What are the symptoms of a heart attack?

[8404]

From the desk of: 8404

As some of you already know, I experienced a heart attack on December 19, 2007. What I did not share, is that I had another one on January 20, 2008! With that being said, I submit to you the following:

We all have loved ones, and not all of us are Corpsman, however I cannot stress enough the importance of learning and knowing the signs & symptoms of heart attack.

I have always enjoyed Readers Digest magazine, and periodically, they publish the symptoms of heart attack & Stroke. Every time it was published, I would reacquaint myself with these symptoms. Doing so, has saved my life on four, (4) different occasions. Yeah, I've had four heart attacks and lived to talk about it, (old Infantry Marines are tough). We used to say in the Marines, "Heaven doesn't want me and Hell is afraid I'll take over". Semper Fi oorah!

"Approximately one million Americans suffer a heart attack each year. Four hundred thousand of them die as a result of their heart attack." (http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_attack/article.htm)

It has been my own personal experience, that you may NOT experience ALL of these symptoms during a heart attack. You CAN experience one, a combination of some, and sometimes all of them. Every heart attack is and feels differently. No two are the same.

Myth: Only old people have heart attacks. Wrong, my first one was at age 38 and I recognized the symptoms then.

Do not wait to go the hospital. Should you have symptoms, medical professionals advise to take an 81mg aspirin and go immediately to your local hospital or call 911. I'd rather be embarrassed from being told I only had a bad case of indigestion, than to miss the warning signs altogether.

8404 advises,

1.) Limit your Cholesterol intake. (as close to zero as you can get).
2.) Limit your Fat intake. (total calories from fat = 20% or less).
3.) Check and treat high blood pressure.
4.) Limit or layoff of Pork and Beef they are high sources of Cholesterol.
5.) Walk or exercise aerobically for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 3-4 times a week.

The life you save, may be your own! :)
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SOURCE: http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_attack/page2.htm#tocd

Although chest pain or pressure is the most common symptom of a heart attack, heart attack victims may experience a diversity of symptoms that include:
Pain, fullness, and/or squeezing sensation of the chest
Jaw pain, toothache (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=500), headache (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20628)
Shortness of breath
Nausea, vomiting, and/or general epigastric (upper middle abdomen) discomfort
Sweating
Heartburn and/or indigestion
Arm pain (more commonly the left arm, but may be either arm)
Upper back pain
General malaise (vague feeling of illness)
No symptoms (Approximately one quarter of all heart attacks are silent, without chest pain or new symptoms. Silent heart attacks are especially common among patients with diabetes mellitus.)Even though the symptoms of a heart attack at times can be vague and mild, it is important to remember that heart attacks producing no symptoms or only mild symptoms can be just as serious and life–threatening as heart attacks that cause severe chest pain. Too often patients attribute heart attack symptoms to "indigestion," "fatigue," or "stress (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=488)," and consequently delay seeking prompt medical attention.

One cannot overemphasize the importance of seeking prompt medical attention in the presence of symptoms that suggest a heart attack. Early diagnosis and treatment saves lives, and delays in reaching medical assistance can be fatal.

A delay in treatment can lead to permanently reduced function of the heart due to more extensive damage to the heart muscle. Death also may occur as a result of the sudden onset of arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation.

Additional information regarding heart attack may be found at:

http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_attack/article.htm

http://images.medicinenet.com/images/illustrations/heart_attack.jpg

Information regarding stroke may be found at:

http://www.webmd.com/stroke/guide/stroke-symptoms

Take care of yourselves, and each other!

[HMC8404]

How are you doing Tony on your recovery?

[8404]

Situation Report, SITREP:

I'm feeling much better lately. Thank you for asking. I just finished my 40 minute brisk morning walk. Am losing weight weekly, just by following the above dietary advise.

I had to learn and am still digesting, (excuse the pun) the idea that this is NOT a diet, rather a lifestyle! One must become highly creative with spices and fresh herbs in order to achieve a high palatability rating.

However, I still have occasional dreams of, creamy-cheesy noodle casseroles, or biscuits and gravy. ;)

[HMC8404]

The more "prepared" a meal, the more hidden the calories and fats in it.

The trick you have to remember is that the less you have to prepare something, the less fattening it is for you (i.e. calories and bad fats).

Of course tomorrow will not be a day of less calories for me. I'm having the ultimate fattening dish, especially the way I make it with 5 cheeses; LASAGNE.

