drshorty asked:


Don’t worry; I’m not having a heart attack, although a coworker had a scare the other day. It made me wonder how that usually works. In other words, how does a heart attack cause shooting pain down the left arm?

Erin

Peter sams asked:


A heart attack occurs when blood flow to a section of heart muscle becomes blocked. If the flow of blood isn’t restored quickly, the section of heart muscle becomes damaged from lack of oxygen and begins to die. Coronary arteries are blood vessels that supply the heart muscle with blood and oxygen. Blockage of a coronary artery deprives the heart muscle of blood and oxygen, causing injury to the heart muscle. Injury to the heart muscle causes chest pain and pressure. If blood flow is not restored within 20 to 40 minutes, irreversible death of the heart muscle will begin to occur. A heart attack often causes severe and crushing pain in the middle of the chest. This pain may then travel from the chest to the neck, jaw, ears, arms, and wrists. The person may also be cold and clammy, and their skin may appear pale and grey in color.

Causes of Heart Attack

High Blood Pressure, or hypertension, is a condition in which blood pressure levels are above the normal range. Blood pressures of 120-139 mm Hg and/or 80-89 mm Hg are considered prehypertension. Blood pressure is considered high if it is 140 mm Hg and/or 90 mm Hg or higher. High blood pressure increases the risk for heart attack, angina, stroke, kidney failure and peripheral artery disease (PAD). High blood pressure may also increase the risk of developing fatty deposit in arteries (atherosclerosis). The risk of heart failure also increases due to the increased workload that high blood pressure places on the heart.

Abnormal heart valves-Heart valve problems can result from disease, infection or a defect present at birth. When the valves don’t open or close completely during each heartbeat, the heart muscle has to pump harder to keep the blood moving. If the workload becomes too great, heart failure results.

Block of arteries-A heart attack is caused by a block of the arteries which minimize the flow of blood with oxygen. Due to little amount of oxygen transported to the brain the stops and the person dies which we call it heart attack. The block of the arteries is a result of blood clot, cholesterol accumulation and fats. That is why doctors advise to eat healthy food with less fat to prevent heart attacks.

Heredity.-People whose parents have coronary artery disease are more likely to develop it. African Americans are also at increased risk, due to their higher rate of severe hypertension than whites.

Treatment

Lower the cholesterol level in your blood. Lowering your cholesterol, especially the level of “bad” LDL cholesterol, keeps plaques from building up in the coronary arteries. The total cholesterol level should be kept below 200 mg/dL, and the LDL cholesterol level below 130 mg/dL (under 100 mg/dL in those with known heart disease or diabetes). Some people are able to control their cholesterol level by changing what they eat, lose weight, and exercise more; others require medication.

Control blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is one of the most common causes of heart disease.

Coronary artery bypass grafting is a type of open-heart surgery (the chest is opened). It is sometimes carried out if angioplasty is unsuccessful. It involves rerouting the blood around the affected coronary artery, using a replacement section of a blood vessel - the graft - which is usually taken from a leg vein. This helps people with dangerously narrow coronary arteries, especially if the left side of the heart is not pumping well. For more information, please see the BUPA separate fact sheet

Leslie

Kevin Reilly asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Kevin Reilly

For anyone who has suffered a heart attack, you’ll know how difficult it can be to get back on your feet. Not only do you have to make lifestyle changes to prevent the risk of another heart attack, there are emotional as well as physical demands on your body. It’s not just a matter of surviving a heart attack; it’s the effects a heart attack has on your life that can be just as big a problem.

Depending on the severity of a heart attack, the options open to someone will be very different. A major heart attack will mean some huge changes to your current day-to-day routine, while a milder heart attack will offer a bit more leeway. However, any kind of heart attack is a serious warning about your overall health, and the need to make life changes to prevent one from happening again.

