Mixer      07/02/2020

How not to miss a heart attack at night symptoms. The first signs of a heart attack in women and men - how to provide first aid, treatment and consequences. Heart attack: symptoms in men, women, causes, treatment

According to statistics, infarction (heart attack) is perhaps the most common cause of sudden death these days. Most of us know real examples from the lives of friends who suffered a heart attack. Many cases end in death. This can happen to anyone, especially after a person has crossed a certain age limit.

Alas, in the modern world, this age limit is falling literally before our eyes. Therefore, it is extremely important to know the signs of a heart attack - after all, most often a heart attack does not happen suddenly, on its own, without previous characteristic symptoms.

What happens during a heart attack

Signs of a heart attack appear when one of the arteries that supply the myocardium ceases to function normally and deliver the required volume of blood. Thus, during a heart attack, part of the heart is damaged, that is, a local area of ​​muscle tissue suffers. If urgent measures are not taken, death is quite possible.

Statistics say that approximately half of deaths due to heart attack are due to too late treatment. medical care or the impossibility of its timely provision.

The pathological condition develops when the blood flow of the vessels leading to the heart is disrupted due to a sudden spasm or unexpected blockage by a blood clot or cholesterol. The reason for the death of a muscle section is a lack of oxygen.

As a result, death occurs due to extensive damage to the heart muscle and complications that arise. If urgent measures can be taken, the patient can often be saved.

Who is at risk of a heart attack?

Heart attacks, the causes of which are quite diverse, can strike anyone. Still, certain factors increase the risk of a sudden heart attack. Which ones exactly?

Firstly, hereditary predisposition. Death from a heart attack in one of your relatives is a serious reason to think about your own health.

Secondly, diabetes. Its presence is a provoking factor for a whole bunch of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases.

Thirdly, high pressure, leading to overload of blood vessels and the heart muscle itself.

And finally, age. The older the person, the higher the risk. Starting at age 40, pay close attention to your heart.

To a heart attack - voluntarily!

Whatever one may say, heart attacks occur all the time, the causes of which are our own. with my own hands without thinking about health. What are we talking about? What are these reasons?

Of course, in the first place are the well-known bad habits: drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking. Heavy smokers almost always have heart disease. Alcohol intoxication can aggravate the situation. An acute heart attack can often occur against the background of a deep hangover. There is nothing to even talk about drugs; cocaine is especially harmful to the heart.

On the second - high content cholesterol. Vessels clogged with cholesterol plaques experience enormous overload, some of which is transferred to the heart muscle. Plus banal obesity. The fatty organs of an obese person prevent the heart from doing its job. This cause of cardiac disorders is the most common.

And, in addition, chronic stress. It is the cause of a huge number of diseases, especially heart diseases.

How can it begin

Here are the signs of a heart attack, which should promptly call a doctor:

1. Pain (feeling of tightness, heaviness) in the area chest. This is the most typical sign of an impending heart attack. A burning or tingling sensation may also be bothersome. If the mentioned symptoms do not go away after a short time, you need to urgently go to the hospital.

2. Perspiration, heavy sweating. In the summer, you can miss this symptom, but when it is observed in a cool room, this is an alarming sign.

3. Attacks of shortness of breath even with light exertion (walking, climbing several floors), especially in combination with chest pain. Symptoms may worsen when turning or making sudden movements.

4. Numbness of the fingers, moving to the elbows and forearms.

5. Nausea, especially with dizziness. Although this symptom is characteristic of a number of ailments.

6. Impaired speech, which becomes slurred. Especially if the person is completely sober.

7. Loss of motor coordination. The body ceases to obey, mainly the arms, shoulders, neck. Combined with slurred speech, it sounds like alcohol intoxication. And others may not rush to help such a person, which is very dangerous.

If you pay attention to these symptoms in time, you can save a person’s life.

It's more difficult for women

A separate conversation about heart attacks in women. We are all accustomed to imagining the onset of such an illness as sudden and pronounced. But in practice it often happens differently.

Recent studies have shown that women are less likely to be diagnosed with heart attacks, the symptoms of which are often mild. Many women experience them without attaching much importance to the malaise.

This is because the signs of a heart attack are slightly different in women than in men. The inability to recognize them leads to the fact that the weaker half of humanity often suddenly dies “from the heart.”

