Barack Obama has been a top fundraiser since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Top givers, by industry or category, to Hopefund, his leadership political action committee, in 2005-06. These funds cannot be used for a presidential campaign:
Lawyers, law firms
$461,349
Retired people
$293,780
Securities, investment
$285,161
Real estate
$109,300
Business services
$94,650
TV, movies, music
$91,600
Misc. finance
$85,650
Printing, publishing
$65,550
Education
$64,344
Retail sales
$57,250
Minggu, 27 April 2008
THE OBAMA FILE
ge: 45; born Aug. 4, 1961 in Hawaii.
Education: Bachelor's degree, Columbia University, 1983; law degree, Harvard Law School, 1991.
Family: Wife, Michelle; two daughters.
Political career: Illinois state Senate, 1997-2005; U.S. Senate, 2005-present.
Career highlights: First black president of Harvard Law Review. Quit job as financial consultant to become community organizer. Earned attention for his 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Won Grammy Award for readings from his autobiography, Dreams from My Father.
Education: Bachelor's degree, Columbia University, 1983; law degree, Harvard Law School, 1991.
Family: Wife, Michelle; two daughters.
Political career: Illinois state Senate, 1997-2005; U.S. Senate, 2005-present.
Career highlights: First black president of Harvard Law Review. Quit job as financial consultant to become community organizer. Earned attention for his 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Won Grammy Award for readings from his autobiography, Dreams from My Father.
Obama's ex-pastor cancels speeches
HOUSTON (AP) — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, presidential candidate Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, has canceled plans to speak at three services at a Houston church on Sunday, the church's pastor said.
The Rev. Marcus Cosby, pastor at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, told Houston television station KTRK and the Houston Chronicle that safety concerns had prompted Wright's decision.
Cosby told the Chronicle that Wright cited three reasons for canceling: "the safety of the institution to which he has been invited; the safety of his family, which has been placed in harm's way; and for his own safety."
Wright also canceled his appearance Tuesday in Florida at a Tampa-area church. The hosting church said it asked Wright to cancel his scheduled three-day appearance because of security questions.
Wright had been expected to be in North Texas over the weekend to be honored by the Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, but it was unclear whether he would still be attending.
"His schedule is pending," Joan Harrell, minister of communications for Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Wright was pastor for nearly four decades, told The Dallas Morning News for its Tuesday online editions. The newspaper said that she wouldn't elaborate.
Harrell didn't immediately return a phone call from the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Videos of remarks Wright has made have been circulating widely on the Internet and news programs. Wright's sermons to his predominantly black congregation have included him shouting "God damn America" for its treatment of minorities. He has said the U.S. government invented AIDS to destroy "people of color" and has also suggested that U.S. policies in the Middle East and elsewhere were partly responsible for the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
"I think we have taken Dr. Wright out of context with sound bites," Cosby said. "After all these years, I am not going to kick him to the curb over sound bites."
In a speech last week, Obama sharply condemned Wright's remarks and the preacher's refusal to acknowledge progress in race relations. But the Illinois senator refused to repudiate Wright.
In North Texas over the weekend, Wright is supposed to speak at a Saturday luncheon at Paul Quinn College in Oak Cliff and be honored that night at Friendship-West Baptist Church in the Red Bird area.
Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist, said Tuesday night that the Dallas events are "all systems go," but he acknowledged that security issues could keep Wright away.
"We're going to honor him," he said. "The question is, basically, regarding his presence."
The Rev. Marcus Cosby, pastor at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, told Houston television station KTRK and the Houston Chronicle that safety concerns had prompted Wright's decision.
Cosby told the Chronicle that Wright cited three reasons for canceling: "the safety of the institution to which he has been invited; the safety of his family, which has been placed in harm's way; and for his own safety."
Wright also canceled his appearance Tuesday in Florida at a Tampa-area church. The hosting church said it asked Wright to cancel his scheduled three-day appearance because of security questions.
Wright had been expected to be in North Texas over the weekend to be honored by the Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, but it was unclear whether he would still be attending.
"His schedule is pending," Joan Harrell, minister of communications for Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Wright was pastor for nearly four decades, told The Dallas Morning News for its Tuesday online editions. The newspaper said that she wouldn't elaborate.
Harrell didn't immediately return a phone call from the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Videos of remarks Wright has made have been circulating widely on the Internet and news programs. Wright's sermons to his predominantly black congregation have included him shouting "God damn America" for its treatment of minorities. He has said the U.S. government invented AIDS to destroy "people of color" and has also suggested that U.S. policies in the Middle East and elsewhere were partly responsible for the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
"I think we have taken Dr. Wright out of context with sound bites," Cosby said. "After all these years, I am not going to kick him to the curb over sound bites."
In a speech last week, Obama sharply condemned Wright's remarks and the preacher's refusal to acknowledge progress in race relations. But the Illinois senator refused to repudiate Wright.
In North Texas over the weekend, Wright is supposed to speak at a Saturday luncheon at Paul Quinn College in Oak Cliff and be honored that night at Friendship-West Baptist Church in the Red Bird area.
Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist, said Tuesday night that the Dallas events are "all systems go," but he acknowledged that security issues could keep Wright away.
"We're going to honor him," he said. "The question is, basically, regarding his presence."
Obama a distant cousin of Bush
It has emerged that Barack Obama is a tenth cousin, once removed, of the man whose job he wants - George W Bush.
They are linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Mr Obama is also a distant cousin of the actor Brad Pitt while Hillary Clinton is related to Mr Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
The ties of the US Democratic rivals were established by a respected US genealogical organisation after three years' investigation.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama can also boast a long list of other famous relations.
Christopher Child, from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, says that the politicians' ancestries show they have more in common than they think.
The Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and biggest non-profit genealogical organisation in the United States.
The research, conducted by Mr Child and Gary Boyd Roberts, came up with some extraordinary family connections.
Clinton and Madonna
Mr Obama is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya.
He was previously identified as a distant cousin of US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
His political lineage includes not just President Bush but also Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S Truman, Dick Cheney and Winston Churchill.
The connection made with Hollywood star Brad Pitt adds a welcome splash of glamour to his family tree.
But Mrs Clinton's kin has much more of an exotic feel.
Her distant cousins include the singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morisette, as well as the beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Prince Charles's wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
She and Angelina Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed. They are both related to one Jean Cusson, who died in St Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
If the Hollywood couple, collectively known as "Brangelina", decide on a very extended family gathering, it could provide the perfect opportunity for the two Democratic presidential rivals to get together.
They are linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Mr Obama is also a distant cousin of the actor Brad Pitt while Hillary Clinton is related to Mr Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
The ties of the US Democratic rivals were established by a respected US genealogical organisation after three years' investigation.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama can also boast a long list of other famous relations.
Christopher Child, from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, says that the politicians' ancestries show they have more in common than they think.
The Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and biggest non-profit genealogical organisation in the United States.
The research, conducted by Mr Child and Gary Boyd Roberts, came up with some extraordinary family connections.
Clinton and Madonna
Mr Obama is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya.
He was previously identified as a distant cousin of US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
His political lineage includes not just President Bush but also Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S Truman, Dick Cheney and Winston Churchill.
The connection made with Hollywood star Brad Pitt adds a welcome splash of glamour to his family tree.
But Mrs Clinton's kin has much more of an exotic feel.
Her distant cousins include the singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morisette, as well as the beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Prince Charles's wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
She and Angelina Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed. They are both related to one Jean Cusson, who died in St Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
If the Hollywood couple, collectively known as "Brangelina", decide on a very extended family gathering, it could provide the perfect opportunity for the two Democratic presidential rivals to get together.
Obama presses Clinton on finances
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has published seven years of tax returns on his website and urged his rival, Hillary Clinton, to do the same.
Mr Obama's spokesman said he hoped the release of tax returns would encourage her to let people "see her finances" before the key primary in Pennsylvania.
Mrs Clinton said she hoped to release her tax returns "within the next week".
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to explain how she came to misrepresent a visit she made to Bosnia in the 1990s.
She said last week that she and her daughter, Chelsea, "ran with our heads down" to avoid sniper fire when she arrived at Tuzla airport in 1996.
But archive television footage broadcast on Monday showed her smiling as they were greeted by a Bosnian government welcoming committee.
Mr Obama's aides said the admission was proof that Mrs Clinton had overstated her foreign policy experience.
'Commitment to transparency'
Later, the Illinois senator released copies of his tax returns covering 2000 to 2006, which showed his income had risen dramatically with the publication of two books.
Mr Obama and his wife Michelle's joint income jumped from $275,000 (£137,000) in 2004 to $1.6m (£0.8m) in 2005, when he was paid $1.2m (£0.6m) for the re-release of his first book, Dreams From My Father.
The publication of his second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006 earned him more than $500,000 (£250,000), half of their joint income that year.
"Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine," Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters.
"We believe the Clinton campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard now."
"This campaign is now going on into its 14th month and I don't think voters should have to wait until three days before the next primary to learn more about the finances of the Clintons."
Mrs Clinton, campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the primary election on 22 April, said she hoped her tax returns would be released "within the next week".
Her campaign also issued a statement calling Mr Obama's personal finances "opaque" by comparison with her family, who released 20 years of tax returns whilst her husband, Bill, was in the White House.
Mr Gibbs dismissed the claim and insisted on his candidate's "commitment to transparency and open government", pointing out that the Clintons have not released any tax returns since Mr Clinton's presidency ended in 2001.
'Mistake'
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to admit her description of "landing under sniper fire" while visiting Bosnia in 1996 was wrong.
"So I made a mistake," she said while visiting Greensburg.
"That happens. It proves I'm human which, you know, for some people, is a revelation."
The Obama campaign said the story "joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making".
Mrs Clinton tried to change the subject by revisiting last week's controversy over fiery sermons given by Mr Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, telling a newspaper that she would have left Mr Wright's church.
"He would not have been my pastor," she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
Mr Obama gave a major speech on race relations last week in response to the furore over Mr Wright's remarks but, while condemning what he said, refused to "disown" him.
Mr Obama is ahead of Mrs Clinton in terms of the number of delegates won in the Democratic primary elections so far.
The delegates will choose in August which candidate is to be the party's nominee in November's presidential election, standing against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
Mr Obama's spokesman said he hoped the release of tax returns would encourage her to let people "see her finances" before the key primary in Pennsylvania.
Mrs Clinton said she hoped to release her tax returns "within the next week".
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to explain how she came to misrepresent a visit she made to Bosnia in the 1990s.
She said last week that she and her daughter, Chelsea, "ran with our heads down" to avoid sniper fire when she arrived at Tuzla airport in 1996.
But archive television footage broadcast on Monday showed her smiling as they were greeted by a Bosnian government welcoming committee.
Mr Obama's aides said the admission was proof that Mrs Clinton had overstated her foreign policy experience.
'Commitment to transparency'
Later, the Illinois senator released copies of his tax returns covering 2000 to 2006, which showed his income had risen dramatically with the publication of two books.
Mr Obama and his wife Michelle's joint income jumped from $275,000 (£137,000) in 2004 to $1.6m (£0.8m) in 2005, when he was paid $1.2m (£0.6m) for the re-release of his first book, Dreams From My Father.
The publication of his second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006 earned him more than $500,000 (£250,000), half of their joint income that year.
"Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine," Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters.
"We believe the Clinton campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard now."
"This campaign is now going on into its 14th month and I don't think voters should have to wait until three days before the next primary to learn more about the finances of the Clintons."
Mrs Clinton, campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the primary election on 22 April, said she hoped her tax returns would be released "within the next week".
Her campaign also issued a statement calling Mr Obama's personal finances "opaque" by comparison with her family, who released 20 years of tax returns whilst her husband, Bill, was in the White House.
Mr Gibbs dismissed the claim and insisted on his candidate's "commitment to transparency and open government", pointing out that the Clintons have not released any tax returns since Mr Clinton's presidency ended in 2001.
'Mistake'
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to admit her description of "landing under sniper fire" while visiting Bosnia in 1996 was wrong.
"So I made a mistake," she said while visiting Greensburg.
"That happens. It proves I'm human which, you know, for some people, is a revelation."
The Obama campaign said the story "joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making".
Mrs Clinton tried to change the subject by revisiting last week's controversy over fiery sermons given by Mr Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, telling a newspaper that she would have left Mr Wright's church.
"He would not have been my pastor," she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
Mr Obama gave a major speech on race relations last week in response to the furore over Mr Wright's remarks but, while condemning what he said, refused to "disown" him.
Mr Obama is ahead of Mrs Clinton in terms of the number of delegates won in the Democratic primary elections so far.
The delegates will choose in August which candidate is to be the party's nominee in November's presidential election, standing against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
Democrats see Obama as face of 'reform and change'
For most members of Congress, the influence-peddling scandals that have forced one of their colleagues to resign and caught others up in a federal investigation represent a serious election-year problem.
But for one freshman, the scandals are a golden opportunity.
As the Senate begins debate Monday on a bill to curb the influence of lobbyists on Capitol Hill, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will be serving as a lead spokesman for his party.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid tapped Obama to be the party's point man on congressional ethics reform in January, as the Democrat began his second year in Congress.
It's testimony to the symbolic appeal of the Senate's only black member, and to his political precociousness. "Our party stands for reform and change and he embodies that," says Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan who heads the House Democratic campaign committee. Reid says, "Barack Obama has a unique ability to walk into a crowd and make people listen."
His party leaders' decision to thrust Obama into the limelight follows a year in which he struggled to avoid it. An overnight sensation after his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama won election to the Senate that year with 70% of the Illinois vote, the most overwhelming victory in the state's history.
During his first year as a U.S. senator, Obama focused on the home front, much as former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton did when she became a New York senator in 2000. He has held more than 42 town hall meetings in Illinois. Last year, he turned down all but two national television interviews. "He's not a grandstander," Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., says.
For Obama, 44, his new, higher-profile role brings risks as well as rewards. It has pushed into the political hot seat a lawmaker who hopes to build bridges across partisan lines.
Last month, Sen. John McCain accused Obama of "self-interested partisan posturing" when the Democrat criticized a Republican proposal to create a task force on lobbying reform. Though quickly smoothed over, the tiff made headlines in Chicago and dramatized the difficulties Obama faces as he tries to maintain his reputation as a political independent while serving as a party spokesman on a controversial issue in an election year.
Crossover appeal
Criticism of Obama is news because there has been so little of it. Since winning election to the Senate, his career has defied political gravity. Even political opponents such as Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman say they admire him.
Today, Obama ranks as one of his party's biggest draws. Spokesman Robert Gibbs says the senator, who receives about 300 speaking invitations a week, helped Democratic candidates raise more than $6.5 million last year. That's on top of $360,000 that Obama took in for his own re-election and more than $1.8 million for a fund that pays for his political activities.
Nor has his success been limited to the political realm: Obama's audio version of his memoir, Dreams from My Father, won a Grammy for best spoken word album.
Obama has demonstrated crossover appeal in several ways. A onetime community organizer in Chicago, he nevertheless attracts support from corporate leaders. He's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who draws large crowds of white constituents. And he's a Democrat with Republican admirers such as Lugar.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is bullish on Obama's future: He invested $5,000 in the senator's political action committee last year. So is former Black Panther Bobby Rush, a Chicago congressman whom Obama once tried to unseat. "I'd give him an A+ for his first year," says Rush, a Democrat.
Mehlman, a former Harvard Law School classmate, has kind words for Obama. "He's a guy I like and would like to see do well," he says.
Obama's admirers see him capable of making the ultimate political breakthrough for African-Americans. "I hope he runs for president someday," Buffett says. "I'm 75. He's got to hurry if I'm going to be able to vote for him."
Last month in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, Obama posed for the umpteenth photo-op of his fledgling Senate career. He may be too young to appreciate the irony of the location. Obama was two months shy of his third birthday when Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat with deft parliamentary skills, saw his filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act collapse. Now, the stately marble columns of a building named after one of the Senate's last segregationists serve as a backdrop for the chamber's new, biracial star.
