Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction): Causes, Signs, Symptom and Prevention tips

Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack) a medical emergency, dangerous killer disease in human beings mostly in men more than females.

A heart attack usually occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the heart. Without blood, tissue loses oxygen and dies. The case of heart attack mostly happens when a patient is alone, when nobody is around to help. But how do you survive this attack when you are alone…

In this article you will get all you need on how to survive Heart attack (Myocardial Infarction) when alone.

About Heart Attack

According to Mayoclinic.org, Heart attack occurs when the flow of blood to the heart is blocked, that is to say, when the channel through which blood flows in and out of the heart is blocked, Myocardial infarction occurs.

This blockage is as a result of accumulation of fat, cholesterol and other substances, which form a tablet like shape in the arteries that feed the heart (coronary arteries).

The plaque eventually breaks away and forms a clot that interrupts the flow of blood and causes damage or destroy part of the heart muscle.

According to health.harvard.edu, A heart attack occurs when one of the heart’s coronary arteries is blocked suddenly or has extremely slow blood flow. A heart attack also is called a myocardial infarction.

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Signs and symptoms of Heart Attack

Symptoms include tightness or pain in the chest, neck, back or arms, as well as fatigue, lightheartedness, abnormal heartbeat and anxiety.

The most common symptom of a heart attack is chest pain, usually described as crushing, squeezing, pressing, heavy, or occasionally, stabbing or burning. Chest pain tends to be focused either in the center of the chest or just below the center of the rib cage, and it can spread to the arms, abdomen, neck, lower jaw or neck.

Other symptoms can include sudden weakness, sweating, nausea, vomiting, breathlessness, or lightheartedness. Sometimes, when a heart attack causes burning chest pain, nausea and vomiting, a patient may mistake his or her heart symptoms for indigestion.

How to Survive a Heart Attack when you are alone

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.