The more you smoke the faster you move towards heart attack. Smoking contributes greatly in causing Coronary Artery Disease and Peripheral Vascular Disease. Each cigarette you smoke takes you closer to cardiovascular diseases and death.
Smoking-related coronary heart disease may result in congestive heart failure. An estimated 4.6 million people in America have a congestive heart failure. Around 43,000 people die as a result of Congestive Heart Failure every year
Nicotine present in Cigarettes causes damage to the inner lining of the coronary arteries, causes plaques to form within and hardens the arteries. This decreases the oxygen supply to the heart. It also results in increased blood pressure and heart rate.
Once your arteries get hardened, you have no option but to get the painful Angioplasty done. In Angioplasty small tube called a catheter with a balloon at the end is put into a large blood vessel in the groin (upper thigh) or arm. The catheter is then threaded to the coronary arteries to widen them with the help of a small mesh tube called the stent.
If there are multiple blockages, there is no other alternative but for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting surgery. In this your chest is cut open through the centre through your breastbone and the surgeons create a bypass within the arteries by grafting them. They usually take parts of your arteries either from your legs or your arms. The surgery is about 3-4 hours long. And it will take you around a 2-3 months to completely recover after the surgery.
The last simple alternative is prevention. It is way easier and safer than cure — Quit Smoking and lessen your chances of heart diseases.
2 Comments
This is a life saver and it helped me out a lot thanx
OK, I quit smoking and I’m over 200 lbs now. What the hell do I do now??