Seeking common ground
In some respects, Obama is an unlikely African-American hero: His mother was white, and he's not a descendant of slaves. His father was an exchange student from Kenya. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii and later divorced. His mother remarried and moved with her son and new husband to Indonesia, where young Barack attended both Catholic and Muslim schools before returning to Hawaii as a teenager. Both parents are now deceased.
In his memoir, first published in 1995 and reissued after his Democratic convention speech, Obama details his painful struggle to come to grips with his own identity.
It's a struggle, he has written, that led him to experiment with alcohol and drugs, to journey to Africa for a meeting with his half-siblings and finally to move to Chicago where he found a wife, a church and a home.
Last year, Obama made a point of reaching out beyond party lines. He called on the local Republican congressman, Ray LaHood, when he visited Peoria. "It was a front page story in the local paper," LaHood recalls.
He joined Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., in calling for "realistic" immigration reform to accommodate the estimated 11 million people living and working illegally in the USA — a debate the Senate will launch this month.
Obama co-sponsored with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a bill that's still pending to create a "chief financial officer" for the Hurricane Katrina cleanup.
Obama says he wants to keep the bipartisanship going on ethics, but he hasn't hesitated to take some partisan shots.
The senator accused new House Majority Leader John Boehner of "backpedaling on reform" after the Ohio Republican said he opposed proposals to eliminate lawmakers' ability to tack pet projects onto larger bills or to travel on the tab of private interest groups.
Although he says members of his party "are certainly not without sin," Obama rejects the suggestion that Democrats are as tainted by their ties to lobbyists as Republicans. "The notion that this is a bipartisan scandal is wrong," he says.
Overhauled ethics in Ill.
It's not the first time Obama has been involved in changing ethics rules. Emil Jones, the Democratic president of the Illinois state Senate, assigned Obama, a state senator from 1997 to 2004, to help write Illinois' first ethics overhaul in more than two decades. "There was a lot of opposition," Jones recalls. "In his own caucus, members were jumping all over him."
In the end, Obama prevailed, crafting a landmark bill that won the Illinois General Assembly's near-unanimous approval in 2003.
Obama's Republican partner on the measure, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, still keeps a picture of the Democrat on his office wall.
Though he is the Republican chairman of DuPage County, Dillard recently introduced Obama at a town hall meeting there. "I admire him both as a person and as a legislator," Dillard says.
A onetime smoker who says he's "on the wagon," the self-professed "skinny kid with a funny name" works out regularly to maintain his 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame and 32-inch waist. Obama flies home every weekend to be with his wife and two daughters, who live in Chicago, and spends most of his evenings writing. He has a $1.9 million contract to write three books — the first of which is due out this fall.
The book will be about his political philosophy, the senator says. Told that it sounds like the kind of book politicians write when they're about to launch a national campaign, Obama smiles.
"I'm always campaigning for the values I believe in," he says.
But for one freshman, the scandals are a golden opportunity.
As the Senate begins debate Monday on a bill to curb the influence of lobbyists on Capitol Hill, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will be serving as a lead spokesman for his party.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid tapped Obama to be the party's point man on congressional ethics reform in January, as the Democrat began his second year in Congress.
It's testimony to the symbolic appeal of the Senate's only black member, and to his political precociousness. "Our party stands for reform and change and he embodies that," says Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan who heads the House Democratic campaign committee. Reid says, "Barack Obama has a unique ability to walk into a crowd and make people listen."
His party leaders' decision to thrust Obama into the limelight follows a year in which he struggled to avoid it. An overnight sensation after his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama won election to the Senate that year with 70% of the Illinois vote, the most overwhelming victory in the state's history.
During his first year as a U.S. senator, Obama focused on the home front, much as former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton did when she became a New York senator in 2000. He has held more than 42 town hall meetings in Illinois. Last year, he turned down all but two national television interviews. "He's not a grandstander," Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., says.
For Obama, 44, his new, higher-profile role brings risks as well as rewards. It has pushed into the political hot seat a lawmaker who hopes to build bridges across partisan lines.
Last month, Sen. John McCain accused Obama of "self-interested partisan posturing" when the Democrat criticized a Republican proposal to create a task force on lobbying reform. Though quickly smoothed over, the tiff made headlines in Chicago and dramatized the difficulties Obama faces as he tries to maintain his reputation as a political independent while serving as a party spokesman on a controversial issue in an election year.
Crossover appeal
Criticism of Obama is news because there has been so little of it. Since winning election to the Senate, his career has defied political gravity. Even political opponents such as Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman say they admire him.
Today, Obama ranks as one of his party's biggest draws. Spokesman Robert Gibbs says the senator, who receives about 300 speaking invitations a week, helped Democratic candidates raise more than $6.5 million last year. That's on top of $360,000 that Obama took in for his own re-election and more than $1.8 million for a fund that pays for his political activities.
Nor has his success been limited to the political realm: Obama's audio version of his memoir, Dreams from My Father, won a Grammy for best spoken word album.
Obama has demonstrated crossover appeal in several ways. A onetime community organizer in Chicago, he nevertheless attracts support from corporate leaders. He's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who draws large crowds of white constituents. And he's a Democrat with Republican admirers such as Lugar.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is bullish on Obama's future: He invested $5,000 in the senator's political action committee last year. So is former Black Panther Bobby Rush, a Chicago congressman whom Obama once tried to unseat. "I'd give him an A+ for his first year," says Rush, a Democrat.
Mehlman, a former Harvard Law School classmate, has kind words for Obama. "He's a guy I like and would like to see do well," he says.
Obama's admirers see him capable of making the ultimate political breakthrough for African-Americans. "I hope he runs for president someday," Buffett says. "I'm 75. He's got to hurry if I'm going to be able to vote for him."
Last month in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, Obama posed for the umpteenth photo-op of his fledgling Senate career. He may be too young to appreciate the irony of the location. Obama was two months shy of his third birthday when Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat with deft parliamentary skills, saw his filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act collapse. Now, the stately marble columns of a building named after one of the Senate's last segregationists serve as a backdrop for the chamber's new, biracial star.
Seeking common ground
In some respects, Obama is an unlikely African-American hero: His mother was white, and he's not a descendant of slaves. His father was an exchange student from Kenya. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii and later divorced. His mother remarried and moved with her son and new husband to Indonesia, where young Barack attended both Catholic and Muslim schools before returning to Hawaii as a teenager. Both parents are now deceased.
In his memoir, first published in 1995 and reissued after his Democratic convention speech, Obama details his painful struggle to come to grips with his own identity.
It's a struggle, he has written, that led him to experiment with alcohol and drugs, to journey to Africa for a meeting with his half-siblings and finally to move to Chicago where he found a wife, a church and a home.
Last year, Obama made a point of reaching out beyond party lines. He called on the local Republican congressman, Ray LaHood, when he visited Peoria. "It was a front page story in the local paper," LaHood recalls.
He joined Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., in calling for "realistic" immigration reform to accommodate the estimated 11 million people living and working illegally in the USA — a debate the Senate will launch this month.
Obama co-sponsored with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a bill that's still pending to create a "chief financial officer" for the Hurricane Katrina cleanup.
Obama says he wants to keep the bipartisanship going on ethics, but he hasn't hesitated to take some partisan shots.
The senator accused new House Majority Leader John Boehner of "backpedaling on reform" after the Ohio Republican said he opposed proposals to eliminate lawmakers' ability to tack pet projects onto larger bills or to travel on the tab of private interest groups.
Although he says members of his party "are certainly not without sin," Obama rejects the suggestion that Democrats are as tainted by their ties to lobbyists as Republicans. "The notion that this is a bipartisan scandal is wrong," he says.
Overhauled ethics in Ill.
It's not the first time Obama has been involved in changing ethics rules. Emil Jones, the Democratic president of the Illinois state Senate, assigned Obama, a state senator from 1997 to 2004, to help write Illinois' first ethics overhaul in more than two decades. "There was a lot of opposition," Jones recalls. "In his own caucus, members were jumping all over him."
In the end, Obama prevailed, crafting a landmark bill that won the Illinois General Assembly's near-unanimous approval in 2003.
Obama's Republican partner on the measure, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, still keeps a picture of the Democrat on his office wall.
Though he is the Republican chairman of DuPage County, Dillard recently introduced Obama at a town hall meeting there. "I admire him both as a person and as a legislator," Dillard says.
A onetime smoker who says he's "on the wagon," the self-professed "skinny kid with a funny name" works out regularly to maintain his 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame and 32-inch waist. Obama flies home every weekend to be with his wife and two daughters, who live in Chicago, and spends most of his evenings writing. He has a $1.9 million contract to write three books — the first of which is due out this fall.
The book will be about his political philosophy, the senator says. Told that it sounds like the kind of book politicians write when they're about to launch a national campaign, Obama smiles.
"I'm always campaigning for the values I believe in," he says.
Obama's Tic
I'm about 3/4 of the way through his book. The first half or so is mostly him telling stories -- his own history, stories from his campaigns, stories about his fellow senators. The writing is just spectacular: clear, engaging, slyly funny, self-deprecating, perfectly paced. It's got those touches of idiosyncrasy no ghostwriter can capture (if you've read ghostwritten books, you know they all have a certain feel). It's clear he's uncommonly self-aware, intelligent, authentic, and charismatic. It's impossible to resist the guy.
But when he turns to discussion of the issues, the tic emerges. In every case, there are two moldy, entrenched positions, politicized extremes advanced by shrill partisans. In every case, neither of those moldy positions adequately addresses our current realities. He, however, has a clear-eyed, above-the-fray position of his own that synthesizes all the best of both extremes.
There's merit to this sort of thinking, of course, and it's true enough for many policy questions. But the same formula comes up so often, on so many diverse questions, it's hard to believe it's come by honestly in every case. It's clearly as much about positioning, about vanity, about an aversion to being pigeonholed as it is about a dispassionate assessment of the issues.
He has an impulse to convince everyone he disagrees with that he doesn't disagree with them just because he's one of those liberals, with their strident, settled dogmas. He doesn't dismiss or demonize you. No, no, he understands what motivates your position. He knows where you're coming from. All of you. Everybody.
If Bill Clinton felt your pain, Obama does him one better: he thinks your thoughts too.
Just take a few quotes from the recent New York Magazine profile. If you think that the mainstream media's "both sides are bad, bipartisanism rulez" fetish is stupid, well, he understands:
"There are times I think we're not ambitious enough," Obama says. "I remember back in 2004, one of the candidates had made a proposal about universal health care, and some DLC-type commentator said, 'We can't propose this kind of big-government costly program, because it'll send a signal we're tax-and-spend liberals.' But that's not a good reason to not do something. You don't give up on the goal of universal health care because you don't want to be tagged as a liberal. People need universal health care."
But if you feel that those bloggy, shrill liberals are stupid, well, he understands you too:
"One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?" he tells me. "And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn't surprise me. It's all just exactly what I would expect."
The important thing: he understands you. But he understands the other side to. And if you're bothered by his constantly understanding both sides, well, he understands you too.
This constant tendency to define himself against a largely mythical far left is not only genuinely hurtful to some of the very activists who've most supported him, but it can easily become an intellectual pathology, a habit detached from the facts on the ground. Not all areas of policy can be neatly defined as "the two old positions and my shiny new one." Sometimes one side is right. Sometimes some of the old opinions are right.
It's easy to be attracted to Obama's persona. And it's easy to breathe a sigh of relief at someone who doesn't seem totally in the tank to a set of pre-defined positions and constituencies. But this kind of ethereal, all-things-to-all-people persona eventually has to break. Eventually it has to take sides.
Obama seems constitutionally averse to that, not only as a matter of political strategy but as a matter of character. He's a people pleaser. He wants to be loved and admired by everybody. No matter what he says, he loves being the golden boy.
I can forgive him all that if he wins and uses his power to push progressive policy. But for now, color me nervous.
But when he turns to discussion of the issues, the tic emerges. In every case, there are two moldy, entrenched positions, politicized extremes advanced by shrill partisans. In every case, neither of those moldy positions adequately addresses our current realities. He, however, has a clear-eyed, above-the-fray position of his own that synthesizes all the best of both extremes.
There's merit to this sort of thinking, of course, and it's true enough for many policy questions. But the same formula comes up so often, on so many diverse questions, it's hard to believe it's come by honestly in every case. It's clearly as much about positioning, about vanity, about an aversion to being pigeonholed as it is about a dispassionate assessment of the issues.
He has an impulse to convince everyone he disagrees with that he doesn't disagree with them just because he's one of those liberals, with their strident, settled dogmas. He doesn't dismiss or demonize you. No, no, he understands what motivates your position. He knows where you're coming from. All of you. Everybody.
If Bill Clinton felt your pain, Obama does him one better: he thinks your thoughts too.
Just take a few quotes from the recent New York Magazine profile. If you think that the mainstream media's "both sides are bad, bipartisanism rulez" fetish is stupid, well, he understands:
"There are times I think we're not ambitious enough," Obama says. "I remember back in 2004, one of the candidates had made a proposal about universal health care, and some DLC-type commentator said, 'We can't propose this kind of big-government costly program, because it'll send a signal we're tax-and-spend liberals.' But that's not a good reason to not do something. You don't give up on the goal of universal health care because you don't want to be tagged as a liberal. People need universal health care."
But if you feel that those bloggy, shrill liberals are stupid, well, he understands you too:
"One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?" he tells me. "And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn't surprise me. It's all just exactly what I would expect."
The important thing: he understands you. But he understands the other side to. And if you're bothered by his constantly understanding both sides, well, he understands you too.
This constant tendency to define himself against a largely mythical far left is not only genuinely hurtful to some of the very activists who've most supported him, but it can easily become an intellectual pathology, a habit detached from the facts on the ground. Not all areas of policy can be neatly defined as "the two old positions and my shiny new one." Sometimes one side is right. Sometimes some of the old opinions are right.
It's easy to be attracted to Obama's persona. And it's easy to breathe a sigh of relief at someone who doesn't seem totally in the tank to a set of pre-defined positions and constituencies. But this kind of ethereal, all-things-to-all-people persona eventually has to break. Eventually it has to take sides.
Obama seems constitutionally averse to that, not only as a matter of political strategy but as a matter of character. He's a people pleaser. He wants to be loved and admired by everybody. No matter what he says, he loves being the golden boy.
I can forgive him all that if he wins and uses his power to push progressive policy. But for now, color me nervous.
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is a magazine for women, sometimes referred to as "Cosmo", which has been published for more than a century. It began as a family magazine, launched in 1886 by Schlicht & Field as The Cosmopolitan.
Paul Schlicht told his first-issue readers that his publication was a "first-class family magazine", adding, "There will be a department devoted exclusively to the interests of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children, etc., also a department for the younger members of the family."
Cosmopolitan's circulation reached 25,000 that year, but by March, 1888, Schlicht & Field were no longer in business. John Brisben Walker acquired the magazine in 1889, and E. D. Walker, formerly with Harper's Monthly, took over as the new editor, introducing color illustrations, serials and book reviews. It became a leading market for fiction, featuring such authors as Annie Besant, Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Dreiser, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London and Edith Wharton. The magazine's circulation climbed to 75,000 by 1892.
In 1897 Cosmopolitan announced plans for a free correspondence school: "No charge of any kind will be made to the student. All expenses for the present will be borne by the Cosmopolitan. No conditions, except a pledge of a given number of hours of study." When 20,000 immediately signed up, Walker could not fund the school and students were then asked to contribute 20 dollars a year. Also in 1897, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds was serialized, as was his First Man in the Moon (1900). Olive Schreiner contributed a lengthy article about the Boer War.
In 1905 William Randolph Hearst purchased the magazine for $400,000 ($10,000,000 in 2006 prices) and brought in journalist Charles Edward Russell, who contributed a series of investigative articles, including "The Growth of Caste in America" (March, 1907), "At the Throat of the Republic" (December, 1907 - March, 1908) and "What Are You Going to Do About It?" (July, 1910 - January, 1911) and "Colorado - New Tricks in an Old Game" (December 1910).