Heart attacks. Symptoms in women

The main “alarm bells” include the following dysfunctions:

Severe, unsettling fatigue;

Insomnia or sleep disturbances (even when tired). May be observed a month or more before a heart attack;

Stress, anxiety and extreme anxiety;

Nausea, digestive disorders, especially with a normal diet;

Difficulty breathing with normal activity or climbing stairs;

Sweaty and clammy skin, flu-like weakness;

Pain in the face and neck, in the ears and jaws (unlike men, who mainly experience numbness in their arms and shoulders. The pain can “drip” to the shoulders and arms, especially on the left, or can be felt as a stretch in the muscles of the back and neck).

How can I help myself?

If you notice unusual symptoms, do not wait, go to the doctor and get seriously examined. Be sure to mention everything at the reception. possible factors risk - high blood pressure or cholesterol, smoking, having relatives with heart disease.

Remember that during a heart attack, pain is usually localized behind the sternum and can radiate to the left hand, arm to forearm, shoulder blade, lower jaw, and even to the upper abdomen. Its character is strong squeezing, aching, burning or pressing, often with shortness of breath. Rarely in such cases the pain is stabbing or cutting. Its duration is longer than 5 minutes.

If the signs are present

What to do if you have a heart attack? Of course, it is better if trouble catches you at home, and not on the street or in a deserted place.

Try to sit in comfortable armchair or lie on a bed with a high headboard. Open a window or vent for fresh air. Take (chew and swallow) an aspirin tablet (250 mg), followed by a nitroglycerin capsule or tablet (place under your tongue).

If after this there is a sharp weakness or headache, drink a glass of water and lie down with your feet on a bolster or pillow. There is no need to take additional nitroglycerin. If there is a positive effect (reduction or disappearance of pain), you can limit yourself to calling a doctor at home.

If there is no effect, take nitroglycerin again and call an ambulance as quickly as possible. Nitroglycerin is taken a third time if the pain does not go away within 10 minutes after the second dose.

What not to do

You should not take aspirin if you are intolerant to it or again on the same day if you have an exacerbation of a stomach ulcer or gastritis.

Nitroglycerin is contraindicated for low blood pressure, severe weakness and headache, dizziness, speech disorders, coordination of movements or vision.

If there is an increased risk of a heart attack or coronary heart disease, you must firmly know and be able to apply the rules of first aid, as well as always have nitroglycerin and aspirin with you.

When trouble strikes a loved one

If you see something wrong with one of your relatives or colleagues, try to help immediately. By knowing the classic symptoms of a heart attack, you can prevent the irreparable.

First of all, take what is happening seriously. Perhaps the patient himself does not believe that something like this could happen to him and refuses hospitalization. Women are especially prone to underestimating the danger that threatens them, which catastrophically increases the sad statistics.

Remember that calling a doctor in a timely manner is yours the main task in this case. No matter how the patient resists, your job is to assess the situation as quickly and competently as possible and take action.

Before the ambulance arrives, do the same things with the patient - lay him down, unfasten the belt and collar, ensure a flow of oxygen, give a nitroglycerin tablet.

Make sure that the patient does not stand up or move. Try to calm and reassure the person, as additional worries only worsen the picture.

How to help yourself in case of an attack?

Helping with a heart attack without medication or a phone at hand is not an easy task.

Try to gain valuable time and give yourself a strong coughing attack, taking a deep chest breath each time. Inhale and cough approximately every two seconds. This should provide some relief until you take medication and the doctor arrives.

The effect of cough is based on improving blood circulation and supplying the heart muscle with oxygen.

Note to the "heart"

Heart medications should always be on hand, even for those who do not yet enroll themselves in heart disease. A person with a supply of nitroglycerin or Valocordin is safer than a careless “big guy” without any medications. Let your medicines be available both at home and at work. If you don't need it yourself, help someone else out.

Stationary or mobile phone at hand - not a whim, but a necessity. Although it is not a fact that in the event of an acute attack you will have time to make a call.

When experiencing stress, breathe deeply, do not drive, and take a sedative prescribed by your doctor.

A heart attack is one of the common reasons sudden death. No one is safe from it. Especially those people who have crossed a certain age limit. But, unfortunately, heart attacks are increasingly observed at a fairly young age. Moreover, the symptoms in women are somewhat different from the signs of pathology in men. They are more blurred and not expressed. And this leads to the fact that mortality rates in women from heart attacks are steadily increasing.

