The first thing to do in this article is to make sure that we all understand the same thing by the word ‘atherosclerosis’. atherosclerosis means ‘in the Greek’ athero=’gruel’ and sclerosis=’hardening’; individuals call it ‘furring’ or hardening’ of the arteries, which gives it its other appellation: arteriosclerosis.

What this all comes to mean is that the arteries become clogged up, slowing the flow of blood about your body. These cloggings put pressure on the heart and can, or almost invariably will, lead to strokes or / and heart attacks.

So, what brings about atherosclerosis? The foremost reason given by most, but not all, medical experts is the build up on the arterial walls of fat and other materials. This gunge makes a plaque, similar to the way the food on your teeth forms plaque, if you do not brush them frequently enough. The plaque builds up over time, layer on layer until it has a serious effect on blood flow.

However, your body is still saying to your brain that, say, your legs need more energy, because you are running for a bus. Your brain tells your heart to get some more blood to your legs immediately, so your heart pumps more quickly, but the blood is not getting through in adequate quantities because of the arteriosclerosis, so the heart has to work even more.

This means that the heart of a sufferer from atherosclerosis has to pump a great deal harder than that of those who do not have atherosclerosis. This additional stress on the heart can lead to a heart attack. Not just that, but bits of plaque break off under this higher pressure and they zoom around the blood stream. If they get lodged in the brain and cause a blockage to a vital process, you may suffer a stroke.

The three causes that exacerbate the condition the most are smoking, diabetes and a family history of arteriosclerosis. Men are more at risk than women and those with a sedentary lifestyle and job are more at danger than active people or those who have a physically demanding career.

Diet and exercise are the main agents in combatting arteriosclerosis without the use of drugs. However, it is not that simple. Everybody agrees that exercise is useful, and everybody agrees that diet is important, but the diet argument is contended by two groups.

Conventional wisdom says that the difficulty is LDL cholesterol derived from saturated fat, hydrogenated and trans fats. However another faction says that the over consumption of omega 6 is to blame; or rather that the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in our bodies is to blame. They say that we get too much omega 6 (which is responsible for inflammation) in polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, and is now concerned with omega 3 arthritis. If you want to know more, please visit our site at Omega 6 9

Tuberculosis is a chronic or acute bacterial infection that primarily attacks the lungs and lymph nodes, and if left untreated may also affect the kidneys, bones, and the brain.

When TB attacks your lungs you will notice such symptoms such as coughing that lasts three or more week’s chest pain or pain with breathing or coughing, and you may even cough up blood.

Moisture release into the air by some infected with TB can spread the disease though their sneezing, coughing, speaking with some spit. Small particles carry two or three viable bacteria surrounded by a layer of moister are released into the air and then you can become suitable.

Seniorswill a low immune system are much more likely to catch this condition from anyone that comes in contact with them, where as a healthy person will not catch it at random but when in contact with someone whom has TB and is around them all the time.

Some people, especially in winter like to leave the gloves on so to speak so as the hand to hand contact with a person does not lead to a cold or other conditions such as TB. It is rare however to contract this disease unless the person you come in contact with has open sores and the bacteria is thriving there.

General preventive measures can be taken to reduce the spread of TB in public areas as well as at home. Make sure there is adequate ventilation and natural sunlight in the areas where you spend the most time.

When you have the symptoms you should visit a health care professional , immediately. Vaccines, such as the Bacillus Chalmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine, prepared from attenuated bacteria, are another preventive measure. The BCG vaccine is most effective preventing childhood cases of TB.

Make sure you stay home when recovering and if you have to go out, wear a mask. You are very much contagious until 2 weeks from starting on medications.

One of the most important things you can do to recover quickly is to stay on your prescribed schedule of medications. After a few weeks your symptoms will go away and you will start feeling better. You might be tempted to stop taking the medications prescribed to you however it you stop treatment or skip doses you are allowing the bacteria that are still alive to become resistant to those drugs, leading to a TB that is much more dangerous and will then be that much harder to treat.

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