HowToPreventHeartDisease.com

Watch Out for the Silent Killer – Heart Attack!
 

Heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction, can strike without any warning signs to anybody. While not all heart attack patients will end up dead, the disease can take away a person’s life within a relative short time if necessary treatment is not received. That is why heart attack is frequently referred to as “the Silent Killer”.

One day, a young man of only 36 experienced chest pains after his lunch. He also felt breathless and dizzy, and had a headache. He thought indigestion might have caused all this and did not do anything. Only when he still felt unwell after leaving his office, he decided to visit doctor. The diagnosis confirmed he was having a heart attack. Naturally, he was shocked because he had none of the risk factors of heart disease. Moreover, he is still young and does not smoke.

He underwent angioplasty (a procedure that insert a balloon into the artery) and stayed at the cardiac intensive care unit for 3 days. After discharging, he still needed to go for one-month rehabilitation program where he did basic exercise with his heart rate monitored.

However, not all heart attack suffers can be so lucky like this young man. In February 2011, a celebrity chef in Singapore died of heart attack in his kitchen at the restaurant he was working. The medical examination he took only a week ago did not diagnose any health problems.

Heart attack occurs when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a part of heart muscle suddenly becomes blocked. Most heart attacks happen because of coronary artery disease (CAD), also known as Ischemic heart disease.

CAD is a condition in which plaques (fatty or cholesterol deposits) build up inside of the coronary arteries. Plaques can narrow the arteries resulting in a condition known as atherosclerosis. The narrowing usually develops gradually over numerous years.

An area of plaque can eventually rupture the inside of an artery that causes blood clot to form on the plaque’s surface. When the clot becomes big enough, it starts blocking the blood flow through a coronary artery. The portion of heart muscle fed by the artery begins to die if nothing has quickly been done to the blockage. While such damage to the heart might not be obvious, it could cause severe problems and that is when heart attack occur.

Some classic symptoms can be seen in victims of heart attack. For example, they might feel giddy and breathless or they can experience profuse sweating and severe chest pain radiating to the left upper arm. Sometimes, they might even vomit and feel pain at the upper abdomen, which is sometimes mistaken for indigestion.

On the other hand, certain atypical symptoms might also be observed. For instance, pain in the jaw, neck, upper abdomen and back or general fatigue could be warning signs. Women are more likely to experience atypical symptoms than men. Therefore, people should not take these symptoms lightly.

In order to minimize the likelihood of getting heart attack, perhaps people should first recognize what are the risk factors. Diabetes, hypertension, high blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels, lack of physical activity, obesity and overweight, smoking, and illegal drug use are controllable risk factors generally identified while age and family history of heart attack are factors that are uncontrollable.

If one can reduce or improve many of the controllable risk factors, chance of getting the first or second heart attack could surely be lowered. Things that people can do include adopting a heart healthy lifestyle that consists of healthy diet and regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight and quitting smoking. Diabetics should seek medical treatment if they have not already done so.

While people cannot do much on the uncontrollable risk factors, they can still do as suggested above and go for regular medical examinations hoping doctors can spot the symptoms and treat accordingly before the worst happens.

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