General your healthy heart

 What is meant by disease  *

    What are the most common causes of diseases*
Types Of diseases*
Diagnosis of diseases*

 Disease First of all we must speak about health. Health is a condition in which all of the body functions are integrated and are being maintained within the limits of optimal design . Disease is a pathological condition of an organ   resulting from various causes- infection, genetic environmental.. etc
 . which are characterized by certain group of symptoms and signs
  This is can be summarized by Prof. Dr.   Kasule* .He said that  ( Disease is divergence from the normal but not all deviation is disease because of the reserve capacity and ability of the body to adjust. In most cases, a deviation must also be related to other adverse changes to be able to constitute disease. The demarcation between pathology and normal physiological variation can be fine. Hunger and thirst for example are psychological warning signs and are not pathological conditions. A hungry person is not in immediate danger. When the situation of food deprivation persists over a long time then physiological disturbances within the compensatory range occur. Pathological changes appear if food deprivation extends beyond that). He continued by mentioning that definition is very relative And giving examples for that like ( high blood pressure in an elderly person does not have the same implication as the same level in a younger person. Temperature levels have different interpretations in neonatal and adult infections. Adolescent behavior that may be normal would be considered illness in adults. There are changes in the body that should be accepted as normal processes of aging and not as diseases. There is a space-time variation in definition and perception of disease depending on the culture, beliefs, attitudes, and prevalence of diseases. In localities  where the burden of major diseases is high, some minor ailments may be ignored whereas in other places they are taken as serious diseases. There are diseases that may be associated with social status.   New diseases continue to be defined due to changes in the causative agents, host factors, or new scientific knowledge) .Then  He reached the most important point about the aspect of disease which it is not only attacked body but also soul. He said( Definition of disease considers several dimensions that may operate singly or in combination: moral/spiritual, biological/pathological  , psycho-social, or normative/statistical. Loss of spiritual equilibrium is a disease in itself and soon leads to physical disease. Most diseases involve disturbances in the equilibrium of the normal body physiology. These biological disturbances may be within the range of normal physiological variation or may be clearly pathological. The psycho-social dimension of disease is associated with loss of equilibrium and may precede or follow physical disturbances

** Prof.Dr.Omar Hassan Kasule

TOP


CAUSES OF DISEASE

Prof. Dr. Kasule  mentioned about causes of diseases that it might be pathological causes or sometimes no apparent causes . He said When all the factors that produce a certain pathological condition are existing, we say that there is a sufficient cause of disease. However humans can never know for sure that there is a sufficient cause because Allah’s divine will  is involved. There are many cases when all the humanly known factors of a disease exist but the disease does not occur. This is because of the unknown factor attributable to Allah alone. There are empirical factors that must operate for a certain pathological condition to occur. These are referred to as necessary causes. Then he discussed two main groups of diseases and their cause. Intrinsic diseases are genetic or in-born  .And Extrinsic diseases are those acquired after birth. Then he finished this topic by saying Islamically  speaking we can not say that there was a genetic or chromosomal mistake. It is all part of Allah’s grand design   

Physical cause
Disease can also be classified by physical cause: infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal, or helminthic), neoplastic, allergic, genetic, congenital, nutritional, environmental, mental, degenerative, metabolic, circulatory, or hormonal. The inflammatory process is a reaction to the original disease pathology in both its acute and chronic forms and is essentially a defensive measure. It is sometimes also harmful to the body on its own. Most disease processes are actually attempts by the body to repair damage 
     Mental cause
Disease can be classified as physical or mental. This classification is not valid all the time because in many instances mental conditions have a physical or biochemical basis. Mental disorders are either neuroses (anxiety, phobia, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive disorders, or depression) or psychoses. Psychoses are more serious than neuroses. Psychoses normally require drug treatment whereas the preferred management for neuroses is psychotherapy. Psychoses can be organic (types of epilepsy) or functional. The functional psychoses are either affective disorders (manic-depressive disorders, endogenous depression, reactive depression) or schizophrenia. Schizophrenia involves disorders of thought, emotions, will, body movements, delusions, and hallucinations. It is noteworthy that schizophrenia has the same prevalence all over the world. The Qur’an uses the term madness (junuun) to refer to the major disorders like psychoses. The Qur’an also explains how the label of madness is used to refer to righteous people like prophets who are abused because they differ from the general public that is bent on evil (p 297 15:6, 26:27, 37:36, 44:14, 51:29, 51:52, 52:29, 54:9, 68:2, 68:51, 81:22

Malnutrition
Under-nutrition causes disease by depriving the body of essential nutrients. Protein energy malnutrition of children in poor countries is due to lack of protein and calories. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies disturb normal metabolism. Extreme nutritional deprivation, leads to death. Over-nutrition results in obesity , diseases such as heart disease and various types of cancer. Excessive intake of necessary nutrients like vitamins causes various hypervitaminosis syndromes.

