Mortality from diseases of the cardiovascular system is one of the first places. Our blood vessels carry blood throughout the body, thereby supplying cells and tissues with nutrients and oxygen. The trigger for all this is a contraction of the heart muscle.
There are a lot of reasons for stopping proper blood supply. If this occurs in the myocardium, then we can talk about a heart attack. Any heart attack is a threat to human life. That is why first aid for a heart attack is very important.
Causes of the disease
Our heart is a muscle that, like everything else in our body, needs a constant flow of oxygen and nutrients. In the case of the termination of normal blood circulation, cell death of a certain area is observed. This leads to the fact that dead tissue is replaced by connective fibers, which are not able to contract.
In each case, the area of such a damaged area can be different, so sometimes they say not just about a heart attack, but about its vast form. The most susceptible to such attacks are people over 40 years old, although at the present time it is not uncommon to diagnose a similar condition at a young age.
The first signs of a heart attack
First aid for a heart attack plays one of the decisive roles in saving a person’s life. But sometimes the clinical manifestations are blurry, which makes the diagnosis difficult, and this leads to the loss of valuable time.
Symptoms may depend on many factors, for example, the area of the affected area of the muscle or the degree of impaired heart function. At the first suspicion of a heart attack, it is urgent to call an ambulance. It’s better to be safe again than to bite your elbows for not timely assistance.
All manifestations of myocardial infarction can be divided into several criteria by which the correct diagnosis is made:
- Pain syndrome, usually behind the sternum and in the region of the heart.
- Disorders in the work of the myocardium, which are easily detected by the cardiogram.
- Change in biochemical analysis of blood.
The problem is that not everyone with a heart attack can have a pronounced pain syndrome. Sometimes it has an unusual localization.
Symptoms of the disease
First aid for myocardial infarction will only be effective when the correct diagnosis is made. There are some symptoms that facilitate this process and clearly indicate abnormalities in the heart:
- Pain behind the sternum, which can be given to the arm, under the shoulder blade and neck.
- After taking Nitroglycerin, the intensity of the pain does not decrease.
- A person may lose consciousness.
- The skin becomes pale, cold sweat appears.
But not only these obvious companions of a heart attack can not always be observed, in some cases a person does not feel pain in the heart, but interruptions in his work. Such situations can be confusing when making the correct diagnosis, especially at home. Myocardial infarction is beginning to be taken for completely different diseases.
Precursors of the disease in women
At a young age, women are less susceptible to heart attacks, and female sex hormones stand guard over the health of their cardiovascular system. But with the onset of menopause, this protection decreases, and the female body begins to attack heart diseases.
Our subconscious mind and brain perceive malfunctions in the functioning of internal organs much earlier than the obvious symptoms begin to manifest. The body tries to warn about this, signaling with various signs. This is the case with a heart attack.
Even before the onset of the attack itself, one can ascertain its approximation by some manifestations. If you know about this, then first aid for myocardial infarction will become more effective.
Here are some signs that signal an approaching attack in women:
- Snoring in a dream or short stop breathing.
- Great tiredness and weakness throughout the body. If for men this may not be scary, then for the female body this is a signal of an approaching heart attack.
- Sleep is disturbed.
- There are problems in the digestive tract.
- Gum bleeding due to abnormalities in the heart muscle.
- Swelling appears.
- Arrhythmia.
- Pain in the left forearm.
- Shortness of breath and shortness of breath.
- Hypertension.
- Frequent urination at night.
If there are at least some signs, then a woman should consult a doctor.
The manifestation of myocardial infarction in women
If you quickly recognize the signs of a heart attack in a woman, first aid will be more effective. The first symptoms include:
- Pain in the left side of the chest.
- A feeling of heaviness in the chest may appear.
- Abdominal pain.
- Burning sensation in the upper abdomen or chest.
- Aching toothache.
- Pain in the back of the head.
- When you change the position of the body, shortness of breath appears.
- Heavy sweating.
- A sharp decrease in pressure.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Speech becomes slurred.
- Fear and panic.
- Decreased visual acuity.
