Many heart disease patients find themselves in a vicious disease cycle. Extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling in the lower legs, ankles, and abdomen make exercise uncomfortable, which leads to weight gain. Neurological signals decrease appetite, yet weight gain continues. The heart struggles to pump and provide oxygen to the body, which leads to further fatigue. The heart becomes more strained, and the cycle continues.
Doctors recommend losing weight, getting active, and managing stress as treatment options. While those are very logical recommendations, they are also very challenging for someone in the heart disease cycle to implement on their own. At Causenta Wellness and Cancer Care Center, we walk the journey alongside our patients, and together, we break the vicious heart disease cycle.
The Effects of Exercise on Cardiovascular Parameters in Patients with Heart Failure
Precision Medicine for Heart Failure Treatment
We agree wholeheartedly (pun intended) that heart disease patients need to take measures to improve their health. The difference at Causenta is that we treat our patients like individuals and provide unique solutions to improve their heart health. Extensive testing allows us to make data-driven decisions. We call this approach “precision medicine.”
A traditional cardiologist may provide a standard diet to their patients. By testing our patients for parameters like the microbiome, immune function, and genetics, we can determine what foods are inflammatory to that patient and what foods can help fight their heart disease – a customized plan to provide better results.
Precision medicine allows us to determine what factors may have led to a patient’s heart failure. Maybe your heart failure is due to a heart attack or high blood pressure – but what caused that? Multiple factors like inflammatory conditions, disproportionate micronutrient levels, hormone imbalances, or even fungi or bacteria in the digestive tract can lead to heart failure. Understanding the root cause allows us to shift your treatment strategy from being a band-aid to become a cure.
Understanding Cardiovascular Response to Exercise
Oxygen is an important fuel for movement. When a person with a healthy heart begins to exercise, oxygen from their blood is used, and the heart begins to beat faster to provide more oxygen to the muscles and tissues. Oxygen from the air moves through the lungs to the red blood cells. The heart pumps the red blood cells throughout the body as a source of fuel.
When someone has heart failure, the response to exercise is much different due to low blood oxygen levels and a weak heart. Ultimately the brain, organs, and tissues of someone with heart failure receive limited oxygen, making it very difficult to breathe and move.
Exercise for Heart Failure Patients
Exercise is our predominant treatment method for heart failure patients. You may wonder how that is possible since exercising with heart failure is an incredible struggle. We understand the complications, and through extensive testing at our facility, have come up with a strategy that works. Causenta’s customized and data-driven heart failure treatment solution allows our patients to become more active.
By having our heart failure patients breathe 86%-93% pure oxygen via a mask while gently gliding on a low-impact elliptical device, we see dramatic improvements in their ability to move comfortably. The high concentration of direct oxygen reduces the strain on the heart. The elliptical device allows patients that have not exercised in years and are carrying extra weight to move without painful impact on their joints or aggravating preexisting conditions.
We use a progressive model that reduces stress to the heart. The patient sets the pace, and we provide the proper equipment and tools to make it feel comfortable. It may be just a minute or two to start. Once that baseline is determined, we continue with the oxygen delivery and the elliptical device. Day by day, the patient can exercise longer without shortness of breath or discomfort.
With movement, the heart muscles begin to strengthen, and exercise feels easier. The patient is able to move faster and work harder on their own time.
By addressing the inflammatory markers discovered in our initial testing and getting the patient moving under our care, they begin to feel better – sometimes within 24 hours! Often within a matter of weeks, they have the confidence to start exercising safely on their own.
Building skeletal muscle is another important tool in our heart failure exercise protocol. Similar to cardiovascular exercise, resistance training should begin under the supervision of someone who understands both exercise science and heart disease.
Healing the Heart
Our patients often come to us after working with a cardiologist. They are put on the traditional path of taking drugs, managing their condition on their own until they need heart surgery. Our approach is much different.
First, we address the initial findings and get the patient moving on their own. We then continue to test various parameters and adjust our strategy as needed. Often time numerous factors ultimately lead to heart failure, so we take the time to put all the pieces together. But, perhaps the most important piece is that we help implement the lifestyle changes needed to make permanent improvements. This takes time, but with support and education, dramatic changes are seen in as little as three months.
This treatment model provides the building blocks to help the heart repair itself, naturally. Our customized approach allows patients to reach their goal of having a healthy heart with support and compassion. We invite anyone interested to reach out for a free consultation to see how together we can break the vicious heart disease cycle.
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Text or Call: 480-883-7240
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8131 E Indian Bend Rd #126
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
USA