With a circulation of 1,700,000 in the 1930s, Cosmopolitan had an advertising income of $5,000,000. Emphasizing fiction in the 1940s, it was subtitled The Four-Book Magazine since the first section had one novelette, six or eight short stories, two serials, six to eight articles and eight or nine special features, while the other three sections featured two novels and a digest of current non-fiction books. During World War II, sales peaked at 2,000,000.
The magazine began to run less fiction during the 1950s. Circulation dropped to slightly over a million by 1955, a time when magazines were overshadowed during the rise of paperbacks and television. The Golden Age of magazines came to an end as mass market, general interest publications gave way to special interest magazines targeting specialized audiences.
Paul Schlicht told his first-issue readers that his publication was a "first-class family magazine", adding, "There will be a department devoted exclusively to the interests of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children, etc., also a department for the younger members of the family."
Cosmopolitan's circulation reached 25,000 that year, but by March, 1888, Schlicht & Field were no longer in business. John Brisben Walker acquired the magazine in 1889, and E. D. Walker, formerly with Harper's Monthly, took over as the new editor, introducing color illustrations, serials and book reviews. It became a leading market for fiction, featuring such authors as Annie Besant, Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Dreiser, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London and Edith Wharton. The magazine's circulation climbed to 75,000 by 1892.
In 1897 Cosmopolitan announced plans for a free correspondence school: "No charge of any kind will be made to the student. All expenses for the present will be borne by the Cosmopolitan. No conditions, except a pledge of a given number of hours of study." When 20,000 immediately signed up, Walker could not fund the school and students were then asked to contribute 20 dollars a year. Also in 1897, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds was serialized, as was his First Man in the Moon (1900). Olive Schreiner contributed a lengthy article about the Boer War.
In 1905 William Randolph Hearst purchased the magazine for $400,000 ($10,000,000 in 2006 prices) and brought in journalist Charles Edward Russell, who contributed a series of investigative articles, including "The Growth of Caste in America" (March, 1907), "At the Throat of the Republic" (December, 1907 - March, 1908) and "What Are You Going to Do About It?" (July, 1910 - January, 1911) and "Colorado - New Tricks in an Old Game" (December 1910).
With a circulation of 1,700,000 in the 1930s, Cosmopolitan had an advertising income of $5,000,000. Emphasizing fiction in the 1940s, it was subtitled The Four-Book Magazine since the first section had one novelette, six or eight short stories, two serials, six to eight articles and eight or nine special features, while the other three sections featured two novels and a digest of current non-fiction books. During World War II, sales peaked at 2,000,000.
The magazine began to run less fiction during the 1950s. Circulation dropped to slightly over a million by 1955, a time when magazines were overshadowed during the rise of paperbacks and television. The Golden Age of magazines came to an end as mass market, general interest publications gave way to special interest magazines targeting specialized audiences.
Chelsea Clinton joins New York hedge fund
NEW YORK - Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton has joined Avenue Capital Group, a $12 billion hedge fund manager whose founder has contributed to many Democratic Party campaigns, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
Clinton, 26, the only child of former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has taken a post at the New York-based fund manager in an undisclosed capacity, the source said.
Clinton, who graduated from Stanford University in 2001 and studied philosophy at Oxford University, most recently worked at consultants McKinsey & Co. from 2003.
Avenue which focuses on distressed securities investing was co-founded by Marc Lasry. Morgan Stanley this week bought a minority stake in Avenue.
Well-known in hedge fund circles, Lasry has contributed to political campaigns for Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Bradley, John Kerry and other Democrats in recent years, federal election records show. However, Lasry has also contributed lesser amounts to campaigns for President Bush, the records show.
Chelsea Clinton couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Avenue said the company “does not comment on issues of company personnel.”
Clinton, 26, the only child of former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has taken a post at the New York-based fund manager in an undisclosed capacity, the source said.
Clinton, who graduated from Stanford University in 2001 and studied philosophy at Oxford University, most recently worked at consultants McKinsey & Co. from 2003.
Avenue which focuses on distressed securities investing was co-founded by Marc Lasry. Morgan Stanley this week bought a minority stake in Avenue.
Well-known in hedge fund circles, Lasry has contributed to political campaigns for Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Bradley, John Kerry and other Democrats in recent years, federal election records show. However, Lasry has also contributed lesser amounts to campaigns for President Bush, the records show.
Chelsea Clinton couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Avenue said the company “does not comment on issues of company personnel.”
Podcast
HBS Working Knowledge now brings you podcasts with Harvard Business School faculty on the latest research and ideas in business management.
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In early September, Ford Motor Company announced that Bill Ford would be replaced as CEO by Boeing's Alan Mulally, credited with the turnaround of the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company. (Ford will remain the company's executive chairman.)
Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower, the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration, is an expert on corporate strategy, organization, and leadership. He discusses the Ford move, along with the larger issue of CEO succession, with Jim Aisner, Director of Media Relations at Harvard Business School.
Jim Aisner: With me today is Harvard Business School professor Joseph Bower, an expert on corporate strategy and leadership. His most recent research focuses on CEO succession. Joe, thanks for coming in.
Joseph Bower: My pleasure, Jim.
Q: Now, Bill Ford has just put the brakes on his ride as CEO of Ford Motor Company and handed the wheel over to Alan Mulally, who's a veteran of Boeing. How common is it these days, Joe, for companies to turn to outsiders for the CEO chair?
A: Actually, it's pretty common—about a third of the time for the companies [in the] S&P 500, and about 40 percent when the company's had some problems. So you have to say frequently.
Q: What are the advantages of doing that?
A: The main advantage is that you can probably get a fresh point of view. You also get board support. If you think about it, turning outside means the board has lost confidence in the insiders. And at least as long as there is some success, the terrific advantage is that the leader has the support of the board. In some instances, you also get someone who knows a lot about the business.
Q: I guess in some instances you get someone who doesn't know a lot about the business. Is that another problem?
A: Well, there are two different approaches. What's interesting is sometimes people go for great CEOs who come from what are called CEO factories, like GE or Procter & Gamble. Interestingly, a group of companies that has a very good record … which are the LBOs, almost never go for that sort of CEO. They look for an industry figure who really knows a lot about the business and that company—often a retired CEO.
Q: Is it easy to predict who's going to be the next Lou Gerstner, who did such a great job at IBM, versus Carly Fiorina, who had problems at Hewlett Packard?
Mulally has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business.
A: Well, I've already touched on a key element, and that is how much do they know about the business? Gerstner was always talked about as a McKinsey man who'd been at a tobacco company. But in fact, at American Express, where he had a significant run, he was running the largest customer for computers perhaps in the world, the American Express travel business. And it was based on that understanding, from a customer's perspective of what the customer needed, that he was able to really make a quite critical decision at IBM, which was to stay as a vertically-integrated company.
Q: Now, as they say in Detroit, Mulally is not a car guy. So what does he bring to the table?
A: Well, he has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business. The 777 is a tremendous, terrific airplane. And he's got a record of performing and delivering and cutting costs under very difficult circumstances. So he seems to be quite an unusual guy, and at least, judging from the press, has a very extensive reputation.
Q: Going back to the way this all transpired with Bill Ford. Bill Ford seems to have played a rather major role in picking Mulally as successor. Is that OK, or is it better for the CEO to sort of stay in the kitchen when this is taking place?
A: Well, it's hard for the owner to stay out of the kitchen, and Bill Ford's not just the CEO, he's the owner. In that sense it's very important that the ownership of the company pick the new manager. Apparently he lost faith in the insiders, and interestingly, he conducted his own search. We don't read about any of the major search firms being involved in this transaction. So it's very much an owner saying, "I'm not doing this job well, I'm going to find someone who can do it right."
Q: You've been doing a lot of work recently I know, Joe, on succession planning and the CEO succession in general. According to your research, what do you think is the best way to go about this?
A: I don't want to be frivolous in what I'm about to say, but you begin twenty years earlier and you develop a cadre of outstanding people who can do a really good job. You can't develop great CEOs overnight. It takes a lot of time. Maybe it's not twenty, but it's ten anyway. And you also have to have a company that's making good products.
Q: Does it strike you as sort of strange that at some point, apparently during the summer, Bill Ford says, "There's too much for me to do here, guys, I need to find someone else." It looks like there's been about a month in the planning here, whatever, rather than even a few years.
A: My impression is that they've been looking for leadership a long time, and they've had a lot of problems finding people to work at the top of Ford. So it's not really a month. This particular move may have developed over a month as he decided he needed help, decided he had to find that help outside the company.
Q: And then looked to some strong board members to help him.
A: Right, to get help. That's exactly what the board's there for, to help the CEO in time of crisis, and particularly around succession. That's where you earn your board fees.
Q: Let me ask you one more question, and that is, putting on your expert strategist hat, Ford Motor Company's in trouble. It's losing a lot of money, in particular in North America. What's the most important thing it has to do to get back in the race, as it were, with a successful company like Toyota?
A: It has to make good cars. Basically, Ford has been holding its position on the basis of SUVs and the pick-up.
Q: Trucks.
A: Trucks, you could say. And really, Toyota, the Camry, just pushed the Mercury and the Taurus right out of the business, and Lexus took Lincoln down. And that takes you back into a decade anyway they've been in bad shape in the car business. They've got to rebuild their position in cars, and to do that they have to make great products. And they haven't done that in a while, and the consumer's on it.
Q: And I assume it's going to take a long—a certain amount of time, for them to start making great products again?
A: I would guess so. I'm not a car person, but yes. I think that's probably what appealed to them about Mulally because everybody was singing the praises of Airbus and then, five years later, Boeing has recaptured its leadership. So I'm sure that's the dream that they have at Ford.
Q: Well, we'll be watching and perhaps talking to you again about all this. Thanks for coming in.
A: It's a pleasure.
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In early September, Ford Motor Company announced that Bill Ford would be replaced as CEO by Boeing's Alan Mulally, credited with the turnaround of the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company. (Ford will remain the company's executive chairman.)
Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower, the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration, is an expert on corporate strategy, organization, and leadership. He discusses the Ford move, along with the larger issue of CEO succession, with Jim Aisner, Director of Media Relations at Harvard Business School.
Jim Aisner: With me today is Harvard Business School professor Joseph Bower, an expert on corporate strategy and leadership. His most recent research focuses on CEO succession. Joe, thanks for coming in.
Joseph Bower: My pleasure, Jim.
Q: Now, Bill Ford has just put the brakes on his ride as CEO of Ford Motor Company and handed the wheel over to Alan Mulally, who's a veteran of Boeing. How common is it these days, Joe, for companies to turn to outsiders for the CEO chair?
A: Actually, it's pretty common—about a third of the time for the companies [in the] S&P 500, and about 40 percent when the company's had some problems. So you have to say frequently.
Q: What are the advantages of doing that?
A: The main advantage is that you can probably get a fresh point of view. You also get board support. If you think about it, turning outside means the board has lost confidence in the insiders. And at least as long as there is some success, the terrific advantage is that the leader has the support of the board. In some instances, you also get someone who knows a lot about the business.
Q: I guess in some instances you get someone who doesn't know a lot about the business. Is that another problem?
A: Well, there are two different approaches. What's interesting is sometimes people go for great CEOs who come from what are called CEO factories, like GE or Procter & Gamble. Interestingly, a group of companies that has a very good record … which are the LBOs, almost never go for that sort of CEO. They look for an industry figure who really knows a lot about the business and that company—often a retired CEO.
Q: Is it easy to predict who's going to be the next Lou Gerstner, who did such a great job at IBM, versus Carly Fiorina, who had problems at Hewlett Packard?
Mulally has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business.
A: Well, I've already touched on a key element, and that is how much do they know about the business? Gerstner was always talked about as a McKinsey man who'd been at a tobacco company. But in fact, at American Express, where he had a significant run, he was running the largest customer for computers perhaps in the world, the American Express travel business. And it was based on that understanding, from a customer's perspective of what the customer needed, that he was able to really make a quite critical decision at IBM, which was to stay as a vertically-integrated company.
Q: Now, as they say in Detroit, Mulally is not a car guy. So what does he bring to the table?
A: Well, he has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business. The 777 is a tremendous, terrific airplane. And he's got a record of performing and delivering and cutting costs under very difficult circumstances. So he seems to be quite an unusual guy, and at least, judging from the press, has a very extensive reputation.
Q: Going back to the way this all transpired with Bill Ford. Bill Ford seems to have played a rather major role in picking Mulally as successor. Is that OK, or is it better for the CEO to sort of stay in the kitchen when this is taking place?
A: Well, it's hard for the owner to stay out of the kitchen, and Bill Ford's not just the CEO, he's the owner. In that sense it's very important that the ownership of the company pick the new manager. Apparently he lost faith in the insiders, and interestingly, he conducted his own search. We don't read about any of the major search firms being involved in this transaction. So it's very much an owner saying, "I'm not doing this job well, I'm going to find someone who can do it right."
Q: You've been doing a lot of work recently I know, Joe, on succession planning and the CEO succession in general. According to your research, what do you think is the best way to go about this?
A: I don't want to be frivolous in what I'm about to say, but you begin twenty years earlier and you develop a cadre of outstanding people who can do a really good job. You can't develop great CEOs overnight. It takes a lot of time. Maybe it's not twenty, but it's ten anyway. And you also have to have a company that's making good products.
Q: Does it strike you as sort of strange that at some point, apparently during the summer, Bill Ford says, "There's too much for me to do here, guys, I need to find someone else." It looks like there's been about a month in the planning here, whatever, rather than even a few years.
A: My impression is that they've been looking for leadership a long time, and they've had a lot of problems finding people to work at the top of Ford. So it's not really a month. This particular move may have developed over a month as he decided he needed help, decided he had to find that help outside the company.
Q: And then looked to some strong board members to help him.
A: Right, to get help. That's exactly what the board's there for, to help the CEO in time of crisis, and particularly around succession. That's where you earn your board fees.
Q: Let me ask you one more question, and that is, putting on your expert strategist hat, Ford Motor Company's in trouble. It's losing a lot of money, in particular in North America. What's the most important thing it has to do to get back in the race, as it were, with a successful company like Toyota?
A: It has to make good cars. Basically, Ford has been holding its position on the basis of SUVs and the pick-up.
Q: Trucks.
A: Trucks, you could say. And really, Toyota, the Camry, just pushed the Mercury and the Taurus right out of the business, and Lexus took Lincoln down. And that takes you back into a decade anyway they've been in bad shape in the car business. They've got to rebuild their position in cars, and to do that they have to make great products. And they haven't done that in a while, and the consumer's on it.
Q: And I assume it's going to take a long—a certain amount of time, for them to start making great products again?
A: I would guess so. I'm not a car person, but yes. I think that's probably what appealed to them about Mulally because everybody was singing the praises of Airbus and then, five years later, Boeing has recaptured its leadership. So I'm sure that's the dream that they have at Ford.
Q: Well, we'll be watching and perhaps talking to you again about all this. Thanks for coming in.
A: It's a pleasure.
CEO Succession: The Case at Ford
When Ford Motor Company looked to replace Bill Ford as CEO, it turned not to another auto industry insider but instead to Boeing's Alan Mulally. We talk with Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower to better understand Ford's move and the larger issues of CEO succession. Key concepts include:
New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies.
Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM.
Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation.
New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies.
Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM.
Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation.
Mengapa Mati Mendadak ?
Kasus mati mendadak sering kita dengar dalam hidup keseharian kita. Apa sesungguhnya di balik kematian mendadak itu? Apakah betul tidak hujan tidak ada angin sekonyong-konyong orang bisa mati ?
Bisa !
Di luar kasus penganiayaan berat, orang bisa sekonyong-konyong mati mendadak kendati sebelumnya tampak sehat-sehat saja. Namun, makna sehat di sini belum tentu berarti betul secara medis terbilang sehat.
Mungkin kelihatannya saja sehat, tapi sesungguhnya mengidap penyakit yang tak dirasakan atau tidak pula menunjukkan gejala maupun tanda-tanda. Penyakit jantung khususnya. Mengapa?
