A heart attack is the death of a segment of heart muscle caused by a loss of blood supply. The blood is usually cut off when an artery supplying the heart muscle is blocked by a blood clot.
It come when there is a sudden complete blockage of an artery that supplies blood to an area of your heart.
As we get older, the smooth inner walls of the arteries that supply the blood to the heart can become damaged and narrow due to the build up of fatty materials, called plaque.
When an area of plaque breaks, blood cells and other parts of the blood stick to the damaged area and form blood clots. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot completely blocks the flow of blood and seriously reduces blood flow to the heart muscle. This also results in patients experiencing chest pain.
As a result, some of the heart muscle starts to die.
The longer the blockage is left untreated, the more the heart muscle is damaged. If the blood flow is not restored quickly, the damage to the heart muscle is permanent.
A heart attack is sometimes called a myocardial infarction (MI), acute myocardial infarction, coronary occlusion or coronary thrombosis.
Plaque Builds up
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A blood clot forms, blocking the artery.
Fast facts on heart attacks:
· During a heart attack, the heart muscle loses blood supply and is damaged.
· Chest discomfort and pain are common symptoms.
· The risk of a heart attack increases when a man is over 45 and a woman is over 55.
· Smoking and obesity are big factors, particularly in the at-risk age range.
How Plaque, Blood Clots can Cause Heart Attack
Plaque can occur in coronary and other arteries (for example, carotid arteries). Some plaque may be hard or firm on the outside, but soft and mushy or sticky on the inside. If the hard shell-like area cracks open, blood components like platelets and small blood clots form a large clot and effectively block blood flow through the artery. The heart tissue downstream from the clot then suffers from lack of blood and becomes damaged or dies.
Controllable Heart Disease Risks
Often, risk factors for heart disease can be managed or reduced through simple methods. Common risk factors for heart disease include the following:
Heart Diseases Risks You Can Control
· Diabetes
· Elevated cholesterol
· High blood pressure
· Lack of physical activity
· Stop smoking
These risk factors can be reduced simply by making healthy lifestyle choices and taking medications. Your primary care doctor can help you with your choices and medications.
Smoking Increases Heart Disease Risk
Many researchers suggest one of the best things a person can do to decrease the risk of heart disease is to stop smoking cigarettes. Smoking increases a person's risk for heart disease from 2 to about 4 times greater than nonsmokers. Smoking can damage the heart muscle, its blood vessels, can raise blood pressure, increase carbon monoxide levels, and reduce oxygen available to heart tissue.
People who do not smoke but are exposed to second-hand smoke are at greater risk for heart disease than those not exposed to second-hand smoke. Although over 135,000 people die each year from heart disease related to smoking, it is never too late to quit smoking because once you quit, your risk of heart disease begins to drop almost immediately.
Symptoms
There are clear symptoms of a heart attack that require immediate medical attention.
A feeling of pressure, tightness, pain, squeezing, or aching in the chest or arms that spreads to the neck, jaw, or back can be a sign that a person is having a heart attack.
The following are other possible signs and symptoms of a heart attack occurring:
· coughing
· nausea
· vomiting
· crushing chest pain
· dizziness
· shortness of breath called dyspnea
· face seeming gray in color
· a feeling of terror that life is ending
· feeling awful, generally
· restlessness
· feeling clammy and sweaty
· shortness of breath
Changing position does not alleviate the pain of a heart attack. The pain a person feels is normally constant, although it may sometimes come and go.
Heart Attack Symptoms in Women
Although some women present with symptoms of chest pain, a large number of women will not present with chest pain. Instead, women commonly have a different set of heart attack symptoms.
Know These Heart Attack Symptoms
Know These Heart Attack Symptoms
· Arrhythmias
· Cough
· Heartburn
· Loss of appetite
· Malaise
Such symptoms in women cause delays in diagnosis if the symptoms are not considered as possible signs of heart disease. Delays in diagnosis can cause further damage to heart tissue or even death.
Preventing Heart Disease
Heart disease prevention and risk reduction is possible by living a healthy lifestyle. Basic components of a heart-healthy lifestyle include:
· Never smoke or stop smoking cigarettes (and using other tobacco products)
· Eat a nutritious diet (many vegetables and fruits, less fats, sugars, and meats)
· Get at least 30 minutes of exercise almost every day
· Avoid alcohol or consume no more than 1 drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men
· If needed, achieve medical control of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol
· Encourage friends and family to help you. Maybe they could benefit from your good example!
