What a Pain in the Heart!

I am sitting in my dining room, watching the snow fall onto the deck.  I am also watching my stupid cat, Yukon Cornelius, who has ventured his way out there to get a closer look at two birds that apparently forgot to fly south for the winter. White speckles cover his gray fur. And his butt is planted in an inch of snow. One would think such a sensitive area of the body would tell him it’s 27 degrees outside. 

The cold weather got me thinking about the heart—not like the coldhearted Grinch with a heart that was “two sizes too small”. But with February being American Heart Month, I was actually wondering how long it would take Yukon’s heart to turn into a paw-sized popsicle.

Wait. That sounds kinda mean. I meant that from an anatomical heart-pumping, physiological blood flowing perspective.  I paid 4K to surgically fix that feline last year, so I am not wishing his demise any time soon!

There is a point…

I am betting that everyone that reads this has experienced his/her hands, feet, maybe even your ears get so cold that they hurt.

My brain: “If your fingers are freezing and going numb, they shouldn’t hurt.”

I actually verbalized that in nursing school in front of about 27 other nursing students (Sometimes I have to embarrass myself to appease my inquiring mind). My instructor was ever so kind to explain that pain can be the body’s reaction to a deficiency of oxygen in nerves and/or muscles. The cold makes your blood vessels constrict and diverts the blood from your arms and legs to the vital organs in your body, denying proper blood flow, hence oxygen, to your fingers.

Cool.

Now, what other parts of the body “hurt” when they don’t get proper blood flow? I see February in the back with its hand waving desperately in the air…

The HEART! Yes. Chest pain can indicate a potential blockage in the arteries in your heart (coronary arteries), otherwise known as a heart attack, aka myocardial infarction, or MI.

There are many conditions that can cause blockages in coronary arteries. I could simply list them and go on my merry way, but it is really important to know HOW your conditions increase your risk for heart disease. I won’t address them all here, but I’m going to hit on a few important ones:

1.    1. High cholesterol. Too much fat in your body creates plaque that easily sticks to the lining of your blood vessels. Over time, the plaque becomes so thick, it can completely block an artery.

2.    2. Type II Diabetes. A sugar molecule is considered large by comparison to other molecules. Too much sugar circulating in your blood beats the snot out of artery walls. This damage causes tiny bleeds.  And what does your body do with bleeds? It wants to stop them.  With CLOTS. Although this is a good thing, the numerous clots along your vessel walls can thicken.  And, if you also eat a high fat diet, plaque can secure itself over a clot, creating a dynamic duo in artery blockage.

3.   3. Stop. Smoking. Right. Now.  Smoking increases the formation of plaque to join the clot party. There are also chemicals in cigarette smoke that cause the blood to thicken and the vessel walls to narrow and stiffen.

Increasing opportunities and methods of clotting and vessel constriction is like inviting 100 people to the frat party, and then reducing the size of the house. And believe me, it is anything but a party when oxygen can no longer reach your organs and tissues.

I will say it again. I LOVE learning the mechanisms of the human body. And I LOVE breaking down the functions of the body into bite-sized pieces so everyone can understand the “whys” and…

Be Well!