Heart Attacks

Question: Heart attacks? My uncle was told that the front half of his heart was dead. Can you please tell me more about this? He has a pacemaker, and has had several heart attacks. Thank You Wanda Shepherd

Answer: It means that the muscle is dead from the blood supply being cutoff during one or more of his heart attacks. The part that is dead, of course, is not functioning. Note: I am not a doctor, but I've read enough about these things to know.

Question: heart attacks? are heart attacks common in younger people(20's)

Answer: it is rare but if it runs in the family it could happen. gas pains are also similar to heart attack symptom. good luck

Question: How can 26 year old athletes die of heart attacks? Ive heard about atleast 4 cases where young men and women die of heart attacks while playing sports. These people are as fit as a bull and yet their having heart attacks. How is this possible?

Answer: If you have underlying health problems, it really wont show up unless you look for it...or unfortunately you die

Question: Why do heart attacks often happen so suddenly? Why do heart attacks often happen so suddenly? I've heard of stories where one minute a person can be fine and the next minute he/she can literally "drop dead" from a heart attack.

Answer: As a rule, they don't actually happen all that suddenly. We just ignore the symptoms or try to pass them off as something like heartburn. However, in a case like that where a person is dead so quickly... Its most likely because an artery was blocked up completely and very quickly. This would probably occur because of blood clots in the veins. Dick Cheney for example was diagnosed with this problem. His blood is too "thick," and the platelets that congeal to form scabs were forming scabs inside the veins and arteries. Most likely they have too much cholesterol and it catches those platelets. They form together into a "scab" or more accurately a blood clot. The clot breaks away and travels in the blood stream as long as it doesn't catch anywhere. Those that have such a quick heart attack probably had one of those clots catch somewhere and block up the whole system. Without any blood reaching the heart, the heart starts losing oxygen. It realizes a problem and pumps as hard as it can to break through, which only shoots the blood pressure way high. The heart overworks and stops immediately. This is usually when the person collapses and dies. CPR can help. But until that blockage is broken through, most likely oxygen will not get to the heart. It stays dead and eventually the person can't be resuscitated.

Question: Why do the recommend low doses of aspirin to help prevent heart attacks? I dont have heart issues but I do have anxiety issues. Anxiety attacks feel like heart attacks so I have been told. I have had a few tests on my heart while having anxiety attacks and luckily my problem is just anxiety. However, my docs still tell me to take a low dose of aspirin daily. What does the aspirin do to help with heart health? How does it work and exactly what does it do to help prevent heart attacks?

Answer: The use of preventive dose of aspirin given on daily basis is a controversial subject, more so because in a few cases it can cause life-threatening gastro-intestinal bleeding( a medico colleague of mine had it and and since gave it up) Do the beneft out weigh the risks, especially for normal individuals with no predisposition of cardiac illness. The question of whether prophylactic aspirin protects individuals at low risk of cardiovascular disease keeps being asked (though the exact dose at which it effective keeps being overlooked). Bandolier 86 carried a review examining the risks and benefits of aspirin use that looked at both coronary events prevented and harmful bleeds produced. The balance tipped from benefit to harm when the annual risk of a cardiovascular event was below 1%. Primary prevention is probably worthwhile at coronary risks of 1.5% a year or more, risks and benefits are balanced at an annual risk of 1%, and aspirin use is unsafe when the risk is 0.5% or less. Low risk was defined as having no more than one of a list of risk factors, including hypertension, high cholesterol or LDL, family history, smoking, diabetes, age over 45 years in men and 55 in women, angina, and past cardiovascular events.

Question: Heart attacks and drinking cold water during a meal? The whole thing sounds like bogus info to me. Could it possibly be true that drinking hot or warm water, tea, etc. while and just after eating could prevent heart attacks?

Answer: I got a chain email about that a while ago. I don't think that theres any evidence to back it up but I haven't looked to deeply into it. physiologically it doesn't really make much sense. if you want to prevent a heart attack eat right and exercise regularly. ( though it may aid in digestion- who knows)

Question: For heart attacks and women, does heartburn start off mild and comes and goes, or is it strong and sudden? Some women don't get heartburn when it comes to heart attacks. I'm talking about the ones that do.

