Heart And Cardiology
What are the signs of a heart attack and how should you react?
The signs of a heart attack in the typical classical case are symptoms of chest oppression - chest tightness, typically in the middle of the chest. This chest tightness or pain can radiate up towards the chin or up towards the earlobe or, as is often described, down towards the left arm and even down the right arm. The pain is a constant pain and within the first 10 or 15 minutes will usually not cause any damage to the heart. However, if prolonged, it will certainly cause irreversible damage to the heart, which is what we call a heart attack or the myocardial infraction. There are a number of other heart attack features which the patient may feel and that is that the pain is severe and that they may feel the sense of impending doom. This is something described in the older books, really. However, I sometimes see in patients, even nowadays, that they get the sensation that they are about to die. That is a heart attack symptom that is very worrying to the patient and obviously irrelevant of whether they are having the heart attack or not warrants immediate treatment. I think it is important that we try to avoid heart attack, and therefore chest pain of whatever sorts needs consultation with the doctor, particularly if it is central and if it is associated with exercises, or if it is present in cold weather or if it appears after heavy meals. All of these could indicate that the pain could be angina. If the patient has angina we can prevent him from having heart attack and therefore prevent any kind of heart damage. The patient would therefore go back to leading a perfectly normal life style.
What is angina?
Angina is a sensation of pain in the chest as a result of a lack of oxygen supply to a part of the heart. If the angina is prolonged enough, it will cause a heart attack. The difference between angina and a heart attack is that angina is reversible, whereas a heart attack causes irreversible damage to the heart. Angina, or this pain in the heart or chest, is associated with lack of blood supply to the heart and usually is a result of a narrowing of one or more of the heart arteries. If angina is diagnosed early enough, nowadays it is eminently treatable and we most definitely want to save the patient from having a heart attack.
I become short of breath while walking. Why does this happen?
Anything that causes lack of oxygen in the bloodstream can cause shortness of breath. Heart causes, such as angina, are a lack of oxygen supply to the heart, and that needs extensive medical assessment and treatment. Shortness of breath as a result of respiratory problems can range from illnesses such as asthma, which is a result of narrowing of the bronchial tubes, and infections causing bronchitis or pneumonia. There are other more complicated causes within the lungs that cause inflammatory conditions of the lung tissue (which we might call olvualytis) are nowadays extremely important - emphysema or chronic bronchitis, and obviously the blood disorders or anything causing a blood disorder. This might cause significant anaemia and might also cause shortness of breath usually associated with extreme tiredness.
At what age do people have heart attacks?
Heart attacks can happen in a wide variety of age groups. Obviously, the older you are, the higher the risk. There are also a number of inherited familial disorders, such as lipid disorders or cholesterol disorders, that can make patients significantly at risk of a heart attack at a young age, even at the age of 30-35 years old. Other considerations, or other risk factors of arterial disease, such as cigarette smoking and diabetes, also make patients at high risk of a heart attack at a young age. Generally though, heart attacks happen in an older age group and the older you are, the higher the risk.