How to correctly recognize the first heart attack? And what to do in this situation? or to a loved one?

What is a heart attack

The pathology often leads to death. But doctors say that if first aid is provided in a timely manner and a team of doctors is called, then the patient can be saved. Most often, it is likely that urgent treatment measures could not be taken. In this case, death occurs as a result of extensive damage to the heart and complications that arise.

What happens in the body with this pathology? Symptoms of a heart attack in women appear when one of the arteries supplying the myocardium ceases to function fully. It does not fully deliver blood to the main organ. This causes damage to parts of the tissue that begin to die. The patient is in dire need of qualified help. Otherwise, it will be fatal.

What can cause a heart attack? Symptoms in women occur due to impaired vascular blood flow. Pathology can manifest itself as a result of a sudden spasm. Often an attack is triggered by an unexpected blockage of a vessel with cholesterol or a blood clot. Regardless of the factor that caused the pathology, the reason for the death of cardiac tissue is the same - lack of oxygen.

Factors leading to heart attack

There are many reasons that can trigger a heart attack. Symptoms in women are in most cases similar, regardless of the source of the pathology.

The main provoking factors include:

  • age (after 55 years a woman enters the risk zone);
  • hereditary factor;
  • undergone surgery to remove the ovaries;
  • period after menopause.

Additional sources of pathology

However, there are other causes that provoke a heart attack that can be eliminated or their negative impact on the body can be negated.

These factors are:

  1. Smoking, alcohol addiction, drug addiction. These factors come first. Smokers are almost always diagnosed with heart disease. Alcohol intoxication worsens the situation several times. Often an acute attack occurs in a state of deep hangover.
  2. Reception birth control pills. Sometimes this factor leads to the appearance of pathology in women who have not even reached 40 years of age.
  3. High cholesterol content. Vessels clogged with plaques experience serious overload. Of course, the heart does not receive enough blood. He has to function in an enhanced mode.
  4. Obesity. Organs swollen with fat do not allow the myocardium to work at full capacity. This is a fairly common cause leading to cardiac disorders.
  5. Inactivity. As a rule, this factor is combined with obesity or overweight.
  6. Hypertension. High pressure overloads the heart muscle and blood vessels.
  7. Diabetes. This is a pathology that provokes many different disorders in the body. The cardiovascular system also suffers from the disease.
  8. Inflammatory processes in blood vessels. They provoke rupture of the coronary artery. Inflammation causes an increase in reactive protein in the body. This picture is most often observed in women. Doctors are not yet ready to say what causes the increase in protein.
  9. Hypothyroidism. The disease often becomes a source of heart disease. It can trigger an attack.
  10. Chronic stress. This condition is the cause of the development of most diseases in the body. And first of all, stress negatively affects the functioning of the heart.

Classic signs

Let's look at what are the most common symptoms of a heart attack?

The pathology is characterized by the following main features:

  1. Pain appears in the chest area. This is the most characteristic symptom impending heart attack. But pain doesn't always happen. Some people feel discomfort, tightness, and a certain pressure in the chest. Wherein painful sensations completely absent. Patients claim that it becomes difficult for them to breathe, and there is a feeling “as if someone had stepped on their chest.” Very often, people believe that a heart attack only causes pain in the sternum and unpleasant discomfort in the left arm. You should know that negative sensations can appear in any other parts of the body: in the shoulders, throat, upper abdomen, jaws, teeth, back.
  2. Heavy sweating, perspiration. Pay attention when this symptom appears. Particular concern is caused by increased sweating in a person who is in a cool room, and not in the heat. Perspiration that appears in the absence of physical activity may indicate problems. Heavy sweating is caused by clogged arteries. The heart needs to work harder to pump enough blood. To save normal temperature with additional stress, the body secretes a large number of sweat. If you encounter such a problem, be sure to consult your doctor.
  3. Dyspnea. If such attacks occur after a slight exercise (climbing a couple of floors, walking), you should consult a doctor. Very often, shortness of breath is a symptom of heart disease. Especially if it is accompanied by severe fatigue and chest pain. Women are more likely to experience these symptoms. It is shortness of breath and fatigue that usually warns of an upcoming heart attack.