Medical Aftercare One of the first things that will happen is that you will need to go for more regular check-ups at your doctor or family physician’s. Here you will get advice about how to reduce the chances of a follow-up heart attack - unfortunately, people who suffer a heart attack are 50% more likely to have another one within 12 months if they don’t make changes to their lifestyle.

You’ll be encouraged to give up smoking if you haven’t already; what to eat, and what to avoid, will also be covered; and you may even have to go on a heart attack prevention course of medication. These can include drugs to control blood pressure, as well as anti-stress medication. Anything that controls the symptoms of a heart attack will be covered with your medical follow-up.

Normal Activities Although you’ll probably want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, the very fact that you’ve suffered a heart attack will prevent this to some degree. Depending on the severity of the heart attack, it’s likely that you will be fine for walking after a week or so. However, other day-to-day activities such as sexual intercourse or driving may have to wait a few weeks more, to make sure there are no complications or follow-up chest pains.

Changes to the Family Life Perhaps the biggest hurdle anyone that suffers a heart attack needs to overcome is the emotional and psychological effect it has. This isn’t just on you, either - your family and loved ones will have gotten just as big a scare as you by your heart attack. So it’s only natural that they may act differently around you - more refrained, for example.

You need to ensure that they know that you realise it’s been a shock, but together you can ensure that it’s less likely to happen again. By getting everything in the open, and discussing the reasons for your heart attack, it will make sure that everyone is in a better position to help you prevent what caused the heart attack in the first place.

Talking about it will also enable you to get back to normality quicker. One of the biggest problems after a heart attack is depression, and fear that you’ll suffer another heart attack. Having the love and support of your closest friends and family will help you through this difficult period, and hopefully prevent future symptoms or heart attacks from happening again.

Erin

smithcott@btinternet.com asked:


The actual date from which the restriction starts is important - date of heart attack, or date of discharge from hospital.

Veronica

Brenda Wade asked:


When we discuss symptoms of a heart attack, note that experiencing some of them does not for sure, indicate that you are going to have a heart attack. Only the medical diagnosis can do so. Because of this, many people hesitate asking for help. They find it embarrassing, being taken to the hospital or the emergency room and finding that there is nothing. However considering the seriousness of the issue you should leave behind the embarrassment and ask for help immediately when you experiencing the signs and symptoms of heart attack. Some of them are discussed below.

Digestive disturbance can be a symptom of a heart attack. You may also feel an increased pressure on the heart while it is pumping blood. Both these symptoms are very mild and therefore many times they are ignored.

The symptoms of heart attack can vary from person to person. For example, generally crushing pain is experienced between the shoulder blades in men. However, symptoms of heart attack in women include mild pain between in between the shoulder blades. This is actually an atypical symptom.

Angina pectoris, which is also called “Angina”, is the precursor of heart attack. In this condition the patient experiences increase in heartbeats during physical exertion, emotionally charged situation, a big meal, mental stress, cold weather etc. in these situations heart requires more oxygen, however the heart blocking creates a problem. Therefore, you may experience pain in your heart. Generally, this condition lasts for about 15 minutes. If it lasts longer, this should be definitely considered to be a symptom of heart attack.

Dizziness is one of the common symptoms of heart attack. However, the heart attacks would generally occur during 4:00AM to 10:00 AM when you are already dizzy. However, dizziness during the other times of the day, as well without any reason may be associated with a heart attack in the future. This is true especially when the dizziness continues for some days.

Apart from these warning signs, the typical symptoms of a heart attack include squeezing or/and burning pain in the middle of his chest. Some patients also experience terrible pressure in this part. In some cases, the pain also reaches neck jaw, shoulder, arm, lower part of arm, and back. The pain is generally associated with sweating, weakness, dizziness, and shortness of breath. If you experience these symptoms, it is advised to get medical help immediately.

Jerry

James Rocker asked:


Since it’s called a heart attack am I right to assume that there wouldn’t be any sign or sypmtom before one actually happens? Can a blood test show?

