How Much Do You Know About Heart Attack?

Many people are scared to even think about heart attacks, because these terrible events are often assumed to be a death sentences. Nevertheless, many heart attack patients do survive if appropriate medications, surgical procedures or surgery are carried out in time.

A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infraction (MI), occurs when a coronary artery (one of the blood vessels that supplies oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle) becomes blocked. This causes the area of heart muscle that does not receive blood to die.

The seriousness of a heart attack greatly depends on how much of the heart is damaged. Often the surrounding healthy muscle can still work, allowing the heart to pump blood while the injured muscle heals and recovers some of its strength.

People who are prone to heart attack are those with family history of coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled diabetes, smoking habits, high levels of stress, or those who are obese and do not exercise.

In general, if you have a family history of coronary heart disease, you will have a higher risk of suffering a heart attack at some point in your life.

High cholesterol is an indication that there is too much cholesterol in the blood, meaning risk of heart attack increases. A cholesterol level above 240 is dangerous. The triglyceride (type of fat molecules in the blood) level should be below 200.

If one has uncontrolled high blood pressure, his or her heart has to work a lot harder. This increases the risk. Blood pressure is indicated as two numbers: the top number (systolic pressure) reflects the pressure of blood in the vessels as the heart beats; and the bottom number (diastolic pressure) shows the pressure of the blood between heartbeats. For adults, if your blood pressure exceeds 140/90, you are classified as having high blood pressure, which is also known as hypertension.

People who live with with uncontrolled diabetes can have their odds of getting a heart attack increased by 2 to 3 times if their blood sugar levels are not kept tightly under control. If a Glycated Hemoglobin Test (a blood test that indicates the overall degree of diabetes control) indicates a result that does not fall within the optimal range of 6.5 – 7%, the person may be at risk of suffering a heart attack.

Are you aware that smokers are 3 times more likely to get a heart attack as well? The thousands of different poisons in cigarette smoke damage your arteries, speed up arteriosclerosis and deprive your heart of oxygen, and the more you smoke, the worse your risk is.

Age and gender can play a part in your risk of falling victim to a heart attack, too. Older people are at a greater risk of getting heart attacks. Women are at a lower risk of developing heart disease at younger age due to the protective effects of female hormones before menopause, but even younger women can have heart attacks, and they are less likely to be diagnosed in time.

Are there any symptoms that you should know about so that you can better observe whether a person is having heart attack? Yes of course, but a heart attack can be felt differently by different people. Usually, angina is the first sign of heart disease. This can be felt as chest pain or discomfort caused by reduced blood flow to the heart. Sometimes, someone who is having a heart attack may feel pain in his or her arms or jaw. There are also other signs such as dizziness, fainting, sweating or nausea.

The most common test to diagnose whether a person is having a heart attack is to undergo an Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG). This non-invasive test checks the heart’s rhythm and locates the area in the heart where an attack might be occurring or has occurred.

Once it is clear that a person is having a heart attack, immediate treatment by doctors usually includes drugs to open the blocked artery. Medication can help restore blood flow to the heart muscle preventing clots from forming again.

For more a serious heart attack, heart surgical procedures may be proposed. These include balloon angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) to widen narrowed arteries with an inflated balloon. Sometimes, such procedures also use devices known as “stents” to help keep the arteries open.

Read More: How to prevent the heart attack?

If the blockages in the blood vessels are very severe, doctors may call for a coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). This is another operative procedure where blood vessels from other parts of the body are removed and used as a graft to by pass the obstruction in the coronary artery, thus re-supplying the heart muscles.

Taking medications, undergoing procedures or surgery cannot guarantee the heart attack patients free from recurrence of heart attack.  The risk of having a second heart attack are relatively high for both men and women. Therefore, it is important for heart attack patients to continue with medical follow-up treatment, participate in cardiac rehabilitation if possible, and make the necessary lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of having another heart attack. Quit smoking at once, adopt healthy eating and start an exercise program to reduce the risk of another heart attack.