Pertama, karena penyakit jantung penyebab paling sering berujung kematian mendadak. Tidak semua orang terbiasa memeriksakan diri, paling kurang untuk check up. Perlahan tapi pasti, tanpa disadari, proses penyakit jantung yang mungkin sudah lama diidap terus saja berkembang.
Gangguan Jantung
Adapun penyakit jantung meliputi kasus-kasus (1) koroner, (2) pembengkakan jantung (akibat darah tinggi lama), (3) kelainan jantung bawaan (kebocoran jantung), dan bisa juga akibat serangan (4) infeksi jantung baik yang baru didapat maupun yang dulu (sehingga merusak otot
jantung, katup, atau pembuluh darahnya).
Apa pun jenis kasus penyakit jantungnya, ujungnya bisa berisiko kematian mendadak.
Kedua, tidak semua kasus penyakit jantung sudah memperlihatkan gejala atau menimbulkan keluhan pada awalnya. Tergantung jenis penyakit jantungnya, seberapa parah derajat penyakitnya, dan hal-hal lain apa saja yang memperberat penyakit jantungnya, sehingga pada suatu saat, sekadar sekali sontekan kecil saja mendadak penyakitnya sudah langsung berat, lalu mematikan.
Pengidap diabetes lama yang sudah berkomplikasi ke koroner jantung, sering tak merasakan keluhan nyeri dada (angina pectoris), si gejala jantung koroner paling khas. Itu sebab angka kematian mendadak karena serangan jantung lebih banyak dialami pengidap diabetes lama yang tak pernah memeriksakan kondisi jantungnya.
Itu alasan dalam ramalan medis tak mustahil kalau orang yang kelihatan sehat bisa saja mati mendadak. Namun, tentu tidak semua kasus serangan jantung yang berisiko merenggut nyawa pasti berakhir dengan kematian. Sekiranya saja ada kemudahan mendapatkan pertolongan pertama dan pasien tidak sedang berada seorang diri, ancaman kematian oleh serangan jantung mestinya bisa digagalkan.
Kalau saja tersedia pertolongan gawat darurat di tempat kejadian atau lekas-lekas mendapat pertolongan dalam hitungan golden hour (hitungan jam) dengan ?resusitasi jantung-paru-paru? (CPR, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation), keadaan jantung mendadak berhenti berdenyut atau cardiac arrest, bisa dibuat batal merenggut nyawa.
Penyebab Gangguan
Jantung dapat terganggu fungsinya oleh sejumlah penyebab. Paling sering penyebabnya adalah sumbatan koroner.
Kita tahu penyakit jantung koroner urusan puluhan tahun. Jika lemak darah (kolesterol, trigliserida) dibiarkan tinggi untuk waktu lama, lambat laun akan terbentuk ?karat lemak? pada dinding koroner, selain pada pembuluh darah mata, ginjal, dan otak.
?Karat lemak? pada pembuluh darah orang modern sudah mulai terbentuk sejak usia remaja. Tanpa mengontrol lemak darah dengan obat dan diet, diperkirakan cuma perlu waktu sepuluhan tahun untuk menjadikan pipa pembuluh koroner menjadi tersumbat total.
Namun, jauh hari sebelum pembuluh koroner tersumbat total akibat kekurangan jatah makanan (aliran darah pemasok oksigen), jantung seharusnya sudah lama menjerit. Jeritan jantung ini yang muncul sebagai gejala nyeri dada spesifik. Nyeri seperti tertiban, tertindih, tertekan barang berat di atas dada. Nyerinya bersifat menjalar ke lengan, leher, pundak, dan punggung.
Awalnya nyeri hanya berlangsung beberapa detik. Namun, jika lemak darah tidak dikontrol, dan pola gaya hidup tetap berisiko memperburuk koroner, serangan gejala nyeri dada semakin hari semakin berlangsung lama. Nyeri dada yang semakin hari semakin lama mencerminkan sumbatan koroner sudah semakin menebal, dan sumbatan koroner sudah semakin menutup penampang pipa pembuluh, yang berarti pasokan oksigen buat otot jantung yang dilayaninya semakin tipis saja.
Proses penyumbatan ?karat lemak? bisa dihentikan bila lemak darah dan semua faktor risiko koroner ditiadakan. Sayangnya lebih banyak pengidap koroner yang abai, sehingga bukan jarang mati mendadak acap berlangsung di kamar hotel (kematian di atas pelana kuda) bersama pasangan seks yang bukan istri sendiri (sebab seks bukan dengan istri umumnya jauh lebih hot), atau saat tengah di meja makan (kelewat kenyang), atau di kamar mandi (mendadak paparan hawa dingin), atau di perjalanan (keletihan, stres, perubahan jadwal harian).
Meniadakan Faktor Risiko
Kita tidak mungkin bisa meramalkan kapan saatnya seseorang akan mengalami serangan koroner, kecuali hanya menduga saja bahwa akan datang harinya entah kapan kalau saja seseorang membiarkan hidupnya tetap di bawah ancaman berisiko koroner.
Antara lain membiarkan lemak darah tinggi, mengidap darah tinggi, kencing manis, perokok, gemuk. pola dan gaya hidup sedentary).
Yang sebetulnya dapat dilakukan oleh mereka yang berisiko koroner atau pengidap kelainan jantung lain, seberapa bisa meniadakan semua faktor risiko itu dan mengubahnya dengan pola dan gaya hidup yang berlawanan dengan kebiasaan sebelumnya, seperti dengan kembali makan teratur, tidur teratur, ada waktu jeda, kendurkan stres, cukup bergerak badan.
Yang perlu diperhatikan, pengidap jantung koroner berupaya membangun kebiasaan hidup teratur. Bagi pengidap jantung, setiap perubahan jadwal harian berisiko mengganggu kerja faali jantung yang sudah diset. Maka waspada kalau harus begadang, terlambat makan, tidak tidur siang, atau kelebihan beban kerja fisik, serta kebanjiran stres. Serangan jantung sering terjadi pada kondisi yang berubah dari kebiasaan sehari-hari seperti itu.
Jangan mandi dingin, terpapar hawa atau angin kencang sewaktu berjalan kaki, tidak mengedan kuat sewaktu buang air besar, makan kelewat kenyang, kurang waktu jeda, minum obat tidak sesuai jadwal atau dengan dosis memadai. Termasuk mewaspadai pola kegiatan seksual yang kelewat hot, serta menjauhkan olahraga statis (angkat beban, menggotong barang berat, misalnya).
Jangan abaikan pula keluhan perut jika tahu mengidap penyakit jantung karena gangguan perut bisa merupakan bagian dari gejala penyakit jantung juga. Jika pernapasan kurang lapang, mendadak sesak napas, mudah letih, dan tiba-tiba jantung berdebar tanpa sebab, bagian yang perlu mendapat perhatian mereka yang berisiko jantung koroner, atau sudah mengidap penyakit jantung lain sebelumnya (jantung bawaan, pembengkakan jantung, atau kelainan otot jantung oleh serangan koroner sebelumnya, atau kerusakan otot jantung oleh infeksi, efek samping obat, atau penyakit lain).
Ingat, ada jenis obat penurun lemak darah yang efek sampingnya merusak otot jantung (cardiomyopathia). Kerusakan otot jantung memperburuk penyakit jantung yang sudah ada.
Bisa !
Di luar kasus penganiayaan berat, orang bisa sekonyong-konyong mati mendadak kendati sebelumnya tampak sehat-sehat saja. Namun, makna sehat di sini belum tentu berarti betul secara medis terbilang sehat.
Mungkin kelihatannya saja sehat, tapi sesungguhnya mengidap penyakit yang tak dirasakan atau tidak pula menunjukkan gejala maupun tanda-tanda. Penyakit jantung khususnya. Mengapa?
Pertama, karena penyakit jantung penyebab paling sering berujung kematian mendadak. Tidak semua orang terbiasa memeriksakan diri, paling kurang untuk check up. Perlahan tapi pasti, tanpa disadari, proses penyakit jantung yang mungkin sudah lama diidap terus saja berkembang.
Gangguan Jantung
Adapun penyakit jantung meliputi kasus-kasus (1) koroner, (2) pembengkakan jantung (akibat darah tinggi lama), (3) kelainan jantung bawaan (kebocoran jantung), dan bisa juga akibat serangan (4) infeksi jantung baik yang baru didapat maupun yang dulu (sehingga merusak otot
jantung, katup, atau pembuluh darahnya).
Apa pun jenis kasus penyakit jantungnya, ujungnya bisa berisiko kematian mendadak.
Kedua, tidak semua kasus penyakit jantung sudah memperlihatkan gejala atau menimbulkan keluhan pada awalnya. Tergantung jenis penyakit jantungnya, seberapa parah derajat penyakitnya, dan hal-hal lain apa saja yang memperberat penyakit jantungnya, sehingga pada suatu saat, sekadar sekali sontekan kecil saja mendadak penyakitnya sudah langsung berat, lalu mematikan.
Pengidap diabetes lama yang sudah berkomplikasi ke koroner jantung, sering tak merasakan keluhan nyeri dada (angina pectoris), si gejala jantung koroner paling khas. Itu sebab angka kematian mendadak karena serangan jantung lebih banyak dialami pengidap diabetes lama yang tak pernah memeriksakan kondisi jantungnya.
Itu alasan dalam ramalan medis tak mustahil kalau orang yang kelihatan sehat bisa saja mati mendadak. Namun, tentu tidak semua kasus serangan jantung yang berisiko merenggut nyawa pasti berakhir dengan kematian. Sekiranya saja ada kemudahan mendapatkan pertolongan pertama dan pasien tidak sedang berada seorang diri, ancaman kematian oleh serangan jantung mestinya bisa digagalkan.
Kalau saja tersedia pertolongan gawat darurat di tempat kejadian atau lekas-lekas mendapat pertolongan dalam hitungan golden hour (hitungan jam) dengan ?resusitasi jantung-paru-paru? (CPR, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation), keadaan jantung mendadak berhenti berdenyut atau cardiac arrest, bisa dibuat batal merenggut nyawa.
Penyebab Gangguan
Jantung dapat terganggu fungsinya oleh sejumlah penyebab. Paling sering penyebabnya adalah sumbatan koroner.
Kita tahu penyakit jantung koroner urusan puluhan tahun. Jika lemak darah (kolesterol, trigliserida) dibiarkan tinggi untuk waktu lama, lambat laun akan terbentuk ?karat lemak? pada dinding koroner, selain pada pembuluh darah mata, ginjal, dan otak.
?Karat lemak? pada pembuluh darah orang modern sudah mulai terbentuk sejak usia remaja. Tanpa mengontrol lemak darah dengan obat dan diet, diperkirakan cuma perlu waktu sepuluhan tahun untuk menjadikan pipa pembuluh koroner menjadi tersumbat total.
Namun, jauh hari sebelum pembuluh koroner tersumbat total akibat kekurangan jatah makanan (aliran darah pemasok oksigen), jantung seharusnya sudah lama menjerit. Jeritan jantung ini yang muncul sebagai gejala nyeri dada spesifik. Nyeri seperti tertiban, tertindih, tertekan barang berat di atas dada. Nyerinya bersifat menjalar ke lengan, leher, pundak, dan punggung.
Awalnya nyeri hanya berlangsung beberapa detik. Namun, jika lemak darah tidak dikontrol, dan pola gaya hidup tetap berisiko memperburuk koroner, serangan gejala nyeri dada semakin hari semakin berlangsung lama. Nyeri dada yang semakin hari semakin lama mencerminkan sumbatan koroner sudah semakin menebal, dan sumbatan koroner sudah semakin menutup penampang pipa pembuluh, yang berarti pasokan oksigen buat otot jantung yang dilayaninya semakin tipis saja.
Proses penyumbatan ?karat lemak? bisa dihentikan bila lemak darah dan semua faktor risiko koroner ditiadakan. Sayangnya lebih banyak pengidap koroner yang abai, sehingga bukan jarang mati mendadak acap berlangsung di kamar hotel (kematian di atas pelana kuda) bersama pasangan seks yang bukan istri sendiri (sebab seks bukan dengan istri umumnya jauh lebih hot), atau saat tengah di meja makan (kelewat kenyang), atau di kamar mandi (mendadak paparan hawa dingin), atau di perjalanan (keletihan, stres, perubahan jadwal harian).
Meniadakan Faktor Risiko
Kita tidak mungkin bisa meramalkan kapan saatnya seseorang akan mengalami serangan koroner, kecuali hanya menduga saja bahwa akan datang harinya entah kapan kalau saja seseorang membiarkan hidupnya tetap di bawah ancaman berisiko koroner.
Antara lain membiarkan lemak darah tinggi, mengidap darah tinggi, kencing manis, perokok, gemuk. pola dan gaya hidup sedentary).
Yang sebetulnya dapat dilakukan oleh mereka yang berisiko koroner atau pengidap kelainan jantung lain, seberapa bisa meniadakan semua faktor risiko itu dan mengubahnya dengan pola dan gaya hidup yang berlawanan dengan kebiasaan sebelumnya, seperti dengan kembali makan teratur, tidur teratur, ada waktu jeda, kendurkan stres, cukup bergerak badan.
Yang perlu diperhatikan, pengidap jantung koroner berupaya membangun kebiasaan hidup teratur. Bagi pengidap jantung, setiap perubahan jadwal harian berisiko mengganggu kerja faali jantung yang sudah diset. Maka waspada kalau harus begadang, terlambat makan, tidak tidur siang, atau kelebihan beban kerja fisik, serta kebanjiran stres. Serangan jantung sering terjadi pada kondisi yang berubah dari kebiasaan sehari-hari seperti itu.
Jangan mandi dingin, terpapar hawa atau angin kencang sewaktu berjalan kaki, tidak mengedan kuat sewaktu buang air besar, makan kelewat kenyang, kurang waktu jeda, minum obat tidak sesuai jadwal atau dengan dosis memadai. Termasuk mewaspadai pola kegiatan seksual yang kelewat hot, serta menjauhkan olahraga statis (angkat beban, menggotong barang berat, misalnya).
Jangan abaikan pula keluhan perut jika tahu mengidap penyakit jantung karena gangguan perut bisa merupakan bagian dari gejala penyakit jantung juga. Jika pernapasan kurang lapang, mendadak sesak napas, mudah letih, dan tiba-tiba jantung berdebar tanpa sebab, bagian yang perlu mendapat perhatian mereka yang berisiko jantung koroner, atau sudah mengidap penyakit jantung lain sebelumnya (jantung bawaan, pembengkakan jantung, atau kelainan otot jantung oleh serangan koroner sebelumnya, atau kerusakan otot jantung oleh infeksi, efek samping obat, atau penyakit lain).
Ingat, ada jenis obat penurun lemak darah yang efek sampingnya merusak otot jantung (cardiomyopathia). Kerusakan otot jantung memperburuk penyakit jantung yang sudah ada.
10 Anggapan Salah tentang Penyakit Jantung!
Masih banyak anggapan salah di masyarakat tentang penyakit jantung. Tidak jarang menyesatkan atau menerima keadaan penyakitnya, sehingga berakibat merugikan. Apa saja anggapan salah itu?
1. Penyakit jantung hanya terjadi pada orang gemuk saja.
Tidak. Bukan hanya karena gemuk maka orang berpenyakit jantung. Dibanding orang kurus, orang gemuk memang lebih berisiko.
Namun, bukan sedikit orang kurus yang mengidap penyakit jantung. Jika sejak kecil mengidap penyakit jantung bawaan, misalnya, dan belum dioperasi, bisa saja keluhan jantung muncul. Jenis kelainan jantung bawaan kebocoran sekat bilik jantung (VSD), misalnya, biasanya semakin mengecil dengan bertambahnya usia. Selama kebocoran itu belum mengecil habis, masih tergolong mengidap penyakit jantung.
Orang kurus juga bisa saja mengidap darah tinggi, kolesterol, dan trigliserida tinggi, yang jika dibiarkan berakibat buruk pada jantung dan akhirnya berkembang menjadi penyakit jantung. Begitu juga jika orang kurus mengidap kencing manis atau memang memiliki kelainan anomali pembuluh darah besar pada jantung, seperti anomali pembuluh aorta atau ada penyakit lain yang bisa mengganggu jantung.
