Heart Disease Effects on People

When you're suffering from heart disease, you have a condition that affects the overall function of your heart. But heart disease isn't really a sole disorder on its own, but a grouping of issues involving your heart and blood vessels, so you may have developed an arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, pericarditis, myocarditis, endocarditis, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or a valvular problem. Regardless of the actual cause of the disorder, the condition can have an effect on your health in a number of different ways.

Heart Failure

• One of the most common and significant ways in which heart disease has an effect on your life is heart failure. When this complication develops out of heart disease, your heart is actually unable to pump an adequate amount of blood for your body. The muscles may weaken, the valves may narrow or the chambers may harden, but these all affect the amount of blood that comes in and out of the organ.

Heart Attack

• Another potential effect heart disease has on people is an increased risk of a heart attack. With this condition, the heart suffers a sudden, sometimes complete deprivation in the flow of blood, causing the heart to react in this fashion. This lack of blood can prompt the damage and even destruction of cardiac tissue, impeding the function of the heart. If the flow of blood can be returned, especially in a timely manner, the damage can actually be prevented. Coronary artery disease is the main culprit of this event, but you may also suffer from a heart attack as a result of arrhythmias or cardiomyopathy.

Peripheral Artery Disease

• With heart disease, it is also possible to suffer from the complication of peripheral artery disease. Often referred to as simply PAD, any narrowing of the arteries can trigger a reduction in the blood supplied to the outer extremities of your body. This can lead to a great deal of pain and discomfort within those areas of the body affected by the decrease in blood flow, impeding your ability to get around.

Aneurysm

• Sometimes, heart disease can lead to the development of an aneurysm, which is ultimately a bulge along a section of your arterial wall. While the actual presence of an aneurysm doesn't necessarily cause any sort of problem, it can, however, eventually burst, which often leads to life-threatening circumstances, such as internal bleeding and death.

Stroke

• Heart disease has also been known to cause you to suffer a stroke. In this situation, your carotid arteries may begin to narrow or suffer a blockage, which can greatly reduce the blood flow to your brain. When this happens, tissue within the affected artery of your brain actually begins to die. This may cause you to suffer from weakness, numbness or paralysis along one side of your body as well as a loss of life.

Cardiac Arrest

• Cardiac arrest is another potential effect heart disease can have on your life. When you suffer from a cardiac arrest, the heart actually stops pumping, depriving the rest of your body of not only blood but oxygen and nutrients. Breathing often stops and you lose consciousness, and it can lead to death.