Additional symptoms

In a classic attack, the following often occur:

  1. Problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Very often, before an attack, disorders appear in the digestive tract. Indigestion, heartburn, and nausea may occur. These symptoms are often combined with dizziness. However, do not forget that such symptoms can be inherent in a number of pathologies.
  2. Numbness in fingers. Can only cover brushes. But sometimes the numbness spreads to the shoulders and forearms.
  3. Impaired speech. A completely sober person begins to get tongue-tied. Speech becomes slurred and incomprehensible.
  4. Impaired motor coordination. The person loses control over the body. Most often this affects the neck, shoulders, and arms. This state is very similar to alcohol intoxication. Especially if it is combined with This is why others do not always rush to help a person in such a state. This is very dangerous, because precious minutes are lost.

If you promptly pay attention to the main symptoms of a heart attack listed above, you can save a person’s life. Therefore, do not pass by a person who needs your help.

Features of attacks in women

Most often, people imagine a heart attack as a sudden, pronounced attack. If pathology concerns representatives of the fair half of humanity, then the situation is somewhat different. Symptoms of a heart attack in women are rarely pronounced. Most patients tolerate them without attaching any importance to them.

This is dictated by the fact that the signs of the disease are blurred in most cases. Therefore, women do not notice them and do not take them seriously. In addition, the symptoms are somewhat different from the signs that characterize an attack in men.

Alarm Signals

Please note what are the first symptoms of a heart attack in women:

  1. Severe fatigue, almost unsettling.
  2. Disturbed sleep, insomnia. This condition can occur even after severe fatigue. These symptoms appear about a month before the attack.
  3. Increased anxiety, nervousness, feeling of stress.
  4. Indigestion, nausea with normal diet.
  5. Weakness, clammy, sweaty skin.
  6. Difficulty breathing during normal exercise or climbing stairs.
  7. The appearance of pain in the neck, face, jaw, ears. Discomfort may spread to the arms and shoulders. It resembles a condition when muscle tissue is stretched.

How to help yourself?

If you observe the signs of a heart attack in women described above, do not wait for the condition to worsen. The best decision is to see a doctor and get qualified help.

Remember that you need to report all symptoms that appear to your doctor. In addition, it is important to name factors that can aggravate the condition (genetic predisposition, smoking, hypertension).

If you have a seizure

What to do if you are caught by surprise by a heart attack? Symptoms and first aid are points that every person should know well. After all, minutes count.

First aid consists of the following measures:

  1. Call an ambulance immediately. Even if you don’t know how to help yourself, the dispatcher will explain to you what to do before the doctors arrive.
  2. Contact your family who can come to you immediately if the attack begins while you are alone.
  3. Take an aspirin tablet (325 mg). The pill should be chewed so that it has an effect faster.
  4. Take a nitroglycerin tablet. If no positive effect is observed, you can use the medicine again. The third pill is allowed to be taken only if the pain does not subside within 10 minutes after taking the second pill.
  5. Try to remain calm. Panic and fear, characteristic of an attack, complicate the condition. Remember that help is on the way to you. You can focus on counting your heartbeat. It's calming.
  6. Remain in a supine position, on your back. In this case, it is advisable to raise your legs higher by placing a pillow or other object under them. This will allow the diaphragm to open, and oxygen will flow better into the blood.
  7. Take deep breaths and even exhalations.
  8. If possible, it is recommended to open a window to provide fresh air.

What not to do

If symptoms of a heart attack are observed in women, it is not enough to know how to act in such a situation. It should be remembered that it is strictly contraindicated:

  • stand up or move around;
  • smoke;
  • drive;
  • use aspirin if there is intolerance to the drug or an exacerbation of gastritis or ulcers is diagnosed;
  • take nitroglycerin if low pressure, severe headaches, with speech, coordination, and vision disorders;
  • consume drinks or food.

Help a loved one

What should you do if you see something wrong with a person and you suspect he is having a heart attack?

Symptoms in women and treatment are often taken lightly by such individuals. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that they will begin to refuse to call the doctor and protest against the need to take a horizontal position.

Your actions should be as quick and clear as possible:

  1. Call an ambulance.
  2. Lay the patient on a horizontal surface, placing any object under his feet. Make sure that the patient does not get up.
  3. Unfasten your collar and belt.
  4. Provide fresh air by opening a window. Turn on the fan.
  5. Try to calm and encourage the victim.

