Monsoon and Heart Diseases

     Monsoon is a blessing to India. Intolerable summer ends with the rains and worries about the scarcity of water and food for that year vanish. But monsoon comes with its darker side, these are the epidemics. These diseases directly or indirectly affect the heart.

1 Respiratory diseases.

    Repsiratory diseases vary from simple cold to severe pneumonia. Most of us are now familiar with these, thanks to the COVID-19 epidemic. These lead to extra work load on the heart and the patients who are already suffering from heart disease may land up in hospitals with heart failure. To prevent these general hygiene precautions should be followed. High risk patients should use masks outside whenever possible. Elderly patients and patients with high risk should get vaccinated against common respiratory illnesses, take the help of your Doctor regarding this. If patient acquires the infection he/she should get it treated as soon as possible before any complications happen.

2 Gastrointestinal Diseases

   Monsoons comes with the epidemics of gartroenteritis, again it can be milder forms or very severe forms like cholera. Loose motions and vomitings reduce the water in the body and decrease the blood pressure. With doctors advice the patient may need to reduce the dose or stop some of the cardiac medicines temporarily such as diuretics (e.g. Dytor ,lasix). ORS should be taken as recommended to avoid dehydration.High risk patients should better be admitted to hospital ,I.V. fluids can be given in monitored settings.Renal function tests may need to be checked frequently in heart disease patients suffering from loose motions. Gradual restarting of the medication also will require medical professional's help. 

Mosquito born diseases 

    Malaria, Dengue become rampant during rainy season. Heart disease patients shuld take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites. If get infected immediate investigations and treatment is warranted. High risk patient should get admitted to hospital. As mentioned above precautions should be taken to avoid dehydration. Few people may develop acute heart failure without any previous illness (myocarditis) that requires hospitalisation and close monitoring.

           Take hygienic precautions, drink good quality water, avoid outside food, keep your surroundings clean. Wish you a happy and healthy Monsoon Season.

Mission - Healthy Hearts.

Dr. Tamiruddin A. Danwade

Consultant Interventional Cardiologist,

Mother & Rhythm Clinics,

Kharghar & Seawoods, Navi Mumbai

For Appointments - +919321459928

Online Medical information (Doctor Google 😄)

       Today's era is referred as 'era of explosion of information ' It is perticurly true for medical field. Things which were difficult to read/access once upon a time now are one click away. This has emence implications mostly positive but there are many red alerts also.

       As internet is used by all sorts of people, different views are expressed by everyone. Only few people are authorities in that perticular field many are amateurs and most are quacks for example good medical knowledge is available only on specific internet sites. Geniune literature is provided by high index medical journals ( mind you free journals are rampant now a days which are managed by not so dependable sources) e.g. good cardiology papers and available on JACC, circulation, NEJM, JAPI, Indian heart Journal to name a few there are many others. Some sites compile all the knowledge on a perticular subject, these are UP-TO-DATE, MEDSCAPE , internet sites of Mayo Clinic, Cleaveland Clinic etc. Apart from this many informative videos are available the above rule applies to these also. A well experienced and learned doctor gives true information ( unfortunately some doctors also spread non-scientific information although that is rare).

     For my patients I advise learn about your disease/ illness/ medical condition it helps to treat it in a better way. Having written this I and many of my colleagues face a big issue now a days i.e. patient or a relative who has tremendous amount of information about the disease but who are still unsure 😄. These people become extremely confused and that may hinder the right and scientific decision. If the information is wrong or given by quack situation become more grave. For example in my clinic I see patients who have typical symptoms of coronary artery disease ( disease where hearts blood vessels become blocked causing major or minor heart attacks) I suggest them coronary angiography to check the blockades. Few people unfortunately come across wrong information on internet or see some videos showing non scientific information and take wrong decisions. Few others have genuine information but they are overwhelmed with it and fail to take right decisions.

        My advice for this is believe on your doctor who has painstakingly learned all the medical knowledge for many long years. He/ she is the best person from whom you will get the most scientific information. Take second opinion of another medical expert in same field in case of confusion. Depend only on scientific internet sites as mentioned above. Don't get carried away by emotional videos by quacks. In case of doubts come back to your doctor who is always there to solve them.

Mission - Healthy Hearts.

Dr. Tamiruddin A. Danwade

Consultant Interventional Cardiologist,

Mother & Rhythm Clinics,

Kharghar & Seawoods, Navi Mumbai

For Appointments - +919321459928