Alert Symptoms of Sudden Heart Attack

Medical Video: 5 Common Signs of Heart Disease

Many times we hear someone suddenly having a heart attack even though he previously looked healthy and fit. A sudden heart attack is known as Silent Heart Attack. Research conducted by Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) found that patients who died from a heart attack, almost half (45%) were caused by a sudden heart attack, which previously did not cause any symptoms. About 20 to 30 percent of people affected by a heart attack experience a sudden heart attack. This often occurs in women and people with diabetes, but does not rule out this possibility to everyone. Along with the results of a study that showed that the chance for sudden heart attack in women and men was almost the same.

Many factors cause the occurrence of a heart attack, but a common risk factor is active smokers, a family history of heart disease, age, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, lack of physical activity, and experiencing overweight. Having these risk factors increases the risk of having a sudden heart attack that doesn't detect symptoms and signs and increases the risk of experiencing heart failure.

Do not ignore the mild symptoms that appear

Common symptoms and signs of heart attack are chest pain, cold sweating, and extreme fatigue. Most people think that it is just a cold or just ordinary fatigue, but it turns out the symptoms can be a symptom of a sudden heart attack, such as gasping for breath, fatigue without cause, there is discomfort in the throat, neck and jaw .

Some patients also experience stomach pain and most of them only deal with it by taking stalls and don't think that this is one of the symptoms of a heart attack. Cardiologists at the Cleveland Clinic say that people who have a heart attack should experience mild pain in the left chest but not middle chest pain like those in films. Not a few who think that if a heart attack will feel pain in the middle of the chest as in the films.

First heart attack, second heart failure

According to Dr. Johannes Gho, a cardiologist at Utrecht University Medical Center, said that every one in four people who have a heart attack will experience heart failure later in life. Based on the World Congress on Acute Heart Failure of 24,745 who have experienced the first heart attack, as many as 25% of those have heart failure within a period of four years. The study also states that every ten years at least the incidence of heart failure increases by 45%.

The impact of the first heart attack is to damage the heart tissue to leave a scar. The damaged tissue disrupts the heart's work, causing an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia). So the heart is forced to work faster and pump blood faster. When the heart is 'tired' and is no longer able to pump blood, what will happen next is the heart stops working and heart failure occurs.

How to detect sudden heart attack?

Sudden heart attacks can be detected by routine medical examinations such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) that can monitor the rhythm and heart rate and echocardiography which is useful to see whether the work function of the heart works well or not. But the examination is only recommended for patients who really need it, such as patients who are already known to have heart disease. Therefore, to prevent a heart attack, it is better to make a healthy lifestyle and not ignore the mild symptoms that interfere.

How can a heart attack be prevented?

The main goal after experiencing a heart attack is to try to keep the heart healthy and can reduce the risk of continued heart attack. The effort you can do is by keeping control of the doctor, taking medication and carrying out the recommended examination, and changing your lifestyle towards a healthier one.

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