Overview
More women die of cardiovascular disease than from the next four causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer. But 80 percent of cardiac events in women could be prevented if women made the right choices for their hearts involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking. Make it your mission to learn all you can about heart attacks and stroke — don’t become a statistic. CALL 9-1-1

Heart Attack
A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, usually by a blood clot. If this clot cuts off the blood flow completely, the part of the heart muscle supplied by that artery begins to die.

Signs of a Heart Attack:

1. Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
2. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
3. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
4. Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
5. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

If you have any of these signs, don’t wait more than five minutes before calling for help. Call 9-1-1…Get to a hospital right away.

Watch video here: http://youtu.be/t7wmPWTnDbE

Diabetes

(PubMed Health)

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.

To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:

• A sugar called glucose enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.
• An organ called the pancreas makes insulin. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can be used as fuel.

People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar into fat, liver, and muscle cells to be stored for energy. This is because either:

• Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
• Their cells do not respond to insulin normally
• Both of the above

There are three major types of diabetes. The causes and risk factors are different for each type:

• Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but it is most often diagnosed in children, teens, or young adults. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown.
• Type 2 diabetes makes up most of diabetes cases. It most often occurs in adulthood, but teens and young adults are now being diagnosed with it because of high obesity rates. Many people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it.
• Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.

Diabetes affects more than 20 million Americans. Over 40 million Americans have pre-diabetes (early type 2 diabetes).

Symptoms

High blood sugar levels can cause several symptoms, including:

• Blurry vision
• Excess thirst
• Fatigue
• Frequent urination
• Hunger
• Weight loss

Because type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar have no symptoms.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop over a short period of time. People may be very sick by the time they are diagnosed.

Signs and tests

A urine analysis may be used to look for high blood sugar. However, a urine test alone does not diagnose diabetes.

Your health care provider may suspect that you have diabetes if your blood sugar level is higher than 200 mg/dL. To confirm the diagnosis, one or more of the following tests must be done.

Blood tests: Fasting blood glucose level — diabetes is diagnosed if it is higher than 126 mg/dL twice. Levels between 100 and 126 mg/dL are called impaired fasting glucose or pre-diabetes. These levels are risk factors for type 2 diabetes, Hemoglobin A1c Oral glucose tolerance test

Screening for type 2 diabetes in people who have no symptoms is recommended for:

• Overweight children who have other risk factors for diabetes, starting at age 10 and repeated every 2 years
• Overweight adults (BMI greater than 25) who have other risk factors
• Adults over age 45, repeated every 3 years

Support Groups

For more information, see diabetes resources.

Expectations (prognosis)

Studies have shown that better control of blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels in persons with diabetes helps reduce the risk of kidney disease, eye disease, nervous system disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Complications

Emergency complications include:

• Diabetic hyperglycemic hyperosmolar coma
• Diabetic ketoacidosis

After many years, diabetes can lead to other serious problems:

• You could have eye problems, including trouble seeing (especially at night) and light sensitivity. You could become blind.
• Your feet and skin can develop sores and infections. After a long time, your foot or leg may need to be removed. Infection can also cause pain and itching in other parts of the body.
• Diabetes may make it harder to control your blood pressure and cholesterol. This can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or other problems. It can become harder for blood to flow to your legs and feet.
• Nerves in the body can become damaged, causing pain, tingling, and a loss of feeling.
• Because of nerve damage, you could have problems digesting the food you eat. You could feel weakness or have trouble going to the bathroom. Nerve damage can also make it harder for men to have an erection.
• High blood sugar and other problems can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys might not work as well, and they may even stop working.

Prevention

Keeping an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle may prevent type 2 diabetes.

There is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes.

To prevent complications of diabetes, visit your health care provider or diabetes educator at least four times a year. Talk about any problems you are having.

Interactive Patient Education Tutorial: Please click here Diabetes