In chelation therapy, a dose of a medication called ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) is delivered through an intravenous (IV) line. This medication seeks out and binds to minerals in your bloodstream. Once the medication binds to the minerals, it creates a compound that leaves your body in your urine.Chelation therapy is a proven treatment for lead or mercury poisoning. Some doctors think that chelation therapy could begin to reverse heart disease by binding to the calcium in the plaques clogging your arteries and sweeping it away. No study has proved that this process actually works.

Potential side effects of chelation therapy include:
- A burning sensation at the injection site

- Fever

- A sudden drop in blood pressure

- Headache

- Nausea

- Vomiting

- Inability to create new blood cells

- Mineral deficiencies

Studies have repeatedly suggested that foods like dark chocolate, red wine, berries etc reduce the risk of heart disease. The common link in all these foods is a group of substances called polyphenols and flavonoids present in them WHAT ARE POLYPHENOLS AND FLAVONOIDS? Polyphenols are natural compounds found in plants that are believed to have beneficial health effects. There are thousands of polyphenols, but one has attracted the most attention to date—resveratrol, which is found mainly in red wine and has been suggested to have potential cardiovascular, anticancer, and antiaging benefits. Flavonoids are a class of polyphenols. They include the following subclasses: -ANTHOCYANIDINS: In blueberries, red wine, and strawberries. -FLAVAN-3-OLS: In apples, black tea, blueberries, chocolate, and red wine. -FLAVONES: In celery, garlic, green peppers, and herbal tea. -FLAVONOLS: In blueberries, garlic, kale, onions, spinach, tea, broccoli, red wine, and cherry tomatoes. -PROANTHOCYANIDINS: In apples, black tea, blueberries, chocolate, mixed nuts, peanuts, red wine, strawberries, and walnuts. -ISOFLAVONES: In soy products and peanuts.- -FLAVANONES: In citrus fruit and juices and herbal tea Resveratrol is a poly phenol but not a flavonoid. Recent studies have found that more the number of flavonoids from the above group of food stuffs, greater the cardiovascular protection. Five flavonoid classes—anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavones, flavonols, and proanthocyanidins—were individually associated with lower risk of cardiovascular death. In a study in men, total flavonoid intakes were more strongly associated with stroke mortality—showing a 37% reduction—than with ischemic heart disease, which showed a 10% reduction. In women, the strongest inverse association was observed with flavones, particularly for fatal ischemic heart disease Thus it is not wine alone or chocolate alone that is protective. Rather, better protection could be from a combination of all the foods listed and if one looks at the first five groups in the list above, most of these foods fall under the category of healthy foods already - fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, tea and cocoa, garlic and broccoli, blue berries and spinach etc. Another caveat one must remember is that many of the studies showing beneficial effects have used products enriched with flavonoids. For example in the studies, it is not the chocolate you buy in the shops that showed benefits. Normal chocolate is too full of fat and calories and doesn't contain high levels of flavonoids. One cannot thus recommend that people buy ordinary chocolates to get their flavonoids. Chocolate companies are starting to bring out flavonoid-enriched cocoa powders and chocolate bars and that may be the way to go with the healthy-chocolate message. Also, the amount of polyphenols and flavonoids will vary with the growing conditions, the amount of sunlight and water, and the country of origin Thus, it may appear that the best things to eat and drink are chocolate and red wine, only because this is what has been most studied and most popular. But one can say that there is also significant evidence of benefits with teas, fruits, nuts, seeds, garlic, kale, broccoli and others listed above. Hence a healthy mixture of these healthy foods is recommended. Thus if you always eat an apple every day, try berries or other type of fruits instead. Try new vegetables—kale or broccoli—and introduce more nuts into your diet. Little changes in the diet can achieve a wide variety of these compounds. Finally, although the most convincing evidence with flavonoids is on vascular benefits, there is also some suggestion of positive effects on the brain and cancer. Everyone has to eat. Why not eat things that are said to be good for you?!

Answer :
The risk of heart attack is only extremely modestly increased during sexual activity and represents only a miniscule amount of a person's overall risk.Sexual activity is the cause of <1% of all heart attacks. In an autopsy report of 5559 instances of sudden death,34 (0.6%) reportedly occurred during sexual intercourse. Two other autopsy studies reported similarly low rates (0.6%– 1.7%) of sudden death related to sexual activity. Of the subjects who died during coitus, 82% to 93% were men, and the majority (75%) were having extramarital sexual activity, in most cases with a younger partner in an unfamiliar setting and/or after excessive food and alcohol consumption.

