Heart Attack signs
According to an article I just read, people with heart disease do not know the signs/symptoms of a heart attack. But they are about 5-7 times more likely to suffer a heart attack then someone without any heart issues or history. This seems odd to me. I mean if someone had heart issues, wouldn’t you want to know the symptoms of a heart attack, so you can be better prepared. But the symptoms can be anything from nausea to pain in the chest, jaw & left arm. I knew about the pain in chest and left arm, but jaw or even nausea? I had no idea. According to the research team in this article, they claim that the shorter hospital stays and move to outpatient treatment may have reduced the education on the subject to the patients. I guess because it is easier to tend to these heart attacks now, little education is provided. But the education will help these patients get to the hospital sooner. Apparently, patients are taking between 2 1/2-3 hours to get to the hospital, because they do not recognize the symptoms soon enough. But only education will help patients get to the hospital sooner, which will increase the patient’s chances of surviving the heart attack.
Don’t forget chronic heartburn.
Truth is people don’t go the hospital until they get sick, basically the way they take care of the family car.
Preventative care is the way to go. Yearly physicals and taking note of changes in your body. People don’t engage the physician with questions. They sit there, mad at the wait and say they have a cold or a pain, the doctor gives them some Robitussin, an anti-inflammatory or an antibiotic and they go home and take it.
Look at the number of people who don’t treat a cold and end up with walking pneumonia. You have to really monitor how you are feeling and you must convey that to the doctor.
You can’t sit in the office and say, “I’m okay.” Be as specific as you can. Note changes in your eating habits, pains in new places…
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