By Gail Larkin
Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, NY — The middle-aged man suddenly reaches his hand up to his chest, stares off into the distance, and falls hard to the ground. It’s a Hollywood heart attack. Fact is, real heart attacks rarely present with such drama. The pain may be mild or non-existent, perhaps just a nagging pressure in the chest or back. Instead of crashing to the ground, the heart attack victim may continue doing his or her usual routine, trying to ignore the discomfort.
Your heart is an amazing organ, as well as a muscle. It’s relatively large - about the size of your fist. Divided into four compartments, it supplies your body with oxygen-rich blood and also sends blood back to the lungs to exchange carbon dioxide for more oxygen. When you exercise, your brain sends messages to your heart to work harder so that your muscles can get the oxygen they need. The harder your heart works, the more oxygen your heart is also going to demand.
The heart has its own blood supply. Special arteries in the heart called coronary arteries, supply specific parts of the heart with blood and oxygen. These arteries need to be kept in good working order so that the heart muscle doesn’t become oxygen starved.
Years of poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, and other preventable risk factors can damage these coronary arteries. They can become narrowed by a build-up of fats, plaque, and cholesterol. Sometimes the problem is hereditary, but most of the time there are risk factors that we can change.
What happens when these arteries become narrowed or clogged?
The coronary arteries, like other blood vessel groups in the body, have many branches. They thread through the heart bringing oxygen to the cells as they do the job of sending blood around the body.
Lack of oxygen
When a blood vessel narrows, the heart cells on the other end may become low in oxygen. When this occurs, you will probably experience chest pain or pressure. If the cells go too long without oxygen, they die. When heart cells are in the process of becoming damaged from lack of oxygen, you’re having a heart attack.
So what do you do? Modern medicine offers much more for you, but you have to seek treatment early. What if you’re not sure? It doesn’t matter. Get help.
Here’s the scenario. You show up at the emergency department of a local hospital and tell the triage nurse that you feel pressure in your chest. Most likely you’ll be brought into the treatment area right away.
You’ll be given oxygen and intravenous medicine. An EKG or ECG (electrocardiogram) will be done. Doctors and nurses will ask lots of questions. If you’re lucky, you’ll get there early enough and be a candidate for a special type of treatment designed to break up the fatty clot that’s blocking your coronary artery.
Or, perhaps you’ll go to a special area of the hospital, where a device will be placed in your artery to open it back up so that your heart muscle cells will be saved.
In many cases, damage to heart muscle can be minimized or prevented if treatment is sought early on in the heart attack. This treatment must be started within a few hours of the onset of symptoms. It’s up to you, the potential patient, to recognize the warning signs and call 911.
Don’t drive yourself. Even with mild chest pain your heart could suddenly stop beating. If you’re driving this could be tragic. Paramedics can give you lifesaving medications before the trip to the hospital. They can also perform and read your ECG, and know whether you need to go to a specialty hospital that can treat your blockage right away before damage occurs.
Don’t ever wait more than a few minutes when you have a suspicion of heart attack. Even professionals cannot tell for sure if it’s a heart attack until many tests are completed.
Don’t wait for the Hollywood heart attack. Instead, watch for these symptoms:
- Pain or tightening in the chest, arms, jaw, or back.
- Sometimes, pain may be more in the belly.
- Shortness of breath.
- Weakness, palpitations.
- Nausea, vomiting, heartburn.
- Cool, pale, sweaty skin
These symptoms may come and go, or may persist. Don’t try to figure it out. Preventing heart damage means getting treatment early.