 5.7 million Americans and is diagnosed in another 670,000 each year. It is characterized by a weakening of the heart muscle that decreases its ability to pump blood effectively, usually because oxygen and nutrients are slowly cut off to it over time because of the reduced blood flow caused by atherosclerosis. While congestive heart failure can be fatal, it is also treatable and can be controlled – sometimes even reverse d- with the proper care, lifestyle changes, and supplements.
Arrhythmia is another heart complication that affects millions of Americans. An arrhythmia is an abnormality in the rhythm of the heartbeat. A healthy heart may experience this from time to time, but consistent problems with arrhythmia may be a sign of a more severe problem with your heart. This will also make the heart less effective in pumping blood to all the parts of the body that need the crucial oxygen and nutrients it carries and may be associated with congestive heart failure.
The heart is the most specialized muscle in the body having only one responsibility, to keep blood flowing throughout the entire 60,000 – mile pipeline that is the cardiovascular system. It does this twenty-four hours a day, day-in and day-out, while we sleep, sit, exercise, or whatever else we do in the course of our days. To do this it needs constant oxygen and nutrition to carry out its function without coffee breaks, weekends off, changes in its work patterns, or naps.
A healthy heart will pump out 50 to 70 percent of the blood in it (called the “ejection fraction” or EF) with each contraction or beat. As the heart ages, especially if anything interferes with the flow of oxygen and sugar to feed it, the EF will begin to drop. A heart is considered to be failing when the EF with each contraction reaches 40 percent or less. This then becomes a downward spiral as other parts of the body also slowly stave from lack of oxygen and important nutrients. This may also cause fluid to back up in the lungs, causing congestion (the “congestive” part of congestive heart failure). CHF can be considered milk, average, severe, or very severe depending on how much the heart is failing.
One of the first signs of congestive heart failure is often weight gain as fluid starts to collect in the abdomen, feet, ankles, and les. The person may also feel tired more easily or have a shortness of breath when doing what would otherwise be a mild increase in exertion – climbing stairs or after a brisk walk to catch a bus. They may wake up with a choking sensation as they experience shortness of breath because their lungs are filling with fluid. If this worsens, it will lead to a persistent cough that may even contain mucus or even blood. They may also experience angina symptoms. Anyone experiencing such symptoms should consult a physician immediately.
Arrhythmia, on the other hand, may have no outward symptoms at all and may only be detected by a doctor with a stethoscope or through an electrocardiogram. However, others may experience heart palpitations (any of the irregularities of the heartbeat as mentioned above), dizziness or light-headedness, a “pounding” chest, fainting or shortness of breath, unusual fatigue or weakness, or general chest discomfort. Again, if you experience something like this, see your physician right away or go to the ER.
While the heart ages just as we do, such problems do not normally manifest without additional complications. High blood pressure will eventually make the heart work harder than it should and put more wear and tear on it than is needed. This will eventually lead to its “tiring” or “misfiring”. Narrowing of the arteries will limit the oxygen and nutrients to the heart, slowly starving it. Heart attacks can damage parts of the heart that may never recover, thus weakening the heart. The heart may also get infected or attacked by disease, a condition called cardiomyopathy. Other conditions that can gradually weaken the heart are diabetes, cancer treatments, thyroid problems, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as other serious, less common ailments. Congestive heart failure is most common in people over sixty-five, men, and African Americans. The dangers of arrhythmia also increase with age.
USANA Vitamins Supplements CoQuinone® 30 dietary supplement was developed by USANA HEALTH SCIENCES to deliver highly bioavailable CoQ10 to the body cells. CoQ10 has a role of producing cellular energy for the heart and other muscles and is effective in maintenance of good heart function. Nature has designed a molecule in CoQ10 to not only can assist in ATP production, but also works with other antioxidants to clean up the free radicals. As an antioxidant, it rivals vitamins E and C. In addition, USANA nutritional supplement CoQ10 helps to regenerate and recycle vitamin E.
