Speed Makes A Difference

By Author: yangwenjing
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You probably already know that a viselike pressure in the chest is the most common physical sign of a heart attack. You may even be aware that the body sometimes "refers" the pain of a heart attack, sending it to the neck, jaw or arms. But do you know the second, third or fourth most common sign of a heart attack? You should. According to a study in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), recognizing the less common signs of a heart attack could save your life or that of someone you love.

Speed makes a difference. Heart-attack victims who don't experience chest pain typically put off going to the hospital—by an average of two hours, the JAMA study found. When these patients finally show up at the emergency room, it often takes doctors longer to make the right diagnosis. All the while, their heart isn't getting potentially Thomas Sabo Charms life-saving treatment with clot-busting drugs, beta-blqckers or emergency angioplasty. These delays help explain why a heart-attack patient who doesn't experience chest pains is twice as likely to die at the ...
... hospital as someone who does.

By studying a computerized database of more than 430,000 people who suffered heart attacks across the U.S., it was determined that there are six major risk factors that increase the chances that any heart attack jfou suffer will be atypical. These six risk factors include: having a weak heart (from congestive heart lisease), diabetes or a history of stroke; being 65 or older, female or from a minority group. The increased risk is cumulative: If a 75-year-old black woman has a heart attack, her chances of experiencing chest pain are less than 50%.

Apparently diabetics feel less pain because of nerve damage caused by their condition, but no one knows why women or the elderly are more likely to suffer painless heart attacks.

So what, besides chest pain, should you watch for? Probably the next biggest tip-off is extreme shortness of breath. Indeed, many cardiologists consider difficulty breathing to be as good an indicator of a possible heart attack as chest pain. Other less specific signs include nausea, profuse sweating and fainting. Son heart-attack victims describe a sudden, overwhelming sense of doom or feel pain under their scapula.

Be particularly suspicious of any "heartburn" that gets worse if you walk around or otherwise exe yourself physically. Don't try to drive yourself to the hospital. Call an ambulance. Then, if you think of it, chew on an aspirin; 325 mg is the recommended dose, and chewing gets the drug into the bloodstream faster. A single tablet can stave Thomas Sabo Necklaces off some of the damage. Above all, don't tell yourself, "I can't be having a he attack; I'm not feeling any chest pains. Let a doctor make the final call.