Heart attack is a serious pathological condition caused by lack of blood supply to the acutely emerging cardiac muscle (due to blockage of blood clots and / or spasms, usually in the atherosclerotic plaque of the arteries feeding the heart), as well as the development of ischemia and necrosis (dying off) of part of this muscle.
Heart muscle necrosis is a myocardial infarction. In the first hour of the attack may come the so-called sudden cardiac or coronary death.
Currently about a third of heart attacks in people living in Europe, is fatal. And it's pretty much, because the number of heart attacks in the hundreds of thousands of cases each year, and is the leading cause of death of the population in civilized countries.
Most often, the heart attack death occurs during the first two hours and is associated with the inability of the heart to maintain normal blood circulation in the body. The heart attack survivor’s chances for recovery from the illness increases every day, drifting undergone attack from the incident.
Risk of heart attack is what people usually do not pay enough attention to appeared pain and other symptoms typical of heart attack, which is the main mistake that leads to irreversible pathology and death.
It is therefore necessary to know the basic heart attack symptoms, which may indicate a heart attack.
One of the most common symptoms of a heart attack is prolonged pain, which is localized in the chest. At that time the patient feels unpleasant pressure in the chest, sometimes a heartburn.
Pain may occur in the left half of the body: in a hand to the forearm, scapula, the left side of the neck. It is also possible the appearance of pain in the hands, in the mandible, the shoulders, in the upper abdomen. Pain with prolonged and can be constricting, sharp, burning and aching.
Characteristic symptoms suggestive of heart attack is shortness of breath, which is evident even at minimal activity, as well as at rest. This is due to the fact that the heart does not receive the necessary amount of blood to its normal functioning. In addition, a person may feel weakness, heart palpitations. He may be sweating.
Attention should be drawn to the heart in the case of undue fatiguability. At the same time the fatigue persists for several days, weeks or even months. Stomach pain, nausea and vomiting can accompany the heart attack. These symptoms are rarely associated with heart disease, but one should pay attention to them if they occur in normal diet and are not caused by intake of poor-quality food.
Sometimes temporary loss of consciousness can occur.
Heart attack may be preceded by palpitation, which is manifested as an abrupt and arythmic pulse.
The predecessors of a heart attack may be conditions such as anxiety, discomfort, and insomnia.
However, chest pain is not always symptom of heart attack because it is also characteristic of intercostal neuralgia. In order to specify the disease, it is necessary to pay attention to several points:
Besides intercostal neuralgia similar symptoms have a number of diseases.
In the case of nausea and stomach pain heart attack can be confused with food poisoning, perforated gastric ulcer and acute cholecystitis.
When right-sided heart aches this pathology is similar to the symptoms of pneumonia or pleurisy. In contrast to these diseases, heart attack is almost always accompanied by symptoms such as weakness, drop in blood pressure, shortness of breath.
Heart attack symptoms are similar to acute pericarditis. A distinctive feature of pericarditis are noises in the chest, which can be listened with a stethoscope. When pericarditis pain occurs with fever, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and leukocytosis. The pain subsides while patient is in the sitting position.
Heart attack symptoms are similar to herpes zoster. To distinguish this disease from heart disease, it is necessary to examine the places where there is pain. At herpes zoster the pain is accompanied by vesicles along the intercostal nerve. Diagnosis is clarified by no change in heart function with ECG.
ECG and determination of blood cardiac enzymes play a key role in determining the nature of the pathological process.
CardioVisor applying improves detection of deviations that lead to heart attack, from 20 (using normal ECG) up to 80 percent (using CardioVisor).
Classical ECG has several drawbacks such as low sensitivity and specificity with respect to certain pathological processes in the heart. One of the modern ways to eliminate the drawbacks of the classical method of studying of the heart functions is the dispersion mapping of heart signals, which is implemented by the device "CardioVisor." Analysis of waves occurs when using the classic ECG, while the modern method of dispersion mapping is aimed at low-amplitude vibrations analysis, which can judge about the impending myocardial pathologies well before changes in the waves. Therefore, using this modern method, you can get information about an impending disease at earlier stages.
Becoming a client Ecg4me.com, anyone can monitor his health, getting information about the state of the heart staying at home. The great advantage of this service is that the person has important information about his heart state, and in case of threat of heart disease finds out when to see doctor much earlier than with standard electrocardiography,
As is generally known relapse is very often after the heart attack. Hence continuous monitoring of patients is necessary. Using the Kardi.Ru service, anyone is able to monitor the heart functioning, examine himself at home. Of course, this enables monitoring of the early stages of recurrence and time to consult a doctor.
Great advantage of Ecg4me.com is the storing of the history about all inspections and monitoring of changes in the heart. In case of any abnormalities the person is immediately notified that can not only prevent the beginning of irreversible processes, but very often to save his precious life. Thanks to Kardi.Ru anyone gets the opportunity always to be aware of its main organ – the heart – functioning.
What should you do if there are the symptoms of heart attack?
The key thing to remember in case of a heart attack – the longer medical care procrastination, the greater the chance of heart muscle damage. Therefore, if there are such symptoms you must call up ambulance.
Besides:
It is necessary to monitor carefully the health state of the patient. If the pain subsided, then the patient just need rest. If after nitroglycerin administration there are weakness, shortness of breath and sweating, the patient should raise the legs, drink a glass of water, and no nitroglycerin.
If the symptoms of heart attack persists (about 5-7 minutes after the first dose of drugs), the second tablet of nitroglycerin (0.5 g) must be given.
If pain persists after the second drug administration, nitroglycerin should be given the third time.
Using CardioVisor and service Ecg4me.com enables to have the ECG examination prior the doctor’s arrival in order to get preliminary assessment of evolving pathology.
If the patient lost consciousness before the arrival of the doctor, first of all, check his breathing, heartbeat and pulse. Further, if the heartbeat is heard, but the person is not breathing, start CPR, "mouth to mouth". The patient's head should be kept thrown back in order to avoid the throat blocking by the tongue. If there was a cardiac arrest, start cardiac massage. It needs to be alternated with CPR – to 15 pressing on the chest make three artificial breaths.
Upon arrival, the doctor should be informed about all the medications that were given to the patient, as well as medications that cause the allergic or intolerance in patient. Regularly recorded ECG monitoring greatly facilitates the doctor’s task so the doctor will can assess the development of disease.
Remember: the late visit to the doctor can cost life.
