What is a Heart Attack? What are the symptoms of a heart attack?

The heart, which is located in the ribcage, slightly to the left from the midline of the chest, and is of vital importance, is an organ with a muscular structure. The weight of this organ, which pumps almost 8000 liters of blood into the circulation by contracting an average of 100 thousand times a day, is 340 grams in men and approximately 300-320 grams in women. Due to any defect in the heart structure, heart valve diseases (valvular diseases), heart muscle (myocardial) diseases, heart diseases such as heart attack related to the coronary vessels responsible for feeding the heart tissue, or various inflammatory diseases of the heart may occur.

Heart attack and stroke are the most common causes of death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by 2030, 23.6 million people will die every year due to cardiovascular diseases.

What is a Heart Attack?

Heart attack, also referred to as myocardial infarction; It is a condition in which blood flow to the heart muscle is interrupted due to occlusion or excessive narrowing in the coronary vessels, which are responsible for the oxygen and nutritional support of the heart. There is an increase in the risk of permanent damage for every second that the heart tissue does not receive enough blood.

Any sudden blockage in the arteries feeding the heart may cause the heart muscle to not receive enough oxygen, causing damage to the heart tissue. Fatty substances such as cholesterol accumulate on the walls of the vessels responsible for blood flow to the heart and form structures called plaques. Plaques multiply over time, narrowing the blood vessels and creating cracks on them. Clots that form in these cracks or plaques that break away from the wall can block the vessels and cause a heart attack. If the vessel is not opened early and correctly, heart tissue loss occurs. The loss reduces the hearts pumping power and heart failure occurs. In Turkey, 200 thousand people die every year due to heart attack. This rate is almost 30 times that of deaths due to traffic accidents.

12 symptoms of heart attack

The most basic heart attack symptom is chest pain, also known as heart pain. This pain, felt behind the chest wall, is a dull, heavy and pressing pain that feels like someone is sitting on your chest. It can spread to the left arm, neck, shoulders, abdomen, chin and back. It generally takes about 10-15 minutes. Resting or using nitrate-containing medications that dilate coronary vessels may relieve pain. Other symptoms of a heart attack may include feelings of distress, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, easy fatigue, and heart rhythm disturbances. Heart pain, sometimes occurring in narrowed areas, and heart attack symptoms may vary from person to person. This is especially true for heart attack symptoms in women.

Symptoms that may occur during a heart attack can be summarized as follows:

1. Chest Pain, Pressure or Discomfort: Most people who have a heart attack describe feeling pain or discomfort in the chest area, but this is not the case with every heart attack. In some people, a compressive feeling of tension may occur in the chest area. The feeling of discomfort is usually short-lived and disappears within a few minutes. In some people, this feeling may be felt again within a few hours or the next day. These symptoms are generally complaints that indicate that the heart muscle is not receiving enough oxygen, and caution should be taken as there may be a need for urgent medical intervention.
2. Referred Pain: The feeling of tightness and pain in the chest may be reflected in various other parts of the body during a heart attack. In most people who experience a heart attack, chest pain tends to radiate to the left arm. Apart from this area, there are people who experience pain in areas such as shoulders, back, neck or jaw. During a heart attack in women, care should be taken as the pain may also be reflected in the lower abdomen and lower chest. Pain in the upper back is another symptom that is more common in women than in men.
3. Sweating: Excessive sweating that does not occur during activity or exercise is a symptom that may indicate various heart problems. Excessive cold sweating may also occur in some people.
4. Weakness: Excessive stress during a heart attack can cause a person to feel tired and weak. Weakness and shortness of breath are symptoms that occur more frequently in women and may be present several months in advance in the pre-crisis period.
5. Shortness of Breath: Heart function and breathing are closely related events. Shortness of breath, defined as the persons awareness of breathing, is an important symptom that occurs due to the hearts inability to pump enough blood during a crisis.
6. Dizziness: Dizziness and dizziness are among the heart attack symptoms that usually occur in female patients. These situations should not be accepted as normal and should not be neglected by the person experiencing them.
7. Palpitations: People who complain of palpitations due to a heart attack are in a state of intense anxiety. Some people may describe this palpitation not only in the chest but also in the neck area.
8. Digestive Problems: Some people may experience various digestive complaints that are hidden heart attack symptoms in the pre-crisis period. Care should be taken as digestive problems such as indigestion and heartburn may be similar to some heart attack symptoms.
9. Swelling of the legs, feet and ankles: Foot and leg swelling develops as a result of fluid accumulation in the body. This may be a sign that heart failure is worsening.
10. Fast and irregular heartbeats: It is stated that rapid or irregular heartbeat irregularities should be taken seriously. Moreover, when fatigue, weakness and short breathing are added to the palpitations, it may not be too late.
11. Cough: A persistent and ongoing cough may be a sign of a heart attack. This is due to blood flow in the lungs. In some cases, cough may be accompanied by blood. In such a situation, it is important not to waste time.
12. Sudden change in body weight - weight gain or loss: Sudden weight gain or loss increases the risk of heart attack. Sudden changes in diet may also cause fluctuations in the cholesterol profile. It has been observed that the risk of heart attack increases in the following years in middle-aged individuals who gain weight by 10 percent or more in a short time.

