After six hours, most damage is permanent. To be effective, these drugs must be given intravenously within six hours of the start of the symptoms of a heart attack. Nurses in these units are specially trained to care for people with heart problems and to handle cardiac emergencies.ĭrugs may be used to dissolve blood clots in the artery so that heart tissue can be saved. Heart rhythm, blood pressure and the amount of oxygen in the blood are closely monitored so that heart damage can be assessed. People who may be having a heart attack are usually admitted to a hospital that has a cardiac care unit. Often a person who is having a heart attack is given oxygen, which also helps heart tissue damage to be less. A beta-blocker may be given to slow the heart rate so the heart is not working as hard and to reduce the damage to the heart muscle. Chewing an aspirin tablet after an ambulance has been called can help reduce the size of the blood clot. The sooner that treatment of a heart attack begins, the better. A person with these symptoms should be taken to the emergency department of a hospital in an ambulance with trained personnel. It is crucial that symptoms of a heart attack be treated as a medical emergency. Half the deaths from a heart attack occur in the first 3 or 4 hours after symptoms begin. A spasm in one of these arteries can cause the blood flow to stop. Sometimes a clot forms inside the heart itself, then breaks away and gets stuck in an artery that feeds the heart. These deposits can tear or break open, reducing the flow of blood and releasing substances that make the platelets of the blood sticky and more likely to form clots. The artery has often already been narrowed by fatty deposits on its walls. Older people, especially women, often take longer than younger people to admit they are ill or to seek medical helpĭuring the early hours of a heart attack, heart murmurs and other abnormal heart sounds may be heard through a stethoscope.Ī heart attack (myocardial infarction) is usually caused by a blood clot that blocks an artery of the heart. Older people may have symptoms that resemble a stroke and may become disoriented.Feelings of restlessness, sweatiness, anxiety and a sense of impending doom.Loss of consciousness, which sometimes is the first symptom of a heart attack.Abnormal heart rhythms ( arrhythmias), which occur in more than 90% of the people who have had a heart attack.Shortness of breath, especially in older people.These people are more likely to be women, non-Caucasian, older than 75, someone with heart failure or diabetes and someone who has had a stroke. About 1 out of every 3 people who have heart attacks do not feel any chest pain.The pain is like that of angina but usually more severe, longer lasting and does not get better by resting or taking a nitroglycerin pill. Sometime the pain is felt in the stomach area, where it may be taken for indigestion. The pain may also be felt in all of these places and not the chest. During a heart attack, a person may feel pain in the middle of the chest that can spread to the back, jaw or arms.A change in the pattern of angina should be taken seriously. A person who has angina (temporary chest pain) may find that it happens more often after less and less physical activity.About 2 out of every 3 people who have heart attacks have chest pain, shortness of breath or feel tired a few days or weeks before the attack.Not everyone has the same heart attack symptoms when having a myocardial infarction.
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