Over the years since my daughter has been held in my arms as I cooked, she has been beside me helping me and learning to cook at the same time. She would stand beside me on a chair when smaller and stir things for me as I cooked. Its how I learned to cook and now it's how she is learning to cook ... by helping, watching the process, and asking questions along the way. Her and I eventually graduate up to the day where she feels she is ready to prepare the meal alone without my directions. Tomorrow is that day for my "secret" lasagna recipe. She knows the basics but has never tried to make it without my help. I have no doubt that she'll do fine. She makes a mean Beef Stroganoff now and knows that the key ingredient you should never skip is the red wine. Without it added it can still be good, but the wine gives it that ultimate distinct flavor separating it from just a nice beefy gravy.

Usually we don't have meals like this. We do on the weekends but during the week its a lot of soups, steamed veggies with a simple piece of meat ... nothing "too" prepared.

For desert I keep lots of fruits in the house; both canned, fresh and frozen.

Keep up the good work Tony. :)

[8404]

...5 cheeses; LASAGNE...Beef Stroganoff ...

8404 reaches for the phone and makes airline reservations to fly out on the next available flight.

Yummie.................She'll do just fine. I wish there was a way to send some via mail to me!

[psencik1950]

Besides the symptoms of a heart attack, which can vary from something very trivial as pain in your right jaw, or a butterfly in your stomach so to speak, to the proverbial elephant sitting on your chest, one must first remember that - TIME IS MUSCLE - cardiac muscle that is.

It is the intent of an ER to have a door to EKG time of under 10 minutes. It used to be door-to-drug time (clot buster) of under 30 minutes. At an ER in NJ, one day we had door-to-drug of 7 minutes. Did the EKG myself, put it in front of the MD who was suturing, he asked if there were any contraindications. There weren't. By this time, we had 3 lines - 20 ga or better. I mixed the med and started the bolus.

Now days, shooting for door to cath lab needle in under an hour.

But what I had started to say is that one needs to recognize risk factors for MI (myocardial infarction) and CVA (stroke, cerebrovascular attack).

Heredity - especially if a close family member has had a significiant event before the age of 50 or sudden death before 50.
So Tony, your son has one risk factor. Also, African Americans have more hypertension, so they are at a greater risk of heart disease.

Gender - men have more events than premenopausal women and earlier in life. BUT, don't just poo-poo the woman who walks in complaining of heart pain. Everything is an MI until proven otherwise. That can be hard for real cynical folks like myself sometimes.
Increasing age - obvious, but women over 65 are twice as likely to have MI.

Then there the factors that you can alter -

Smoking - #1 cause of sudden death. 2x's as likely to have MI as non-smoker.
Obesity
Elevated cholesterol
Hypertension
Inactivity
Stress
Substance abuse

I know that a big percentage of the audience here is young, in shape and a hardcharger who is never going to get old and fat, much less have any problems, BUT

most of you are corpsmen - so you need to know this information for your patients and remember it for your coming growing maturity - old age, like some of us old f**ts, like Tony and myself.

Ben

[AndiRRT]

Also certain patient populations (i.e. Diabetics and WOMEN) are more likely to have atyppical symptoms.Women will often complain of pain in the back. Diabetics sometimes mention no pain at all.

[8404]

Thanks Ben:

All three of my boys have been schooled in high blood pressure and hereditary issues surrounding heart disease and have been checked out by a cardiologist.

Excellent information for all medical personnel.

[FireLieu]

With todays advances the biggest obstacle to overcome is the denial from the patient. I work out of Kissimmee, Fl and my system has the capabilities to do 12 lead EKG on the field and transmit via bluetooth from the LP12 to the toughbook which in turn transmits to the ER and the cardiologist's blackberry simultaniously. We are capable of starting drug treatment and as the patient is delivered to the cath lab table vs the ER. All said early recognition of s/s is the most crucial. Even more is the acceptance that it can happen to you.

[docmctee75]

I find that while the symptoms of heart attacks may differ amongst individuals, they ALL feel like a ton of bricks are sitting on your chest making breathing near impossible because of the excrutiating pain involved. I had a heart attack in December 2000... it lasted about the longest eight seconds of my life. The cardiac surgeons found that a major artery had closed due to clotting, so they gave me a stent to open up the blood vessel. It worked great; however, the nurses who applied the "clamp" (it looked like a gigantic "C" clamp, didn't know what they were doing and just slammed and locked it over the femoral artery they used to thread the stent. My roommate said I screamed in pain for hours finally before passing out. The nurses NEVER even asked for a pain killer for me. I lost about eight percent of my heart muscle, but my doctor said I was lucky because it was in the back of the organ and was not used for moving blood through my body.

Talk about total body weakness, I had a hard time climbing the stairs after I was released from the hospital. At 46, I knew that I had to make some changes to my lifestyle. I knew that food was a comfort item I used whenever I felt depressed and I unfortunately became obese. When I looked in the mirror, I didn't see myself as being overweight because at 6'5", it seemed proportional.