2. Penyakit jantung tidak bisa pada anak atau orang muda.
Bisa. Penyakit jantung sudah bisa diderita sejak anak masih di kandungan mula. Beberapa penyakit infeksi, seperti toxoplasmosis, campak jerman, cytomegalo virus bisa merusak organ jantung semasih anak di kandungan. Begitu juga obat-obatan tertentu yang diminum selagi hamil. Cacat jantung bawaan juga acap terjadi akibat jamu peluntur atau bahan berkhasiat lain yang belum jelas kerjanya medis.
Orang muda pun bisa kena penyakit jantung jika jantungnya terinfeksi. Infeksi bisa langsung menyerang jantung (endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis) atau di luar jantung yang bisa berkomplikasi ke jantung, seperti jika anak terserang infeksi difteria (di tenggorokan).
Kelainan aliran listrik otot jantung juga sering mengenai orang muda, sehingga irama dan debar jantung jadi tidak normal. Dan fungsi jantung juga bisa terganggu bila kekurangan elektrolit tertentu (kalium, misalnya) fungsi jantung bisa kacau juga, seolah sakit jantung. Demikian pula pengaruh kuat nikotin, obat tidur, obat penenang.
3. Wanita terbebas dari penyakit jantung.
Tidak. Sebelum usia menopause, wanita memang lebih kecil risiko terkena dibanding pria. Namun, setelah menopause, risiko wanita terkena penyakit jantung koroner menjadi sama besar dengan pria. Hal ini sering dilupakan, sehingga luput mendapat perhatian.
Namun, selama usia reproduktif pun wanita masih mungkin kena penyakit jantung jika kegemukan, lemak darah tinggi, mengidap darah tinggi, kencing manis, atau memiliki anomali pada pembuluh besar jantung, perokok berat, mengonsumsi obat pengurus badan golongan amfetamin atau phenfluramin,fentermine. Obat-obat golongan ini sudah ditarik dari peredaran.
Amphetamine memang bukan obat kurus, sebab dipakai dengan memanfaatkan efek sampingnya yang bikin tak suka makan, sedangkan obat pengurus (golongan Phen-fen) bisa bikin katup jantung menggelambir, sehingga fungsi jantung terganggu dan berakhir dengan payah jantung.
4. Penyakit jantung hanya satu macam.
Tidak. Sudah disebut di atas, penyakit jantung bisa bawaan, sejak lahir sudah diidap. Bisa juga sebab infeksi, dan yang paling sering penyakit jantung koroner, kalau bukan payah jantung (gagal jantung).
Infeksi pada jantung bisa oleh kuman dan virus. Paling sering infeksi pada katup jantung. Katup yang terinfeksi (SBE, Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis) menyisakan kerusakan pada katup, sehingga fungsi katup jantung menjadi tidak normal. Jika kerusakan katupnya berat dan berlangsung lama, bisa berakhir dengan gagal jantung juga.
Bukan cuma itu. Kelainan katup jantung akibat infeksi, sewaktu-waktu butiran-butiran lemak dan sisa infeksi pada katup bisa luruh dan terlepas hanyut terbawa aliran darah. Hanyutnya butiran lemak dan sisa infeksi ini yang bisa tersangkut di pembuluh darah otak, sehingga dapat berakhir dengan stroke.
Jantung koroner terjadi jika pembuluh darah koroner yang memberi makan bagi otot jantung tersumbat. Sumbatan bisa berasal dari dinding pembuluh darah koronernya sendiri yang semakin menebal oleh karat lemak (atherosclerosis), bisa juga oleh kiriman butiran lemak, bekuan darah, atau sampah darah yang berasal dari luar jantung. Emboli (terhanyutnya benda sampah dalam darah) sehabis melahirkan, sewaktu operasi sedot lemak, risiko bedah besar, patah tulang terbuka.
Jantung menjadi payah atau gagal jantung terjadi bila darah tinggi dibiarkan tinggi selama puluhan tahun. Pada darah tinggi, jantung bekerja ekstra berat. Akibat jantung harus memompakan darah lebih kuat dari normal, lama-kelamaan otot jantung menjadi semakin tebal dan jantung membengkak. Pembengkakan berlangsung terus sampai satu titik, pada saat jantung sudah tidak bisa berkompensasi untuk melar lagi. Pada saat itulah terjadi serangan gagal jantung (decompensatio cordis).
5. Jantungnya sehat, tak mungkin bisa sakit jantung.
Bisa. Kendati jantungnya tak kurang suatu apa, namun bisa terkena penyakit jantung yang berasal dari luar jantung. Jika jiwa gundah terus, rasa cemas, rasa waswas, jantung bisa mendadak berdebar tak tentu.
Rasa berat di dada, rasa ada yang mendesak di kerongkongan, jantung berdebar, disertai rasa gundah gelisah, kemungkinan yang sakit jiwanya, dan bukan jantungnya. Tanpa perlu diberi obat jantung dan cukup penenang jiwa, keluhan jantung umumnya akan mereda sendiri.
Demikian pula penyakit jantung yang berasal dari kelewat aktifnya kelenjar gondok (hyperthyroidism). Semakin tinggi hormon gondok di dalam darah, semakin kuat debar jantung akibat tensi darah meninggi. Jika tensi darah meninggi pada penyakit gondok dibiarkan, lama-kelamaan jantung bisa payah juga. Jantung lalu membengkak juga.
Komplikasi infeksi difteri pada anak-anak, pada minggu ketiga sakit, bisa menyerang jantung. Racun kuman difterianya mengganggu fungsi jantung. Namun, begitu racun dijinakkan, jantung bisa pulih kembali.
Kasus anemia (kekurangan Hb) yang berat dan dibiarkan untuk waktu lama bisa membebani jantung juga. Oleh karena kadar Hb (pengangkut oksigen) rendah, darah kurang penuh membawa oksigen, dan itu tidak mencukupi kebutuhan tubuh. Supaya oksigen yang diangkut darah mencukupi kebutuhan sel, jantung perlu bekerja lebih keras. Dan oleh karena jantung bekerja lebih keras, lama-lama jantung membengkak juga (seperti akibat darah tinggi).
6. Tidak ada hubungan dengan serangan stroke.
Ada. Bukan sedikit serangan stroke penyumbatnya berasal dari jantung. Jika katup jantung melepaskan butiran bekuan darah atau sisa bekas infeksi katup, sampah dalam darah itu akan hanyut dan memasuki pembuluh darah otak, lalu menyumbat di sana.
Bisa juga sebab fungsi pemompaan jantungnya sendiri yang sudah melemah, baik tenaga maupun iramanya. Bila ini terjadi, maka aliran darah selain tidak deras, sering berpusing. Aliran berpusing dan tak deras ini yang berisiko menimbulkan serangan stroke, sebab selain aliran darah melemah, kemungkinan darah juga mengangkut hanyutan benda-benda penyumbat yang luruh akibat aliran berpusing tersebut.
7. Penyakit jantung itu turunan.
Tidak. Penyakit jantung bukan turunan. Kendati orangtua berpenyakit jantung, anak belum tentu kena penyakit jantung. Yang diturunkan kencing manis dan darah tingginya. Kencing manis dan darah tinggi, termasuk kegemukan, jika tidak dikendalikan bisa berakhir dengan jantung koroner kalau bukan payah jantung juga.
8. Penyakit jantung tidak dapat dicegah.
Dapat. Malah justru lebih mudah dan lebih murah mencegah penyakit jantung ketimbang harus menderita dan menanggung ongkos berobatnya. Kita tahu semua penyebab penyakit jantung ada yang mulai dari sejak di kandungan.
Itu maka semua ibu hamil yang berisiko punya riwayat mengidap penyakit toxoplasmosis (senang pada kucing), atau cytomegalo virus (lewat berciuman dengan yang mengidap virus tersebut), atau campak jerman (dan herpes genital), sebaiknya memeriksakan darah dulu sebelum hamil (pemeriksaan darah TORCH).
Jika ternyata ada salah satu dari TORCH yang positif dan penyakitnya masih aktif, jangan hamil dulu sampai penyakitnya sudah diterapi sehingga tidak aktif lagi.
Infeksi jantung sering berasal dari infeksi kuman tenggorokan (streptococcus beta haemolyticus). Jika kuman ini menjalar ke jantung, terjadilah infeksi jantung (SBE). Maka setiap ada serangan infeksi tenggorokan, apalagi kalau dari pemeriksaan sediaan apus lendir tenggorok terbukti positif kuman tersebut, obati sampai tuntas (biasanya sampai beberapa minggu antibiotika tanpa boleh putus). Jika tidak tuntas, berisiko akan berkomplikasi ke jantung.
Kecukupan elektrolit (waspada jika sering muntah menret, kurang makan buah dan sayur), dan trace elements buat jantung termasuk selenium, mangan, magnesium, jangan sampai kurang. Dan bila mengidap darah tinggi secepatnya dikendalikan. Begitu pula jika kencing manis, penggundah, dan jiwa gampang goyah, segera diatasi.
9.Terkena penyakit jantung sebab sering dikageti.
Bukan. Orang sering kaget atau dikageti tidak mungkin menjadi sakit jantung. Kecuali memang sudah mengidap lemah jantung, keterkejutan fisik, bahkan kerkejutan mental pun bias bikin penyakit jantung yang sebetulnya sudah terkendali, bisa kumat. Jantung yang sehat dan normal tidak bakal "copot" kendati rajin dikageti.
10. Penyakit jantung muncul sebab sering mengonsumsi menu jantung pisang.
Tidak benar. Tidak ada korelasi antara doyan makan sayur jantung pisang dengan penyakit jantung. Zaman kakek nenek dulu, gudeg atau keluban jantung pisang menu yang tergolong eco sekali. Dan buktinya orang dulu tak ada yang kena jantungan gara-gara menu hariannya sering memilih sayur jantung pisang
1. Penyakit jantung hanya terjadi pada orang gemuk saja.
Tidak. Bukan hanya karena gemuk maka orang berpenyakit jantung. Dibanding orang kurus, orang gemuk memang lebih berisiko.
Namun, bukan sedikit orang kurus yang mengidap penyakit jantung. Jika sejak kecil mengidap penyakit jantung bawaan, misalnya, dan belum dioperasi, bisa saja keluhan jantung muncul. Jenis kelainan jantung bawaan kebocoran sekat bilik jantung (VSD), misalnya, biasanya semakin mengecil dengan bertambahnya usia. Selama kebocoran itu belum mengecil habis, masih tergolong mengidap penyakit jantung.
Orang kurus juga bisa saja mengidap darah tinggi, kolesterol, dan trigliserida tinggi, yang jika dibiarkan berakibat buruk pada jantung dan akhirnya berkembang menjadi penyakit jantung. Begitu juga jika orang kurus mengidap kencing manis atau memang memiliki kelainan anomali pembuluh darah besar pada jantung, seperti anomali pembuluh aorta atau ada penyakit lain yang bisa mengganggu jantung.
2. Penyakit jantung tidak bisa pada anak atau orang muda.
Bisa. Penyakit jantung sudah bisa diderita sejak anak masih di kandungan mula. Beberapa penyakit infeksi, seperti toxoplasmosis, campak jerman, cytomegalo virus bisa merusak organ jantung semasih anak di kandungan. Begitu juga obat-obatan tertentu yang diminum selagi hamil. Cacat jantung bawaan juga acap terjadi akibat jamu peluntur atau bahan berkhasiat lain yang belum jelas kerjanya medis.
Orang muda pun bisa kena penyakit jantung jika jantungnya terinfeksi. Infeksi bisa langsung menyerang jantung (endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis) atau di luar jantung yang bisa berkomplikasi ke jantung, seperti jika anak terserang infeksi difteria (di tenggorokan).
Kelainan aliran listrik otot jantung juga sering mengenai orang muda, sehingga irama dan debar jantung jadi tidak normal. Dan fungsi jantung juga bisa terganggu bila kekurangan elektrolit tertentu (kalium, misalnya) fungsi jantung bisa kacau juga, seolah sakit jantung. Demikian pula pengaruh kuat nikotin, obat tidur, obat penenang.
3. Wanita terbebas dari penyakit jantung.
Tidak. Sebelum usia menopause, wanita memang lebih kecil risiko terkena dibanding pria. Namun, setelah menopause, risiko wanita terkena penyakit jantung koroner menjadi sama besar dengan pria. Hal ini sering dilupakan, sehingga luput mendapat perhatian.
Namun, selama usia reproduktif pun wanita masih mungkin kena penyakit jantung jika kegemukan, lemak darah tinggi, mengidap darah tinggi, kencing manis, atau memiliki anomali pada pembuluh besar jantung, perokok berat, mengonsumsi obat pengurus badan golongan amfetamin atau phenfluramin,fentermine. Obat-obat golongan ini sudah ditarik dari peredaran.
Amphetamine memang bukan obat kurus, sebab dipakai dengan memanfaatkan efek sampingnya yang bikin tak suka makan, sedangkan obat pengurus (golongan Phen-fen) bisa bikin katup jantung menggelambir, sehingga fungsi jantung terganggu dan berakhir dengan payah jantung.
4. Penyakit jantung hanya satu macam.
Tidak. Sudah disebut di atas, penyakit jantung bisa bawaan, sejak lahir sudah diidap. Bisa juga sebab infeksi, dan yang paling sering penyakit jantung koroner, kalau bukan payah jantung (gagal jantung).
Infeksi pada jantung bisa oleh kuman dan virus. Paling sering infeksi pada katup jantung. Katup yang terinfeksi (SBE, Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis) menyisakan kerusakan pada katup, sehingga fungsi katup jantung menjadi tidak normal. Jika kerusakan katupnya berat dan berlangsung lama, bisa berakhir dengan gagal jantung juga.
Bukan cuma itu. Kelainan katup jantung akibat infeksi, sewaktu-waktu butiran-butiran lemak dan sisa infeksi pada katup bisa luruh dan terlepas hanyut terbawa aliran darah. Hanyutnya butiran lemak dan sisa infeksi ini yang bisa tersangkut di pembuluh darah otak, sehingga dapat berakhir dengan stroke.
Jantung koroner terjadi jika pembuluh darah koroner yang memberi makan bagi otot jantung tersumbat. Sumbatan bisa berasal dari dinding pembuluh darah koronernya sendiri yang semakin menebal oleh karat lemak (atherosclerosis), bisa juga oleh kiriman butiran lemak, bekuan darah, atau sampah darah yang berasal dari luar jantung. Emboli (terhanyutnya benda sampah dalam darah) sehabis melahirkan, sewaktu operasi sedot lemak, risiko bedah besar, patah tulang terbuka.
Jantung menjadi payah atau gagal jantung terjadi bila darah tinggi dibiarkan tinggi selama puluhan tahun. Pada darah tinggi, jantung bekerja ekstra berat. Akibat jantung harus memompakan darah lebih kuat dari normal, lama-kelamaan otot jantung menjadi semakin tebal dan jantung membengkak. Pembengkakan berlangsung terus sampai satu titik, pada saat jantung sudah tidak bisa berkompensasi untuk melar lagi. Pada saat itulah terjadi serangan gagal jantung (decompensatio cordis).
5. Jantungnya sehat, tak mungkin bisa sakit jantung.
Bisa. Kendati jantungnya tak kurang suatu apa, namun bisa terkena penyakit jantung yang berasal dari luar jantung. Jika jiwa gundah terus, rasa cemas, rasa waswas, jantung bisa mendadak berdebar tak tentu.
Rasa berat di dada, rasa ada yang mendesak di kerongkongan, jantung berdebar, disertai rasa gundah gelisah, kemungkinan yang sakit jiwanya, dan bukan jantungnya. Tanpa perlu diberi obat jantung dan cukup penenang jiwa, keluhan jantung umumnya akan mereda sendiri.
Demikian pula penyakit jantung yang berasal dari kelewat aktifnya kelenjar gondok (hyperthyroidism). Semakin tinggi hormon gondok di dalam darah, semakin kuat debar jantung akibat tensi darah meninggi. Jika tensi darah meninggi pada penyakit gondok dibiarkan, lama-kelamaan jantung bisa payah juga. Jantung lalu membengkak juga.
