February 8, 2010
February is American Heart Month but it is not because of Valentine's Day. It was designated heart month by the U.S. Congress in 1963 to raise public awareness of heart disease.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006, heart disease caused 26 percent of deaths, more than one in every four deaths in the United States. The CDC indicates that every year about 785,000 Americans have their first heart attack, 470,000 more will have another attack.
The costs of heart disease are staggering. The CDC estimates that heart disease costs the United States $304.6 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.
A myocardial infarction also known as a heart attack is usually caused by a blood clot that stops the flow of blood in the artery of the heart. Blockage of a coronary artery deprives the heart of oxygen-carrying blood. Waiting for treatment can be fatal. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart. If blood is not restored quickly, the heart muscle typically dies, resulting in acute heart failure and death.
Not all heart attacks are like what you see on TV, causing a person to grab their chest and fall to the ground. Sometimes the symptoms are more subtle. Symptoms of heart attack may include chest pain or discomfort in the center of your chest. Sometimes people say it feels like an elephant is sitting on their chest. This pain may come and go for minutes at a time.
Other symptoms include discomfort in the upper body, including the arms, left shoulder, back, neck, jaw or stomach, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, sweating, a feeling of fullness, indigestion or choking, nausea or vomiting, light headedness or dizziness, extreme weakness or anxiety and rapid or irregular heartbeats.
So if it looks like a heart attack, then what? The first thing you must do is call 911 or radio for help. When a heart attack strikes, time is critical. The longer it takes the victim to get to the hospital the greater the amount of damage will occur to the heart muscle. The doctors only have a few short hours to restore the blood supply to the heart muscle by unblocking the affected heart artery.
Treatments such as the administration of clot-busting drugs to dissolve the clot, heart catheterization and angioplasty must be done in a hospital. Until we get our victim to the hospital we can help the victim to a comfortable resting position. If you have a telemedicine service, call them. Often the doctors will instruct you.
If the victim is alert, able to swallow and not allergic to aspirin, give him/her aspirin. You should ask if the patient has prescribed medication such as nitroglycerin that you can assist them with.
What can we do to reduce our chances of heart disease? Limit your intake of fat, sugars, sodium and salt. Eat more whole grains, legumes, fresh produce and low fat dairy products. Eat lean meat, lean poultry and fish, and watch how much you eat. This means saying "no" to your second helping of pasta.
Another way to help is exercising for 30 to 60 minutes each day. The American Heart Association recomends the following for healthy people:
“For health benefits to the heart, lungs and circulation, perform any moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week at 50–85 percent of your maximum heart rate.”
Limiting your intake of alcohol is another way to help. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Moderate alcohol use seems to offer some health benefits, particularly for the heart. But too much alcohol raises the stakes, putting you at risk of adverse health consequences.”
Moderate drinking is defined as two drinks a day if you're a male, or one drink a day if you're a female or a male older than 65.
Please check back next month when we talk about Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Cardio Pulmonary Resusication (CPR) and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
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