Chapter 3: How to Provide Emergency Care at the time of Heart Attack?
Often times, there won’t be obvious signs of pre-heart attack. This disease is usually asymptomatic until the later stage. Early signs of Heart Attack include feeling pain or discomfort on his or her chest and shoulders, tiredness, lack of energy, breathing difficulty, and so on.
Complaints might differ for each person, but when heart attack actually happens, one would experience sharp pain on his or her left chest for at least 15 minutes. Men and women have different symptoms. For instance, women usually do not experience any chest pain; their common symptoms are fatigue, disturbed sleep patterns, shortness of breath, indigestion and anxiety issues.
If you think you have heart attack, call emergency services right away. Do not wait, as every minute counts. A patient’s chances of full recovery can be drastically reduced by the delay of treatment. Call emergency services and talk a trained operator to assist you.
The 6 Signs of Heart Attack
So how do you determine whether a person is suffering from a heart attack? Here are the six signs of heart attack that you can take note of.
Heart Attack sign 1: Chest Pain or Discomfort
For men, chest discomfort is the most common symptom of a heart attack. Usually, they’ll experience a tight, heavy, or burning sensation. It can also feel like indigestion or heartburn. This sensation usually begins in the middle of the chest, and then it moves to other areas of the body. This discomfort usually come and go.
Some people experience no pain at all, just discomfort or a dull type of pain, which can grow to be quite intense; others will not have pain just discomfort.
Heart Attack sign 2: Discomfort or Pain in Other Parts of The Body
The symptoms of a heart attack can also manifest in different parts of the body, such as one or both arms, back, stomach, jaw or the neck. Different people, especially women, will experience pain or discomfort in the jaw or back during an attack.
Heart Attack sign 3: Shortness of breath
Feeling short of breath is a common heart attack symptom. It is normal for a person to experience shortness of breath after some physical work or exercise but if this happens when you’re resting, it is often a sign of heart attack. It is caused by the leaking of fluid into the lungs. To unusually fatigued women, it can sometimes be an accompanying symptom.
Heart Attack sign 4: Nausea, Sweating or Clamminess
Many people, especially women, when having a heart attack will feel nauseous, excessive sweating or clamminess. These symptoms can also be indications of the flu, but if these symptoms occur abruptly or you also have other indications of a heart attack, call the emergency services immediately.
Heart Attack sign 5: A general feeling of extreme fatigue or weakness
Sometimes, the first complaint you may hear from a heart attack patient is general weakness or fatigue. It might not sound like much, but this is a common indication that most potential heart attack patients experience prior to the attack. But this symptom alone is not enough to diagnose or expect a heart attack as there are too many causes of weakness and fatigue. It can be due to lack of oxygen, not having enough sleep, poor eating habits, anemia, arthritis, and others.
Heart Attack sign 6: Collapse or Falling
Often a person with heart attack will collapse or lose consciousness, unlike other chest condition where this rarely happens. Again, if you find someone collapses and lose consciousness, bring him or her to an open area and call for an ambulance right away.
Early Warning Signs of a Heart Attack
Heart attacks usually give a bit of a warning before they happen (except with Heartbreak Attack). Often this can happen days or in some cases months before an attack is imminent, and the heart muscle becomes damaged.
Because of the similar symptoms in many different conditions or diseases, it can be hard to tell that you are experiencing a heart attack. So make sure to keep an eye out for other symptoms. The more symptoms you find, the easier it is to diagnose a heart attack. Routine checkups from your health provider are advisable for prevention and cure.
What To Do Before Help Arrives:
What To Do If You Are Having A Heart Attack When You’re Alone
The first thing you should do is call emergency services, give your location first, then name and try and state your problem.
Only after you have summoned emergency services should you call others such as friends or family. The emergency service operator is trained to help in cases of emergency so follow their instructions until help arrives.
If you are completely alone and do not have a phone, there is still one thing you can do that may save your life. This self-procedure is controversial, it has been suggested that it could make matters worse if it is not done correctly. But if you are alone and there is no available help, then this is a viable option.
Take a very deep breath and then cough vigorously right from the bottom of your chest (in the same way a cat will cough to get rid of a fur ball). For this to work effectively, a person needs to take very deep breaths about every 2 seconds. Breathe in and make a deep prolonged cough. This procedure has to be maintained until your heart regains a regular rhythm and is beating normally. It is best to repeat this until help arrives.
What this procedure does is to bring large amounts of oxygen into your lungs; the coughing squeezes the heart and keeps the blood moving. This squeezing pressure on your heart, at about every 2 seconds will help your heart regain its normal rhythm. By doing so, you should be able to remain in a stable condition while waiting for help to arrive.