Even if there are some signs of a heart attack in a woman, first aid should be reduced, first of all, to calling a qualified team of medical workers.
Signs of a heart attack in men
Heart problems in a strong half of humanity are usually manifested quite clearly. If there are signs of a heart attack in men, first aid should be timely in order to save a person's life.
Due to the brightness and totality of the manifestations, the attack is often confused with heart failure, which can be triggered by many factors.
Men have a group of diseases that is a common cause of heart attack. The following problems can be included in it:
- Atherosclerosis.
- Surgical obstruction of the arteries.
- Congenital pathologies in the structure of the heart muscle.
- Coronary spasm.
- High blood pressure.
- Diabetes.
As in women, the precursors of a heart attack may appear long before the attack. These include:
- Feeling of anxiety, fear and anxiety.
- Attacks of angina pectoris.
- Cardiopalmus.
In some cases, signs of a heart attack in men are quite abrupt. First aid, which is provided, can greatly affect the fate of a person.
Usually myocardial infarction in the male half of humanity is manifested as follows:
- Severe and prolonged pain in the area of the heart muscle. It appears suddenly, and even Nitroglycerin does not help to remove it.
- Pain can include the lower jaw, left arm, neck.
- Blood pressure jumps, at first there may be a sharp increase, and then a decline.
- Dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
- An increase in temperature is usually observed some time after the onset of pain. This can be explained by the poisoning of the body by dying cells.
- Asthmatic attacks in the form of a feeling of lack of air, labored and intermittent breathing.
Each organism is individual, therefore, not necessarily in case of a heart attack, all of the listed symptoms will appear. First aid for a heart attack should be provided immediately.
What is the difference between symptoms of female and male heart attack
Women suffer from a heart attack much less often. This can be explained by the characteristics of their body. There are also signs of a heart attack in different ways, there are several reasons for this:
- The female heart is smaller than the male heart.
- The heart rate in the female body is up to 90 beats per minute, and in men - only 70-80.
- Female hormones estrogens provide additional protection for the heart and blood vessels. There are no such defenders in the male body.
Despite the various manifestations and different signs of a heart attack, first aid practically comes down to the same thing in both men and women.
What to do before the doctors arrive?
If a heart attack in a person happened at home, then first aid for a heart attack at home should be as follows:
- Call "ambulance".
- Since it is problematic to make an accurate diagnosis at first glance, it is necessary to lay the person down, unfasten the upper buttons on the clothes.
- If the patient often suffers from heart attacks, he usually carries with him "Nitroglycerin", which must be put under the tongue in the amount of one tablet. If there are no doctors for a long time, then you need to repeat these steps every 15 minutes.
- Talk with the patient to somehow calm him down. You can give a little sedative, for example, tincture of motherwort.
- Be sure to give the Aspirin tablet, it prevents thrombosis.
- If the heart stops during a heart attack, then first aid for a heart attack should be aimed at restoring the work of the most important organ. To do this, you need to do artificial respiration in combination with indirect heart massage. In this situation, the main thing is to distinguish loss of consciousness from cardiac arrest.
First aid in time is very important in case of a heart attack. It can save a person’s life. Most heart attack deaths are associated with the inaction of others.
Assistance to the patient in a hospital
Doctors of the ambulance continue to maintain a satisfactory condition of the patient until they arrive at the hospital. First aid for a heart attack in a hospital relies on pronounced symptoms and is as follows:
- First of all, you need to stop the pain. For this, “Droperidol” and “Fetanyl” are administered to the patient. At the same time, it is necessary to monitor the patient's condition, because these drugs can have a side effect - respiratory depression.
- An attack of tachycardia can be eliminated with Isoptin solution. With atrial fibrillation, the use of "Panangin", "Novokainamide" is indicated.
- If the cause of clogged arteries is blood clots, then they are controlled by fibrolytic therapy.
After stabilization of the patient's condition, the question of surgical intervention regarding stenting or coronary artery bypass grafting may be raised .
The functioning of the whole organism depends on the work of the heart. His health must be treated with all responsibility and seriousness. Then you do not need to provide assistance with a heart attack.