Signs of Heart Attack in Women

Male gender is considered a risk factor for susceptibility to heart diseases. At the same time, men may have a heart attack at an earlier age than women. Although heart attack symptoms may vary from person to person, heart attack symptoms in men generally consist of classic symptoms. For women, the situation is slightly different. It is necessary to be aware as some non-classical symptoms such as long-term weakness, sleep problems, anxiety and upper back pain are considered among the symptoms of heart attack in women.

What are the Types of Heart Attacks?

Heart attack, also defined as acute coronary syndrome (ACS), is divided into 3 subtypes. STEMI, NSTEMI, and coronary spasm (unstable angina) make up these three types of heart attacks. STEMI is a heart attack pattern in which an elevation occurs in the area referred to as the ST segment on the ECG examination. In NSTEMI type heart attack, there is no such segment elevation on the electrocardiography (ECG). Both STEMI and NSTEMI are considered major types of heart attacks that can be quite damaging to heart tissue.

STEMI is a type of heart attack that occurs when the nutrition of a large part of the heart tissue is impaired as a result of complete blockage of the coronary arteries. In NSTEMI, the coronary arteries are partially occluded and therefore no change may occur in the area referred to as the ST segment in the ECG examination.

Coronary spasm is known as a hidden heart attack. Although the symptoms are similar to STEMI, they can be confused with muscle pain, digestive problems and various other complaints. When this condition, which occurs due to contractions in the vessels of the heart, reaches a level that cuts off or significantly reduces blood flow, it can cause latent heart attack symptoms. Although it is encouraging that no permanent damage occurs to the heart tissue during this situation, it is a situation that should not be neglected as it causes an increase in the risk of having a heart attack in the future.

What are the causes of heart attack?

The formation of fatty plaques in the vessels feeding the heart is among the most common causes of heart attack. Apart from this situation, clots or ruptures in the vessels can also result in a heart attack.

Due to various factors, the accumulation of fatty deposits called atherosclerosis may occur on the inner wall of the vessels, and these conditions are considered a risk factor for heart attack:

• Smoking is the most important reason that increases the risk of heart attack. The risk of heart attack is almost 3 times higher in men and women who smoke.
• The higher the level of LDL, defined as bad cholesterol, in the blood, the higher the risk of having a heart attack. Avoiding foods with high cholesterol content such as offal, soudjouk, salami, sausage, red meat, fried meat, calamari, mussels, shrimp, full-fat dairy products, mayonnaise, cream, cream and butter may reduce the risk of heart attack.
• Diabetes is an important disease that increases the risk of heart attack. The majority of diabetic patients die due to heart attack. In patients with diabetes, the elasticity of the vessel walls deteriorates, blood clotting levels may increase and damage to the endothelial cells on the inner surface of the vessel may become easier. Care should be taken as there may be an increased risk of heart attack in insulin resistance due to unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity.
• Increased pressure in the blood vessels (high blood pressure) is another condition that can increase the risk of heart attack.
• With age, deterioration in the structure of the vessels and an increase in damage may occur. This also increases the risk of heart attack.
• Estrogen hormone in women may have a protective effect against the risk of heart attack. Therefore, the risk of heart attack is considered higher in men and post-menopausal women.
• Obesity increases the risk of heart attack by causing dysfunction in blood vessels, premature aging and atherosclerosis. Other conditions such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes that accompany obesity, which cause disorders in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, are also important for the occurrence of a heart attack. While obesity surgery is preferred for obesity, methods such as laser liposuction can be preferred to thin and reduce the fat tissue.
• Having a history of heart attack in a persons first degree relatives such as mother, father, sibling increases the risk of having a heart attack.
• Care should be taken as elevation in the blood of substances such as C-reactive protein, homocysteine, fibrinogen and lipoprotein A produced in the liver may also be associated with the risk of heart attack.

