Contents:
- Medical Video: Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema
- What happens during a heart attack?
- Causes of unusual heart attacks
- Psoriasis
- Inhale air pollution
- Frequency of taking NSAID painkillers for flu symptoms or the like
- Shoulder pain
- Loud noise
Medical Video: Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema
A heart attack can be fatal if not treated immediately. Heart attacks usually occur due to untreated coronary heart disease, narrowing of the heart arteries, or torn heart blood vessels.In addition, there are several causes of a heart attack that you might not have thought. Anything? Check out the answer below.
What happens during a heart attack?
Heart attacks occur when the heart muscles do not get enough oxygenated fresh blood flow. As a result, the heart tissue will begin to break down and its function will be disrupted due to lack of oxygen.
Heart attacks can occur in a duration of up to hours. During this time duration, parts of the heart that do not receive oxygen continue to experience damage which will eventually die if left untreated.
This is caused by a blockage of plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis) so that the heart suffers from a lack of oxygen-containing blood.Although rare, a heart attack can also be caused by a severe narrowing of the coronary arteries that inhibits blood flow.
In addition, a heart attack can also occur due to a tear in the heart arteries (spontaneous cutting of the coronary arteries).
Causes of unusual heart attacks
Apparently, the cause of a heart attack is not always related to heart disease. AThere are some things you might not expect to cause a heart attack, including:
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic skin inflammation in the form of red patches on dry skin accompanied by silvery scales. Although classified as a skin disease, it turns out psoriasis can also be a cause of a heart attack.
A study shows the risk of people who have psoriasis can increase up to 2-3 times for heart disease. Because the inflammation caused by psoriasis toocan damage the heart arteries from the inside, which in turn causes an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Meanwhile, people with psoriasis have a tendency towards high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes, which also endanger your heart's health.
Inhale air pollution
Air pollution is associated with many health problems, including heart disease. One study found that exposure to air pollution can worsen blood sugar levels, cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease.
Meanwhile, other studies have found that pollution can reduce HDL cholesterol even after a short exposure time.
This not only affects the elderly, but also on young people. Exposure to excessive air pollution can cause damage and swelling of blood vessels.
Frequency of taking NSAID painkillers for flu symptoms or the like
NSAIDs are painkillers used to treat fever, inflammation, sprains, headaches, migraines, to dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps pain). Examples are aspirin and ibuprofen.
A study published in Journal of Infectious Diseases report that people are using NSAID drugs to treat respiratory infections has an increased risk of heart attack by 3.4 times.
The reason why NSAIDs can cause heart attacks is still unclear, but according to a cardiologist, this drugcan increase the risk of bleeding which can allow an increase in dangerous blood clots in vulnerable heart arteries. NSAID drugs can also increase blood pressure, and can cause fluid retention, but this rarely happens.
For that, avoid taking NSAIDs, especially if you are over 50 years of age or have risk factors for hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, or an active smoker.
Shoulder pain
Research report that someone who has shoulder pain is at high risk for heart disease.In addition, people who have risk factors for heart disease are also almost six times more likely to have shoulder conditions such as rotator cuff tendonitis or tendon swelling attached to the rotator cuff tendon muscle to the arm bone.
Based on the study there were 36 participants who had risk factors for heart disease such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. They are at risk five times more likely to experience joint pain than people who do not have risk factors.
However, this research is still in small reach so it requires additional research to prove the cause and effect of this.
Loud noise
Apart from disturbing hearing, a study reported loud noise can also be bad for your heart.
Other studies say that someone who is often exposed to loud sounds has a higher risk of health problems, such as heart failure, irregular heart rhythms, hypertension, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels.
Noise causes a surge in stress hormones which can eventually increase blood pressure even when you are sleeping. This causes damage to blood vessels that are at risk of a heart attack.
