The information on signs of heart attack given below are intended for general use only. It is not a medical advise. Please consult your doctor.
Following are the signs of heart attack.
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea or vomiting
- Crushing or squeezing chest pain radiating to the arm, neck or jaw
- Irregular and/or rapid pulse
- Intense pain in the jaw line.
Not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm pain. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Call emergency services immediately if you experience any of the other symptoms.
Some of these signs necessarily do not indicate the heart disease.
What to do for an attack? Self help
If you have a heart attack and you are alone, you should know what to do and how to survive in such a situation. Note that you have only 10 seconds to act, so you should be fast.
Do the following:
- Keep calm, do not panic.
- Take a very deep breath and start coughing vigorously. Deep breath gives you oxygen to your lungs and coughing squeeze the heart helping the blood to circulate.
- Repeat deep breath and coughing every 2 seconds until you get a help or your heart starts beating normally.
- Dr. Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist), Bangalore recommends: Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay. Do not wait for the ambulance since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.
First 60 minutes of suffering heart attack very crucial
More than 80% of heart attacks can be reversed by timely action during the first one hour of the attack.
Call the Doctor and do the following.
- Check the patient's breathing and the pulse by placing a finger on the side of the throat, below the line of the ear.
- Make the patient lie on the floor, tilt him/her to the left and make him/her lie on the side. Raise the legs 12-18 inches up till the knees near the abdomen. This will enable more blood flow to heart.
- Bring back to lying position. Blow air in the mouth (mouth-to mouth respiration). After this, immediately place one palm just over the lower part of the breast bone. Keep the other palm on this palm and pump hard. Do this twice per second for about a minute.
- Continue blowing of air and pumping till you feel the heart beat returning to normal.
Heart coronary disease is caused by fatty deposits in the blood arteries, high blood pressure, and some other factors. You should know the risk factors of heart disease and reduce the risk of heart attack. More than 2500 people die daily from heart disease.
What Causes Heart Disease
Heart disease or coronary heart disease results when plaque (a fibrous tissue) builds up inside the arterial walls, which causes a partial or complete obstruction of blood flow. The effect of this is less oxygen carrying blood to heart and may result in angina. Angina is a sensation of discomfort, pain, burning or pressure which is generally felt in the chest area and may propagate to the arms or neck.
Angina may be the first indication of heart disease. But many people with heart disease often get no warning signals, until they suffer a full heart attack. Chest pain should not been ignored, even when it is not permanent.
Heart Disease & Woman
Most people think that heart disease is a problem mostly for men. But according to the American Heart Association, more women than men die from heart disease in the U.S.
"40% of the time the first symptom of heart disease for a woman is a fatal heart attack, so don't wait until you have a risk factor," warns cardiologist Dr. Lori Mosca.
Heart Disease Relation with Neck, Thighs & Waist Size
Besides ballooned waistlines, a fat neck may also signal possible trouble for the heart. It is found that that for every 3cm increase in neck size, men (average neck size 40.5cm) can have their HDL (good cholesterol) reduced by 2.2 mg/dl and women (average neck size 34.2cm) by 2.7mg/dl. The neck size, however, does not affect LDL cholesterol.
The neck size also affects the blood sugar levels; for every 3cm more of neck men had 3.0mg/dl more and women 2.1mg/dl.
The study says that even those with relatively trim waistlines appeared to be at greater risk if they had larger necks.
Women who measure 35 inch around their waist are at high risk or already have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or diabetes. Talk to your doctor, make some lifestyle changes and get heart healthy. The waist size and the waist to hip raio is very important for the heart.
The size of thighs is also important for the health of heart. "The thinner your thighs, the greater your risk of heart disease," reports a study published in British Medical Journal on 4 Sept 2009. However, fat thighs above 60 cm in circumference are not good for heart.
Scientists say that knowing your overall heart attack risk factors such as age, family history and smoking status, is more important than knowing your cholesterol level. "If your overall risk is elevated, you should probably be on a statin medicine regardless of what your cholesterol level. However, if your LDL cholesterol is high, but your overall heart attack risk is low, taking a statin does not make sense for you. If your cholesterol is your only risk factor and you're younger, you should work on diet and exercise", says (Jan 2010) Professor Rodney A. Hayward of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.
- Heart attack | The Heart Foundation
- Heart Attack Symptoms
- What Causes a Heart Attack?
Also Read The Following
Warning signs of diseases | Blood in urine during pregnancy | Brain tumor symptoms | Cancer Symptoms | Types of Cancers | Cancer fighting foods | Liver Cancer Symptoms | What is Mesothelioma cancer | Heart attack warning signs |Warning signs of Stroke | Prostate cancer symptoms | Kidney stones warning signs |Thyroid levels | Thyroid treatment | Urinary incontinence treatment | Urinary tract infection symptoms
The content on this website is reviewed regularly and is updated when new information is made available. The information provided is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should always seek the advice of your Doctor.