Komplikasi infeksi difteri pada anak-anak, pada minggu ketiga sakit, bisa menyerang jantung. Racun kuman difterianya mengganggu fungsi jantung. Namun, begitu racun dijinakkan, jantung bisa pulih kembali.
Kasus anemia (kekurangan Hb) yang berat dan dibiarkan untuk waktu lama bisa membebani jantung juga. Oleh karena kadar Hb (pengangkut oksigen) rendah, darah kurang penuh membawa oksigen, dan itu tidak mencukupi kebutuhan tubuh. Supaya oksigen yang diangkut darah mencukupi kebutuhan sel, jantung perlu bekerja lebih keras. Dan oleh karena jantung bekerja lebih keras, lama-lama jantung membengkak juga (seperti akibat darah tinggi).
6. Tidak ada hubungan dengan serangan stroke.
Ada. Bukan sedikit serangan stroke penyumbatnya berasal dari jantung. Jika katup jantung melepaskan butiran bekuan darah atau sisa bekas infeksi katup, sampah dalam darah itu akan hanyut dan memasuki pembuluh darah otak, lalu menyumbat di sana.
Bisa juga sebab fungsi pemompaan jantungnya sendiri yang sudah melemah, baik tenaga maupun iramanya. Bila ini terjadi, maka aliran darah selain tidak deras, sering berpusing. Aliran berpusing dan tak deras ini yang berisiko menimbulkan serangan stroke, sebab selain aliran darah melemah, kemungkinan darah juga mengangkut hanyutan benda-benda penyumbat yang luruh akibat aliran berpusing tersebut.
7. Penyakit jantung itu turunan.
Tidak. Penyakit jantung bukan turunan. Kendati orangtua berpenyakit jantung, anak belum tentu kena penyakit jantung. Yang diturunkan kencing manis dan darah tingginya. Kencing manis dan darah tinggi, termasuk kegemukan, jika tidak dikendalikan bisa berakhir dengan jantung koroner kalau bukan payah jantung juga.
8. Penyakit jantung tidak dapat dicegah.
Dapat. Malah justru lebih mudah dan lebih murah mencegah penyakit jantung ketimbang harus menderita dan menanggung ongkos berobatnya. Kita tahu semua penyebab penyakit jantung ada yang mulai dari sejak di kandungan.
Itu maka semua ibu hamil yang berisiko punya riwayat mengidap penyakit toxoplasmosis (senang pada kucing), atau cytomegalo virus (lewat berciuman dengan yang mengidap virus tersebut), atau campak jerman (dan herpes genital), sebaiknya memeriksakan darah dulu sebelum hamil (pemeriksaan darah TORCH).
Jika ternyata ada salah satu dari TORCH yang positif dan penyakitnya masih aktif, jangan hamil dulu sampai penyakitnya sudah diterapi sehingga tidak aktif lagi.
Infeksi jantung sering berasal dari infeksi kuman tenggorokan (streptococcus beta haemolyticus). Jika kuman ini menjalar ke jantung, terjadilah infeksi jantung (SBE). Maka setiap ada serangan infeksi tenggorokan, apalagi kalau dari pemeriksaan sediaan apus lendir tenggorok terbukti positif kuman tersebut, obati sampai tuntas (biasanya sampai beberapa minggu antibiotika tanpa boleh putus). Jika tidak tuntas, berisiko akan berkomplikasi ke jantung.
Kecukupan elektrolit (waspada jika sering muntah menret, kurang makan buah dan sayur), dan trace elements buat jantung termasuk selenium, mangan, magnesium, jangan sampai kurang. Dan bila mengidap darah tinggi secepatnya dikendalikan. Begitu pula jika kencing manis, penggundah, dan jiwa gampang goyah, segera diatasi.
9.Terkena penyakit jantung sebab sering dikageti.
Bukan. Orang sering kaget atau dikageti tidak mungkin menjadi sakit jantung. Kecuali memang sudah mengidap lemah jantung, keterkejutan fisik, bahkan kerkejutan mental pun bias bikin penyakit jantung yang sebetulnya sudah terkendali, bisa kumat. Jantung yang sehat dan normal tidak bakal "copot" kendati rajin dikageti.
10. Penyakit jantung muncul sebab sering mengonsumsi menu jantung pisang.
Tidak benar. Tidak ada korelasi antara doyan makan sayur jantung pisang dengan penyakit jantung. Zaman kakek nenek dulu, gudeg atau keluban jantung pisang menu yang tergolong eco sekali. Dan buktinya orang dulu tak ada yang kena jantungan gara-gara menu hariannya sering memilih sayur jantung pisang
10 anggapan salah tentang penyakit jantung
1.Penyakit jantung hanya terjadi pada orang gemuk saja
2.Penyakit jantung tidak bisa pada anak atau orang muda
3.Wanita terbebas dari penyakit jantung
4.Penyakit jantung hanya satu macam
5.Jantungnya sehat, tak mungkin bisa sakit jantung
6.Tidak ada hubungan dengan serangan stroke
7.Penyakit jantung merupakan penyakit keturunan
8.Penyakit jantung tidak dapat dicegah
9.Terkena penyakit jantung sebab sering dikagetkan
10.Penyakit jantung muncul sebab sering mengonsumsi menu jantung pisang
2.Penyakit jantung tidak bisa pada anak atau orang muda
3.Wanita terbebas dari penyakit jantung
4.Penyakit jantung hanya satu macam
5.Jantungnya sehat, tak mungkin bisa sakit jantung
6.Tidak ada hubungan dengan serangan stroke
7.Penyakit jantung merupakan penyakit keturunan
8.Penyakit jantung tidak dapat dicegah
9.Terkena penyakit jantung sebab sering dikagetkan
10.Penyakit jantung muncul sebab sering mengonsumsi menu jantung pisang
Penyakit Jantung :Tanda-tanda Peringatan Dini
Bagaimanapun, salah sekali pendapat bahwa sebuah serangan jantung datang seperti petir di siang bolong. Serangan jantung adalah puncak bencana dari sebuah proses kerusakan yang berlangsung lama, yang sering melibatkan kejutan-kejutan emosional, kekacauan fisiologis dan kelelahan mental. Tanda-tanda peringatan dini begitu subyektif dan begitu tersamar, sehingga bahkan dokter yang terlatih untuk sengukur segala sesuatu secaraobyektif masih bisa mengabaikannya.
Diagnosis
Berdasarkan gejala-gejala yang dirasakan, seorang dokter dapat membuat perkiraan yang nalar tentang apakah gejala-gejala itu mengisyaratkan serangan jantung atau tidak. Kecurigaannya mungkin diperkuat oleh penampilan si penderita, tingkat tekanan darah dan bunyi detak jantung. Dokter mungkin akan mengirimnya ke pemeriksaan ECG dan uji darah, tetapi bila masih merasakan nyeri, dokter barangkali akan memberi suntikan penghilangrasa nyeri sebelum pemeriksaan itu. Ini karena nyeri yang menakutkan dapat membawa ke jurang yang lebih dalam, yang bisa menyebabkan gejala jantung. Nyeri itu juga dapat menimbulkan dampak psikologis jangka panjang. ECG pertama mungkin tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda serangan jantung dan mungkin pemeriksaan itu harus diulang. Kadang-kadang uji yang kedua pun masih tidak menunjukkan perubahan, dan selama hal ini, diagnosis akan bergantung pada pemeriksaan darah. Jantung, seperti smeua sel tubuh lain, mengandung bahan-bahan kimia khusus yang disebut enzim. Ketika sel-sel jantung mengalami kerusakan, enzim-enzim yang dilepaskan beredar bersama aliran darah. etelah sebuah serangan jantung, kadar sebagian enzim ini langsung naik, tetapi selanjutnya enzim-enzim tersebut lekas mengurai dan karena itu tidak terdeteksi lagi setelah sehari atau du hari; ada enzim yang baru dilepaskan beberapa jam atau bebera hari kemudian tetap tinggal dalam darah selama beberapa hari atau bahkan beberapa minggu.
Diagnosis
Berdasarkan gejala-gejala yang dirasakan, seorang dokter dapat membuat perkiraan yang nalar tentang apakah gejala-gejala itu mengisyaratkan serangan jantung atau tidak. Kecurigaannya mungkin diperkuat oleh penampilan si penderita, tingkat tekanan darah dan bunyi detak jantung. Dokter mungkin akan mengirimnya ke pemeriksaan ECG dan uji darah, tetapi bila masih merasakan nyeri, dokter barangkali akan memberi suntikan penghilangrasa nyeri sebelum pemeriksaan itu. Ini karena nyeri yang menakutkan dapat membawa ke jurang yang lebih dalam, yang bisa menyebabkan gejala jantung. Nyeri itu juga dapat menimbulkan dampak psikologis jangka panjang. ECG pertama mungkin tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda serangan jantung dan mungkin pemeriksaan itu harus diulang. Kadang-kadang uji yang kedua pun masih tidak menunjukkan perubahan, dan selama hal ini, diagnosis akan bergantung pada pemeriksaan darah. Jantung, seperti smeua sel tubuh lain, mengandung bahan-bahan kimia khusus yang disebut enzim. Ketika sel-sel jantung mengalami kerusakan, enzim-enzim yang dilepaskan beredar bersama aliran darah. etelah sebuah serangan jantung, kadar sebagian enzim ini langsung naik, tetapi selanjutnya enzim-enzim tersebut lekas mengurai dan karena itu tidak terdeteksi lagi setelah sehari atau du hari; ada enzim yang baru dilepaskan beberapa jam atau bebera hari kemudian tetap tinggal dalam darah selama beberapa hari atau bahkan beberapa minggu.
Gejala Serangan Jantung
Gejala-gejala ini untuk setiap orang bisa berbeda. Sebuah serangan jantung mungkin dimulai dengan rasa sakit yang tidak jelas, rasa tidak nyaman yang samar, atau rasa sesak dibagian tengah dada. Kadang, sebuah serangan jantung hanya menimbulkan rasa tidak nyaman yang ringan sekali sehingga sering disalahartikan sebagai gangguan pencernaan, atau bahkan lepas dari perhatian sama sekali. Dalam hal ini, satu-satunya cara yang memungkinkan terdeteksinya sebuah serangan jantung adalah ketika harus menjalani pemeriksaan ECG untuk alasan lain yang mungkin tidak berkaitan. Dipihak lain, serangan jantung mungkin menghadirkan rasa nyeri paling buruk yang pernah dialami - rasa sesak yang luar biasa atau rasa terjepit pada dada, tenggorokan atau perut. Bisa juga mengucurkan keringat panas atau dingin, kaki terasa sakit sekali dan rasa ketakutan bahwa ajal sudah mendekat. Juga mungkin merasa lebih nyaman bila duduk dibanding bila berbaring dan mungkin nafas begitu sesak sehingga tidak bisa santai. Rasa mual dan pusing bahkan sampai muntah, bahkan yang lebih para yaitu ketika sampai kolaps dan pingsan.
Ada beberapa gejala yang lebih spesifik, antara lain:
Nyeri. Jika otot tidak mendapatkan cukup darah (suatu keadaan yang disebut iskemi), maka oksigen yang tidak memadai dan hasil metabolisme yang berlebihan menyebabkan kram atau kejang. Angina merupakan perasaan sesak di dada atau perasaan dada diremas-remas, yang timbul jika otot jantung tidak mendapatkan darah yang cukup. Jenis dan beratnya nyeri atau ketidaknyamanan ini bervariasi pada setiap orang. Beberapa orang myang mengalami kekurangan aliran darah bisa tidak merasakan nyeri sama sekali (suatu keadaan yang disebut silent ischemia).
Sesak nafas merupakan gejala yang biasa ditemukan pada gagal jantung. Sesak merupakan akibat dari masuknya cairan ke dalam rongga udara di paru-paru (kongesti pulmoner atau edema pulmoner).
Kelelahan atau kepenatan. Jika jantung tidak efektif memompa, maka aliran darah ke otot selama melakukan aktivitas akan berkurang, menyebabkan penderita merasa lemah dan lelah. Gejala ini seringkali bersifat ringan. Untuk mengatasinya, penderita biasanya mengurangi aktivitasnya secara bertahap atau mengira gejala ini sebagai bagian dari penuaan.
Palpitasi (jantung berdebar-debar)
Pusing & pingsan. Penurunan aliran darah karena denyut atau irama jantung yang abnormal atau karena kemampuan memompa yang buruk, bisa menyebabkan pusing dan pingsan.
Ada beberapa gejala yang lebih spesifik, antara lain:
Nyeri. Jika otot tidak mendapatkan cukup darah (suatu keadaan yang disebut iskemi), maka oksigen yang tidak memadai dan hasil metabolisme yang berlebihan menyebabkan kram atau kejang. Angina merupakan perasaan sesak di dada atau perasaan dada diremas-remas, yang timbul jika otot jantung tidak mendapatkan darah yang cukup. Jenis dan beratnya nyeri atau ketidaknyamanan ini bervariasi pada setiap orang. Beberapa orang myang mengalami kekurangan aliran darah bisa tidak merasakan nyeri sama sekali (suatu keadaan yang disebut silent ischemia).
Sesak nafas merupakan gejala yang biasa ditemukan pada gagal jantung. Sesak merupakan akibat dari masuknya cairan ke dalam rongga udara di paru-paru (kongesti pulmoner atau edema pulmoner).
Kelelahan atau kepenatan. Jika jantung tidak efektif memompa, maka aliran darah ke otot selama melakukan aktivitas akan berkurang, menyebabkan penderita merasa lemah dan lelah. Gejala ini seringkali bersifat ringan. Untuk mengatasinya, penderita biasanya mengurangi aktivitasnya secara bertahap atau mengira gejala ini sebagai bagian dari penuaan.
Palpitasi (jantung berdebar-debar)
Pusing & pingsan. Penurunan aliran darah karena denyut atau irama jantung yang abnormal atau karena kemampuan memompa yang buruk, bisa menyebabkan pusing dan pingsan.
Serangan Jantung
Serangan jantung adalah suatu kondisi ketika kerusakan dialami oleh bagian otot jantung (myocardium) akibat mendadak sangat berkurangnya pasokan darah ke situ. Berkurangnya pasokan darah ke jantung secara tiba-tiba dapat terjadi ketika salah satu nadi koroner ter blokade selama beberapa saat, entah akibat spasme - mengencangnya nadi koroner - atau akibar pergumpalan darah - thrombus. Bagian otot jantung yang biasanya di pasok oleh nadi yang terblokade berhenti berfungsi dengan baik segera setelah splasme reda dengan sendirinya, gejala-gejala hilang secara menyeluruh dan otot jantung berfungsi secara betul-betul normal lagi. Ini sering disebut crescendo angina atau coronary insufficiency. Sebaliknya, apabila pasokan darah ke jantung terhenti sama sekali, sel-sel yang bersangkutan mengalami perubahan yang permanen hanya dalam beberapa jam saja dan bagian otot jantung termaksud mengalami penurunan mutu atau rusak secara permanen. Otot yang mati ini disebut infark.
Faktor-faktor Resiko Penyakit Jantung Koroner
Memasuki usia 45 tahun bagi pria.
Sangat penting bagi kaum pria untuk menyadari kerentanan mereka dan mengambil tindakan positif untuk mencegah datangnya penyakit jantung.
Bagi wanita, memasuki usia 55 tahun atau mengalami menopause dini (sebagai akibat operasi).
Wanita mulai menyusul pria dalam hal resiko penyakit jantung setelah mengalami menopause.
Riwayat penyakit jantung dalam keluarga.
Riwayat serangan jantung didalam keluarga sering merupakan akibat dari profil kolesterol yang tidak normal.
Diabetes.
Kebanyakan penderita diabetes meninggal bukanlah karena meningkatnya level gula darah, namun karena kondisi komplikasi jantung mereka.
Merokok.
