Heart Disorders Including Arrhythmias and Prevention (Part 2)

In the first article, I gave you a brief synopsis of my fathers lifestyle and how, initially, family, friends and doctors were unable to diagnose what was ailing my father. He has since been diagnosed with three disorders of his heart and what they were. I mentioned how he has lead a healthy lifestyle, however, this does not offer any type of guarantee, and I gave a listing of the various types of disorders, symptoms and possible side effects and results of each.

I will now delve a little deeper into the heart disease issue, prevention and ultimately what my father decided to do to reduce or alleviate the chances of these episodes happening in the future as well as the life threatening percentages of this procedure taking place.

Initially, my father was given a prescription medication called Fleccainide. This medication was to reduce the chances of these problems of fibrillation and flutter becoming evident with any form of exercise. This was all good in the perfect world, however, this medication placed a major strain on my fathers liver
due to its being broken down in the liver instead of the stomach. Because of this, my father may have had to have a liver transplant because of this medication (autoimmune deficiency). This definitely played a major part in his quick decision to find alternate means of combating this possible serious problem. My father did some research on possible surgery options to eliminate the need to rely on this medication. Their were alternatives to this situation, though this would require multiple surgery procedures, done by different doctors in the Myrtle Beach area. Having been given this scenario, my father decided that that wasn't the best for him and he further researched his options.

My father came up upon a surgical procedure known as radioactive ablation or catheter ablation. In this process, one or more catheters are induced into the veins(blood vessels) starting in the groin area. Through the use of xray guidance, the doctor(specialist) is able to guide the catheter into the heart muscles to burn or freeze the dead scar tissue of the heart that is responsible for the abnormal electrical signals generated by the heart this causing flutter, fibrillation and other heart disorders. It is not known, the ultimate reason as to why this happened with my father. Whether it was due to his running, genetics or other underlying factor(s). Whenever you are performing any sort of surgery on the heart, you have risk involved that can result in death. My father knew that but decided to take the risk by weighing the alternatives. These being, having to take the Fleccainide placing undue stress on his liver, the second being, not being able to run without having these episodes hindering his running ability.

He found that the best bet for him as to travel to Columbia South Carolina. There, he found the Heart Hospital(Palmetto) that one of the top specialist to perform this technical procedure resided. Doctor Craig McCotter at the Heart Hospital in Columbia, had performed this type of surgery before, however not to the extend and the fact that my father had the three disorders. Normally, this type of surgery was provided by Doctor McCotter on young people or life threatening instances. Because my father has a history of good health and had a strong heart, the doctor decided that my father was in that category to have this type of surgery performed and with an 85% chance of success. Of course, this type of surgery does not come without its implications and warnings.

Heart failure, his heart stopping due to the stress on his heart and the fact that the surgery may not help him ultimately were instilled in him. Still, he weighed out his options and thought this was the best for him as his running was very important to him and a mainstay in his life and being able to free himself of these disorders negatively effecting his running ability was reason enough.

The surgery took place in four hours with recovery in intensive care lasting another two days. Overall the surgery was a success, though my fathers heart stopped during the procedure, which Doctor McCotter assured us was normal when work is being performed on your heart. The lasting effects and success associated with the surgery will not be evident till three months down the line, but the scenario looks more promising than ever.

As for the prevention tips, the main goal for anyone is to live a heart healthy lifestyle. This includes eating healthy, exercise, low fat diet including eating dietary fiber, vegetables, fruits and vitamin- rich foods. Maintaining a proper weight, avoiding caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and minimizing stress(anxiety, fear, anger), pollutants as well as regular physical examinations will help to reduce the chances of these disorders entering your lifestyle. Seeking treatment for one or more symptoms will also help to reduce the potential for problems to arise. The best case scenario is to prevent instead of diagnose and treat the problem. To research, and learn about heart disease, treatments, symptoms and the various tests available will go far in helping you to live a better lifestyle, at least as far as you heart healthy living is concerned.

Here's to your heart conscientious lifestyle and may you live a healthy and happy life!