Infection 
Infection of the human body by other organisms is part of Allah’s plan especially in fulfilling the food chain. It is part of the balance of the eco-system. This does not however mean that such diseases should be left alone. There has been some confusion about hadiths of the prophet dealing with infection and contiguousness of disease. There is actually no contradiction between hadiths that indicate that disease is contagious (KS p. 504) and those that indicate the opposite (KS p. 504). The Prophet was speaking about different diseases on different occasions. Even with one disease like leprosy there are contagious and non-contagious forms (Ibn al Qayim p. 154).

Neoplasms
Loss of control over cell multiplication results in cancer. This is violation of a basic law in biology that equilibrium and homeostatsis will be maintained.The molecular basis of cancer has been elucidated in detail recently. Oncogenes are thought to be the basis for neoplastic growth. Carcinogens as initiators or promoters interact with the oncogenes to lead to neoplastic proliferation. Age and heredity play a role in cancer etiology. Malignant neoplasm differs from the benign one in being less differentiated, being anaplastic, high growth rate, invasion of local tissues, and distant metastases. Normally the immune system is able to detect the neoplastic cells and eliminate them. In situation of relative immune deficiency it is not possible to eliminate the neoplastic cells.

Degeneration
In old age phenomena of growth and decay are more that repair and growth and degenerative diseases could result. These are strictly speaking part of Allah’s design and not an anomaly.

DISEASE AND QADAR

Occurrence of Disease as Qadar:
It is Allah’s pre-destination that a person falls sick. Treatment/prevention of disease is not against qadar. Medical treatment is subsumed under the principle that qadar can reverse another qadar (radd al qadar bi al qadar). In the end all cure is from Allah and not the human (26:80).


 
Types of  diseases
There are two mean groups of heart diseases, medical and non medical  
 The medical group which includes for examples heart failure ( the pump can't do its function). also Heart attack due to occlusion of one or more of blood vessels supplying it 
 And Heart arrest which  considered  real emergency needs from you some knowledge about basic life support.  if you are interesting to know more click here
 As we said each disease has a group of symptoms and signs -
Pain is one of the most important symptoms of diseases that  force peoples asking  the  help of medical staff also it helps medical staff to diagnose the nature of the disease-Chest pain for example is one of the greatest challenge for medical staff such pain has a lot of what's called differ ional diagnosis that's to mean- a group of diseases sharing in the same pain- Chest pain of cardiac origin is called angina- and in most of cases it is due to decrease of oxygen supply of heart muscle -This pain needs beside the pain killer special treatment of the cause which is more important- To look for the reason for that pain and try to overcome that cause by increasing the blood supply for heart muscle- This can be done through medications or sometimes it need surgery .Heart failure is a progressive condition in which the heart's muscle becomes weaker and gradually loses its ability to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs Although there is no way to completely heal a failing heart, there are many things a person with heart failure can do to you the information you need     click here   The Cleveland Clinic

Now let us have an idea about non medical diseases Once I attend   symposium in psychiatry   lecturer Professor Okasha said that depression - one of the most common psychiatric   illness was known since  ancient  times  as common disorders of the human race. Ancient Egyptians six thousands years ago recognized depression and located it in the heart as shown in Ebers papyrus     

       (  In their hearts is a disease And God has increased their disease  )                                                      
Relation between heart diseases & psychological diseases

For more than 50 years, clinical researchers have acknowledged the importance of psychosocial factors in the pathogenesis, assessment, and treatment of physical illness. In the 1940s, psychosomatic theorists, most of whom were trained in the psychoanalytic tradition, suggested that conditions such as hypertension and asthma reflected unconscious conflicts that were expressed in physical symptoms . Although the psychosomatic model is still embraced by some investigators, the past several decades have witnessed a proliferation of research evaluating behavioral aspects of medical conditions, describing both the direct and indirect effects of behavior and psychological functioning on incidence and progression of disease.      An important issues The historical antecedents of current research into the psychosocial aspects of Coronary heart diseases  have been traced to the late nineteenth-century writings of physician , who noted characteristics of ambition and high energy among his cardiac patients . During the 1930s, two separate lines of research advanced thinking in this area  developed theories about heightened aggression among patients with CAD , while others formulated the concept of an innate stress response characterized by behavioral and:    physiological changes . In the 1950s cardiologists  helped to integrate earlier work by suggesting the probability of a coronary-prone personality . More recent work has identified specific affective states (depression, anxiety, chronic anger) that are predictive of CAD as well as relevant social and environmental factors associated with CAD , In addition, psycho physiological  researchers during the past two decades have successfully documented important  individual differences in physiological and behavioral responses to stress and the relevance of cardiovascular reactivity for the etiology of CAD The purpose of this issues are, first, to elaborate upon the historical perspective by delineating the contribution of each area of research toward understanding psychosocial factors in CAD

