To keep your heart beating correctly
The heart is the “motor” that forces our body to work without days off or breaks. It is not surprising that it is this organ that often needs routine, or even major, “repairs”. Well-known Samara cardiologist Mikhail Kachkovsky spoke to the press about the risks of heart disease and how to avoid them.
— Heart disease is dangerous because it is one of the main causes of mortality in the population. Moreover, if every fourth person in the world dies from these diseases, in Russia every second person dies,” Mikhail Arkadyevich voiced the sad statistics.
Treatment
Help before diagnosis
For colic in the side that occurs during training, no treatment is required. It is recommended to temporarily limit physical activity until the discomfort disappears. To get rid of left-sided pain caused by constipation, you need to add fresh or baked vegetables and fruits, fermented milk products, and black bread to your diet. These products stimulate intestinal motility.
To reduce pain caused by emotional turmoil (for example, with IBS), it is important to minimize stressful situations and, if necessary, visit a psychologist. Severe pain in the left side indicates severe gastroenterological or gynecological diseases, so self-medication in this case is unacceptable. The combination of a painful attack with a sharp deterioration in condition is an indication for emergency medical care.
Conservative therapy
Treatment is selected after determining the cause of pain in the side. In case of severe pain, pain relief comes to the fore - non-narcotic and narcotic analgesics, antispasmodics, and local anesthetics in the form of blockades are used. To eliminate pain, it is necessary to influence the cause of its occurrence, so therapy includes the following drugs:
- Probiotics
. Medicines restore intestinal microflora and digestion, eliminate discomfort in the left lateral and lower abdomen. They are usually combined with pancreatic enzymes to quickly normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. - Laxatives
. For chronic constipation, oil-based rectal suppositories are prescribed to facilitate bowel movements. If they are ineffective, herbal remedies, osmotic laxatives, and oils for oral administration are used. - Intestinal antiseptics
. For infections and dysbiosis, non-absorbable drugs that act in the intestinal lumen are effective. Systemic antibiotics are used less frequently. - Corticosteroids
. Hormones of the adrenal cortex have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect in the treatment of UC. They help the disease go into remission and reduce pain in the left side. Steroids are often taken in combination with immunosuppressants, anticytokines.
For gynecological pain, female sex hormones are used. For pain that occurs due to neurological disorders, sedative herbal preparations and mild hypnotics are indicated. Physiotherapeutic methods are prescribed: electrosleep, neurosedative massage, reflexology. Patients are recommended to undergo psychotherapy.
If the pressure is not like that of an astronaut
— When I try to sleep on my left side, my heart starts to work like a hammer drill - at first I even thought that the neighbors below were crushing the wall. What could it be?
- The description looks like tachycardia or palpitations with an enlarged left ventricle. It is necessary to be examined to determine the exact cause and correct the functioning of the heart. This in itself is not dangerous, but can lead to heart failure and other complications. That is why, in case of hypertension, it is necessary to promptly normalize high blood pressure so that the heart does not increase in size and its functionality is not impaired.
— Please tell me how to protect yourself from heart disease? What examinations need to be completed?
— You need to start by measuring your blood pressure at home. If you feel pain behind the sternum or in the heart area, you need to consult a doctor and get an ECG. You should check a biochemical blood test - cholesterol and its fractions - to see if there is an indirect threat of coronary disease, the cause of which may be atherosclerosis. For a more detailed examination of the heart, the use of echocardiography is effective, allowing you to check the structure of the heart, valve function, contractility and other parameters. Modern methods include CT coronary angiography, which determines the degree of blood flow disturbance. There are methods of functional diagnostics that can be intermediate - the first manifestations of disorders can be checked using stress tests - for example, bicycle ergometry or treadmill, 24-hour ECG monitoring.
— When should you start monitoring your blood pressure?
- If there is evidence, then from childhood. But even if there are no problems, you should undergo an annual medical examination. As a rule, problems begin between the ages of 40 and 45 for men, and after 55 for women. At this age, you need to begin to control the situation - regularly measure your blood pressure. But this does not mean that you cannot get a myocardial infarction in your youth. For example, the risk of developing myocardial infarction in young women is high when two factors are combined - smoking and taking hormonal contraceptives. In addition, early heart attacks and strokes can be a consequence of genetic predisposition, that is, hereditary.
— Everyone knows that smoking is bad for the heart. What can you say about electronic cigarettes?
— Less information has been accumulated on electronic cigarettes, but the trend is the same - atherosclerosis and hypertension develop more often. Among smokers, the mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases is twice as high.
— I am 79 years old and have atrial fibrillation. I’ve been taking three medications for three years, but to no avail...
- You are receiving good treatment. Atrial fibrillation or atrial fibrillation leads to dangerous complications - thrombosis and strokes. The fact that these diseases did not develop is precisely a consequence of three years of use of these drugs. Since you have had atrial fibrillation for more than three years, it is permanent. In this situation, you need to achieve a normal heart rate so that the heart rate is 60 - 70 beats per minute. If, with the help of the prescribed medication, you manage to achieve these numbers, then good, the treatment is correct.
— I wore a holter* for a day, which showed 8568 ventricular extrasystoles. Please tell me what this indicator says?
- You have more extrasystoles than a healthy person should have. This may be due to emotional stress, as well as functional heart diseases. You definitely need to see a cardiologist to determine the exact cause. If the indicator persists, shortness of breath and other ailments may subsequently appear. To make an appointment with me or other doctors at the REAVIZ clinic, call (846) 321-21-21.
Why does it hurt on the left side?
