Stable Angina
Angina is a Latin word that means squeezing of the chest. Generally it is chest pain, tightness or discomfort, due to less blood oxygen flow to some portion of cardiac muscle. It is one major symptom of coronary heart disease (CHD).
Most commonly observed symptoms of angina may be chest pain, tightness in chest, feeling of pressure in the chest, pain in arms, jaw, neck, back or shoulders, difficulty in breathing, nausea, vomi- ting and anxiety. It may clinically presented in two forms: Stable or Unstable.
Stable angina is angina with all or some of angina symptoms mentioned above that triggers on with reliable and predictable amount of exercise or stress and which might persist for more than four weeks. For example, if a person usually has chest discomfort every time he climbs ten stairs, that would be understood as stable angina. If the pattern of discomfort varies over the course of a short period then this is not stable angina rather labeled as unstable angina. On the other hand unstable angina is the chest discomfort or pain that often occurs when a person is in resting, sleeping phase, or with little physical exertion. There is no effect of taking rest or any medication rather it may aggravate and resulting into a full heart attack. There is no effect of taking rest or using any sort of medicine. Also, if a person experiences a change in his routine pattern of angina occurring with exertion is also in unstable angina state.
Since birth there has been no mechanism to stop or at least minimize the process of plaque formation within the blood vessels which are power channels carrying food and fresh oxygen to all organs of body enabling them to function adequately. This plaque formation if not controlled in time may lead to atherosclerosis which in turn produces threatening cardiovascular problems like angina and infarction of various vital organs resulting into heart attack and stroke. T.copticum extract may resolve this problem to some extent if adequate precautionary measures may be adopted along with its use.
Prevalence
Atherosclerosis (or arteriosclerosis) is a patho- logical condition in which there is narrowing and hardening of arteries because of an excessive deposition and building up of plaque around the inside of artery wall. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer in many countries. It is also No.1 Killer in Pakistan as it is prevalent in 223 persons out of 100000 population and in the world ranking it is at No.17.3 In Pakistan cardiovascular diseases account for 19% mortality as reported by WHO.4
CVD is 86% in the developing countries including Pakistan. 17.5 million people die each year from CVDs, a number that is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030, an estimated 31% of all deaths worldwide.5 Major symptoms of coronary insufficiency feature chest pain, chest tightness, faintness, coughing, nausea, vomiting, anxiety
,general weakness, breathing difficulty, numbness, headache ,stroke and paralysis.6 In most of the cases atherosclerosis may be leading cause of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease , peripheral arterial disease, , or even mortality.7
Most of premature heart attacks and strokes may be prevented through eating a diet rich in soluble fiber, having protein from fish and plant sources9,10, limiting intake of alcohol, saturated fats, sodium salt, using polyunsaturated oils for cooking.11,12 and avoiding fatty foods. Regular physical exercise for 30-60 minutes on daily basis, no smoking, avoiding obesity, controlling hyperten- sion and diabetese and managing stress are the fundamental precautions leading to a healthier life pattern. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimate, 17.5 million people die each year from CVDs, an estimated 31% of all deaths worldwide. About 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently practi- cing intake of herbal therapies for some aspect of Primary health care.