MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION (HEART ATTACK)

Lean in and focus on recovery after a heart attack. If you’ve had a heart attack, you know firsthand it can take a physical and emotional toll. Thankfully, many people live a normal, productive life after a heart attack. Talk with your doctor about the following tips for a healthy heart attack recovery and learn how to tailor your approach to fit with your goals and desired lifestyle.  1. Take medication as prescribed. Research shows many heart attack survivors don’t take medication as prescribed by their doctors. But these medicines can keep your condition under control and help prevent future problems. If you have medication concerns, such as the inability to pay for them, tell your doctor. 2. Walk it off. Exercise is one of the best activities you can do for your heart because it lowers cardiovascular risk factors. Not only does it help keep weight in check and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but it can also ease stress and ward off depr...

                                Each minute after a heart attack, more heart tissue deteriorates or dies. Restoring blood flow quickly helps prevent heart damage. Medications                             Medications given to treat a heart attack might include: • Aspirin. It reduces blood clotting, thus helping maintain blood flow through a narrowed artery. • Thrombolytics. These drugs, also called clotbusters, help dissolve a blood clot that's blocking blood flow to your heart. The earlier you receive a Thrombolytics drug after a heart attack, the greater the chance you'll survive and have less heart damage. •  Antiplatelet agents. Emergency room doctors may give you other drugs known as platelet aggregation inhibitors to help prevent new clots and keep existing clots from getting larger. • Other blood-thinning medicatio...

Ideally, your doctor should screen you during regular physical exams for risk factors that can lead to a heart attack. If you're in an emergency setting for symptoms of a heart attack, you'll be asked about your symptoms and have your blood pressure, pulse and temperature checked. You'll be hooked up to a heart monitor and have tests to see if you're having a heart attack. Test include: • Electrocardiogram (ECG): This first test done to diagnose a heart attack records the electric activity of your heart via electrodes attached to your skin. Impulses are recorded as waves displayed on a monitor or printed on paper. Because injured heart muscle doesn't conduct electrical impulses normally, the ECG may show that a heart attack has occured or is in progress.                      • Blood tests: Certain heart proteins slowly leak into your blood after heart damage from a heart attack. Emergency room doctors will take samples ...

                            Certain factors contribute to the unwanted bluidup of fatty deposits (atherosclerosis) that narrows arteries throughout your body. You can improve or eliminate many of these risk factors to reduce your chances of having a first or another heart attack. Heart attack Risk Factors include:          • Age . Men age 45 or older and women age 55 or older are more likely to have a heart attack than a younger men and women. • Tobacco . This includes smoking and long-term exposure to secondhand smoke. • High blood pressure . Over time high blood pressure can damage arteries that feed your heart. High blood pressure that occurs with other conditions, such as obesity, high cholesterol or diabetes, increases your risk even more. • High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels.  A high level of low-density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) is...

                                               Not all heart attacks begin with the sudden, crushing chest pain that often is shown on TV or in the movies. In one study, for example, one-third of the patients who had heart attacks had no chest pain. These patients were more likely to be older, female or diabetic. The symptoms of a heart attack can vary from person to person. Some people can have few symptoms and are surprised to learn they've had a heart attack. If you've already had a heart attack, your symptoms may not be the same for another one. It is important for you to know the most common  symptoms of a heart attack and also remember these facts: • Heart attacks can start slowly and cause  only mild pain or discomfort. Symptoms can be mild or more intense and sudden. Symptoms also may come and go over several hours. • People who have high bl...

                           A heart attack happens when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a section of heart muscle suddenly becomes blocked and the heart can't get oxygen. If blood flow isn't restored quickly, the section of heart muscle begins to die. Overview: Heart attacks most often occur as a result of, also called ischemic heart disease, coronary heart disease or coronary artery disease. Ischemic heart disease is a condition in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart. When plaque builds up in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis. The buildup of plaque occurs over many years. Eventually, an area of plaque can rupture (break open) inside of an artery. This causes a blood clot to form on the plaque's surface. If the clot becomes large enough, it can mostly or completely block blood flow through a cor...