Knowing the signs of a heart attack and getting help quickly is important. Experts, in this report by SADE OGUNTOLA, say that salient signs like fainting, shortness of breath and chest pain are apparent a month before a fatal heart attack in some patients.
Certainly, a bit of health awareness never hurt anybody. In fact, paying close attention to subtle signs that could be a point er to a heart attack death can avert many of such deaths in the near future.
Unfortunately, thousands of heart attack victims had their symptoms missed by doctors in the weeks before their death. Even in developed countries like the United Kingdom, its early warning signs are missed in up to one in six people who died of a heart attack.
A heart attack is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot. When the heart muscle is starved of oxygen-rich blood, it causes damage to the heart.
The findings, which imply thousands of fatal heart attacks could have been avoided, examined records from 136,000 fatal heart attacks in England between 2006 and 2010
The study, published in the Lancet Public Health, also considered the history of all 135,950 heart attack deaths in England over the four years.
Classic symptoms of a heart attack include sudden chest pain or a “crushing” sensation that may spread down either arm. Sadly, doctors miss its “subtle signs” such as fainting and shortness of breath which could indicate an increased risk of suffering a heart attack.
Unfortunately, in the four weeks following a hospital stay, nearly as many heart attack deaths occur in people for whom heart attack is not recorded as a primary cause for seeking medical at the hospital, the study indicated.
In Nigeria, many people believe a person suffering a heart attack will go wide-eyed and clutch his chest because often that is how a heart attack is portrayed in movies on Television.
But, in real life, not all heart attacks occur suddenly. “They may have been experiencing a series of symptoms such as chest pain and fatigue days before that they had ignored before the heart attack,” said Dr Okechukwu Ogah, a consultant physician, and cardiologist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.
Regardless of the cause, most heart attack patients claim that a series of symptoms was evident approximately 30 days before the attack and should never be ignored.
A heart attack is where there is a sudden loss of blood to the heart, most often caused by heart disease. A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood. Someone who is suffering a cardiac arrest will be unconscious and would not be breathing properly.
Most heart attacks are caused by heart disease – a build-up of fatty material in the arteries, blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This narrows the arteries and allows less blood through.
If a piece of fatty material breaks off, it can cause a blood clot, or blockage in the artery, stopping oxygen-rich blood getting to the heart.
Symptoms of a heart attack can include chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling weak or lightheaded, and an overwhelming feeling of anxiety.
In Nigeria, Dr Ogah said that the incidence of heart attack is on the rise, adding that its incidence in the northern part of Nigeria is getting out of hand because of smoking, diet, and so on.
He declared that risk factors of a heart attack in Nigeria include, low intake of fruits and vegetables, hypertension, diabetes, cigarette smoking, high cholesterol, family history of heart attack, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.
Although the symptoms of a heart attack can vary from one person to another, Dr Ogah said chest pain or discomfort was the commonest sign of a heart attack in Nigeria. However, not everyone will have a severe chest pain and also the pain can often be mild and mistaken for indigestion.
Specifically, heart attack survivors describe the chest pain as a feeling of chest pressure, pain or discomfort that gradually increases. They also explain that the pain could be also felt in other body parts, including the arms, back, and shoulders.
At first when the pain occurs, people panic. But as soon as it disappears on its own they do not ensure that it is and ignore it. He declared: “Repeatedly the chest pain is ignored until when they notice that the pain is becoming more severe or limiting their functions more than it used to do before.”
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However, in some people, all they may notice was just a feeling of unwell. “In some people, heart attack manifests sometimes as vague symptoms like faintness. Occasionally, it may just be frequent rapid or irregular heartbeat and so on, and the limitation to movement.”
Most often when the heart blood supply is not enough, the heart tries to hibernate. If it is forced to work, pain sensors will tell the individual not do this because the heart is trying to rest, and thus limit function.
Dr Ogah, however, said that studies have suggested women tend to experience more warning symptoms compared with men. Women tend to experience less warning signs such as chest pain but reported more episodes of fatigue, anxiety, and head-related symptoms such as a headache or dizziness compared with their male counterparts.
“Certainly, most women who have experienced fatigue at one time or the other. It is only when this feel distinctly unusual that it should be a concern,” he added.
Moreover, he declared that if a person after a heart attack does not get to the hospital early to ensure treatment is started promptly to revert the heart back to normal, the person may die.
Also, that heart disease is different in women and may be deadlier, than in men, he linked to women’s high pain threshold, hormonal effect and lesser involvement in vices such as smoking and alcohol use.
Many women may also assume signs of heart attack such as tiredness to be due to their normal house chores.
What is more, women who have preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, are at increased risk for heart disease later in life.
Conversely, he said that chest pain, a precursor of heart attack, is not felt in some individuals with diabetes, on some medication or advanced in age because they might have lost their ability to feel pain.
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