Among other causes of death among our compatriots, traditionally the leading place belongs to heart disease and vascular pathologies. Among the most terrible diagnoses, signaling an exceptionally high danger to the he alth of the patient, it should be noted heart attack. Any modern person should know the symptoms of this disorder in order to urgently seek medical help as needed.
General view
In just 20 minutes from the moment of the initial attack, irreversible changes occur in the heart muscle. The probability of death in such a pathology is extremely high, especially if the lesion is not the first. To prevent a negative outcome, you need to be able to recognize a heart attack in time and seek qualified help. And for this you need not only to imagine what the first symptoms, signs of a heart attack are, but also to understand what kind of condition this term is.commonly denoted.
A heart attack is commonly called the death of muscle tissue of the main organ of the human body - the heart. The process is initiated by a lack of oxygen, which is often caused by a sudden narrowing of the arteries that supply life-giving blood, and with it the components necessary for life at the cellular level. The condition usually develops against the background of cardiac ischemia. For this to happen, the influence of an external factor is not necessary; the simplest, everyday actions can become the cause of a heart attack. In particular, medical statistics show that the likelihood of such a course of the disease is higher in the morning, when a person wakes up after a long night's rest and gets up. This load is already sufficient for a critical state. An even greater risk is associated with stressful situations, sudden and unusual, excessively strong physical and mental stress.
Recognize the enemy immediately
The primary sign, symptom of a heart attack is a pain syndrome localized behind the sternum. Often, sensations are given to the leg, arm on the left side of the body. May hurt under the shoulder blade. The sensations themselves are different for different patients: some note a burning sensation, others - squeezing, and someone seems to be bursting. The syndrome is accompanied by anxiety, unreasonable fear, concern. Without realizing this, a person reflexively grabs his heart.
Other symptoms vary greatly. Much depends on the characteristics of the organism, and on gender.patient. In particular, the symptoms of a heart attack in a man are usually more pronounced, while in the weaker sex they are smoothed out. You can suspect a dangerous condition by the pallor of the skin, lack of air, similar to an asthmatic attack. Sweating is activated, the heart rate is lost, the stomach hurts. Often a heart attack is accompanied by vomiting, loss of balance. Symptoms similar to a stroke are possible. To determine the exact diagnosis, you should urgently seek medical help. The doctor takes ECG readings that will help determine exactly what happened and what remedial therapy is needed.
What to do?
Noticing a person nearby has signs, symptoms of a heart attack, it is necessary to provide basic assistance. First, they help to assume a half-sitting position, while calling for emergency medical help. Only restorative measures in intensive care will bring real benefits, so the main task of others is to support human strength until the arrival of specialists. If the clothes are uncomfortable, tight, it is necessary to unfasten the wardrobe items. If possible, open windows and vents to maximize the flow of fresh air. At the same time check the pressure readings. If the parameters are above the norm, give nitroglycerin for chewing. If there is no positive effect after five minutes, the medication is repeated. More than three servings are unacceptable.
Continuing to help with the first symptoms of a heart attack, you should give aspirin to chew. If systole is less than 110 mm, the patientdoes not need medication at all. The task of those around is to calm the patient, and as the doctors arrive, to describe in detail how and when the attack happened, what were before and immediately after the person’s complaint, what measures were taken, what medications and in what dosage were used.
How to protect yourself?
In order not to survive the first symptoms of a heart attack, you should lead a he althy lifestyle, practice preventive measures. In the general case, at risk are people whose age is 50 years and older. The likelihood of such a development of events is greater if there are survivors of a heart attack among close relatives. In recent years, more and more cases of heart disease have been recorded in men at the age of 35 and older. A significant risk is associated with the abuse of bad habits, especially smoking and alcohol. The likelihood of a heart attack increases if a person is worried about pressure above normal, weight is above average. Those who are forced to lead an inactive lifestyle and practice malnutrition are at risk.
