Coronary Heart disease, more commonly known as heart blockage is one of the major diseases affecting young and old patients worldwide. It often goes undetected and thus leads to death. What happens in coronary heart disease is that over time because of erratic lifestyle, plaque builds up and gets deposited in the coronary arteries, which makes the passage narrow and thus inhibits blood flow to the heart. Consequently, the heart is able to obtain less of oxygen and functions sub optimally.
In the early stages, heart blockage may go undetected as often the affected arteries develop blood vessels to carry blood to the heart. But as the condition gets more severe, these blood vessels are inadequate, particularly during times of stress.
- Whether a person is suffering from heart blockage can be identified from certain symptoms, the most common one being chest pain which manifests itself in the form of heaviness, tightness or burning in the chest and adjoining body parts such as neck, arms and shoulders.
- Often patients also suffer from irregular heartbeats that may be too fast or too slow than normal.
- Fatigue or tiredness is another common feeling as the heart is deficient of normal oxygen and nutrients. Sweating is also quite common.
- If a person often suffers from dizziness, weakness or faints too frequently, it may be a symptom of heart blockage.
Most of these symptoms are not a direct indication of coronary heart disease. If just any one of them occurs, it might be because of other health problems too. Nevertheless, consulting a doctor is imperative to prevent the condition (if it exists) from worsening. Often, treatment in the form of surgery is required if the extent of blockage is high.
An alternative to surgery is chelation therapy wherein a chemical substance called EDTA is injected into the patient’s body. EDTA is a chelating agent, i.e. it attaches itself to the calcium present in the fatty deposits in arteries. Then, the plaque is swept away as EDTA moves along in the bloodstream. Chelation therapy has been extensively used in removing toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury from the body and it has proven effective in treating coronary heart disease as well. The minimally invasive and painless nature of the procedure is fast making it one of the preferred option for many patients.