Are you feeling pain in your chest? Unknowingly, it might be a heart attack.
Heart attack, also referred to as Myocardial Infarction, is caused due to the blockage of blood flow to the heart muscle. Blood flow to the heart is blocked by a blood clot. When blood doesn’t reach the tissues, they lose oxygen and die. Heart attack is different from Cardiac arrest. In Cardiac arrest, the heart stops pumping whereas in heart attack, the heart is blocked by a blood clot. But if heart attack is not treated on time it can lead to cardiac arrest.
More than 10 million people in India suffer from heart attacks in a year. When having a heart attack, it reflects following symptoms-
1.Tightness or body ache with strong pain in chest
2.Fatigue
3.Dizziness or lightheadedness
4.Anxiety and abnormal heartbeat
5.Feeling to vomit or nausea
6.Shortness of breath
7.Feeling of heartburn or indigestion
One can suffer from above symptoms when having a heart attack. The symptoms can last several days. Without any second thought, call an ambulance or nearby hospital as an emergency case. When rushed to the hospital, they will conduct a few tests to clarify if it is a heart attack. The first test to be conducted would be an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), then a few blood tests and rest tests. ECG/EKG is a painless test where few patches connected with wires are pasted on the chest to record the heart’s electrical activity and its disturbances, if any. ECG graph allows doctors to detect changes in the rhythm of heart and muscular damage in heart due to heart attack. The blood tests help to detect blood clotting in the passage of flow of blood.
What to do if a patient can’t reach the hospital on time? The person suffering from a heart attack should be treated at the spot with medical guidance without any delay. Following procedure can be conducted to reduce worse condition: –
1.Applying CPR
If the person feels difficulty in breathing or stops breathing, CPR can be conducted. To apply it, a person should lock his/her fingers firmly and place palm at the chest. Lock your elbows and align your shoulder with the position of your chest. At a rate of 100-120 compressions per minute, the heart has to be pumped. Continue this practice until the person regains consciousness and take him to the hospital.
2.Check the rhythmic waves of heart with personal ECG device
With the help of AliveCor’s Kardia 6L, a portable ECG device, the electrical activity of the heart can be measured. Open the Kardia app and place the patient’s finger on the electrode of the device. The results will be out within seconds. The most common risk factors to cause if controlled can lower the risk of heart attack like high blood pressure, smoking and drinking, high cholesterol, low activity levels…etc. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be fruitful for oneself.
A heart attack can be fatal. Proper medication and a healthy diet can lower its risk.
Alivecor India 