As doctors note, age, heredity, gender are factors that cannot be changed, so reducing risks also does not seem real. But to adjust the lifestyle, so as not to get acquainted with the first symptoms of a heart attack by example, is a measure that any modern person can take. Of course, prevention is not to everyone's taste, but it is definitely more positive than serious heart disease.
About symptoms: what else is worth saying?
Often the symptoms of a heart attack in women,men include pain in the entire upper half of the body. In most cases, the pain gives only to the arm on the left, but this is less often observed in both arms, back and neck. A heart attack sometimes manifests itself as a false toothache, the jaw suffers. Feelings may disturb a little above the navel. At the same time shortness of breath develops. There are cases when it was this manifestation of a heart attack that was the only one that the patient noticed. Sometimes shortness of breath is fixed first, only after that pain comes.
The first symptoms of a heart attack in a woman often include extreme fatigue for no apparent reason. Medicine knows many cases of a latent course, when, apart from such a manifestation, there were no others. An unpleasant state worries for several days in a row. You may feel dizzy. Typical symptoms do not appear in every patient. More often, along an unpredictable path, development occurs in women, which is due to the peculiarities of the hormonal system.
Official information
The previously described first symptoms of a heart attack in men and women allow us to suspect that a focus has appeared in the heart muscle affected by a necrotic process. This leads to the problem of blood flow in an acute form. Adequate assistance to the patient can only be provided by specialists in intensive care. In the absence of qualified support, the likelihood of death is high. At the same time, many cases are known when a heart attack was completely asymptomatic, and was detected only years later when the patient underwent a routine medical examination.
Heart attack is a term introduced in 1896. The clinic of the disease was described in 1892. According to statistics, the symptoms of myocardial infarction in women and men are more often observed at the age of 40-60. The danger for a man is five times greater than for the opposite sex. Patients with atherosclerosis are included in the risk group. For the age interval of 55-60 years, the frequency of infarction for both sexes is equalized. The menopause is associated with an adjustment in the blood level of estrogen. A decrease in the amount of this compound leads to an increase in the risk of heart disease. Also, medical statistics show that with a lower frequency of heart attacks, on average, such situations are more difficult for women, the likelihood of death is greater. But men endure necrosis of the focus of the heart muscle somewhat easier - although everything is determined by individual conditions.
Risks and statistics
It is known that the symptoms of a heart attack are more common in residents of large cities. To a greater extent, this trend is characteristic of developed countries. Irreversible changes occur if the heart muscle does not receive oxygen within 20 minutes. Cells die, and connective tissue will appear in their place during rehabilitation - if the patient survives. As a result of a heart attack, the heart is scarred, which negatively affects the functioning of the muscle. The stronger the lesion, the more severe the consequences. With a second heart attack, they will be even more unpleasant.
Up to a third of all cases of heart attack symptoms lead to the death of the patient. Among all sudden deaths, a heart attack is the fifth share. Totalin 24 hours, as revealed by American doctors, within the United States, a heart attack causes the death of 140 people. In 52% of cases of deaths, the victims were women, the other share (slightly less than half) falls on the stronger sex.
Periods and dangers
With the primary signs of a heart attack before hospitalization, the risk of death is especially high. Studies have shown that one-fifth of all deaths occur in this period. A little less, up to 15% of patients, die already in the hospital. The greatest risks are associated with the first two days after the acute phase of the disease. To increase the likelihood of patient survival, resuscitation should be carried out in a timely manner and qualified medical support should be provided.
If symptoms of myocardial infarction appeared in a man, a woman, but medical assistance was provided in a timely manner, perfusion returned to normal within the first five hours from the moment of the incident, it is highly likely that the scar will form relatively small. The contractility of the ventricle of the heart on the left increases, the likelihood of complications of the situation is reduced. The best prognosis is for those patients who are perfused within the first two hours of the acute phase.
Where did the trouble come from?
In order not to encounter the first signs, symptoms of a heart attack in women, men (manifestations have already been described above), you should be guided by the causes of the disease in order to exclude them (to the best of your ability) from your life. Up to 95% of all cases are provoked by arterial occlusion caused bythrombus, and this, in turn, is due to atherosclerosis. In fact, a heart attack is an acute ischemia. The situation is complicated by the high level of blood viscosity, which is characteristic of most people suffering from this disease.
