Archive for June, 2006

Heart Block. This is easily identified. The heartbeat is regular like marching feet, but one beat is missed out of a regular sequence. The missed beat may be noticed after every twenty-four regular beats, or possibly after every five beats; the more

Fig. 58. Heart block is heart beat irregularity in which a single heart beat is blocked out every fourth beat, third beat or any regular number of beats.

frequent the missed beat, the more serious the heart block. This is a disease of senior years, and the physician’s help should be of great value here.

Angina Pectoris. Angina pectoris is a heart pain of a come and go nature, varying from a mild pressure sensation to an agonizing chest pain, and frequently extending into the left arm. It is brought on by conditions forcing the heart to work harder, as effort, excitement, heavy meals, and cold weather. It is relieved by rest. The exertion that will cause chest pain to appear is usually known to the patient. Thus, he can predict that walking up a two block hill will almost routinely bring about chest pain and require a five minute rest for relief.

Angina pain is a cry from the heart muscle for more blood. The normal heart artery can carry an excess of blood to the hard-working heart muscle, but the arteries in angina are considerably closed by spasms or hardening arteriosclerotic disease. Heavy emotion, high tension and aged arteries are all suspected of magnifying pain of angina pectoris, so it is wise to eliminate excitement, and to spare the heart any sudden periods of great work. In angina pectoris, the head must rule the heart. The physician frequently prescribes certain drugs effective in relief of pain by relieving narrowing spasm in the heart artery.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, Cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles

Tachycardia (Fast Heart). In this condition, the heartbeat rate speeds up two or three times the normal rate. It is often found in young people with no serious heart disease, but who are frequently bothered with these uncomfortable and terrifying attacks. Relief is often obtained by taking and holding a deep breath or firmly massaging the side of the neck and still another

TACHYCARDIA
(FAST HEART)

Fig. 56. Tachycardia is temporary rapid speed-up of the heart beat. It may be twice the normal rate, start up at any time and last minutes or hours, stopping as suddenly as it started.

way is drinking something cold. While tachycardia is usually not serious, there may be some important underlying factors involved and if the attacks are frequent, the physician should be consulted to follow any necessary precautions.

Fibrillation of the Heart. This means a loss of all regularity to the heartbeat and the heart rate becomes similar to falling rain drops. If the heartbeat is anything like marching feet, it is not fibrillation.

FIBRILLATION

Fig. 57. Fibrillation is heart-beat irregularity with no semblance of “bouncing ball” rhythm. Irregular as rain on the roof, it may go on for years, with questionable significance.

his heartbeat irregularity can be temporary or permanent, and is often related to other disease, possibly within the heart as in rheumatic heart disease, or completely outside of the heart, as in thyroid disease. Sometimes fibrillation can go on for years with no apparent ill effect, but certain dangers are constantly present in these hearts. Regaining a regular heart beat is possible if associated disease is cured, otherwise useful drugs are available which may greatly benefit the heart action in spite of continued fibrillation.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, Cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles

Heart difficulties are not all serious and are often interpreted in terms of noticeable heart action, breathing difficulty, chest pain or swelling of the ankles.

Heart Murmurs. Heart valves which open and close imperfectly may give rise to a sound similar to the whistling of wind

Fig. 53. The heart valve normally closes perfectly, but a diseased valve cannot close correctly. An imperfectly closing valve is the cause of heart murmur, heard during heart beat. The tricuspid valve has three lips, the bicuspid two lips.

rushing through a partially closed doorway. When valves open widely and blood flows freely, there is no sound, but when heart valves are deformed or do not close completely, onrushing blood creates a “murmur.”

There are different types of murmurs in the heart, some have serious significance, while others are of little importance. If a heart murmur is known to exist, explanation and expert guidance from an experienced physician in this field becomes advisable.

Heartbeat Irregularity. The regular heartbeat is similar to the

SINUS ARRYTHMIA
(BREATHING IRREGULARITY)
BREATHING IN BREATHING OUT

Fig. 54. Sinus arrythmia is a slowing of the heart rate when breathing out and a quickening of the rate when breathing in. It is caused by the rate of blood return to the heart as it is influenced by expansion and contraction of the heart.

steady rhythm of marching feet and anything disturbing this steady beat is called an irregularity. Irregularities are very common, some are important and some are not.

Sinus Arrhythmia (Breathing Irregularity). This is the most common heartbeat irregularity. It means a heart rate increase as we breathe in, and a decrease as we breathe out. It is found to some degree in everybody, and is not thought of as a disease.

Extrasystole (Extra Fast Heartbeat). This is a single heartbeat out of step, and often feels like a flip-flopping within the chest. In this irregularity, one heartbeat arrives ahead of step and is followed by a slight pause, awaiting the next beat back in regular step. The heart then goes on beating regularly until another extrasystole appears in the heartbeat order.

EXTRASYSTOLI
(OCCASIONAL FAST BEAT)

Fig. 55. Extrasystoli is irregularity of the heart beat. It is due to an occasional beat stepping in ahead of schedule, creating an apparent pause before the next regular beat. A common irregularity, it is not necessarily serious.

They frequently follow heavy eating, smoking, exercise or other excitement, and often are noticed when lying down in bed. Heavy tension and over-indulgence in tobacco are suspected as the chief causes of this irregularity. While an occasional extrasystole is usually not serious, the experienced physician’s opinion on this matter will help to discover any possibly serious underlying difficulties.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles

Examination of the Heart

1. Sit motionless and determine if the heart action is noticeable. Normally, it cannot be felt and sensations within the chest usually described as flip flopping are regarded as palpitations. They are often caused by extrasystole or heart
block irregularity.