Donna

col5473 asked:


What is the risk percentage figure that people base all the other percentages on such as smoking doubles the risk or eating barbecued meat increases your chance of heart attack by 15%. 15% of what figure?

The same goes for stroke or any of those other diseases where you hear stories that if you do this or that then your risk is increased of getting it. Whats the actual (or base figure) risk so that I can analyse better what the chances really are of getting one of these things.

So say the actual risk of heart attack is 1% and then if I smoke that doubles the risk of me having a heart attack to 2%. Then I can decide from there whether it is worth the risk to keep smoking. OK smoking may not be a good example to use because we all know it’s bad for us but you get the idea.

Jorge

terliuke asked:


I am having some chest pain and get dizzy, so I am going to see a cardiologist. But I wonder whether it is possible to get a heart attack in such a age. I am female.
I am not be in the best shape but I am not overweight. I was told by a practitioner a few years ago that I might have a minor heart condition but I never got around seeing a cardiologist thinking it’s just minor.

I think it’s very likely that I am having this due to the contraceptive patch Ortho Evra that I have been wearing. I did some research and found that it’s been increasingly causing blood clot, heart issues and other for women. Does anyone have experience with Ortho Evra?

Dan

luigi asked:


Ok, if a person has no chest pain that has to do with the heart, but their left arm feels uncomfortable is it possible they are having a heartattack? I’m just wondering if you can have a heart attack but you don’t actually feel it.

Cody

Groshan Fabiola asked:


A recent study proved that Vioxx may lead to blood clots, heart attack and strokes.

Vioxx is a medicine that may be associated to other serious side effects such as stomach problems, allergic reactions, serious kidney problems or liver problems. About these serious, life threatening problems we are about to talk in the following paragraphs.

As we said before, serious stomach problems might be associated with Vioxx usage. These problems refer at stomach and intestinal bleeding that may occur without developing any warning symptoms. If these problems are severe they might lead to long time hospitalization or even death. Even if it is well known that these problems occur rarely it is strongly recommended to watch for signs and let your doctor know right away.

The second major problems that might be the cause of Vioxx usage are the allergic reactions that consist of swelling of face, lips, tongue or throat. These problems will lead to a difficult breathing or swallowing. Even if these side effects occur rarely they require an immediate treatment.

Kidney problems might also be one of the side-effects caused by Vioxx. Just like the other problems mentioned earlier, kidney problems also occur rarely but when they occur it may lead to acute kidney failure and worsening of chronic kidney failure.

Liver problems generally occur in patients that take NSAIDs. If symptoms of liver problems occur the patients must quickly see a specialist. These liver problems include nausea, tiredness, itching, tenderness in the right upper abdomen and flu-like symptoms.

As we mentioned before, these severe problems occur rarely. More common than the problems mentioned earlier are other side effects caused by Vioxx usage such as upper and/or lower respiratory infection and/or inflammation, headache, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea and/or vomiting, heartburn, stomach pain and upset, swelling of the legs or feet, high blood pressure, back pain, tiredness or urinary tract infections. These non life threatening side effects caused by Vioxx usage are not severe as the first mentioned side effects but they do require treatment or even hospitalization.

It is known that Vioxx represents a generation of arthritis drugs. Vioxx and other drugs of its generation are called COX 2 inhibitors.

It was proved that the risk of developing heart attack, stroke or blood clots is two times higher for people that use Vioxx than in people that chose as their treatment other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The study on which result is based the affirmation done earlier involved 8000 patients.

After other studies, specialists noticed that the rate of heart attack in patients that take Vioxx is higher than for others. 0.52 % of the patients taking an inactive placebo pill had a heart attack each year, while for Vioxx users the annual rate of heart attack was about 0.74 %.

The studies concluded that Vioxx should be prescribed carefully.

If you want to find out more resources about heart attack or about bextra heart attack please review this page http://www.heart-attack-guide.com

Norman