How is Heart Attack Diagnosed?

ECG (electrocardiography), which documents the electrical activity of the heart, is one of the first tests used to detect a possible heart attack. In this examination, performed by electrodes placed on the chest and extremities, electrical signals are reflected on the paper or monitor in various waves.

Apart from ECG, various biochemical analyzes can also be useful in the diagnosis of heart attack. Due to the cellular damage during the crisis, some proteins and enzymes, especially troponin, normally located in the heart cell, may pass into the bloodstream. By examining the levels of these substances, an idea is obtained that the person may be experiencing a heart attack.

Apart from ECG and blood tests, radiological examinations such as chest x-ray, echocardiography (ECHO) or, in rare cases, computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can also be used in the diagnosis of heart attack.

Angiography is an important diagnostic and treatment tool for heart attack. During this examination, a thin wire is inserted into the veins in the arm or thigh and the heart vessels are examined through a contrast agent that appears dark on the screen. If an obstruction is detected, the vessel can be opened with balloon applications called angioplasty. The patency of the vessel can be maintained after angioplasty by using a wire tube called a stent other than the balloon.

What are the Heart Attack Treatment Methods?

A heart attack is an emergency and when symptoms occur, it is necessary to apply to a full-fledged hospital. The vast majority of heart attack-related deaths occur within the first few hours after the attack begins. Therefore, it is vital that the patient is diagnosed quickly and the intervention is performed correctly. If you are having a heart attack, call emergency numbers immediately and report your situation. In addition, regular check-ups play an important role in heart attack treatment. If you want to get information about how to do a check-up, you can contact hospitals.

The patient who comes to the emergency room due to a heart attack is referred to a cardiologist after the necessary emergency treatments and blood thinners are administered. If the doctor deems necessary, he may perform angiography to check the patients veins. Depending on the angiogram results, whether medication or surgery will be performed is usually determined by a council that includes a cardiologist and a cardiovascular surgeon. Angioplasty, stent and bypass surgery are among the basic treatment options for heart attack. In bypass surgery, the cardiovascular surgeon uses blood vessels taken from another part of the body to repair damaged vessels in the heart.

The risk factors of heart attack, which is one of the leading causes of death all over the world, are examined in 2 groups: modifiable and non-modifiable. Lifestyle changes that can positively contribute to your heart health can be summarized as stopping tobacco use, eating a balanced and healthy diet, exercising, taking care to keep blood sugar within normal limits in the presence of diabetes, keeping blood pressure low and developing the ability to control the stress of life.

One of the most important steps to reduce the risk of heart disease is to stop tobacco use. Smoking is among the leading risk factors for coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. In the process leading to atherosclerosis, smoking may have a stimulating effect on the accumulation of fatty substances in the vascular wall. Apart from the heart, the normal functions of other organs are also negatively affected by tobacco use. Tobacco use may also reduce the amount of HDL, known as good cholesterol, and increase blood pressure. Due to these bad properties, an extra load is placed on the veins after smoking and the person may become prone to various diseases. It is a proven fact that stopping tobacco use reduces the risk of heart disease, and the effects of quitting begin to show themselves directly. With a decrease in blood pressure, circulation improves and the oxygen support carried in the body increases. These changes also provide an improvement in the persons energy level and it becomes easier to perform physical activities.

Exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight are among the most important issues in controlling blood pressure and preventing various heart diseases. Exercising 30 minutes a day and at least 5 days a week is sufficient to stay physically active. It is not necessary for the activity to be of high intensity. With exercise, it becomes easier to reach a weight that is considered healthy. Physical activity supported by a balanced and healthy diet contributes to the prevention of complications that may occur due to excess weight by supporting the bodys normal functions, especially in controlling blood pressure.

It is very important for people who have previously experienced a heart attack or been diagnosed with similar conditions to strictly comply with the medications prescribed by their physicians. If you feel the symptoms of a heart attack, you should immediately contact emergency services and get the necessary medical help.

We wish you healthy days.