In addition to ischemia, such a condition can be provoked by arterial defects, blockage by blood clots, inflammatory processes in the circulatory system, if they cover the vessels that feed the heart muscle. There is a high probability of a heart attack with Buerger's disease, aneurysm, and improper functioning of the vascular endothelium. DIC syndrome and tumor processes can provoke necrosis of heart tissues. The neoplasm dies off or grows to such a size that it compresses the surrounding tissues and organs, leading to blockage of the vessel. A tumor outside the heart can cause a heart attack during germination, metastasis, when the arteries suffer. A certain risk is associated with injuries, electric shock, surgical interventions on the heart. Diabetes, overweight, high blood pressure, bad habits can provoke necrosis.
Women and men: there is a difference
In general, the symptoms are clearer in the representatives of the stronger sex, but in women it is blurry. Up to 43% of all patients did not notice manifestations signaling the possibility of a heart attack before the onset of the most acute phase, in other cases the situation is predictable for unstable angina.
Many women who experience a heart attack for the first time confuse it with the flu or extreme overwork. Sohow patients complain insufficiently, doctors misdiagnose, incorrectly assess the condition, recommend spending some time at home, in bed, and then returning to the usual rhythm of life. It is known that 95% of all female representatives who have had a heart attack have previously noted he alth problems. The average duration of the pre-infarction period is estimated at a month, although sometimes it is only a few days, and in other cases - years and decades.
Symptomatics: how to suspect an approaching heart attack?
The pre-infarction period in most cases is marked by increased fatigue - up to 70.7% of patients complained about this. Even a long night's rest does not allow you to restore strength. A person feels exhausted, weak, strength is not enough even to solve sowing problems. The situation does not improve with time, the weakness becomes chronic. Almost half of all patients noted problems with sleep - falling asleep is difficult, night awakenings are frequent. Any load is accompanied by shortness of breath, but breathing returns to normal if you give the body a rest.
About a third of all patients complained that in the pre-infarction period they were worried about discomfort, pain in the chest area. The sensations are similar to muscle stretching, sometimes they give to the shoulder, jaw, neck, arm on the left. Perhaps numbness of the limbs, tingling. Often the head hurts, flies can flicker before the eyes. The patient is prone to mood swings, anxious for no apparent reason. It is possible to assume an approaching heart attack under such conditions if theyaccompanied by stomach discomfort, vomiting, nausea. The skin becomes noticeably pale, sometimes throws into a cold sweat.
Strong half: approaching trouble
Surveys have shown that the pre-infarction condition in men is usually expressed by pain in the chest area, but early and more blurred symptoms are usually absent. However, as the doctors assure, in fact there are some, it's just that many do not pay attention to them, do not notice them. This fact is curious: with a heart attack, men are more likely to suffer from severe pain, but many women do not experience it at all. Breathing problems are also more characteristic of the strong half of humanity.
Typical and atypical cases
The classic version involves four phrases. First, an acute phase develops, accompanied by pain that comes in waves. The duration of the attack varies from 30 minutes to several days. The use of nitroglycerin does not show a positive effect, the condition is accompanied by a strong fear, excitement. Pain causes apathy, weakness. There is shortness of breath. The acute phase is followed by an acute phase, when the pains weaken or disappear altogether. At this point, there is a possibility of the formation of pericardia, ischemia, close to the affected area. Feels hot, fever stretches for ten days, sometimes longer. The temperature is higher, the larger part of the heart is affected. There are symptoms of failure of the functioning of the heart muscle, hypotension. If the patient survives, the temperature gradually subsides, painpass, feeling better.
All the described manifestations are more characteristic of men, but women are characterized by an atypical, blurred form, similar to the flu. The most acute phase is accompanied by chest pains, but the intensity is relatively weak, so it is not given much importance.
