‘The trick to aging gracefully is to enjoy it’
For this graceful aging Homeopathy will definitely help in all geriatric problems including cardio-vascular troubles. Good homeopathic prescriptions will help heart to keep functioning properly. People who practiced Homeopathy for number of years, firmly convinced that patients with heart condition such as hypertension & other heart disorders when treated with good homeopathic prescriptions can prolong their lives & keep them working comfortably than any other method of treatment.Also people who taking homeopathic medicines since their childhood are less liable to develop heart conditions or will develop it very later in life. Various acute infections are less liable to develop cardiac complications when treated with homeopathic medicines than any other stronger medicines commonly used today.
Most important organ of cardiovascular system is heart. Heart is a muscular organ which acts as a circulatory pump of human body. It has two sides right and left which further divided into upper and lower making four chambers. Right side pumps deoxygenated blood to lungs to make it again oxygenated & left side pumps oxygenated blood to whole body. Blood flows out from left side through arteries which again branch out & by getting smaller and smaller become capillaries. Capillaries where blood gives oxygen & nutrients to tissues & receives CO2 & waste from tissues. Then these vessels again become together into larger & larger veins,which returns blood to the heart.
CHANGES WITH AGING
As the age grows there are changes in cardiovascular system occurs which causes changes in cardiovascular physiology.
Most of the changes associated with aging are decrease in elasticity and increase in stiffness of arteries. This causes increased after load of left ventricle and increase in systolic blood pressure & left ventricular hypertrophy. Heart wall become thick, so capacity to hold amount of blood decreases even though increased overall size.
Natural pacemaker system of heart is able to maintain heart rhythm and also conduct signals to co-ordinate this rhythm throughout its structure. SA node, AV node, purkinje fibre, are the parts of this natural pacemaker system which develops fibrous tissue and fat deposits with aging. Subsequently, heart rate decreases.
ECG which shows electrical activity of heart in wave form also shows changes with age. ECG of healthy old person is slightly different from ECG of healthy young person. Sometimes abnormal rhythms such as atrial fibrillation can be seen.
Valves of heart also become stiff in older persons. Valves which controls direction of blood follow becomes thick and stiff and because of that heart murmur is common in older people. Aortic stenosis due to build up of calcium deposits at aortic valve causes its narrow.
Blood vessels changes: There are baroreceptors in blood vessels which maintain & monitor blood pressure, when person changes positions. With aging they become less sensitive and so most of the old people faces the problem of orthostatic hypotension. Orthostatic hypotension means blood pressure falls when person changes his position from sitting or lying to standing position.
Aorta becomes thick, stiff because of changes in connective tissue,so blood pressure increases,so the heartload and heart work increases which leads to hypertrophy of heart.
Blood volume decreases with aging so person become anaemic. White blood cells especially neutrophils decreases in number causing reduced immunity and more frequent infections.
So, generally because of aging common cardiovascular problems arising are
- Arrhythmia
- Anaemia
- Atherosclerosis
- Hypertension
- Orthostatic hypotension
- Aortic stenosis
- Mitral regurgitation
- Aneurysms
HOMEOPATHIC MANAGEMENT
In homeopathy there are numbers of remedies which help in conditions related to heart aging.
Following are the few remedies which can be helpful in various heart diseases one can suffer as aging process of cardiovascular system starts.
ACONITUM NAPELLUS
Very useful remedy in tachycardiac patients. All heart complaints start with pain in left shoulder. Anxious patient , feels palpitation especially at night. Pulse full, hard & bounding sometimes intermittent. Useful in uncomplicated hypertrophy of heart. Important remedy in inflammatory affection s of the heart.
CACTUS GRANDIFLORUS
Best remedy for cardiac incompetence. Endocarditis with mitral insufficiency. Violent palpitations worse lying on left side. Endocardium murmurs with enlarged ventricles. Heart weakness of arteriosclerosis. Tobacco heart. Angina pectoris with suffocation, cold sweat and feeling of iron band. Low blood pressure.
SPIGELIA
Violent palpitations with pericardial pain and aggravation from movement. Irregular weak pulse with dyspnoea. Inability to sleep worse sleeping on left side. Must lie on right side with head high to relieve dyspnoea.
CRAETAEGUS OXYACANTHA
Useful in fatty degeneration and aortic diseases. Least exertion causes breathlessness without any increase in pulse. Pain in left clavicle and in region of heart. Valvular murmurs. Cardiac dropsy.Heart dilated. First sound weak.
DIGITALIS
Slow but strong pulse but afterwards it become weak. After exercise it becomes irregular and intermittent. Good remedy for cardiac muscle failure. Least movement causes violent palpitations and sensation as if it stop beating if moves slightly. Cyanosis is marked symptom. Hypertrophy with dilation. Cardiac failure following fevers.
AURUM METALLICUM
Depressed patient with night time chest pain. Sensation as if heart stopped beating for two,three second immediately followed by tremendous rebound with sinking at epigastrium. High blood pressure. Valvular lesions of arterio-sclerotic nature.
BARYTA CARB
Palpitations and distress in regions of heart. Aneurysm. Palpitations on lying on left side,especially after thinking of it. Cardiac symptoms after suppression of foot sweat and exposure to cold,damp weather. Useful in hypertension,contraction of blood vessels.