2. Press the right palm just below the left breast and lean forward against a solid wall, and the normal heart beat can be felt. Heart beat sensations of a sawing nature (thrill) are definitely abnormal and may represent mechanical difficulties which produce murmurs.

3. Count the pulse rate (same as heart rate) at the wrist, normally, sixty to eighty beats per minute. A resting pulse rate above 100 may represent tachycardia. An irregular beat, unlike the steady beat of marching feet, is a heart beat irregularity.

4. Press one finger firmly against the leg just above the ankle. Quickly withdraw the finger and a deep dent left in the leg which lasts for a minute, may indicate the inadequate circulation of partial heart failure.

AORTA
CORONARY (HEART) ARTERY

Fig. 52. The blood pump of the body is nearly in the center of the chest and is larger than imagined. Weighing less than a pound, it lies on its side, looking little like the typical “valentine” heart. It pumps 10 tons of blood daily and beats over a million times every 10 days. The heart works hard enough each day to lift you 1000 feet straight up in the air; it is expected nowadays to keep working for 70 years “plus.” The heart must receive enough of the blood it pumps or it “cries out” with pain. The heart or coronary arteries return to the heart from the aorta, the main blood vessel from the heart. Chest pain, shortness of breath and palpitation (feeling the heart bounce) are signals of heart trouble. Diseases of the heart annually account for half the deaths in the U.S.

5. Inhale and exhale rapidly several times and finally hold a deep breath. If the breath can easily be held for a full minute, serious heart disease is improbable.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, Cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles

cancer of the Lung is a most important disease after the age of fifty. Much more common in men than in women, its occurrence rate is increasing faster than any other kind of cancer. The cause remains unknown but tremendous evidence points to tobacco’s guilt, although automobile exhaust fumes and other gases are also strongly suspected. Cancer in the lung often begins with an innocent cough which may be dry or productive of blood streaked sputum. The possible, noticeable difficulties are wheezing, pain in the chest, hoarseness and weight loss, all indicating the possible presence of a serious disease.

The diagnosis of lung cancer is made with an x-ray of the chest, and often aided by other kinds of examination to more accurately pinpoint this disease. Effective treatment of any lung cancer demands early detection, best done by the routine physical examination, including a chest x-ray each year by a competent physician.

Pneumonia. This is an infection and inflammation of the lung itself. The two types are the commonly seen virus pneumonia and the more serious bacterial pneumonia. Virus pneumonia, not necessarily associated with any bacteria, is a mild lung infection and just about everyone contracting it eventually recovers. The disease is often considered a deepseated cold, accompanied by dry, hacking cough, a moderate temperature and great fatigue. Many physicians treat virus pneumonia with rest, diet, aspirin compounds and occasionally antibiotics. Without a chest x-ray, this diagnosis is difficult to make, and is sometimes entirely overlooked. Happily however, nearly all patients eventually recover from virus pneumonia anyway.

In the more serious bacterial pneumonia infection, the lung tissue becomes solid with bacteria, pus, blood and swollen lung tissue. The symptoms produced are high fever, severe pleurisy pains in the chest and considerable coughing, productive eventually of a bloody or rust-colored sputum. Treatment of bacterial pneumonia requires x-ray diagnosis, considerable supportive treatment, such as adequate fluids, rest, and usually powerful antibiotics.

Pneumonia was once a deadly disease but now it succumbs readily to effective antibiotics in the hands of the physician. Though treatment is now effective, this disease should never be taken lightly, as it still brings about many deaths each year and readily causes significant and permanent body damage.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, Cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles

Tuberculosis is amazingly widespread, but most people who have had this disease are not aware of it. In larger cities where tubercular infections are more common, about 40 percent of the twenty-one year old population has had tuberculosis, whereas, 95 percent of those over fifty years of age have been infected. Happily, very few develop this disease to a noticeable state, and for most of us, only a few scars seen by x-ray remain as evidence of a by-gone, unnoticed disease.

Fig. 51. Lung tuberculosis, formerly regarded with horror, now seems to be slowly disappearing. Evidence of tuberculosis in the lungs, surprisingly, is found present in over 90 per cent of adults.

The occasional severe case may begin with a cough, possibly productive of sputum, containing flecks of blood. There is characteristically mild fever and continuous fatigue along with weight loss. These symptoms are very common and easily disregarded, and as a result tuberculosis is not often suspected. It is discovered most often in routine examinations-another reason for thorough and regular examination-especially if we have been in contact with anyone found to have tuberculosis.

Asthma, the devil’s disease, is due to temporary closure of the small air passages, in the deep lung tissues where effective breathing takes place.

The difficulties in asthma are:
1. Labored, wheezing breathing.
2. Spasms of coughing, between gasps of air.
3. Choking, caused by the wheezing and coughing, often causing bluish coloration in the skin-a sign of lack of air.

Asthmatics, over fifty years of age, usually have had attacks through the years since childhood and are aware that their asthma is worse during colds, emotional excitement, periods of great effort and occasionally seasons of allergy. Many people learn to live with their disease and usually find relief in inhalers and certain drugs. The individual asthmatic can help himself considerably, but the greatest relief from unnecessary suffering is found under the guidance of a physician well schooled in this problem.

Keywords: Skin, Head, Eye, Ear, cancer, Face, Lips, Teeth, Thyroid, Chest, Breast, Lungs, Heart, Nail, Asthma, Tongue, Neck, BP, Migraine, Scalp, Eczema, Shingles