Resiko penyakit jantung drai merokok setara dengan 100 pon kelebihan berat badan - jadi tidak mungkin menyamakan keduanya.
Tekanan darah tinggi (hipertensi).
Kegemukan (obesitas).
Obesitas tengah (perut buncit) adalah bentuk dari kegemukan. Walaupun semua orang gemuk cenderung memiliki resiko penyakit jantung, orang dengan obesitas tengah lebih-lebih lagi.
Gaya hidup buruk.
Gaya hidup yang buruk merupakan salah satu akar penyebab penyakit jantung - dan menggantinya dengan kegiatan fisik merupakan salah satu langkah paling radikal yang dapat diambil.
Stress.
Banyak penelitian yang sudah menunjukkan bahwa, bila menghadapi situasi yang tegang, dapat terjadi arithmias jantung yang membahayakan jiwa.
Sangat penting bagi kaum pria untuk menyadari kerentanan mereka dan mengambil tindakan positif untuk mencegah datangnya penyakit jantung.
Bagi wanita, memasuki usia 55 tahun atau mengalami menopause dini (sebagai akibat operasi).
Wanita mulai menyusul pria dalam hal resiko penyakit jantung setelah mengalami menopause.
Riwayat penyakit jantung dalam keluarga.
Riwayat serangan jantung didalam keluarga sering merupakan akibat dari profil kolesterol yang tidak normal.
Diabetes.
Kebanyakan penderita diabetes meninggal bukanlah karena meningkatnya level gula darah, namun karena kondisi komplikasi jantung mereka.
Merokok.
Resiko penyakit jantung drai merokok setara dengan 100 pon kelebihan berat badan - jadi tidak mungkin menyamakan keduanya.
Tekanan darah tinggi (hipertensi).
Kegemukan (obesitas).
Obesitas tengah (perut buncit) adalah bentuk dari kegemukan. Walaupun semua orang gemuk cenderung memiliki resiko penyakit jantung, orang dengan obesitas tengah lebih-lebih lagi.
Gaya hidup buruk.
Gaya hidup yang buruk merupakan salah satu akar penyebab penyakit jantung - dan menggantinya dengan kegiatan fisik merupakan salah satu langkah paling radikal yang dapat diambil.
Stress.
Banyak penelitian yang sudah menunjukkan bahwa, bila menghadapi situasi yang tegang, dapat terjadi arithmias jantung yang membahayakan jiwa.
Serangan jantung
Jantung
Penyakit jantung merupakan penyebab kematian nomor satu pada orang Amerika dewasa. Setiap tahunnya, di Amerika Serikat:
478000 orang meninggal karena penyakit jantung koroner.
1,5 juta orang mengalami serangan jantung.
407000 orang mengalami operasi peralihan.
300000 orang menjalani angioplasti.
Penyakit jantung, stroke, dan penyakit periferal arterial merupakan penyakit yang mematikan. Di seluruh dunia, jumlah penderita penyakit ini terus bertambah. Ketiga kategori penyakit ini tidak lepas dari gaya hidup yang kurang sehat yang banyak dilakukan seiring dengan berubahnya pola hidup.
Faktor-faktor pemicu serangan jantung ialah Merokok, mengonsumsi makanan berkolestrol tinggi, kurang gerak, malas berolahraga, stres, dan kurang istirahat.
Pengenalan Jantung
Jantung adalah organ berupa otot, berbentuk kerucut, berongga dan dengan basisnya di atas dan puncaknya di bawah. Apex-nya (puncak) miring ke sebelah kiri. Berat jantung kira-kira 300 gram. Agar jantung berfungsi sebagai pemompa yang efisien, otot-otot jantung, rongga atas dan rongga bawah harus berkontraksi secara bergantian. Laju denyut-denyut jantung atau kerja pompa ini dikendalikan secara alami oleh suatu "pengatur irama". Ini terdiri dari sekelompok secara khusus, disebut nodus sinotrialis, yang terletak didalam dinding serambi kanan. Sebuah impuls listrik yang ditransmisikan dari nodus sinotrialis ke kedua serambi membuat keduanya berkontraksi secara serentak. Arus listrik ini selanjutnya di teruskan ke dinding-dinding bilik, yang pada gilirannya membuat bilik-bilik berkontraksi secara serentak. Periode kontraksi ini disebut systole. Selanjutnya periode ini diikuti dengan sebuah periode relaksasi pendek - kira-kira 0,4 detik - yang disebut diastole, sebelum impuls berikutnya datang. Nodus sinotrialus menghasilkan antara 60 hingga 72 impuls seperti ini setiap menit ketika jantung sedang santai. Produksi impuls-impuls ini juga dikendalikan oleh suatu bagian sistem syaraf yang disebut sistem syaraf otonom, yang bekerja diluar keinginan kita. Sistem listrik built-in inilah yang menghasilkan kontraksi-kontraksi otot jantung beirama yang disebut denyut jantung.
Penyakit jantung merupakan penyebab kematian nomor satu pada orang Amerika dewasa. Setiap tahunnya, di Amerika Serikat:
478000 orang meninggal karena penyakit jantung koroner.
1,5 juta orang mengalami serangan jantung.
407000 orang mengalami operasi peralihan.
300000 orang menjalani angioplasti.
Penyakit jantung, stroke, dan penyakit periferal arterial merupakan penyakit yang mematikan. Di seluruh dunia, jumlah penderita penyakit ini terus bertambah. Ketiga kategori penyakit ini tidak lepas dari gaya hidup yang kurang sehat yang banyak dilakukan seiring dengan berubahnya pola hidup.
Faktor-faktor pemicu serangan jantung ialah Merokok, mengonsumsi makanan berkolestrol tinggi, kurang gerak, malas berolahraga, stres, dan kurang istirahat.
Pengenalan Jantung
Jantung adalah organ berupa otot, berbentuk kerucut, berongga dan dengan basisnya di atas dan puncaknya di bawah. Apex-nya (puncak) miring ke sebelah kiri. Berat jantung kira-kira 300 gram. Agar jantung berfungsi sebagai pemompa yang efisien, otot-otot jantung, rongga atas dan rongga bawah harus berkontraksi secara bergantian. Laju denyut-denyut jantung atau kerja pompa ini dikendalikan secara alami oleh suatu "pengatur irama". Ini terdiri dari sekelompok secara khusus, disebut nodus sinotrialis, yang terletak didalam dinding serambi kanan. Sebuah impuls listrik yang ditransmisikan dari nodus sinotrialis ke kedua serambi membuat keduanya berkontraksi secara serentak. Arus listrik ini selanjutnya di teruskan ke dinding-dinding bilik, yang pada gilirannya membuat bilik-bilik berkontraksi secara serentak. Periode kontraksi ini disebut systole. Selanjutnya periode ini diikuti dengan sebuah periode relaksasi pendek - kira-kira 0,4 detik - yang disebut diastole, sebelum impuls berikutnya datang. Nodus sinotrialus menghasilkan antara 60 hingga 72 impuls seperti ini setiap menit ketika jantung sedang santai. Produksi impuls-impuls ini juga dikendalikan oleh suatu bagian sistem syaraf yang disebut sistem syaraf otonom, yang bekerja diluar keinginan kita. Sistem listrik built-in inilah yang menghasilkan kontraksi-kontraksi otot jantung beirama yang disebut denyut jantung.
STRES DAN RESIKO PENYAKIT JANTUNG KORONER
tres dianggap sebagai faktor yang cukup dominan sebagai sala satu faktor resiko PJK.
Stres sendiri memang ada yang positif dan ada juga yang negatif. Stres yang positif berdampak baik, seperti rasa ingin maju cita-cita adalah salah satu stres positif. Stres negatif seperti merasa sakit hati yang sangat berlebihan, bila tidak dikelola dengan baik akan menyebabkan dampak yang sangat merugikan dan sayangnya sangat sedidkit orang yang menyadari bahwa ia telah terkena stres negatif.
Bila tingkat stres sudah sangat tinggi dan mencemaskan maka akan sangat membahayakan kesehatan ,apalagi bila usia sudah diatas 40 th , usia semua faktor resiko sangat meningkat. Menurut penelitia para ahli kesehatan klinik stres dapat memicu semburan adrenalin dan zat katekolamin yang tinggi yang dapat mengakibatkan penyempitan pembuluh darah jantung serta peningkatan denyut jantung.,sehingga dapat menyebabkan terganggunya suplai darah ke jantung.
Orang yang sering mengalami stres negatif sangat erat kaitannya dengan type kepri
badian yang bersangkutan.Orang dengan type kepribadian type A memiliki kecenderungan mudah terkena penyakit jantung. Digambarkan bahwa kepribadian type A memiliki ciri yang menonjol yaitu sangat mementingkan waktu seperti jadwal janji dan batas waktu.
Juga sangat berkeinginan kuat untuk selalu menang pada setiap kompetisi atau persaingan, sangat agresif, lekas marah juga bermusuhan. Sifat kedua terakhirlah yang banyak memicu timbulnya penyakit jantung koroner.
Upaya mengatasi STRES
Bisa diawali denga cara memilah milah stres itu sendiri, kemudian mengkajinya satu persatu stres tersebut. Menekuni Hobi , Olah Rga dan Meditasi sangat membantu untuk mengurangi stres. Mereka yang memiliki Hobi akan dapat cepat merasa puas akan hasil karyanya dan akhirnya membuatbya RILEKS....
Stres sendiri memang ada yang positif dan ada juga yang negatif. Stres yang positif berdampak baik, seperti rasa ingin maju cita-cita adalah salah satu stres positif. Stres negatif seperti merasa sakit hati yang sangat berlebihan, bila tidak dikelola dengan baik akan menyebabkan dampak yang sangat merugikan dan sayangnya sangat sedidkit orang yang menyadari bahwa ia telah terkena stres negatif.
Bila tingkat stres sudah sangat tinggi dan mencemaskan maka akan sangat membahayakan kesehatan ,apalagi bila usia sudah diatas 40 th , usia semua faktor resiko sangat meningkat. Menurut penelitia para ahli kesehatan klinik stres dapat memicu semburan adrenalin dan zat katekolamin yang tinggi yang dapat mengakibatkan penyempitan pembuluh darah jantung serta peningkatan denyut jantung.,sehingga dapat menyebabkan terganggunya suplai darah ke jantung.
Orang yang sering mengalami stres negatif sangat erat kaitannya dengan type kepri
badian yang bersangkutan.Orang dengan type kepribadian type A memiliki kecenderungan mudah terkena penyakit jantung. Digambarkan bahwa kepribadian type A memiliki ciri yang menonjol yaitu sangat mementingkan waktu seperti jadwal janji dan batas waktu.
Juga sangat berkeinginan kuat untuk selalu menang pada setiap kompetisi atau persaingan, sangat agresif, lekas marah juga bermusuhan. Sifat kedua terakhirlah yang banyak memicu timbulnya penyakit jantung koroner.
Upaya mengatasi STRES
Bisa diawali denga cara memilah milah stres itu sendiri, kemudian mengkajinya satu persatu stres tersebut. Menekuni Hobi , Olah Rga dan Meditasi sangat membantu untuk mengurangi stres. Mereka yang memiliki Hobi akan dapat cepat merasa puas akan hasil karyanya dan akhirnya membuatbya RILEKS....
Pilihan Terapi Penyakit Jantung Koroner
Nyeri dada akibat penyakit jantung koroner (PJK) dialami jutaan penduduk dunia. Di Amerika, dua belas juta orang didiagnosis PJK. Di Indonesia, walaupun belum ada data nasional prevalensi PJK, dampak serius penyakit ini telah terlihat. Penyakit kardiovaskular yang di dalamnya termasuk PJK menempati urutan pertama penyebab selurah kematian yaitu 16 persen pada survei kesehatan rumah tangga (SKRT) 1992 . Pada SKRT 1995 meningkat menjadi 18,9 persen. Hasil Suskernas 2001 malahan memperlihatkan angka 26,4 persen.
Sebagian besar PJK terjadi akibat penurunan suplai oksigen (iskemia) pada otot jantung lantaran penyempitan pembuluh koroner oleh pengerasan di dinding dalam pembuluh koroner yang disebut plak aterosklerosis. Plak berintikan lemak ini terlindungi oleh lapisan sel-sel otot polos.
Stabilitas plak aterosklerosis ditentukan oleh kuat tidaknya lapisan pelindung. Bila lapisan pelindung itu rapuh, maka plak itu mudah pecah manakala ada pemicu seperti latihan fisik yang berat, marah, stress atau bahkan hubungan intim. Plak yang pecah akan menstimulasi proses penggumpalan darah yang dapat lebih mempersempit liang pembuluh atau bahkan menyumbatnya. Sumbatan di liang pembuluh koroner bila berlangsung lebih dari 20 menit dapat mematikan otot-otot jantung yang berujung pada disfungsi pompa jantung atau hilangnya nyawa penderita. Hingga kini para ahli belum menemukan cara terbaik dalam mendeteksi plak yang rapuh. Diduga kuat faktor inflamasi berperan dalam proses perapuhan plak.
Pilihan Terapi
Pilihan terapi lebih didasarkan pada pertimbangan pencegahan risiko fatal PJK ketimbang sekedar menghilangkan keluhan nyeri dada. Paradigma baru dalam terapi obat-obatan penderita PJK adalah upaya stabilisasi plak dengan dosis tinggi HMG-co A reductase inhibitors atau yang lebih dikenal dengan nama statin. Efek antiperadangan obat penurun kolesterol ini diyakini memiliki kemampuan memperkuat lapisan pelindung plak dan bahkan dapat mereduksi penyempitan.
Namun pada sebagian penderita terutama yang berisiko tinggi, obat-obatan kerap kurang ideal. Para ahli kini lebih cenderung melakukan intervensi lebih dini. Ya, mirip sikap preemptive war ala Bush. Hal ini dimungkinkan karena intervensi nonbedah pada pembuluh koroner semakin aman dilakukan dan dengan outcome yang memuaskan.
Sejak Dr. Andreas Gruentzig pada 1977 mengumumkan pertama kali keberhasilan melakukan pelebaran pembuluh koroner tanpa bedah yang disebut PTCA (Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty) atau dikenal dengan istilah balonisasi tindakan ini semakin kerap dilakukan.
PTCA hanya memerlukan sayatan kulit kecil di lengan atau pangkal paha untuk menyelipkan kateter pada arteri yang menuju ke muara koroner. Melalui kateter itu dimasukkan kateter lain yang mempunyai balon di ujungnya. Pada lokasi penyempitan, balon itu dikembangkan. Balon yang telah melebarkan koroner itu kemudian dikempiskan kembali dan ditarik keluar.
Namun saat itu hingga dekade berikutnya hanya segelintir penderita yang memenuhi syarat untuk dilakukan tindakan balonisasi. Hal ini lantaran teknologi yang masih sederhana sehingga kurang begitu aman, juga angka penyempitan ulang
(restenosis) pascabalonisasi dapat mencapai 40 persen. Karena itu para ahli masih memprioritaskan bedah sebagai alternatif terbaik.
Namun seiring dengan perbaikan bahan-bahan kateterisasi, struktur balon serta temuan obat-obat antipenggumpalan darah baru, maka kini tindakan ini menjadi jauh lebih aman. Angka penyempitan ulang menjadi menurun drastis setelah para ahli menyertakan pemasangan stent setelah dibalon. Stent yang berbentuk laksana cincin atau gorong-gorong ini dapat mempertahankan pelebaran yang dilakukan balon. Tahun-tahun terakhir ini dikenal jenis stent berlapis berbagai jenis obat yang mampu mereduksi angka penyempitan ulang hingga di bawah lima persen. Selain itu dikenal pula teknik pengerokan dan pengeboran sumbatan koroner yang mengeras termasuk penggunaan laser.
Walhasil, kini intervensi nonbedah dapat dilakukan pada berbagai kondisi PJK yang sebelumnya hanya mampu dikerjakan di meja operasi. Berbagai studi yang membandingkan secara langsung antara intervensi bedah dan nonbedah pada penderita PJK memperlihatkan hasil yang tidak berbeda bahkan pada kasus-kasus yang sulit sekalipun.