Be sure to complete all the activities described above. And remember that the future life of this person depends on your actions.

Heart attack is one of the leading causes of sudden death.

No one is immune from this phenomenon. However, there are some differences when it comes to heart attacks in women.

Moreover, these symptoms are not clearly expressed, so the development of the disease may not be noticed.

What is the danger of a heart attack?

A heart attack is a serious condition that occurs due to insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle. This situation can occur if there is a blockage in one of the heart arteries.

Under the influence of such factors, necrosis of individual areas of the heart muscle can occur. This process is irreversible and leads to myocardial infarction. If both arteries are blocked, death cannot be avoided.

In most cases, death occurs within the next hour or two. Its cause is the inability of the heart to work normally and supply blood to the body.

If you pay attention to the symptoms in time and take appropriate measures, your chances of survival will be much greater.

In women, the symptoms of the disease are expressed implicitly; often the woman does not pay any attention to them. This is why the mortality rate from heart attack among women is very high.

Symptoms

WITH Symptoms of a heart attack in women have a number of characteristic differences from male symptoms. Signs of a heart attack in women:

  • a squeezing sensation appears in the heart area, pain begins to develop in the center of the chest, the intensity of pain can vary greatly, from weak, slightly noticeable, to severe;
  • the pain can be reflected in other parts of the body, the arms, neck, back of the head, and sometimes the stomach begin to ache;
  • one of the characteristic signs of an upcoming attack is shortness of breath;
  • additional symptoms are possible: chills, nausea, cold sweat;
  • constant feeling of fatigue, general weakness;
  • numbness of fingers;
  • lack of coordination;
  • heartburn;
  • dizziness.

To prevent a heart attack in women, you need to pay attention to the symptoms in a timely manner.

What's different about a woman's heart attack is that her small arteries become blocked. Whereas in men, the main arteries suffer. This also affects the symptoms of the disease; with some common symptoms, there are also those that occur only in women.

Causes of heart attack

Women begin to develop heart disease ten years later compared to men. Upon reaching 60 years of age, a woman is at risk. No one is immune from this pathology. Overweight women are also susceptible to the disease.

Among other things, the reasons for the development of heart disease are the following factors:

  • after surgery to remove the ovaries;
  • the onset of menopause;
  • high blood pressure;
  • diabetes;
  • inflammatory phenomena in blood vessels;
  • pregnancy;
  • hereditary factor.

Eating There are also reasons that increase the risk of a heart attack that could be avoided:

  • smoking;
  • taking contraceptive medications, in this case, susceptibility to pathology begins at the age of 40;
  • high blood cholesterol levels;
  • obesity;
  • stress;
  • lack of mobility.

First aid for a heart attack

Having suspected the first symptoms of the disease, it is important to seek medical help as soon as possible.

You need to act before the ambulance arrives. The patient's actions should be as follows:

  • take a horizontal position, the surface should be hard, and the head should be raised, several pillows should be placed under it;
  • exclude any movements;
  • breathing should be slowed down, air should be inhaled and exhaled gradually, slowly;
  • a state of panic is unacceptable;
  • an influx of fresh air is necessary, it is good if the windows are opened in the room;
  • An aspirin tablet will alleviate the condition, but it should not be swallowed, but chewed.

Taking the right steps when a heart attack occurs can help save your life.

The actions of doctors aimed at eliminating a heart attack will be aimed at restoring blood flow.

The treatment will be medications: fibrinolytics, aspirin, heparin. Surgery may also be required.

The faster the flow is restored, the higher the chance of a successful outcome.

After a heart attack

Unfortunately, it is extremely rare for women to survive a heart attack. If a fatal outcome was avoided, they will need to be regularly monitored by a cardiologist throughout their life for preventive purposes. It's important to lead healthy image life. Drinking alcohol and smoking is prohibited.

  • measure blood pressure regularly;
  • monitor blood cholesterol levels;
  • If you have a genetic predisposition, you need to undergo an annual cardiac examination.

In order to reduce the risk of a heart attack, it is important to lead a healthy lifestyle; first of all, you need to monitor your diet and avoid eating fatty, spicy, salty foods.

