While views are changing, and begrudgingly the number of heart attacks is declining, it is quite interesting as to how we view such serious diseases as cardiovascular atherosclerosis. What I mean by that is that if we start to experience hair loss, wrinkles appears unexpectedly, age related sagging skin starts to occur, or our eye sight starts to go most people will go to extreme lengths, often spending thousands of dollars trying to correct the problem. On the other hand little attention is paid to what is going on internally until symptoms are noticed, and even then the impending warning signs of a serious illness such as heart attack or stroke may be ignored. Really, when you think about it shouldn't it be other way around, especially when it comes to our arteries, since keeping a steady flow of blood freely traveling through our arteries is essential to not only looking and feeling good but sustaining life itself.

What is cardiovascular atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is harden of the arteries and cardiovascular means heart related. So cardiovascular atherosclerosis means heart disease caused by hardening of the arteries and blood vessels surrounding the heart. This would include arteries that take blood away from the heart as well as those responsible for cycling it back for the process to continue. Any disruption in blood flow, either to or from, the heart disrupts the natural balance in the body and more often than not leads to a number of serious conditions including a heart attack.

When cardiovascular atherosclerosis occurs the arteries actually narrow and start to lose their flexibility due the accumulation of cholesterol on the inside of the arteries. As over time these deposits start to harden due to the accumulation of calcium and the formation of fibrous tissue making the condition much worse. The combination of cholesterol, dead cells, fibrous tissue, and calcium is referred to as plaque, and as the plaque deposits grow larger the amount of blood the heart has to work starts a progressive decline. This in turn leads to the heart attempting to do more with less, eventually resulting in less blood and oxygen flowing to vital areas of the body.

Common symptoms often seen as a result of cardiovascular atherosclerosis are chest pain, congestive heart failure, irregular heart rhythms, fatigue, shortness of breath, sweating, anxiety, and fluid accumulation in the ankles, abdomen, and even the lungs. It might surprise you to know that three out of every deaths from heart disease are linked to atherosclerosis.

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