What to expect from a heart attack

A heart attack is life-threatening and can be a frightening experience. Dr Lance Forbat, consultant cardiologist, provides essential information and advice about what can happen, what to do and ways to lessen the risk.

What happens when you have a heart attack?

They happen when oxygen-rich blood flow is blocked from your heart muscle, which results in damage.

Does chest pain occur when you have a heart attack?

The symptoms of a heart attack vary. You may feel tightness, heaviness or pain in your chest. This may spread to your arms, neck, jaw, back or stomach. For some people, the pain or tightness is severe, while other people just feel uncomfortable.

What symptoms occur in a heart attack?

Further to the possibility of chest pain, you may become sweaty, feel light-headed or dizzy, or have shortness of breath. Other heart-attack symptoms can be vomiting or feeling nauseous.

Some people don´t have any chest pain, especially if you have diabetic neuropathy where nerve endings that usually receive pain don´t react normally to a lack of oxygen.

Why could a heart attack happen to me?

Most heart attacks are caused by coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is when your coronary arteries (the arteries that supply your heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood) become narrowed by a gradual build-up of fatty material within their walls.

If a patch of fatty material (atheroma) becomes exposed to the blood stream it stimulates the blood clotting mechanism that leads to a blockage, cutting off the blood supply. If it is not cleared within 10 to 20 minutes, it leads to a heart attack. This is why you should get urgent medical attention for persistent chest pain.

If I have heart attack, what should I do?

Act now and call 999. Also, chew 300mg aspirin straight away even if you take it already. It reduces risk of death by 25 per cent.

Make sure you know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and don't delay getting help. Around half of heart-attack survivors have avoided seeking medical help for their symptoms for over an hour.

What are the long-term effects of a heart attack?

A heart attack always causes some permanent damage to your heart muscle. However, the faster that treatment is given, the more muscle it's possible to save.

If a heart attack damages a significant amount of your heart muscle, this can affect your heart's pumping action. The term used to describe this is heart failure.  Also, some people's angina symptoms continue after they have had treatment for their heart attack, because one or more of their coronary arteries is still narrowed.

How to reduce the risk of a heart attack

A healthy lifestyle, which includes a balanced diet and taking regular exercise, can prevent you from developing coronary heart disease and having a heart attack.

If you have had a heart attack you can significantly lessen the risk of having another one and future heart problems, too, by keeping your heart healthy and taking your medication.

If you're over 40 you should speak to your doctor or nurse about undergoing a heart-health check to assess your risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years.

What else could my chest pain be?

Chest pain may not only occur because of a heart attack. It could also be pericarditis, gastroesophageal reflux, musculoskeletal pain or nerve root pain.

Learn more about how Dr Forbat can assist you regarding your heart-health concerns by getting in touch here. You can also visit his website dedicated to heart attack and preventive cardiology advice, www.heartattacksymptoms.co.uk.