Who Is at Risk for Heart Disease?
Health conditions, lifestyle, age, and family history may increase your risk for heart disease. Although men, even at a younger age, have a higher risk for heart disease than women, heart disease is still the number one killer of both sexes (about 611,000 total deaths/year). People with a family history of heart disease, who smoke, and who are obese have a higher risk of developing heart disease. About half of all Americans (47%) have at least one of three key risk factor for heart disease including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or smoking.
Heart Disease and Diet
A major key to preventing, recovering from, and slowing heart disease is a heart-healthy diet. Most heart doctors recommend the following foods.
· Heart-Healthy Foods
· Fruits
· Legumes
· Vegetables
· Whole grains
Foods That May Help Reduce Cholesterol Levels
· Nuts
· Plant oils
· Seeds
Eating fish about twice a week is a good source of protein without the fats found in red meat. Some researchers have suggested that a more vegetarian-like diet may actually reverse some aspects of coronary artery disease like plaque size.
While heart disease is treatable by many methods, prevention or healing by living a reasonable lifestyle seems to be one of the best ways to reduce this widespread health problem.
Diagnosis
If you are rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack, your health care team will do some tests to find out if you are having a heart attack. They may include:
· Electrocardiogram (ECG)
· blood tests
· chest X-ray
· coronary angiogram.
These tests will help them to decide the best treatment for you
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Treatment
Coronary angioplasty and stenting. Doctors insert a long, thin tube (catheter) that's passed through an artery, usually in your leg or groin, to a blocked artery in your heart. If you've had a heart attack, this procedure is often done immediately after a cardiac catheterization, a procedure used to locate blockages.
Coronary artery bypass surgery. In some cases, doctors may perform emergency bypass surgery at the time of a heart attack. If possible, your doctor may suggest that you have bypass surgery after your heart has had time — about three to seven days — to recover from your heart attack.
Bypass surgery involves sewing veins or arteries in place beyond a blocked or narrowed coronary artery, allowing blood flow to the heart to bypass the narrowed section.
Your lifestyle affects your heart health. The following steps can help you not only prevent but also recover from a heart attack:
· Avoid smoke. The most important thing you can do to improve your heart's health is to not smoke. Also, avoid being around secondhand smoke. If you need to quit, ask your doctor for help.
· Control your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If one or both of these is high, your doctor can prescribe changes to your diet and medications. Ask your doctor how often you need to have your blood pressure and cholesterol levels monitored.
· Get regular medical checkups. Some of the major risk factors for heart attack — high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes — cause no symptoms early on. Your doctor can perform tests to check for these conditions and help you manage them, if necessary.
· Exercise regularly. Regular exercise helps improve heart muscle function after a heart attack and helps prevent a heart attack by helping you to control your weight, diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure. Exercise needn't be vigorous. Walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week can improve your health.
· Maintain a healthy weight. Excess weight strains your heart and can contribute to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.
· Eat a heart-healthy diet. Saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol in your diet can narrow arteries to your heart, and too much salt can raise blood pressure. Eat a heart-healthy diet that includes lean proteins, such as fish and beans, plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.
· Manage diabetes. High blood sugar is damaging to your heart. Regular exercise, eating well and losing weight all help to keep blood sugar levels at more-desirable levels. Many people also need medication to manage their diabetes.
· Control stress. Reduce stress in your day-to-day activities. Rethink workaholic habits and find healthy ways to minimize or deal with stressful events in your life.
· If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women and men older than age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger.
Heart Beat Monitoring Products
Prevention
The best way of preventing a heart attack is to have a healthy lifestyle. Measures for healthy living include the following:
- Not smoking
- Eating a balanced, healthful diet
- Getting plenty of exercise
- Getting plenty of good quality sleep
- Keeping diabetes under control
- Keeping alcohol intake down
- Maintaining blood cholesterol at optimum levels
- Keeping blood pressure at a safe level
- Maintaining a healthy body weight
- Avoiding stress where possible
- Learning how to manage stress
It may be helpful for people to learn more about the warning signs of a heart attack, as well.
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