Page contents
- What is a heart attack?
- symptoms
- Causes and risk factors
- Multiples
- Diagnosis
- treatment
- protection
A heart attack most often occurs when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood in a coronary artery, the blood vessel that delivers blood to part of the heart muscle, potentially causing damage to or even complete destruction of part of the heart muscle.
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In the past, heart attacks often ended in death. Today, the majority of people who have heart attacks survive, thanks to increased awareness of the signs and symptoms of heart attacks and improved treatments.
Our general lifestyle, the food we eat, the pace of physical activity we do and the way we deal with stress and tension all play an important role in heart attack recovery.
A healthy lifestyle may also help prevent a first or sequential heart attack by reducing the risk factors that contribute to narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart.
Heart attack symptoms
Common heart attack symptoms include:
- Pressure or a feeling of congestion in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes.
- Pain that spreads to the shoulder, arm, back, or even to the teeth and jaw.
- Chest pains for periods are increasing.
- Constant pain in the upper abdomen.
- Shortness of breath.
- sweating
- Feeling of impending doom.
- syncope or fainting;
- Nausea and vomiting.
Heart attacks in women can be different, or the symptoms of a heart attack may be milder than the symptoms of a heart attack in men. In addition to the symptoms of a heart attack mentioned above, symptoms of a heart attack in women also include:
- Pain or burning in the upper abdomen.
- wet skin;
- Dizziness.
- Unusual or unexplained tiredness.
Not everyone who has a heart attack has the same symptoms of a heart attack, and if the symptoms of a heart attack appear the same, they will not be of the same severity in everyone who has a heart attack.
Many heart attacks aren't as dramatic as those seen on TV, and some people even have a heart attack without showing symptoms of a heart attack at all.
A heart attack can occur at any time and anywhere at work, during play, while resting or during movement, and there are heart attacks that occur suddenly, but many of those who have a heart attack show warning signs hours, days or weeks before the attack occurs .
The first sign of an impending heart attack may be recurrent chest pain that gets stronger and sharper with physical exertion and subsides with rest. Angina pectoris is caused by temporary and insufficient blood flow to the heart, a condition also known as cardiac ischemia.
Heart attack causes and risk factors
The medical term that refers to a heart attack is a myocardial infarction, which means the death of tissues due to a lack of oxygen, and like any other muscle in the body, the heart muscle needs a constant and continuous supply of blood.
Without blood, heart cells are damaged in a way that leads to pain or pressure. If blood supply is not renewed, heart cells may die, in which case scar tissue can form instead of active heart tissue. An irregular or inadequate blood flow to the heart can cause To cause an abnormal heart rhythm that can be fatal.
The cause of a heart attack is a blockage in one or more of the arteries that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood. These arteries are called coronary arteries, and they surround the heart like a crown. Arterial blockage occurs as a result of a blood clot. If the clot is relatively large, it may block the blood flow in the artery, and the condition in which Coronary arteries are narrowed as a result of atherosclerosis called arteriosclerosis, and atherosclerosis is one of the most important causes of a heart attack.
An uncommon cause of a heart attack is a coronary artery spasm or spasm, which blocks blood flow to part of the heart muscle, and toxins such as cocaine can cause such a fatal spasm.
risk factors
Risk factors that increase blood clots in the coronary artery include:
- Tobacco smoking.
- High blood pressure, over time, high blood pressure may cause damage to the arteries that supply blood to the heart, because it accelerates the hardening of the arteries.
- High blood cholesterol or triglycerides in the blood.
- Lack of physical activity.
- Obesity: Very obese people have a particularly high percentage of body fat.
- diabetes.
- Stress.
- A family history of heart attacks.
- People who have high levels of homocysteine and fibrinogen are more likely to develop heart disease.
Complications of a heart attack
Heart attack complications are usually related to damage to the heart during a heart attack. Damage like this can lead to the following problems:
1. Irregular heartbeat
If the heart muscle is damaged as a result of the heart attack, short circuits can form that disrupt the heart rhythm, some of which can be so severe that they lead to death.
2. Congestive heart failure
The damage to cardiac tissue may be so great that the portion of the heart muscle that remains healthy is unable to pump blood out of the heart normally.
As a result, the amount of blood that reaches the various tissues and organs in the body is less than normal, which may cause shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling of the ankles and feet.
Heart failure may be a temporary problem that resolves spontaneously after the heart recovers within a few days or weeks of its shock, but heart failure may also be a chronic disease caused by significant and permanent damage to the heart during a heart attack.
