What to ask Your Doctor before Coronary Angiogram?

Coronary angiogram is a complex yet arty procedure where the cardiologist dexterously inserts a narrow tube called catheter through the femoral/ radial artery with plastic introducer sheath. The catheter is guided through the artery into the heart and then dye is injected into the artery. The dye flows through the artery to the heart and stops or goes slow at the clogs in the heart arteries. The percentage of block is asserted by the cardiologists. This whole process is monitored through a highly defined x-ray machine managed by specialized technicians. As much as it sounds easy, coronary angiogram has immense risks attached if not performed by specialized team.

This article will give you insight into the urgency of the procedure or if at all you require it or if you will benefit from it or not

How important or necessary is this test for diagnosis?

Angiography is an important procedure that confirms the ailment. It's just an invasive diagnostic that help the doctors decide on the treatment thereafter. The urgency and the immediate need of the procedure can only be decided by the consultants, who will be knowing the degree and the importance of the procedure.

When is it done?

Doctors recommend angiography when you are symptomatic of pain in your chest, jaw, neck or arm (that can't be explained by other tests), unstable angina, a heart defect you were born with, a heart valve problem that requires surgery.

What to keep in mind before angiogram?

If you:

Are allergic to iodine dye used in the test

Have ever had a serious allergic reaction

Have asthma

Are allergic to any medicines

Have any bleeding problems or are taking blood-thinning medicines

Have a history of kidney problems or chronic diabetes

What will happen during the procedure?

During a coronary angiogram, a type of dye that's visible by X-ray machine is injected into the blood vessels of your heart. The x-ray machine rapidly takes a series of images (angiograms), giving a detailed look at the inside of your blood vessels and the heart.

What are the risks?

Most of the times, major complications are rare. However, potential risks and complications include: heart attack, stroke, injury to the catheterized artery, irregular heart rhythms, allergic reactions to the dye or medications used during the procedure, kidney damage, excessive bleeding, infection, blood clots, radiation exposure from the X-rays

What does it reveal?

An angiogram show doctors what's wrong with your blood vessels. It can:

Show how many of your coronary arteries are blocked or narrowed

Locate the blockages in your blood vessels

Show how much blood flow is blocked through your blood vessels

Check the results of previous coronary bypass surgery or stenting

Check the blood flow through your heart and blood vessels

Check the size and movement of the heart valves

Based on the results, your cardiologist decides on the treatment from which you would be optimally benefited. For instance, that you would benefit from having coronary angioplasty, bypass surgery, valve replacement or just medical management.

Doing things that recharge you

Today is Saturday. Another week has passed by without me doing anything new except for some achievements in 'Shared Reviews". I am at no.2 there which is pretty impressive for someone belonging to non US country. SR has a great community that never fails to boost your motivation. I am so thankful!

Only thing, I have to write more which I am failing at recently. My target was 1 review/ article every day but I am far behind and struggling. And since that's not happening right now, I have stopped making goals. I am writing whenever I am feeling like. I have a lot of catching up to do tomorrow. Beside the cleaning and the chores, I have a project to finish, a few pending edits to clean up the old articles, some paid tasks and then I am hoping to write one fresh article - something I haven't since long. It feels drained out when I do not for a long time.

Nothing like penning down your thoughts. However weird it may appear, it feels much energized and recharged. So, are you doing your mind? Are you doing stuffs that recharge you? If not just do it - today!

Wish you luck! Wish me luck!

So what your job sucks!!

Hope you all are doing fine. There has been a lot of festivities in the last few weeks and please accept my belated greetings for the season. I hope you all had a good time.

Now, what next? It's time to rewind and get going however drab it may seem. We just cannot be eternally disillusioned and disgusted with our job profiles, can we? It doesn't make sense to curse the job, the bosses and the intertwined politics. At the end of the day we have to live with it. So, why not take a different stand on something that has been sucking. First and foremost, we have to understand that we cannot change the system overnight. We have to realize and consider the loopholes and the negative aspects in order to love the job we are into.


