Musical maladies: Dard-e-disco 

-Written by Hitaishi Thakkar, Medical Student & Blogger

Welcome to Medical melodies where every week we use our nerd brains to turn a simply normal sounding song into a medical disorder.

Fair warning: Express due caution before reading this article as it may cause an irreversible change in your memory and the melody will never be the same as before!

Jokes apart, it is scientifically proven that co- relating something to music makes it easier to remember and recall!

When I think about Medical melodies a lot of songs come to my head, but what better than to commemorate this series with the King khan, iconic Bollywood party song:

Dard-e-disco

Dil mein mere hai dard-e-disco, dard-e-disco, dard-e-disco”

Every dance party is truly incomplete without the peppy dance number. Dressed like a disco ball, Deepika moves and grooves alongside a shirtless SRK. The sheer grandeur of the song is seen with the background dancers shaking their booty completely in sync with the lead actors.

The song chorus just repeats the phrase “dard-e-disco” while dancing to the tune but if you have dard or disco in your dil, kindly visit the nearest hospital as soon as possible.

Dard in the dil is medically known as ‘Angina Pectoris’ 

Angina pectoris, also known as angina or chest pain, is often described as squeezing, pressure, heaviness, tightness or pain in the chest. 

Angina occurs due to the narrowing of the coronary arteries of the heart leading to ischemic pain. This means that the heart itself is being deprived of oxygen rich blood, as a result the heart is beating faster and harder to gain you more blood causing noticeable pain.

Angina symptoms include chest pain and discomfort. Pain may also be felt in the arms, neck, jaw, shoulder or back.

Other symptoms of angina are dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea and sweating. 

Angina isn’t a disease. It’s a symptom and a warning sign of heart disease.

There are four major types of angina:

Stable Angina : This type of angina happens during exertion and goes away with rest or angina medication. The pain is of a short duration ( five minutes or so)

Unstable Angina: This is a medical emergency & it’s totally unpredictable. The angina which happens at rest or minimal activity is called unstable angina. It lasts longer than stable Angina ( twenty minutes or longer)

Variant Angina (prinzmetal):

Severe chest pain is the main symptom of variant angina. It most often occurs in cycles, typically at rest and overnight

Refractory Angina:

Recurrent episodes of angina despite a combination of medications and lifestyle modifications.

Risk factors for angina:

Angina is more common in the geriatric age group. It is also related to the family history and genetic predisposition of the family.

Smoking, chewing tobacco and substance abuse can lead to weakening and ischemia of arteries causing angina.

Diabetes, high blood pressure, deranged lipid profile are the key risk factors which can contribute to worsening of heart health.

Aside from this obesity, emotional stress and inactive lifestyle can also predispose a person to such disorders.

Prevention of angina can be done by having a good lifestyle with exercise and healthy eating, controlling pre existing conditions like diabetes and blood pressure along with stress buster activities.

But what can one do when someone is having dard and disco in their heart, first of all stop dancing, because you’re not srk and this is not Bollywood. After stopping the physical activity allow that person to relax and quickly grab GTN ( glyceryl trinitrate) sub- lingual tablets or low dose aspirin tablets for temporary relief and rush them to the nearby hospital. Once the condition is stable the due course of action can be decided in the form of medications which include statins, calcium channel blockers & ACE inhibitors amongst many others.

Surgeries like coronary artery bypass graft & coronary angioplasty with stent insertion are popular these days.

But as one says, prevention is always better than cure, so just leave your dard aside and happily disco through your life.

PS: Sorry not sorry for the amount of dard and disco references in this article.

References:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/angina-pectoris

https://medlineplus.gov/angina.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/anginapectoris%3fgoogle=amp

Illustrations:

https://www.google.com/search?q=angina+pectoris&client=ms-android-oneplus&prmd=inbv&sxsrf=ALiCzsbvTfG7VV6M12FcvCGysR-iYzOFwg:1668187818657&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj51-Xy06b7AhW9gWMGHenCBr8Q_AUoAXoECAMQAQ&biw=384&bih=684&dpr=3.75#imgrc=ncu68SZF803zMM&imgdii=GwOyjSVZrQUg0M

https://images.app.goo.gl/oTedzwd7VX3QVZ567

https://images.app.goo.gl/X7WnmJm2AVqMZ5Hd6

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