Answer :
Patients with any kind of cardiac disease, wishing to initiate or resume sexual activity must be evaluated with a thorough medical history and physical examination. Sexual activity is reasonable for patients with cardiac disease who, on clinical evaluation, are determined to be at low risk of cardiovascular complications, like patients who do not have symptoms on usual activities such as walking at moderate speed or climbing 2 flights of stairs. For patients who are not at low cardiovascular risk or have unknown cardiovascular risk, exercise stress testing is advisable to assess exercise capacity and development of symptoms, ischemia, or rhythm disturbances on exercise.

Answer :
If you can can exercise on the treadmill test up to a certain level (in medical terms more than 3 to 5 METS) without experiencing anginal chest discomfort, excessive breathlessness, ECG changes, fall of blood pressure or rhythm abnormalities, you can safely resume sexual activity.

Answer :
Besides taking proper cardiac medications and adopting a prudent lifestyle including diet, cardiac rehabilitation and regular physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications in people with heart disease. Sedentary individuals have a relative risk of sex related heart attack of 3.0, whereas physically active individuals have a relative risk of only 1.2. In other words when a sedentary individual indulges in sexual activity, his risk of a heart attack is 3 times more as compared to the risk of having a heart attack when he is at rest, whereas when a physically fit or trained person does so, his risk is only 1.2 times more.

Answer :
Sexual activity is reasonable 1 or more weeks after an uncomplicated heart attack if you are without cardiac symptoms during mild to moderate physical activity.

Answer :
Sexual activity is safe for the majority of heart disease patients and that doctors—as well as patients and their partners—should endeavor to bring up the subject of sex in discussions. The only patients who should refrain from sex are those with acute or unstable heart disease or severe symptoms; they should be assessed and stabilized with appropriate treatment before engaging in sexual activity. Also patients with heart disease who experience heart symptoms precipitated by sexual activity should defer sexual activity until their condition is stabilized and optimally managed

Answer :
No. Drugs used to protect the heart should not be stopped altogether. If a patient being treated with a cardiovascular drug complains of sexual dysfunction, it could also be due to other reasons like : 1.underlying arterial or cardiac disease itself, 2.the nocebo effect (which is due to a patient’s knowledge that a drug has been associated with erectile dysfunction) or 3. anxiety or depression. So these conditions should be sought and treated first before stopping or altering any drug. Drugs like thiazides, spironolactone and beta blockers are known to cause sexual dysfunction and a doctor may substitute them by drugs like frusemide, eplerenon and nebivolol respectively.

Answer :
The answer is yes, with some STRICT provisions. 1. If his usual medications include any form of nitrates, then giving Sildenafil like drugs is extremely dangerous and could be fatal due to the severe and sudden blood pressure lowering effect when Sildenafil like drugs are given in a patient who is already on nitrates. Hence he should be off nitrates (even a spray) at least for 24 hours before starting Sildenafil. 2. If his cardiac medications include an alpha blocker, its dose should be lowered lest it should cause severe lowering of BP. 3. Conversely, if a person is on regular usage of Sildenafil or Tadalafil, and now requires a nitrate drug due to his heart disease, Sildenafil or Tadalafil should be stopped for 24 or 48 hours respectively before a nitrate can be started.

Answer :
Sex can be resumed 6 to 8 weeks after standard coronary artery bypass graft surgery, provided the sternal wound is well healed.

Answer :
Yes, sexual activity is reasonable for patients with compensated and/or mild heart failure but not advised for patients with decompensated or advanced heart failure until their condition is stabilized and optimally managed.

Answer :
Researchers have been trying to find the target cells which cause cholesterol deposits in the coronaries for long...Until now! Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Allergy have identified specific type of immune cells which are called CD4 T cells. These cells are responsible for arterial plaque formation in atherosclerosis. Experts have discovered that these immune cells are activated by the interaction with a similar molecule in the past. This initiates the reaction. It is called ‘memory’ of the molecules which is triggered by the antigen- presenting cells. “Immune memory is the underlying basis of successful vaccine” says Klaus Ley, MD an expert in vascular immunology. He also added that these antigens are normal proteins that the body mistakes as foreign and hence launches an immune attack resulting in inflammation of the arteries. Thus the future looks optimistic and might unveil a vaccine that will prevent heart attack.