I have found that organizing always helps. Piling up jobs to the point that we lose the inside outs not only aggravates the hassle but also creates a sense of insufficiency and incompleteness. We can do better than that, don't we? So, before going on holidays, I keep myself updated with my job so much so that the day when I rejoin, I am recharged, refreshed with NO hangover from the older backlogs.


Again, delegating the duties timely helps enormously as well. Some people just cannot delegate duties hoping that they will lose out on the credit of the outcome or just because they do not have faith in others. But once we start to do that, things will be more fun and fast.


We should also realize that we will get to no where by being cursing and venomous. The amount of energy we would spend to do this actually would help us in our individual growth if we could dechannelize. My experience tells me that our job starts to suck when we are trying to accentuate on the flip sides that the job comes with. No job on earth would be a perfect platter and sooner we realize this, it's better for us.


We should also start by liking and developing tolerant skills that would help us learn more about the job. Knowing and understanding the intricacies of our jobs help us better our performances and gradually this lead us to the point from where looking back at the journey makes it all the more fun and worthy.


Another important thing I have learned is that, we should be able to laugh at ourselves and take it in the right spirit when anyone else does.That eases us the viciousness and helps us remain unaffected at the never ending office politics.


So, declutter, reorganize, delegate, love the job and have fun at ourselves make things definitely easier. Try out and let me know. Till then happy trying.

Me, myself and my independence

Being independent and living up to being one is an act of great responsibility which everyone yearns for. Some are supposedly independent as early as in their post teen years and some, in country like ours, are still not, even in their sixties. Does that mean being independent is a frame of mind that depends on our thought processes and the way we think?

I have seen people who are in a family, with many of authoritative people around but yet to have an opinion. They think, talk and most of the times, live by what they believe in. On the contrary, some who have been living alone since tender age still do not quite have their opinion, their free thinking power, their might. What I want to say is, independence is not as much as in our apparent decision to live all by ourselves as in being able to think, reason and live independently. I agree, living by our own means and deciding on several small earthly issues and subsequently, seeing it happen do make us individuality enough to take a decision. But being independent is not just that, I guess.

I feel, being independent is not just about having to make a living out of your profession, going to the market, buying vegetables and then eating and tomorrow is an another day! My ability to think for myself and having the power to see the broader view of what we are thinking and what we are not make me strong. The power to decide between the right and the wrong, the power to reason as I believe in and to stand by it whenever situation arises not only makes me independent but also beautiful.

My journey to happiness...

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections."

1. The happiest people are those who spend the least time alone and pursue intimacy and personal growth

2. Happy people don't judge themselves by what others do or have. That is, they don't compare themselves with others.

3. The strongest link to happiness is a willingness to forgive others.

4. Follow your heart. Once in a while indulge in pampering yourself with a good pedicure, manicure or a foot massage. Eat chocolates, hot dogs, junkies and all alluring stuffs that you are not supposed to have.

5. Appreciate, thank and praise more often. Express yourself long and aloud.

6. Do not carry your baggage from past

7. Devote more time to people who matter. Spend quality time with your family, with friend with parents, kids.

8. Revive good old memories. Once in a week make sure to talk to someone who had once been very close to you.

9. Let go, forgive, forget, move on. When someone says that you are a bad person it doesn't really make you bad, isn't it? You must not be slaves to others thoughts. So, ignore and just let go.

10. Expect less from others. A lot of unhappiness occurs when we do not get in return what we expect. When you buy a gift for someone, make sure you do it just out of the love and not presuming the return.

11. Increase your self esteem. Instead of nagging over a crooked nose try to live with it. Instead highlight how beautiful your eyes are!

12. Motivate yourself. Self motivation is the best possible thing to happen. Work harder, set a target and think positive.

13. Have your values right. Do not mix up your sense of values.

14. Take a break, kill the monotony. Go for a pleasure trip or unplanned adventure - it surely helps. Just freak out, yell, sing, dance, let out your emotions once in a while.

15. Capitalize on little little things in life. Play with the children, have chocolate, flirt with friends, make faces, be a child. This will add up to your emotional bank account.

16. Stay fit, keep healthy, be conscious. Health should be the no. 1 priority in life. An unhealthy man is essentially not happy.

'Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.'