When my first stent failed, my entire body felt like it was on fire. As blood slowly rescinded from my extremities, I was in excrutitating pain and taken to the local ER where the doctor worked on me for three hours, finally doping me up with morphine and sending me to a trauma hospital with a great cardiac team. I received a second stent and this time, they used a radioactive tip to actually burn away the scar tissue and clotting around the stent. I have had no heart problems since then.

I did make a decision that probably saved my life. With diabetes type II, I experienced peripheral neuropathy in all extremities -- I either felt numb or else I was in excrutiating pain; I was grossly overweight and had a hard time exercising. Diets didn't work, so I selected to have major abdominal surgery and have a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (removal of 85 percent of my stomach and then stapling it). It was a difficult procedure which required a long, life-changing recovery. I lost (burned off the deep fat diets don't reach) over 100 pounds the first seven months, finally losing a total of 150 pounds in a little over a year. The change is immense. I miss Italian food, such as spaghtti and meatballs and lasagne, but no matter how good it tastes, it is nothing compared to the way I look now -- thin, chisled appearance and in great shape. While I have a datefor plastic surgery to remove the extra 15 to 20 pounds of excess skin -- I have decided to forgo this surgery because of the length of time it takes to recover, the amount off pain and chance for infection. I've always had good genes and will let nature take its course in helping with the natural reduction of extra tissue via absorbtion back into the body. Right now, the excess skin from my stomach looks like a normal middle-aged gut. Every morning I am amazed as I look straight down my body and see my feet clearly. I went from a XXXL to a L/T and large size for clothes (a size 36"x33" slacks). My cholesterol is better than normal people have (both good and bad kinds), my A1C is the lowest its ever been and I was able to come off insulin. I look and feel great!

Semper Fi,

docmctee75

[8404]

What a feat, you made it and what a transformation. Fantastic story Doc. Keep it up.

[Doc_Stevens]

I knew that food was a comfort item I used whenever I felt depressed and I unfortunately became obese.

I selected to have major abdominal surgery and have a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (removal of 85 percent of my stomach and then stapling it).


McTee, I also ended up using comfort foods and although an E-6 at the time, I was honorably discharged with a re-enlistment code that reflected my struggle with weight. Eventually (at my greatest weight) wearing a size 54 pants.

I underwent a gastric by pass Roux-en-Y a little over four and a half years ago, lost approximately 180 pounds and am loving every day of lift the good Lord has and is giving me in my size 34/36 waist.

[YardDog]

8404, glad to hear the SITREP!

My wife had a Cholesterol of over 2000, basically a "Wlaking Heart Attack"....after diets and med's, it dropped a few points....after eating Processed Deer Meat (Venison for you Northern Folk) for 1 year plus....taking 0 meds, exercise and eating fish her Cholesterol is now under 399, still high but better.....common every day food contain more and more additives than 1 can believe.....Oranges, Bananas, Tomatoes are picked GREEN and inserted with advance aging stuff to excell the color for absorbtion by us. Meat has more FAT added to increase the weight of a product (FAT has lots of BAD, BAD items in it)....feed for Live Stock and Poultry have additives to promote FAST growth or Weight Gain.....so in short the best thing you can remember is this one suggestion that my grandfather passed on to me....

"You can never, ever beat FRESH GROWN Veggies, you can not complain about 'Eating' the items that GOD placed here on Earth for us to harvest and eat (Racoon, Turkey, Possum, Fish, Deer, etc.), they are more healthy and rich with nutrients than what you find in the store, not to mention they are cheaper and most times little work is needed (thus making the price to avoid almost zero)" he further told me that "by acquiring your food by your GOD given tools, you will become one with Nature and One with GOD, making your life better as a Human and giving you something you can pass on, thus making you Christ Like...being a Teacher and Healer....for your family....futher giving you Pride and a Sense of knowing that YOU were a TRUE PROVIDER....allowing you to sleep and rest better (And the rest means R.I.P.)"

My grandfather was a good man, he taught me things that I shall never forget, he was smart, he worked hard, he served proudly during WWII....he taught me to be thankful for what you have today, even if it is only a grain of sand. He taught me that "friends" are more trusting than "Family" (family always knows your business and hardly helps you when needed....a friend always helps and/or provides comfort even when they themself have nothing to give)

In short with today's economical state, more will need to go back to the "1930's" way of living (off the land, making rat's for gas/etc.) and most families will move into 1 big house for 15 people to survive and live.....it was something that never failed and never broke....and we are taught "If it aint BROKE.....Don't fix it".