3. Heart muscle rupture
The heart muscle may rupture in some of its parts that have been weakened by a heart attack, creating a hole in the heart and often leading to rapid death.
4. Damage to the heart valves
If one or more of the heart valves is damaged during a myocardial infarction, the damage may progress to serious life-threatening problems.
Diagnosis of a heart attack
Ideally, during a routine physical exam, a doctor should look for risk factors that may lead to a heart attack.
If a person has had a heart attack, or if he suspects that he is having a heart attack, he should go to the emergency room, and the diagnosis is made through the following:
- The medical staff asks the patient to describe the symptoms he has noticed.
- His blood pressure, pulse and temperature are measured.
- It is attached to the heart machine and immediately begins the tests that determine if he is indeed having a heart attack.
- Medical staff listens for the heartbeat and the movement of air in the lungs with a stethoscope.
- The medical staff asks questions about the patient's medical history and about the history of heart disease in his family.
Medical tests conducted by medical staff help determine whether signs and symptoms such as: chest pain or others indicate a heart attack or other problems. These tests include the following:
- Electrocardiogram (ECG).
- blood tests;
- Other examinations.
If the person has had or is having a heart attack in the past, doctors will take immediate steps to remedy the situation. The following tests may be necessary:
- Chest X-ray: This allows the doctor to check the size and shape of the heart and blood vessels.
- Nuclear scan: This test helps detect and locate problems with blood flow to the heart.
- Echocardiogram: This test uses sound waves to produce an electrocardiogram.
- Angioplasty: This test shows whether the coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked.
- In the first days or weeks after a heart attack, stress tests may be ordered. These tests check how the heart and blood vessels respond to physical exertion.
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Heart attack treatment
Treatment options include:
immediate treatment
In the event of a heart attack, the following steps must be taken immediately and without any delay:
- Immediate contact to receive urgent medical help, and even when a heart attack is suspected, you must act without any hesitation or delay.
- Take nitroglycerin if your doctor has prescribed nitroglycerin. Glyceryl trinitrate is a coronary vasodilator that should be taken as directed.
- In its first minutes, a heart attack can cause ventricular fibrillation, meaning the heart quiveres in vain, and ventricular fibrillation that is not treated promptly can lead to sudden death.
An external defibrillator that restores the heart to its normal rhythm with an electrical shock may be an appropriate and successful emergency treatment even before the heart attack has arrived at the hospital.
drug therapy
With every minute that passes after a heart attack, the number of tissues that do not get the necessary oxygen normally and regularly increases, resulting in their damage or complete destruction and death.
The main way to stop tissue damage is to quickly repair the circulatory system, so that the blood returns to its flow and reaches the various cells, tissues and organs in the body.
Medicines used to treat a heart attack include:
- Aspirin.
- Blood thinners (Thrombolytics).
- Clopidogrel (Clopidogrel).
- Other medicines to prevent blood clots.
- Sedatives.
- Nitroglycerin.
- Beta blockers.
- Cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Surgeries and other measures
In addition to drug treatment, one of the following two procedures may be needed to treat a heart attack:
- Coronary angioplasty: A surgical procedure that aims to remove narrowed or blocked areas in the coronary arteries, either by balloon angioplasty or by a stent.
- Other treatments: Coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
heart attack prevention
It is never too late to take measures and measures to prevent and prevent a heart attack and this can also be done even after a heart attack has occurred, as drug treatment has become an essential and very important part of reducing the risk of a heart attack, and in helping and supporting the heart that has been injured to return to better performance.
Habits and lifestyle also play an important role in preventing, preventing or recovering from heart attacks. The most important prevention methods include:
1. Medicines
Doctors generally recommend drug treatments for people who have had a heart attack or for people who are at high risk of having a heart attack.
Medicines that help improve the functioning of the heart or reduce the risk of a heart attack include:
- Blood thinners that prevent clotting.
- Beta-blockers. These medications reduce heart rate and blood pressure, reduce the workload on the heart, and help prevent additional heart attacks.
- Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI).
- Cholesterol-lowering drugs.
2. Lifestyle modification
Lifestyle has a critical impact on the heart, so taking the following steps will help not only prevent heart attacks, but also recover and recover from heart attacks that have occurred, and include the following:
- stop smoking.
- Get a cholesterol test done.
- Have regular medical examinations.
- Monitor and maintain a healthy level of blood pressure.
- Do regular physical activity.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Facing stress and psychological tensions and overcoming them.
- Not drinking alcohol.
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