Stress

Stress  as mentioned in text books has been broadly defined as an experience in which the demands of a situation exceed the perceived ability to cope with the situation , most often resulting from a person-environment transaction and leading to either over arousal or under arousal of the organism . Much research has been directed toward elucidating the nature of the “stress response,”   . In human beings, the stress response is marked by a cognitive appraisal of a situation as threatening, followed by physiological changes such as increases in blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, output of stress hormones, and changes in blood platelet activity. It has been hypothesized that stress-associated physiological arousal may contribute to chronic elevations in blood pressure and increased risk of cardiac disease . The stress response is thus a function of personality and individual differences that may affect the appraisal of the situation, as well as influence person-environment interactions Work environment has become one of the most commonly studied environmental precipitants of stress related cardiac disease and it has been argued that work environment is more important to evaluate than are individual factors They  found that job strain (high demand and low control) was associated with increased rates of cardiovascular diseases prevalence, and that workers with the lowest level of social support had higher prevalence rates regardless of level of job strain.  This research shows promise in providing evidence of the complex interaction of factors (i.e., work stress and social support) associated with CAD  

Depression and Anxiety  

Depression has been confirmed as an important factor in the initial onset of CAD  as well as among patients with previously diagnosed CAD.  It is was confirmed that importance of negative emotions, including depression, anxiety, and history of depression, for prognosis of post-myocardial patients.      Their results were suggestive of post-MI depression being more strongly associated with arrhythmic deaths , while anxiety was more strongly associated with acute coronary syndromes  . Also they  found that major depressive disorder was the best predictor of cardiac events during the 12 months following catheterization among patients with CAD. It has been suggested that decreased heart-rate variability associated with reduced parasympathetic nervous system activity may be one mechanism explaining the association of major depression with CAD  

 Non Medical Heart Diseases

Heart Hardness (Thencefore were your hearts they became like a rock and even worse in hardness 
  . Then , even after that , your hearts were hardened and became as rocks , or worse than rocks , for hardness . For indeed there are rocks from out which rivers gush , and indeed there are rocks which split asunder so that water Soweth from them . And indeed there are rocks which fall down for the fear of Allah hat hearts which allows you to kill pure children and poor women with a big smile in your face. To do all bad things you can or can't imagine. Can we consider this heart is human one . Even wild animals are kind with their young children. Allah is not unaware of what  they do. Then because of their breaking of their covenant , and their disbelieving in the revelations of Allah , and their slaying of the Prophets wrongfully , and their saying : Our hearts are hardened Nay , but Allah hath set a seal upon them for their disbelief , so that they believe not save a few .A
nd because of their breaking their covenant , We have cursed them and made hard their hearts . They change words from their context and forget a part of that whereof they were admonished . Thou wilt not cease to discover treachery from all save a few of them . But bear with them and pardon them    

Heart Blindness

Look for this Eye ball can you see it , It is the organ of vision which it is a precious gift from our Lord          
  ,  . And brain translate what we are seeing But can we see electricity ! Can we see the truth 
Oh, here we are , There are a lot of things we can't see with our eyes. Either we their effect like light for electricity. Or we can see them by our hearts .We confound their hearts and their eyes . As they believed not therein at the first , We let them wander blindly on in their contumacy 

Truly it is not their eyes that are blind but their hearts which are in their breasts 

IF your heart is blind how can you see the light of faith

Stain and Seal of heart

We mentioned before that if you made a simple mistake and didn't ask forgiveness   form your Lord . This will stain your heart with a small black spot . This spot spread until the whole heart became black  Say : Have ye imagined , if Allah should take away your hearing and your sight and seal your hearts , who is the God who could restore it to you save Allah? See how We display the revelations unto them? Yet still they turn away they hear not When the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease said : Their religion hath deluded these . Whoso putteth his trust in Allah ( will find that ) lo! Allah is Mighty , Wise
Remember that you can't stain sea by one drop of ink

 .By no means ! But on their hearts is the stain of the cill which they do

A seal 
is more tight band on heart which keep it away from under standing -God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and on their eyes is a veil  