Yang masih menjadi ganjalan intervensi nonbedah adalah mahalnya biaya yang harus dikeluarkan oleh penderita. Harga sebuah stent berlapis obat dengan ukuran beberapa milimeter itu ada yang di atas 30 juta rupiah.
Kenyataan tersebut meyakinkan kita bahwa pencegahan memang jauh lebih murah ketimbangan pengobatan. Sayangnya perubahan ke arah perilaku sehat seringkali baru mulai disadari saat penderita terbaring tak berdaya..
Sebagian besar PJK terjadi akibat penurunan suplai oksigen (iskemia) pada otot jantung lantaran penyempitan pembuluh koroner oleh pengerasan di dinding dalam pembuluh koroner yang disebut plak aterosklerosis. Plak berintikan lemak ini terlindungi oleh lapisan sel-sel otot polos.
Stabilitas plak aterosklerosis ditentukan oleh kuat tidaknya lapisan pelindung. Bila lapisan pelindung itu rapuh, maka plak itu mudah pecah manakala ada pemicu seperti latihan fisik yang berat, marah, stress atau bahkan hubungan intim. Plak yang pecah akan menstimulasi proses penggumpalan darah yang dapat lebih mempersempit liang pembuluh atau bahkan menyumbatnya. Sumbatan di liang pembuluh koroner bila berlangsung lebih dari 20 menit dapat mematikan otot-otot jantung yang berujung pada disfungsi pompa jantung atau hilangnya nyawa penderita. Hingga kini para ahli belum menemukan cara terbaik dalam mendeteksi plak yang rapuh. Diduga kuat faktor inflamasi berperan dalam proses perapuhan plak.
Pilihan Terapi
Pilihan terapi lebih didasarkan pada pertimbangan pencegahan risiko fatal PJK ketimbang sekedar menghilangkan keluhan nyeri dada. Paradigma baru dalam terapi obat-obatan penderita PJK adalah upaya stabilisasi plak dengan dosis tinggi HMG-co A reductase inhibitors atau yang lebih dikenal dengan nama statin. Efek antiperadangan obat penurun kolesterol ini diyakini memiliki kemampuan memperkuat lapisan pelindung plak dan bahkan dapat mereduksi penyempitan.
Namun pada sebagian penderita terutama yang berisiko tinggi, obat-obatan kerap kurang ideal. Para ahli kini lebih cenderung melakukan intervensi lebih dini. Ya, mirip sikap preemptive war ala Bush. Hal ini dimungkinkan karena intervensi nonbedah pada pembuluh koroner semakin aman dilakukan dan dengan outcome yang memuaskan.
Sejak Dr. Andreas Gruentzig pada 1977 mengumumkan pertama kali keberhasilan melakukan pelebaran pembuluh koroner tanpa bedah yang disebut PTCA (Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty) atau dikenal dengan istilah balonisasi tindakan ini semakin kerap dilakukan.
PTCA hanya memerlukan sayatan kulit kecil di lengan atau pangkal paha untuk menyelipkan kateter pada arteri yang menuju ke muara koroner. Melalui kateter itu dimasukkan kateter lain yang mempunyai balon di ujungnya. Pada lokasi penyempitan, balon itu dikembangkan. Balon yang telah melebarkan koroner itu kemudian dikempiskan kembali dan ditarik keluar.
Namun saat itu hingga dekade berikutnya hanya segelintir penderita yang memenuhi syarat untuk dilakukan tindakan balonisasi. Hal ini lantaran teknologi yang masih sederhana sehingga kurang begitu aman, juga angka penyempitan ulang
(restenosis) pascabalonisasi dapat mencapai 40 persen. Karena itu para ahli masih memprioritaskan bedah sebagai alternatif terbaik.
Namun seiring dengan perbaikan bahan-bahan kateterisasi, struktur balon serta temuan obat-obat antipenggumpalan darah baru, maka kini tindakan ini menjadi jauh lebih aman. Angka penyempitan ulang menjadi menurun drastis setelah para ahli menyertakan pemasangan stent setelah dibalon. Stent yang berbentuk laksana cincin atau gorong-gorong ini dapat mempertahankan pelebaran yang dilakukan balon. Tahun-tahun terakhir ini dikenal jenis stent berlapis berbagai jenis obat yang mampu mereduksi angka penyempitan ulang hingga di bawah lima persen. Selain itu dikenal pula teknik pengerokan dan pengeboran sumbatan koroner yang mengeras termasuk penggunaan laser.
Walhasil, kini intervensi nonbedah dapat dilakukan pada berbagai kondisi PJK yang sebelumnya hanya mampu dikerjakan di meja operasi. Berbagai studi yang membandingkan secara langsung antara intervensi bedah dan nonbedah pada penderita PJK memperlihatkan hasil yang tidak berbeda bahkan pada kasus-kasus yang sulit sekalipun.
Yang masih menjadi ganjalan intervensi nonbedah adalah mahalnya biaya yang harus dikeluarkan oleh penderita. Harga sebuah stent berlapis obat dengan ukuran beberapa milimeter itu ada yang di atas 30 juta rupiah.
Kenyataan tersebut meyakinkan kita bahwa pencegahan memang jauh lebih murah ketimbangan pengobatan. Sayangnya perubahan ke arah perilaku sehat seringkali baru mulai disadari saat penderita terbaring tak berdaya..
Bagaimana mengurangkan risiko sakit jantung.
Anda boleh memastikan samaada keluarga sebelah ibu atau sebelah bapa anda ada yang mengidap penyakit jantung. Sekiranya ada, anda perlu lebih berwaspada dengan tanda-tanda penyakit jantung dan digalakkan menjalani pemeriksaan tahunan. Walau bagaimanapun, adalah lebih baik sekiranya anda mengambil langkah-langkah pencegahan walaupun tidak mempunyai keturunan yang pernah sakit jantung.
Adalah lebih baik sekiranya anda mengelakkan atau berhenti merokok terutama sekiranya anda berusia melebihi 35 tahun. Anda juga perlu mengambil ubat dan mengawal permakanan anda sekiranya anda mempunyai tekanan darah tinggi atau kencing manis. Anda juga perlu mengawal tekanan perasaan anda dan jangan cepat meradang atau runsing. Berbincanglah dengan keluarga terdekat sekiranya anda berhadapan dengan masaalah.
Mereka yang mempunyai kecenderungan mendapat penyakit jantung juga digalakkan memakan daging putih "white meat" seperti daging ayam, ikan, dan mengelakkan dari terlalu kerap memakan daging merah "red meat" seperti daging lembu, kambing, kerbau dan lain-lain sepertinya.
Senaman yang dimulakan secara beransur-ansur, akan membantu merangsang aliran darah untuk mengalir dengan lebih lancar. Pastikan anda mendapat nasihat doktor sebelum mula bersenam, dan mulalah bersenam secara beransur-ansur.
Gentian serat yang terdapat dalam makanan dipercayai boleh menyerap sebahagian dari lemak / kalesterol, oleh itu pakar permakanan mempercayai makanan yang banyak serat seperti bijiran oat dapat mengurangkan jumlah kalesterol yang diserap oleh badan, dengan itu mengurangkan kadar berlakunya arthrosklerosis. Bagaimanapun, serat semulajadi juga banyak terdapat dalam sayuran dan buah-buahan segar dan pengambilan sayur dan buah-buahan segar juga mampu menyerap kalesterol.
Adalah lebih baik sekiranya anda mengelakkan atau berhenti merokok terutama sekiranya anda berusia melebihi 35 tahun. Anda juga perlu mengambil ubat dan mengawal permakanan anda sekiranya anda mempunyai tekanan darah tinggi atau kencing manis. Anda juga perlu mengawal tekanan perasaan anda dan jangan cepat meradang atau runsing. Berbincanglah dengan keluarga terdekat sekiranya anda berhadapan dengan masaalah.
Mereka yang mempunyai kecenderungan mendapat penyakit jantung juga digalakkan memakan daging putih "white meat" seperti daging ayam, ikan, dan mengelakkan dari terlalu kerap memakan daging merah "red meat" seperti daging lembu, kambing, kerbau dan lain-lain sepertinya.
Senaman yang dimulakan secara beransur-ansur, akan membantu merangsang aliran darah untuk mengalir dengan lebih lancar. Pastikan anda mendapat nasihat doktor sebelum mula bersenam, dan mulalah bersenam secara beransur-ansur.
Gentian serat yang terdapat dalam makanan dipercayai boleh menyerap sebahagian dari lemak / kalesterol, oleh itu pakar permakanan mempercayai makanan yang banyak serat seperti bijiran oat dapat mengurangkan jumlah kalesterol yang diserap oleh badan, dengan itu mengurangkan kadar berlakunya arthrosklerosis. Bagaimanapun, serat semulajadi juga banyak terdapat dalam sayuran dan buah-buahan segar dan pengambilan sayur dan buah-buahan segar juga mampu menyerap kalesterol.
Bagaimana Terjadinya Sakit Jantung
Angina (sakit dada bila kepenatan) terjadi akibat berlakunya arthrosklerosis di mana saluran yang membekalkan darah ke otot-otot jantung menyempit dan pengaliran darah terhalang. Serangan sakit jantung terjadi apabila darah membeku di kawasan arthrosklerosis dan menghalang sepenuhnya pengaliran darah ke otot-otot jantung. Keadaan ini menyebabkan sel jantung mati akibat tidak mendapat oksigen.
Tanda-tanda serangan sakit jantung termasuklah kesakitan di bahagian jantung, berpeluh, loya dan kesukaran untuk pernafasan.
Dalam kes-kes serangan sakit jantung tertentu ia tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda biasa.
Faktor-faktor yang meningkatkan kemungkinan menghadapi penyakit jantung koronari
Jika anda mempunyai keturunan yang mengidap penyakit jantung.
Jika anda berusia 35 tahun ke atas dan mempunyai masalah berat badan.
Jika anda merokok.
Jika anda gagal mengawal tekanan darah anda.
Jika anda mengidap penyakit kencing manis.
Jika anda menghadapi masalah mengawal tekanan.
Jika pemilihan makanan anda tidak betul makanan anda mengandungi kadar kolesterol dan lemak yang tinggi.
Jika anda kurang bersenam.
Jika anda kurang memakan sayur dan buah segar.
Tanda-tanda serangan sakit jantung termasuklah kesakitan di bahagian jantung, berpeluh, loya dan kesukaran untuk pernafasan.
Dalam kes-kes serangan sakit jantung tertentu ia tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda biasa.
Faktor-faktor yang meningkatkan kemungkinan menghadapi penyakit jantung koronari
Jika anda mempunyai keturunan yang mengidap penyakit jantung.
Jika anda berusia 35 tahun ke atas dan mempunyai masalah berat badan.
Jika anda merokok.
Jika anda gagal mengawal tekanan darah anda.
Jika anda mengidap penyakit kencing manis.
Jika anda menghadapi masalah mengawal tekanan.
Jika pemilihan makanan anda tidak betul makanan anda mengandungi kadar kolesterol dan lemak yang tinggi.
Jika anda kurang bersenam.
Jika anda kurang memakan sayur dan buah segar.
Penyakit Koronari Jantung
Penyakit yang berkenaan jantung dikenali sebagai penyakit kardiovascular. Penyakit kardiovascular merupakan punca utama kesakitan dan kematian yang disahkan oleh doktor di Malaysia. Pada tahun 1988, 29.4% dari angka kematian yang disahkan oleh doktor di Semenanjung Malaysia adalah disebabkan oleh penyakit kardiovascular.
Di antara tahun 1981 hingga 1989, kadar kematian yang disebabkan oleh penyakit kardiovascular di Semenanjung Malaysia bertambah dari 15.3 bagi setiap 100,000 penduduk kepada 37 bagi setiap 100,000 penduduk. Kemasukan ke hospital bagi penyakit ini telah bertambah dari 10,190 kepada 64,696 di antara 1965 dan 1989, pertambahan sebanyak 534% dalam masa 24 tahun. Tetapi mungkin pertambahan ini berlaku disebabkan oleh beberapa perkara, antaranya kemungkinan disebabkan timbulnya kesedaran mendalam di kalangan penduduk Malaysia menyebabkan mereka lebih kerap memeriksa kesihatan mereka. Ini menyebabkan lebih banyak kes baru direkodkan berbanding masa yang lalu.
Jantung merupakan satu organ yang penting dan sebarang gangguan kepada jantung akan mengakibat penyakit yang boleh membawa maut. Antara keadaan yang mengakibatkan sakit jantung adalah kerosakan pada koronari arteri dalam jantung. Keadaan kerosakan pada koronari arteri ini dikenali sebagai penyakit koronari jantung. Penyumbang utama penyakit koronari jantung adalah arthrosklerosis. Arthrosklerosis berlaku apabila gumpalan lemak terkumpul dalam saluran darah lalu menyempitkan laluan darah beroksigen kepada jantung. Ini akan menjadikan jantung kekurangan oksigen dan apabila keadaan ini berterusan, bahagian jantung yang tidak menerima oksigen itu akan mati dan menjadi biru kehitaman.
Gumpalan lemak ini dipercayai berasal daripada kalesterol yang tinggi dalam darah, oleh itu anda dinasihatkan mengurangkan kadar pengambilan lemak tepu yang mengandungi kalesterol yang tinggi. Arthroskelorosis berlaku secara perlahan-lahan dan mengambil masa yang panjang untuk terbentuk. Bagaimanapun sekiranya tidak dikesan dan dirawat awal, arthrosklerosis boleh menjadi bertambah buruk dan boleh menyebabkan kematian. Tanda-tanda penyakit koronari jantung adalah sesak nafas atau tercungap-cungap bila kepenatan, degupan jantung yang luarbiasa, angina pektoris, sakit jantung, lemah jantung dan kematian mengejut.
Di antara tahun 1981 hingga 1989, kadar kematian yang disebabkan oleh penyakit kardiovascular di Semenanjung Malaysia bertambah dari 15.3 bagi setiap 100,000 penduduk kepada 37 bagi setiap 100,000 penduduk. Kemasukan ke hospital bagi penyakit ini telah bertambah dari 10,190 kepada 64,696 di antara 1965 dan 1989, pertambahan sebanyak 534% dalam masa 24 tahun. Tetapi mungkin pertambahan ini berlaku disebabkan oleh beberapa perkara, antaranya kemungkinan disebabkan timbulnya kesedaran mendalam di kalangan penduduk Malaysia menyebabkan mereka lebih kerap memeriksa kesihatan mereka. Ini menyebabkan lebih banyak kes baru direkodkan berbanding masa yang lalu.
Jantung merupakan satu organ yang penting dan sebarang gangguan kepada jantung akan mengakibat penyakit yang boleh membawa maut. Antara keadaan yang mengakibatkan sakit jantung adalah kerosakan pada koronari arteri dalam jantung. Keadaan kerosakan pada koronari arteri ini dikenali sebagai penyakit koronari jantung. Penyumbang utama penyakit koronari jantung adalah arthrosklerosis. Arthrosklerosis berlaku apabila gumpalan lemak terkumpul dalam saluran darah lalu menyempitkan laluan darah beroksigen kepada jantung. Ini akan menjadikan jantung kekurangan oksigen dan apabila keadaan ini berterusan, bahagian jantung yang tidak menerima oksigen itu akan mati dan menjadi biru kehitaman.
Gumpalan lemak ini dipercayai berasal daripada kalesterol yang tinggi dalam darah, oleh itu anda dinasihatkan mengurangkan kadar pengambilan lemak tepu yang mengandungi kalesterol yang tinggi. Arthroskelorosis berlaku secara perlahan-lahan dan mengambil masa yang panjang untuk terbentuk. Bagaimanapun sekiranya tidak dikesan dan dirawat awal, arthrosklerosis boleh menjadi bertambah buruk dan boleh menyebabkan kematian. Tanda-tanda penyakit koronari jantung adalah sesak nafas atau tercungap-cungap bila kepenatan, degupan jantung yang luarbiasa, angina pektoris, sakit jantung, lemah jantung dan kematian mengejut.
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