Symptoms of Heart Attack...

If you ignore warning signs of a developing heart problem, it may later on result in either a heart attack or a cardiac arrest. When any of these occurs, timing is crucial and every minute is very important. Hence get immediate medical help. In such a case, instead of consulting a general physician, it is better to consult a cardiologist or go to the nearest hospital. Even if it is a false alarm, there is no harm. It is better to be overcautious than to be negligent.

Usually during a heart attack, a person gets severe and/or persistent chest pain,sweating, nausea, shortness of breath and even vomiting. These are the symptoms of a heart attack.

Thus, ignoring warning signs of a heart problem may cause serious problems later on. Ignoring symptoms of a heart attack can be fatal. Warning sings require outpatient management with lifestyle changes and medication. Symptoms of a heart attack require immediate inpatient evaluation and treatment.

Take responsibility...

prescription: Stop worrying and take responsibility for your situation!

Responsibility = Response + Ability

that is, Respond Appropriately to the situation

This involves the following steps:

Accept your heart disese as it is because you cannot change the pasr; you can only change the present and the future.

Accept your heart problem as a "Blessing in Disguise". Think that the nature has warned you to take care of your health.so that for the rest of your life you can live a healthy and happy life. I regard my heart attack as a blessing in disguise because thereafter my health has improved significantly.

Beleive that heart disease is reversible and that reversal is not only an option but is a must.

Decide what Lifecycle changes are required so that you remove the rppt cause of the problem and also decide how you would achieve them.

Prepare an Action Plan for recovering and rehabilitating.

Do Not Blame Yourself...

The normal tendency of a patient of any severe disease is to blame either himself or someone else,for example,his doctor,for his health problem. He may say for instance," I wish my doctor was more careful and warned me of this or that or advised me to have a stress test,cholesterol check-up etc"or"I wish I had controlled my diet or quit smoking, etc". This kind of self blame or blaming past happenings or holding other persons responsible for your heart problem is unproductive because it uses up your valuable time and energy which you need for rehabilitating yourself. Further, it causes more stress and trauma for the family members and the patient.

Burry Your Worries & Take Resposibility

 

"You are the captain in your life. Take charge of it."

"Worry kills men more than work", so goes the saying and it is true. One of the major worries of a person with heart disease is, what would happen to him and his family if he is disabled, crippled or bed-ridden. He would have greater worry if he is middle aged, his children are young or if he does not have enough money for the family or for his treatment. But stop and think! How would worry help him solve his problems? Worry would not improve his situation; in fact, it would worsen it because it would divert his time, energy and attention to ubproductive thinking. At this time, his energy and time are scarce and they must be utilised wisely. Secondly, worry has a negative impact on his immune and healing systems and as a result, healing slows down or is retarted, if not worsened. Further, worry may have side effects which would divide his healing power and his attention to healing his heart and the side health problems.

You can't tell me that it is easier said than done because I have been practising what I am preaching here and I have benefited immensely by not worrying.

ECG , not a best guide

ECG is not the best guide for diagnosis of heart disease. For example, a person may have a normal ECG but he may still have a cardiac problem. It should be noted that each test has its own limitations. Hence, it is worthwhile to look at all the symptoms that a person has and then to diagonise his cardiac condition. At times, it may be worthwhile to look at all the symptoms that a person has and then to diagonise his cardiac condition. At times, it may be worthwhile to observe a patient for 24 hours because in a single examination certain things may be missed or may not be notices. For this purpose, usually a person need not be hospitalised. However, sometimes, it may be necessary to hospitalise a person for observation, particularly, when he has pain but his ECG or Electrocardiogram is normal.

Different perspective..

The important point is that heart disease does not develop overnight. It develops over a number of years. A resume of the relevant events which took prior to my heart attack would amply demonstrate that nature had tried to warn me in several ways but I ( and even cardiologist) ignored them.

 When you have something in abundance, you do not realise its value. I generally enjoyed a very good health and rarely visited a doctor. I probably did not pay as much attention to my health as I should have or could have. For example, I did not have an overall health check-up done, which one should have got done regularly after the age of 40, in his death. Two years prior to my heart attack, my two brothers living abroad found out that they had moderately elevated a high level of cholestereol checked up and also suggested a change in my diet.  I, however, kept postponing the general check-up for more than two years.The cause of my heart attack was high triglycerdes and high cholesterol which I found out only after my heart attack. Thus, I had advance warning two years ago but I neglected it and did not get even a simple cholesterol check-up done. If my high triglycerdes or high cholesterol was detected earlier, then I could have taken steps for reducing the triglycerides and the cholesterol level and improving the heart condition, as I did later on. In that case, it is possible that I could have, at least prevented the heart attack, if not the heart disease.

Could I Have Prevented Heart Attack?

"Nature usually gives prior warnings before serious heart disease develops. One needs to learn to listen to them".

We are all familiar with a proverb that "there is no use crying over spilt milk".Then, why do I want to discuss whether I could have prevented the severe heart attack which I got on 24th june, 1995? Analysis is paralysis beyond a point, but analysis up to a point is useful. The purpose of this question is to understand the important lessons that I have learned from this experience and to explain the same so that others may not have to go through the same fortunate experience.

The natural questions which several persons have asked me are: Why I get the heart attack? Did I have a prior warning? And the question which I have asked myself is, could I have prevented the heart attack, if not heart disease?