It is equally important to pay attention to the amount of food you eat; you should not overindulge in food; it is important to maintain a normal weight. The diet must include fruits and vegetables.

A little physical activity will be beneficial; physical inactivity increases the risk of heart disease.

WITH A heart attack never starts suddenly. It is preceded by certain symptoms. Despite the fact that in women they are less pronounced, they can still be suspected.

To do this, women need to know how the disease manifests itself, whether the woman is at risk, and what to do if a heart attack occurs. This knowledge can save a woman's life.

Content

The growing incidence of heart disease is alarming, but many people ignore its signs and symptoms. This can lead to a more serious situation: a heart attack is similar to the symptoms of other cardiac disorders, and it is vital to learn to recognize this pathology of a sharp lack of blood supply to the heart, which predominantly occurs in men than in women.

What is a heart attack

In medical terms, a heart attack is a serious pathological condition of an organ that occurs due to an acute lack of blood supply to the heart muscle. This occurs when blood vessels are blocked by a blood clot or a spasm of the artery supplying the heart. The situation is dangerous because it provokes the death of heart cells. The irreversibility of the process leads to myocardial infarction, including cardiac arrest and death.

Cardiac relapse can happen if the coronary artery is blocked by fatty deposits on the walls, that is, due to atherosclerosis. Plaque accumulates and the artery narrows, impeding blood flow. When the plaque ruptures, a blood clot may appear that completely blocks the heart artery. The artery no longer supplies the heart muscle with the necessary volume of blood and oxygen. The muscle is damaged, which causes the attack. Scar tissue forms at the site of muscle damage.

How to recognize

A relapse may be accompanied by an increased heart rate, manifested by rapid pulsation. However, the condition of a heart attack is primarily manifested by pain in the chest, after which it spreads to the neck and face, shoulders and arms, going down to the back and stomach, and can last a few minutes or last several hours. However, chest pain does not always indicate a heart attack; it could also be intercostal neuralgia. The definition of a disease requires clarification of certain conditions:

  • How did the pain arise? The pain sensations characteristic of this condition are associated with physical or emotional stress, while with neuralgia they arise from sudden movement or for no reason.
  • How the pain subsides. A heart attack goes away while taking nitroglycerin for a short time (a few minutes); in case of neuralgia, the drug does not bring any relief to the heart.
  • How pain manifests itself. It is characterized by pressing, stabbing-cutting pain; with neuralgia, the pain manifests itself in attacks of a girdling nature, intensifying with body movements, coughing, and deep inhalation.

Symptoms

The attack has gender characteristics. Men are characterized not only by earlier manifestations of pathology, but also by frequent susceptibility than women. In addition, pain syndrome is perceived differently by men and women, but the signs of a heart attack in men are essentially the same as for everyone:

  • shortness of breath, manifested with a minimum of activity, even in a calm state;
  • pain behind the sternum of a burning, pressing nature;
  • dizziness to the point of loss of balance;
  • cough;
  • paleness of the skin to a gray tint;
  • feeling of panic;
  • nausea;
  • cold profuse sweat;
  • vomit.

In men

Men are at greater risk of heart attack than women due to their characteristic physical and psychological factors. Most of them smoke, lead an inactive lifestyle, and are obese. The circulatory system of the male body is slightly different, their heart rate is lower, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of men belong to type A personality with a tendency to stress increases the risk of an attack. Among the precursors, there is an early weakening of male potency, and a common symptom of a male heart attack is acute chest pain.

Among women

Women, having a stronger cardiovascular system, which is associated with childbearing, are less at risk of a heart attack, but during menopause the chances of this problem are comparable to those of men. Due to the fact that in women the small vessels of the heart are blocked, in contrast to the blockage of the main arteries in men, signs of a heart attack in women may include shortness of breath, pain in the arm, abdomen, neck, and dizziness. Pain behind the sternum in women often burns rather than presses and manifests itself acutely.

Blood pressure during a heart attack

When cardiac pathology occurs, blood pressure begins to rise. This happens on the first day, after which it falls without rising to its original value. In hypertensive patients, blood pressure may decrease. In some situations, blood pressure remains normal for a long time. Normalization of pressure indicators is a positive trend during a heart attack, but as it progresses, there is insufficient blood circulation in the heart, which leads to complications.