As for the deniers, whether you warn them or not, they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears, and on their eyes there is a covering. A grievous punishment awaits them It is these mental states which prevent people from accepting the truth; the Qur’an has called them ‘seals’ over people’s hearts. The minds of those who do not consider the true call seriously, who are proud and worldly in their attitude, are covered with an invisible veil which makes them impervious to the truth. When one is prejudiced against something, one cannot see its rationality, even if there are clear signs in support of it   
Then after him We sent Messengers to their people, they brought them clear proofs, but they would not believe what they had already rejected beforehand. Thus We seal the hearts of the transgressors   74 - (those who disbelieve in the Oneness of Allah and disobey Him).

 Just try to be honest faithful with yourself and your Lord few days , And check you feel happy 
If you have a chance to read a book try to read the translation of Yusuf Ali to the meanings of The Holly Quran 
He said in the meaning of heart illness: The heart of man as created by God is pure and unsullied. Every time than a man does an ill dead it marks a stain or rust on his heart . But on repentance and forgiveness such stain is washed off if there is no repentance and forgiveness the stains deepen and spread more and more until the heart is sealed and eventually the man dies a spiritual death . It is such stains that standing the way of his perceiving truths which  are obvious to others. That's why he mocks at truth and hugs falsehood to his bosom

Disease in the Qur’an
The Qur’an has used several terms to refer to disease. In the subject form the word maradh has been employed in the context of spiritual diseases of the heart . In the adjective form the words maridh and saqiim have been used. The Qur'an discusses disease as a disabling condition than can exempt a person from certain obligatory acts of physical . Disease was also described as a harm . The Qur’an being primarily a book of moral guidance, spends more time discussing the causes and treatments of moral diseases and gives relatively little space to physical diseases. Humans are urged to undertake the necessary research to understand the physical diseases

Relation between diseases of the heart   and diseases of the body
There is a 2-way interaction between physical and spiritual maladies. Disbelief  leads to a lot of human cruelty like genocide because of lack of moral restraint. Diseases of the heart such as jealousy lead to violence and even death. Lack of self-restraint in appetite leads to obesity and attendant diseases. Addiction to alcohol leads too much physical and mental derangement. Protein energy malnutrition of the poor manifests social injustice in the community. Lack of spiritual equilibrium leads to inability to handle the normal stresses of life such that the victims become addicted to alcohol and psychoactive substances with consequent physical illness. Addiction to power and sex leads to violence. Physical diseases may cause so much depression and loss of hope that they develop diseases of the heart    

Pathology
Pathology is concerned with abnormalities of structure and function, which result from disease or are produced by disease (Bowman p. 4.3). It seeks to explain the why of a disease, which includes etiology, pathogenesis, morphological changes, and the functional impairment. Most of pathology is about the reactions of the body and its adjustment to insults. As mentioned before, the line between compensatory change in normal physiology and pathology can be very fine.

Manifestations of Disease
Disease manifests as symptoms or signs. Symptoms are subjective patient complaints or description of disease. Signs are objectively verifiable disorders. A syndrome is a combination of symptoms and signs associated with a disease condition. Symptomatology is perhaps a better indication of disease severity because it includes the personality of the patient and reactions. Thus the same pathology does not produce the same symptomatology in all patients. Those with strong iman may complain less about pain than others. Fear of death also affects worry and complaint about disease. 


 

Diagnosis

How can we diagnose heart disease 
Diagnoses are measures including history, physical examination, and logical deduction or induction that lead to definition of a disease. 
Believing Physician can reach the correct conclusion from available data more often than the non-believing one. A definitive diagnosis need not be made before treatment starts. Treatment is started using a tentative diagnosis. The true diagnosis may be deduced from the response to treatment. One of the strengths of empirical science is that a disease can be treated successfully without fully understanding its pathogenesis or even how the treatment works at the molecular level. This occurs for example in cases when a new unknown chemical compound is tried on animals and then on humans with good results. It is then adopted as a treatment. The mechanism of action is established only later or may never be established definitely. However this strength has a back-side to it. Using treatments whose mechanisms of action are not well understood can lead to side effects and adverse effects later.

Prognosis
Prognosis is an empirical estimate of the future course of the disease. From the Islamic viewpoint, prognosis is part of the knowledge of the unseen (‘ilm al ghaib). The physician does not have the privilege to say anything definitive about the future prognosis. He or she can only extrapolate based on available data and must always have the humility to say ‘Allah Knows Best’  .   

Duration
Diseases may be classified by their duration as acute or chronic. Acute disease is a temporary disturbance of homeostasis. Chronic disease may establish a new level of homeostasis.

