If you or a loved one is diagnosed with heart disease, you’ve probably had a lot to sort out, including beginning to understand your diagnosis and trying to learn a whole new language of medical terminology. It’s an overwhelming experience for the many who face it. Indeed, heart disease affects 81 million people and it’s the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S. The Visiting Nurse Service of New York can help you manage your medical treatment and lifestyle changes at home so you can get heart disease under control as much as possible and get back to your daily life.

Understanding Heart Disease

The term heart disease (also called cardiovascular disease) includes many conditions that affect the heart’s ability to function normally, including congestive heart failure, congenital heart disease, heart valve disease, cardiomyopathy, and coronary artery disease. The most common cause of heart disease is a progressive build-up of fatty material on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart itself. Without an adequate blood supply, the heart simply doesn’t function properly.

While you can’t change a family history of heart disease, you can do something about other risk factors, such as being overweight or sedentary, smoking, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. Coronary artery disease is a chronic disease without a cure but it can be treated with lifestyle modifications, a variety of medications, surgery, and other procedures. VNSNY can help you stick to the treatment plan recommended by your doctor so you can improve your health and prevent complications.

How VNSNY Can Help

Our professional staff can help you follow your doctor’s recommendations and learn to manage heart disease at home. Our services include: 

• Helping you to take medications properly and monitor their effects
• Helping you to make necessary modifications to your diet to control your blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight 
• Teaching you strategies to conserve energy
• Teaching you to recognize the signs and symptoms that should prompt you to seek emergency care
• Teaching you how to use a home blood pressure monitor and keep an effective log of your results