Physiological factors
The left side often hurts after physical activity. During intense exercise, blood flows to the abdominal cavity, particularly the spleen. This explains the characteristic stabbing sensations in the side, which disappear after 5-10 minutes of rest. The next day after training, pain in the left abdomen is possible due to tension in the abdominal muscles. The pain intensifies when getting out of bed, turning the body to the left, laughing and straining.
Constipation
Pain in the left iliac region occurs when there is no bowel movement for 2-3 days or longer. A person complains of a feeling of fullness and dull pain in the lower abdomen on the left. Periodically there is an urge to defecate, during which the pain intensifies and painful spasms are observed. The intensity of pain depends on the duration of constipation. Patients report the need to strain strongly during defecation, and a burning sensation in the rectum when passing dry stool.
Irritable bowel syndrome
IBS is the most common pathological cause of left flank pain. With this disease, painful sensations of various types are noted: dull, aching, sharp, constant or cramping. The most intense pain syndrome occurs in the morning after waking up, it is accompanied by painful tenesmus. After defecation, the pain decreases or disappears completely.
In some cases, to improve the condition, a person needs to visit the toilet several times in the morning, since after a single bowel movement there remains a feeling of incomplete bowel movement. During the day, pain in the left abdomen may be bothersome, but it is less intense. IBS sufferers do not have night pain that interferes with sleep. Typically, the pain syndrome increases with psycho-emotional stress, in women - before and during menstruation.
Sigmoiditis
With inflammation of the sigmoid colon, patients experience severe paroxysmal pain in the left side, which usually radiates to the lower back, perineum and thigh. The symptom is accompanied by a painful false urge to defecate, loose, foul-smelling stools mixed with mucus and blood. In acute sigmoiditis, such signs are observed constantly, and in chronic pain they are provoked by errors in diet, physical or mental stress.
Diverticulitis
Diverticula of the colon are manifested by moderate pain in the left half of the abdomen, which intensifies before the onset of bowel movements and disappears after bowel movement. The intensity of the pain increases if there is no stool for 3 or more days. Less common is paroxysmal pain that lasts several hours. In addition to pain, patients are concerned about stool instability - alternating constipation and diarrhea.
Nonspecific ulcerative colitis
UC is characterized by severe spastic pain on the left side above the ilium. When the pathological process spreads to the descending colon, pain is felt along the entire left side. The pain syndrome is accompanied by constant diarrhea; the stool contains large amounts of blood and mucus. During the period of remission, there is aching pain and discomfort in the abdominal cavity on the left. With UC, appetite disappears, weight decreases, and painful tenesmus is possible.
Chronic pancreatitis
Damage to the pancreas is characterized by mild aching pain in the left side. Soreness worries a person constantly, intensifies when eating large portions of food, eating fatty or fried foods. Sometimes severe paroxysmal pain develops, which lasts from several minutes to several hours. The pain syndrome in the chronic form of pancreatitis is combined with stool instability, flatulence, and rumbling in the abdomen.
Intestinal infections
Cramping pain in the left side occurs during infectious processes that occur with colitis syndrome - dysentery, amoebiasis, some forms of escherichiosis and salmonellosis. Severe pain begins 12-48 hours after eating contaminated food or water. They are accompanied by painful tenesmus and diarrhea up to 10-20 times a day. During defecation, feces with blood and mucus are released, and there is a stool of the “rectal spit” type.
Colon tumors
With benign intestinal polyps, dull pain in the left side without clear localization is observed. The symptom is not associated with eating or defecation. Increased pain occurs as the polyps increase in size, which creates obstacles to the movement of feces. A person feels a strong distension in the flank or iliac region on the left. Chronic constipation occurs; patients strain or help themselves with their hands to pass feces.
Discomfort in the left side is a sign of cancer of the sigmoid or descending colon. As the tumor grows, severe abdominal pain appears, which is constantly present and does not depend on external provoking factors. Against the background of pain, alternating constipation with diarrhea develops, and traces of fresh blood are found in the stool. Unbearable pain in the left side indicates the disintegration or ulceration of the tumor, its germination into neighboring organs.
Hernias
Pain in the lower abdomen is possible with a left-sided inguinal hernia. When a hernial protrusion forms, a dull pain occurs, which intensifies with straining, physical activity, and bending of the body. With large hernias, irreducible or strangulated hernias, patients complain of severe pain. More rare causes are a hernia of the Spigelian line on the left, a postoperative hernia.
Gynecological diseases
The appearance of pain in the left side in women is often caused by pathologies of the internal reproductive organs. The pain varies depending on the degree of activity of the process and the depth of tissue damage. Gynecological abdominal pain is characterized by intensification 2-3 days before menstruation, irradiation to the pubic region and perineum, dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse). Most often, pain in the lower abdomen on the left occurs with left-sided adnexitis, endometriosis, and ectopic pregnancy.
Kidney damage
Pain in the left side is observed during exacerbation of urolithiasis - left-sided renal colic. Worrying painful constant or paroxysmal pain that radiates along the ureter to the lower abdomen and perineum. Patients rush around the bed or room, trying to find a position in which the pain will not be so intense. The symptom is accompanied by fever and urinary retention.
Complications of pharmacotherapy
Pain in the left iliac zone occurs due to dysbacteriosis (dysbiosis) caused by the use of antibiotics. Patients complain of constant discomfort in the abdomen, spasms in the left side, worsening after eating and before defecation. When bowel movements occur, greenish feces with a foul odor are released, stools become more frequent up to 3-7 times a day. Characteristic signs of dysbiosis: flatulence and rumbling in the intestines, malabsorption syndrome, lack of appetite.
