Assignment: Cardiac Impact
Instructions
Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were findings that 38% of adults use CAM [complementary and alternative medical] health care modalities.
Construct a professional paper that outlines how the use of the following CAM health care modalities impacts the cardiovascular system.
Ginseng
Hawthorn
L-Arginine
St. John’s Wort
For each of the modalities the discussion must include:
effect on the cardiovascular system
anticipated benefits
any identified risks or adverse effects
relative patient education
supporting reference from scholarly literature.
Instructions
Prepare and submit a minimum of a 6 page paper pages [excluding title and reference pages].
Format consistent with APA style without an abstract page.
Answer all the questions above.
Please review the rubric to ensure that your assignment meets criteria.
Submit the following documents to this assignment area:
Sample Answer
Complementary and Alternative Medical Health Care Modalities
Complementary and alternative medicine is a broad term that refers to diverse healthcare modalities emanating from different healing cultures. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine refers to CAM as any healthcare practice, system, and product that are not part of conventional medicine. Major categories of CAM include whole medical systems, mind-body techniques, energy therapies, biologically based practices, and manipulative and body-based therapies. The discussion of the paper will focus on four health care modalities, including Ginseng, Arginine, Hawthorn, and St John’s Wort. For each modality, the discussion will include the impact of the modality on the cardiovascular system, anticipated benefits, risks, and relative patient education.
Ginseng
Ginseng is a short and slow-growing plant with fleshy roots and one of the popular herbal remedies. Major types of ginseng include the American ginseng known as Panax quinquefolius, L. and the Asian ginseng known as P. Ginseng. Ginseng contains a major active ingredient known as ginsenosides that have various therapeutic effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, antiallergic, and vasorelaxation. There are various ginsenosides that have been reported with two major categories, including major and minor ginsenosides (Cambria, Sabir, & Shorter, 2020).
Impact on Cardiovascular system
Health issues related to the cardiovascular system results in vascular dysfunction such as high blood pressure, thrombosis, and atherosclerosis and may lead to stroke or myocardial infarction. Ginseng has positive effects on heart diseases associated with its properties such as antioxidation, vasomotor regulation, reducing platelet adhesion, and improving lipid profiles. It facilitates the restoration of coronary blood flow to levels that are normal. Ginsenosides protects one from myocardial reperfusion injury by decreasing lipid peroxidation and increasing 6-keto-prostaglandin (Cambria, Sabir, & Shorter, 2020). Ginseng is also effective in improving arterial stiffness inpatient with hypertension resulting in improved vasomotor functions. Ginseng reduces the risk of arterial thrombosis, especially thrombosis related to the antiplatelet activity. Total ginsenosides increase coronary perfusion flow of the isolated heart. Activation of total ginsenosides is facilitated by activation of P13K/Akt-Enos signaling characterized by NO production. It is also effective in adjusting lipid profiles through its inflammatory effects. Such activities impact the cardiovascular system.
Anticipated Benefits
Benefits associated with ginseng include increased energy in patients experiencing body weaknesses, such as cancer patients experiencing fatigue and those undergoing treatment. It improves the thinking process. Studies have demonstrated benefits for behavior, cognition, and quality of life (Cambria, Sabir, & Shorter, 2020). Other benefits include improvements in patients with erectile dysfunction, flu prevention, and lowering blood sugar. The anti-inflammatory properties of ginseng are also beneficial.
Identified Risks
In humans, Ginseng has been associated with mild toxicity and adverse impacts associated with long-term usage of ginseng and high dosage. Identified risks include skin eruption, morning diarrhea, insomnia, hypotension, decreased appetite, risk of depression, and edema. It is associated with interactions with certain prescriptions. Other side effects include irritability, bleeding, changes in blood pressure, headache, and blurred vision (Paik & Lee, 2015).
Relative Patient Education
Patients, especially those taking narrow therapeutic index, meaning that the amount of the prescription is slightly higher or lower, should be monitored closely, with patients being encouraged to disclose any herbal supplements. Interaction between drugs and ginseng may result in serious complications as ginseng decreased the effectiveness of certain medications such as anti-depressants, HIV medications, and antihypertensives (Paik & Lee, 2015). Patients should also be guided on dosage and usage periods to reduces risks associated with ginseng.
Hawthorn
Hawthorn is a thorny shrub or tree native to temperatures of northern Asia, America, and Europe. The flower, berries, leaves, bark, and stem are the ones used as herbal medicines. Hawthorn is prominent in treating cardiac diseases and strengthening an aging heart. It was commonly used in treating congestive heart failure, a condition previously known as dropsy.
Impact on Cardiovascular system
Hawthorn is used for treating heart diseases and blood vessels, including chest pains, congestive heart failure, and irregular heartbeat. It is used to treat low and high blood pressure, hardening of arteries, high cholesterol, and atherosclerosis. Hawthorn improves the amount of blood pumped from the heart during contractions. It increases the transmission of nerve signs and widens the blood vessels. It lowers blood pressure by causing the relaxation of blood vessels. The effect is created by a component known as proanthocyanin (Nazhand et al., 2020). Hawthorn fruit lowers cholesterol levels by reducing the formation of cholesterol, increasing the excretion of bile, and by enhancing the receptors of LDLs. Hawthorn also increases the strength of contractions of cardiac muscles.
