Heart Attacks
Dr Thakersee diagnoses and treats patients who are suffering or who have suffered a heart attack. The cause of a heart attack is nearly always coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is a condition where the inside of one or more of the coronary arteries becomes narrowed because of fatty deposits. This plaque or fatty deposit can restrict blood flow, or the fatty deposit can crack or burst perforating the artery wall. The body tries to repair the damaged artery wall by forming a blood clot. This blood clot can block the coronary artery entirely, causing part of the heart muscle to be starved of blood. The affected part of the heart muscle will begin to die, because it is not getting enough oxygen. This is a heart attack, also referred to as myocardial infarction. During a heart attack patients risk suffering cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood and the patient can no longer breathe normally.
Common heart attack signs and symptoms include:
- Nausea, indigestion or heartburn
- The sensation of pressure, tightness, pain, or aching in the chest or arms that can spread to the neck, jaw or back
- Abdominal pain
- Shortness of breath
- Cold sweat
- Fatigue
- Feeling faint or dizzy
Certain factors including poor lifestyle choices add to the undesirable collection of fatty deposits that narrow arteries throughout the body. Patients who improve or eliminate these risk factors decrease their chances of having a heart attack. Heart attack risk factors include:
- A history of high blood pressure and high blood sugar
- Age
- Smoking
- Illegal drug use
- High blood cholesterol levels
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Family history of heart attack
- Lack of exercise and physical activity
- Excessive stress
- Having an autoimmune condition such as arthritis or lupus can increase the risk of a heart attack.