First signs of a heart attack

To promptly consult a doctor and prevent complications, it is necessary to pay attention to the warning symptoms to prevent cardiac relapse:

  • fatigue, weakness, weariness;
  • bad dream, snoring;
  • anxiety for no reason;
  • swelling, heaviness in the legs;
  • increased heart rate, rapid pulse;
  • painful discomfort in the stomach, heartburn;
  • constant sweating;
  • exacerbation of periodontal disease.

Causes

The reasons for the development of an attack are explained by a disruption in the supply of the heart muscle due to narrowing and compression of the coronary vessels. The main category of patients consists of people with atherosclerosis, tachycardia, and cardiac ischemia. The main risk factors are age (for men over 45, for women over 55), hypertension, sudden severe stress (both positive and negative). Provocateurs of a heart attack can be diabetes, obesity, heat, physical overload, alcohol, nicotine and genetic predisposition.

What to do

First of all, you need to be more attentive to the signals of your body and, if warning signs of illness appear, consult a doctor for diagnosis and treatment. If you suspect a worsening of the condition, call immediately Ambulance" Even if the alarm was false, great harm it will not, and in the event of a real heart attack, the patient must be immediately sent to the hospital, where the cardiologist has only a few minutes to open the artery and provide assistance, preventing serious consequences.

First aid

Timely emergency actions in the event of a heart attack can be decisive in the patient’s life:

  • Calling an ambulance is the first thing you need to do immediately.
  • Lay the sick person down with his head raised.
  • Unfasten the belt, collar, loosen the tie, which will help relieve suffocation.
  • Provide air access to the room.
  • Give an aspirin tablet, if it is not contraindicated, and nitroglycerin under the tongue (take no more than three tablets in total if the pain does not subside).
  • If severe weakness appears, raise your legs to a level above your head, give them water to drink and no longer give nitroglycerin.
  • You can put mustard plaster on your chest.
  • Do not leave the patient until the doctor arrives.
  • The doctor must show all medications taken.

How to relieve a heart attack at home

It is important to know what to do if you have a heart attack when you are alone and without medication. After calling the doctor, quickly, without panicking, exhale fully, then begin to cough forcefully and many times. Repeat a deep breath with coughing as you exhale, and so on with intensity every 2 seconds, until the doctor arrives. These breathing actions during an attack compensate the heart for the lack of oxygen, restoring its rhythm. Inhaling allows oxygen to enter the lungs, and coughing compresses the heart valves, stimulating blood circulation. All this helps the heart enter a normal rhythm and reduce arrhythmia.

Consequences

Most people experience changes of both physiological and psychological types after suffering an attack:

  • heart rhythm disturbances, angina pectoris;
  • negative psycho-emotional mood;
  • decreased performance.

Serious complications that threaten a person’s life after illness are:

  • heart failure;
  • vascular thrombosis;
  • aneurysm;
  • pericarditis;
  • pulmonary edema;
  • ischemic stroke.

Prevention

An active lifestyle is the main recipe for the prevention of all diseases, and heart attacks and myocardial infarction are no exception. In addition to playing sports, you need proper low-fat food, plenty of fruits and vegetables, reducing salt and carbohydrate intake, quitting smoking and drinking alcohol, and playing sports. After 50 years, you will need to constantly monitor blood pressure, monitor blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and pay attention to the weather - heat and magnetic storms are dangerous for the heart. It is important to have a positive attitude in life and avoid sources of stress.

Forecast

It is important for anyone who has suffered a heart attack to realize:

  • Damaged heart muscle is capable of healing.
  • The patient's return to a normal lifestyle after an attack is possible over time.
  • Any angina that occurs is treated.
  • There is no need to despair; having an attack is not a permanent sentence; you just need to start paying extra care to your heart and your entire body.

More than half of people return to their jobs after the rehabilitation period. Recovery can last up to six months, starting in the hospital with gradual physical activities. You need to load yourself up gradually: walking around the ward, then moving to the stairs. Only a doctor can recommend the exact dosage of activity; initiative and haste are not needed here. The patient is required to be patient and more positive.

Video

Attention! The information presented in the article is for informational purposes only. The materials in the article do not encourage self-treatment. Only a qualified doctor can make a diagnosis and make treatment recommendations based on individual characteristics specific patient.

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The first signs of a heart attack in women and men - how to treat them first aid, treatment and consequences