Heart and Cardio-vascular

For World Book Day, we asked parents of children with difficult illnesses if they found reading to their children helpful or if they themselves found solace in books. Suchismita Halder, mother of Ethan who has a rare condition Alagille Syndrome and Congenital Heart Disease 1. Any book that you read out to your child during a treatment or difficult phase which was both entertainment and comfort for both of you? Ethan is not very consistent when it comes to books—he goes through phases. When he…

Rachana Vijan is a 66 year old breast cancer and heart failure survivor who chose to smile through it all. Here she shares her journey starting from early symptoms to the shocking diagnosis of heart failure and learning to proactively manage the condition and its complications. What were the early symptoms of heart failure? What made you go to a doctor? Life tested me with not one but two very serious health battles. In 2018, I was diagnosed with left breast cancer. It was one of the most…

More than 1 million million permanent pacemakers (PPMs) are implanted worldwide annually. Around 100,000 devices are implanted annually in Germany, and only over 20,000 in India. PatientsEngage team answers the frequently asked questions on Pacemakers so people can make informed decisions. What is a pacemaker? A pacemaker is a small device used to correct our heart rate when it is slower than the normal heart rate (known as bradycardia). It is implanted through a surgery in the chest or abdomen…

When Pritisudha’s daughter Rudranshi was born with CHD (Congenital Heart Disease), a condition with the heart’s structure which is present at birth and which can affect the normal flow of blood through the heart, her world naturally crumbled. Two successful surgeries later, 3-year-old Rudranshi is now fully recovered. She shares her journey. At what age was your daughter diagnosed with CHD? What were the symptoms? My daughter Rudranshi, born on 2nd January 2023, seemed a perfectly healthy baby…

Vibha Dhoot, 39 from Jaipur shares the journey of her son who was born with major and multiple congenital heart defects and how the family overcame the many challenges, worked through multiple surgeries and complicated treatment protocols to give him a promising future. Please tell us about your child’s conditions and how and when this was diagnosed. At what age? How did it all start? The early symptoms. My son was born in 2016 after a full-term pregnancy. He is 9 years old now. All routine…

Karthika Ramachandran narrates her story of pain of living with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), and the strength and resilience that helped her manage the whole process of PAH treatment and lung transplant recovery. What started as a habit of journaling her daily experiences eventually inspired her to turn those reflections into a book.  Please tell us about your conditions and when you were diagnosed. I am a 33 year old single mother and a Logistics Officer in Dubai, born and…

Unconsciousness or fainting is an occurrence that we are all familiar with. It is usually a symptom of an underlying medical issue. Here the PatientsEngage team helps you understand the many causes of fainting and when to see a doctor. Unconsciousness is like a switch turning off, and most people know this as something far more familiar called fainting. When someone faints, the brain temporarily receives less blood than it needs, leading to a brief loss of awareness to their surroundings.…

Runjhun Hajarnis, 34, suffers from PVOD, a largely invisible illness which is a variant of Pulmonary Hypertension, which, in turn, prevents her from living life as normally as she would want to. As she says: "No one knows just by looking at you how sick you are". Please tell us about your present condition. Can you describe it? I suffer from Pulmonary Veno Occlusive Disease (PVOD), a form of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. In this disease, the small blood vessels in the lungs become…

हममें से कई लोगों ने पैरों में भारीपन का अनुभव किया है जो असहज महसूस होता है। कुछ मामलों में यह सामान्य होता है और अपने आप ठीक हो जाता है लेकिन अन्य मामलों में, यह स्वास्थ्य से संबंधित एक खतरनाक संकेत हो सकता है। यह लेख तीन मुख्य विषयों पर केंद्रित है: पैरों में सूजन का कारण क्या है, इसके बारे में कब चिंतित होना चाहिए और इस के लिए स्वास्थ्य सेवा पेशेवर से कब मिलना चाहिए। पैरों में सूजन निचले अंगों के ऊतकों में अतिरिक्त द्रव प्रतिधारण के कारण होती है। यह द्रव सामान्य रूप से परिसंचरण तंत्र (…

Many of us have experienced heaviness in legs that feels uncomfortable. In some cases, it is normal and goes off on its own but in other cases, it could be an alarming sign for the body. This article focuses on three main features: what causes swelling in the legs, when to be concerned about it, and when to visit a healthcare professional. Leg swelling is caused by excess fluid retention in the tissues of the lower limbs. This fluid would normally be in the circulatory system but squeezes out…