Heart has to work 24 hours a day. Blood is supplied to the heart through its coronary arteries, which if get blocked, cuts off most or all blood supply to the beart. Symptoms of heart-attack can vary from person to person. Some important precautionary measures, do's and don'ts:-
- During a heart attack, the heart muscle dies within a few minutes from the lack of water supply. Timely medical care is of essence to save the patient's life.
- The patient feels pain, discomfort, uneasiness and heaviness in chest or neck or jaw or back or abdomen or arms or shoulders along with breathelessness, sweating, sweating and irregular heartbeat.
- Firstly, have the affected person sit down, rest and try to keep calm. Help him to take the chest-pain medicine which he might be talking already before calling an amubulance. Loosen his clothes.
- Do not leave the person alone and do not wait for the symptoms to go away. And do not give the person anything to drink, unless prescribed by his Doctor already.
- Chewable or dissolvable aspirin will always be helpful.
- The sooner the patient gets to the emergency room, the better the chance of his survival.
- The first hour is of heart attack is most crucial to saving the life of the patient.
- Keeping emergency numbers of nearest hospital or doctor always handy will be helpful.
- Ensure a member of your family or friend or neighbor is reachable at all times.
- And the family members including children should know whom to call during emergency.
- Keeping Nitrate tablet under tongue can also be done but only with medical supervision.
- The aim of hospital will be to restore blood supply to the beart in the quickest possible time to minimise damage to the heart muscle, already affected.
- The patient is treated either by the mode of Angioplasty or Thrombolysis. Former method is known as better and most successful treatment than latter.