Answer: Common signs and symptoms of a heart attack include: Pressure, fullness or a squeezing pain in the center of your chest that lasts for more than a few minutes Pain extending beyond your chest to your shoulder, arm, back, or even to your teeth and jaw Increasing episodes of chest pain Prolonged pain in the upper abdomen Shortness of breath Sweating Impending sense of doom Fainting Nausea and vomiting Signs and symptoms of a heart attack in women may be different or less noticeable than heart attack symptoms in men. In addition to the symptoms above, heart attack symptoms in women can include: Abdominal pain or "heartburn" Clammy skin Lightheadedness or dizziness Unusual or unexplained fatigue Not all people who have heart attacks experience the same ones or experience them to the same degree. Many heart attacks aren't as dramatic as the ones you've seen on TV. Some people have no symptoms at all. Still, the more signs and symptoms you have, the greater the likelihood that you may be having a heart attack. A heart attack can occur anytime — at work or play, while you're resting, or while you're in motion. Some heart attacks strike suddenly, but many people who experience a heart attack have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. The earliest predictor of an attack may be recurrent chest pain (angina) that's triggered by exertion and relieved by rest. Angina is caused by temporary, insufficient blood flow to the heart, also known as "cardiac ischemia."

Question: Why are men more susceptible than women to heart attacks? I've looked on-line, but I can't find the physiological reasons why men are more susceptible than women to heart attacks. Why is this please?

Answer: The instances of heart attacks is more in males simply because women are protected by the oestrogen hormone. Oestrogen stabilises and protects the lining of the arteries. After women reach the menopause the instance of heart attacks converge to roughly the same as men because once a women reaches the menopause the oestrogen levels decrease. There are other factors, but this is the main factor.

Question: Can a holter monitor detect past heart attacks? I'm wearing one for 24hr's tomorrow. Do they only test for rhythm irregularities , or would it detect past heart attacks, or heart failure? Still getting chest pains occasionally, only 26, cross my fingers!

Answer: Past heart attacks may be visible on an EKG (the one that takes just a few minutes and is a snapshot of the electrical activity of your heart). Not all heart attacks cause enough damage to create permanent EKG changes, though. Heart failure is not something that shows on an EKG. It can sometimes be seen on a chest Xray, or diagnosed by physical exam, or echocardiography. The Holter will show irregular heart rhythm, and EKG changes caused by ischemia (not enough oxygen getting to the heart muscle) At 26, ischemia would be pretty rare, unless you have a congenital anomaly of the heart. Esophageal spasm or reflux can give you chest pain, and is much more likely than cardiac disease in someone your age. The Holter should help rule out cardiac issues as a source of the pain, though.

Question: Who are all the people having heart attacks and dying young? On Biggest Loser, Dr. Oz and other shows they tell us about all the over weight people having heart attacks and dying young. I thought about that and realized I have never known or even heard of anyone who had this happen. In fact, if this were true would we see so many over weight older people. What's up with this? I preface by saying I am thin and in good shape and not disputing the claim I just don't see it happening.

Answer: It isn't that obesity makes you die young, it is that obesity makes you die younger. Also, and obviously, the people you see are the live ones. To know about deaths, you have to look at the statistics, not the people walking around the mall. An example is my uncle. He was a college football player who had open heart surgery to correct a defect in his teens. He went on to live as an obese adult, and died of a heart attack in his 50s. Since he had a history of heart trouble, it is likely that he would have died earlier than otherwise. However, being obese almost certainly moved up the date. By how much, we can't really know. And yet, he wasn't really young, nor would you realize he was dead except that I have provided the statistic. And so it goes: obesity makes many of the top killers worse at younger ages and thereby shortens lifespan. But people aren't necessarily dying young, only younger, and you won't recognize the effects unless you study the cases and statistics. Among the top causes of death, heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and infections (pneumonia and septicemia) are all made worse and riskier by obesity. Also, surgery is riskier for the obese, raising death rates from several of the top killers that rely on surgery for therapy (accidents, heart surgeries, etc.). And so, many people with those conditions are dying younger when they weigh too much. Perhaps your experiences with death might also reflect your own age. With time, maybe you will know enough people to recognize who recovers well from accidents, cancer, pneumonia, etc., and be able to correlate that with their weight and lifestyle to generate your own statisics. hth.

Question: What are the best ways to prevent heart attacks? I would like a descriptive answer that shows multiple ways of preventing heart attacks.

Answer: The best thing is: try to avoid places where is a serious noumber of heart attacks commited. Do not walk alone in the dark! Hearts are making sound like a drum, so when you hear that sound run for cover! Heart likes to attack mankind about 40 years and above, exspecially when they holding Mcdonals packs!:) Best things to do: run or walk every day at least 15 minutes, avoid coffeine, nicotine and do not use the electrical shaking belts like sauna belt etc. Avoid stress!!!