Moral Criteria
Diseases may also be classified by cause as diseases of the heart (amradh al qalb p. 958
2:10, 5:52, 8:49, 22:53, 24:50, 33:12, 33:60, 47:20, 74:31). and diseases of the body (amradh al badan). These two categories have been mentioned by the Qur’an.

Diseases of the heart include: lahw (21:3), ghaflat (18:28), ghill (7:43, 15:47, 59:10), ghaidh (3:118-119), kibr (40:35, 40:56), nifaq (2:8-10, 2:2-4, 3:167, 5:41, 9:8, 9:64, 9:75-77, 48:11). These diseases of the heart lead directly or indirectly to somatic diseases. Diseases of the body mentioned in the Qur’an include: blindness, ama (p 851 2:17-18, 2:171, 5:71, 6:50, 6:104, 7:64, 10:43, 11:24, 11;28, 12:84, 17:72, 19:9, 20:102, 20:124-125, 22:46, 24:61, 25:73, 27:66, 27:81, 28:66, 30:53, 35:19, 36:66, 40:58, 41:17, 41:44, 43:40, 47:23, 48:17, 54:37, 80:2), akma (congenital blindness 4:49), deafness(sum) (2:18, 2:171, 6:39, 8:22, 10:42, 21:45, 27:80, 30:52, 43:40), lameness (araj) (p 807 24:11, 24:61, 48 :17), leprosy (baras) (p 189 3:49, 5:110), dumbness (bukm) (p 204 2:18, 2:171, 6:39, 8:22, 16:76, 17:97). Among neuroses described in the Qur'an are sadness, worry and anxiety. Sadness, huzn was described in general (p. 332-333 3:139, 3:153, 9:40, 9:92, 19:24, 28:8, 29:3, 33:51, 58:10). Separation from loved ones is a cause of sadness, huzn al firaaq (p 333 12:13, 12:84, 12:86, 20:40, 28:7, 28;13). Sadness is an earthly problem since it does not exist in jannat (p 333 2:38, 2:62, 2:112, 2:262, 2:27, 2:277, 6:48, 7:35, 7:49, 10:62, 3:34, 35:34, 39:67, 41:30, 46:13). Worry and anxiety (hamm and ghamm) were also described by the Qur'an (p 1293 3:154, 12:84, 16:58, 40:18, 43:17, 68:48).

NATURE OF DISEASE

Reaction and Adjustment
A pathophysiological disturbance is normally a response to a biological, physical, or chemical insult or injury to the body. Thus most disease manifestations including their symptoms and signs are a reaction to the injury and an attempt to re-adjust. Most disease processes operate at the cellular level. The causes of cell injury are: hypoxia, physical agents, chemical agents, infectious agents, immunological anomalies, genetic, and nutritional disorders. Cells respond to injury in two ways: (a) adaptation: atrophy, hypertrophy, and hyperplasia. (b) Acute injury which could terminate in death or could be reversed.

Benefits
In an Islamic context, disease does not always connote a negative or bad event. There are indeed many situations when what is a disease situation is actually beneficial. Falling ill may be Allah’s way of forcing the person to take a desired rest or care for the body before it can deteriorate further. Death from some diseases was said by the Prophet to be martyrdom (shahadat). Patience in the face of severe illness is a reason for entering paradise (jannat). The pain due to disease is a reminder of the punishment and suffering that the evildoers will suffer from in hell. Disease can be an opportunity for personal redemption by expiation/atonement for previous sins (KS p. 503-504, MB#1949). The trials that one goes through and the eventual patience can be rewarded by Allah’s forgiveness (MB#1948). Patience with chronic disease/disability is associated with high reward for example epilepsy (MB#1954) and loss of sight (MB#1955). Disease may enable a person return to the due equilibrium in life. Falling sick may at times be Allah’s blessing in disguise that a person is incapacitated and thus is prevented from pursuits that could prove more dangerous for him. While a person is sick and is not busy with the routines of life he may have time to reflect and remember Allah.

Punishment
Some diseases are due to disobedience. Acts of disobedience may be followed by epidemic disease or by disease in an individual. The disease may be directly related to the sin such as liver cirrhosis due to chronic alcohol consumption or there may be no direct relationship.

Disease as an Exemption from Obligations
Allah in recognition of the burden of disease and the need to give the body a chance to recuperate excused the sick from some physical religious obligations (2:10, 48:17, 2:184, 2:185, 2:196, 4:43, 4:102, 5:6, 9:9, 73:20).



Next                        Home                
   Back