The Symptoms of an Impending Heart Attack

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The Symptoms of an Impending Heart AttackHeart attack is dubbed as a silent killer. You may not know this, but your heart might be in deep trouble. Check out these symptoms to identify the obvious signs of an impending heart attack. With this, you can get help immediately thus avoiding complications and mortality.

Here is one thing that you should know about heart attack: not all heart attacks cause the usual chest pain and sweats. According to the National Institutes of Health, some heart attacks unfortunately strike silently causing little to no symptoms. In their study, researchers recruited about 1,800 people with age 45 years old and over; all of which were free of heart disease. These respondents had their hearts screened and evaluated 10 years later.

After a decade, researchers found out the almost 8% of participants showcased evidenced of scarring and damaged tissues on their hearts. Of those that revealed scarring, the majority went unrecognized and uncared for. In addition, nearly half of these respondents showed signs similar to that of a typical heart attack.

These results tell us that most of these respondents have experienced heart attack, and may not have known it occurred in their past.

In some cases, patients exhibited symptoms that were not bad enough. These symptoms did not prompt them to seek the help of doctors. This study came from a study conducted by David Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D, the directory of radiology and imaging sciences at the NIH Clinical Centre.

Symptoms of a heart attack that may have gone unnoticed include mild chest pains, vomiting, nausea, unexplained fatigue, shortness of breath, heartburn, and discomfort felt around the neck and jaw.

A silent heart attack may sometimes feel similar to that of a stomach bug, influenza, or indigestion. Unlike those medical conditions and common ailments, a mild heart attack will definitely leave a dangerous scar tissue on the heart.

Scar tissue on the heart is a big deal and here’s the reason why: Scarring may disrupt with the electrical current traveling in the heart resulting in abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmia.

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When scarring develops in your heart, the heart may then beat too quickly, making it unable to pump blood effectively. This can then result in sudden cardiac arrest, or the heart may ultimately stop working altogether.

So what is your best bet? It is recommended to closely monitor symptoms even if you don’t feel anything bad is happening to your heart.

For younger and healthier individual, the chance for a heart attack from happening is minimal to none.

However, if you are between the ages of 40 and 50 or older and with strong family history of cardiovascular disease or are obviously suffering from risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, and diabetes, you are recommended to head to your doctor as soon as possible. This is especially true if symptoms persist longer than 20 minutes, or if symptoms get worse with activity. Never ever wait for the symptoms to clear up. Seek medical help immediately.

Even if you are not suffering from any of the symptoms mentioned earlier, it is highly recommended to see your doctor for an annual physical examination. This is due to the fact that unrecognized heart attack is not the only thing that can dangerously scar an organ. Conditions such as chronic hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus type II, and smoking care known to significantly cause damage to the heart.

According to studies, almost 70% of people with unrecognized heat diseased who passed on due to sudden cardiac arrest actually exhibited previous scarring on their hearts too.

Detection of heart disease is crucial if you want to minimize or avoid fatal heart attacks altogether. Your doctor will provide you with a guide on how you can manage and control these factors before a heart attack strikes. In addition, it is ideal to ask your doctor for a CT calcium score or a CT angiogram tests. These diagnostic examinations can detect the accumulation of plaque at a very early stage.

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