Question: Can mild heart attacks go away by themselves? I have had about 3 episodes where I feel chest pain on the left side, my left arm hurts, and I get dizzy. Eventually it goes away, but my chest will always hurt without the other symptoms. I'm wondering if I can be having heart attacks that just go away or if that's impossible. Also, I have had an ultrasound, stress test, and electrocardiogram all have been normal expect that I have a begnin heart murmur.

Answer: sounds like angina type pains NOT a heart attack. you need to get an ECG done while the symptoms are there so present to a+e next time and let them do this. a heart attack causes an area of muscle damage which does not go away and would definitely show up on the the ultrasound so be reassured by that. stable exertional angina usually shows up on a stress test because a narrowed coronary artery is unable to stretch to provide the heart with the extra blood it needs to exercise. so angina is like a cramp of the heart muscle. if you did not get this then be reassured that your arteries are able to provide all the blood your heart needs. dizziness is not a common symptom of angina (unless already diagnosed + on angina meds). could anxiety be an issue here? symptoms of anxiety commonly mimic cardiac symptoms. if you are worried about heart disease then the next step would be a coronary angiogram, an invasive test where the dr uses dye to show up any narrowings in the arteries supplying blood to your heart. In the UK we don't often do this test if your stress test was negative however, not unless the symptoms were recurrent.

Question: Do most people normally get heart attacks and strokes in their early or mid 40s? Can that be something occured in that particular age groups? I know some younger people get heart attacks when they're born with deffects, but only those normally get them in their 4os, true?

Answer: There is no such thing as "normally". A heart attack can occur at a large age range. They are seldom seen young and are more common in older people due to the fact of "aging". Think of a car: what are the chances a brand new car breaks down? However, a car that is about 15 years old will certainly give someone problems- why.. because of the "wear and tear." The human body is similar to that analogy. Also, the mistreatment, if any, that we do to our bodies usually prevails as our body starts to age and deteriorate. Thus, aside from genetics, poor exercise, diet and other unhealthy habits eventually catch up to us down the road. Obviously there are people who smoke, drink and hardly exercise and live a long healthy life in contrast to health nuts who drop dead at 30 years of age. There is no explanation. Just what a person can do to avoid anything like this happening before it does.

Question: Have you heard about the study that linked daylight saving time with increased heart attacks? They said heart attacks go up 5% the day after daylight saving time starts. They said heart attack rates go down 5% after it ends. Is that the reason my chest is hurting today?

Answer: ir's amazing what they will waste money to do studies for. Never heard of this one, though.

Question: Is there any articles stating that happier people aren't less likely to have heart attacks? I've been finding articles that say happier people are less likely to have heart attacks. Are there any articles that say otherwise?

Answer: Though I'm not sure you'd find any articles stating that happy people are more likely to have heart attacks, Santa Claus could be a poster child for jolly people who are on the fast track to coronary care. What you could do is find out how they define happiness in the articles you have read. If your definition of happiness is having a greasy burger with extra large fries, onion rings, a side of chicken wings, and a large soda, only to finish it off with a cigarette, you would probably not come out as good as a less happy person who eats healthily, and exercises regularly with no family history. Almost all heart attacks are caused by atherosclerosis. This means that increasing the hard risk factors like smoking, hyperlipidemia, physical inactivity, etc will far outweigh any benefits you may get from being happy. On the other hand, if you consider happy people as people with a positive attitude, they are more likely to adhere to lifestyle changes that could reduce their risk, both pre and post any heart problems, while someone with a defeatist pessimistic view might not. Finally please note that you cannot always predict who will get a heart attack, and sometimes the least likely candidates will get heart attacks, even if you're happy.

Question: Is it possible for a male in late 40s to suffer a series of heart attacks? One big one and several heart attacks later on, in a hospital. what are the chances of a person surviving once they have several heart attacks and are in critical condition?

Answer: It depends a lot on the circumstances of the heart attacks that He/She has already had. Most common is the amount of damage the heart has incurred during these events, as each attack does an amount of damage. I don't think that anybody could tell You an outcome with this Person,as it would depend on what is the problem with the heart, eg: artery damage, clots vajve problems ,and many more different things that occur, and cause heart attack. Good Luck, and Pray to Your God to bring this Person through. Regards Pa69oldfart.