Heart Attack Causes

Heart Attack Causes

There are few different things that heart attack causes have in common. The primary one, however, is that all these causes put unnecessary strain and stress on the body and the heart. In order to limit your potential for a heart attack it is important to know what the causes are. If you know what causes a heart attack you can develop a plan to eliminate these causes from your life. It may be difficult to eliminate all of the heart attack causes from your life because there are factors at work that you have no control over, such as genetics. However, there are some causes that you can strive to minimize or even eliminate.

One of the most common heart attack causes is stress. If you are a constant worrier who doesn’t get much sleep then you are at a greater risk of having a heart attack. When you are stressed out your body goes into overdrive. This puts unnecessary strain on the heart muscle. Over time, this constant strain on the heart will gradually weaken it. In turn, you may have a heart attack. Good ways to deal with stress include doing something that you enjoy that also has a benefit for the heart. This could include things such as taking a long walk or jumping in the pool to go for a swim. The idea is to take your mind off of what is stressing so that your heart can get a workout in a good way.

Obesity is also one of the major heart attack causes. Becoming obese is directly related to your diet in most cases. If you are putting bad foods into your body you will likely see your weight climb. When this happens you are putting extra pressure on your heart. Your heart must work faster and harder in an effort to carry all of the excess weight around. A poor diet will also contribute to plaque buildup in your arteries. If you have substantial buildup in your arteries then eventually it will stop the blood flow to your heart. Once this happens you will have a heart attack.

Heart attack causes are often things that can be avoided if you decide to take care of yourself both mentally and physically. Making an effort to live more of a stress free lifestyle while also eating healthier can reduce your risk of a heart attack in no time flat.

Heart Attack Symptoms in Women

Heart Attack Symptoms in Women

In some cases the heart attack symptoms in women can be different from the symptoms that occur in men. At the end of the day, whether you are a man or a woman, it is important to recognize these symptoms and do all that you can in an effort to receive medical attention. The biggest factor to surviving a heart attack is to identify what the potential symptoms are and to get to the hospital immediately. A mistake that many women make is that they do not seek out medical help fast enough. Women must know what they are at risk for, recognize it if they feel the symptoms and get in front of a doctor as soon as possible.

Uncomfortable pressure in the chest is reported by about half of women who have suffered a heart attack. The pressure can feel like a heaviness or squeezing sensation in, or near, the area where the heart is located. In some cases, women have reported that the pain and discomfort has spread to the left arm.

One of the big heart attack symptoms in women is a feeling of pain around the upper stomach area. It is important to note that this pain can be related to the heart and not just a bout of indigestion or acid reflux. Some women have self diagnosed this pain improperly and have treated it by using antacids with no luck. If you are experiencing an unusual amount of pain in this area then there is a chance that you are having a heart attack. Pain in the upper stomach area can act as a precursor to other symptoms. If you wait until you feel the other symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain, it may be too late. That is why it is important to get in front of a doctor at the first sign of a heart attack.

Women are at risk of having a heart attack just like men are. Things such as stress and obesity can trigger a heart attack in the blink of an eye. If you are having unusual feelings of fatigue, trouble sleeping or spells of dizziness then you may be a candidate for a heart attack in the near future. If some of these early warning signs come up then you can take action in order to prevent yourself from having a heart attack. Heart attack symptoms in women should be something that each woman is aware of. Knowing the symptoms can be the difference between life and death.

What causes heart attacks? Myocardial Infractions Explained

Heart attack

Heart attack, or myocardial infarction as they are commonly referred to by doctors, occur when blood flow to a part of the heart that  is blocked for an extended period of time leading to the damage or death of tissues in that area which can lead to the heart muscles getting damaged and dying. And that is what causes heart attacks.

The main cause of heart attacks is the blockage of the coronary arteries that deliver blood to the heart. This blockage is caused mainly by the buildup of a substance called plaque which is mainly made up of cholesterol and other cells along the walls of the arteries stopping the flow of blood to the muscles starving them of oxygen and causing them to die. The actual causes of heart attacks are not well known, but they can be triggered by heavy physical activity, being active outside in the cold weather or by severe emotional and physical stress.

Causes of heart failure:

One contributing factor for heart attacks is coronary heart disease. This is governed by your heart disease risk factor. These are habits or conditions that increase your risk of getting coronary heart disease and these factors also increase the risk of coronary heart disease worsening.

The main heart disease risk factors are high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, smoking, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity. Any one of or any combination of these factors greatly increases your likelihood of getting coronary heart disease.

Heart problems are another factor that causes heart attacks. These are related to cardiac heart disease. The main one is the clogging of the coronary arteries due to the buildup of plaque.

Heart failure is when the heart stops functioning properly leading to the heart attack. It’s caused when blood flow is restricted to the cardiac muscles; this means the muscles are deprived of oxygen which they need to function. The muscles gradually stop working and may die, this means that the heart can’t pump blood properly and hence causing heart failure.

Heart failure is normally preceded by certain signs that if spotted in time, can be vital in preventing a heart attack. The most common signs are shortness of breath, coughing or wheezing, tightness around the chest, and buildup of fluids in body tissues, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and anxiety. These signs once seen should be acted upon immediately to avert any impending heart attack.

what causes heart attacks

Here are some facts about heart attacks that show how major an issue it is;

In the US in 2008, heart attacks accounted for 616000 deaths, almost 25% of the deaths, making it the leading killer in the US. It accounts for 25.1% of the deaths in whites making it the leading cause of death among white adults and is estimated to cost the US government $108.9 billion in treatment, medication and lost productivity.

Having answered the question what causes heart attacks with these causes and signs of an impending heart attack, one sees the need to change their lifestyle to lower their risk of heart attack and live a healthy productive life.

Causes of Heart Disease

Causes of Heart Disease

Coronary artery disease, the most common form of cardiovascular disease, is one of the leading causes of death today. But thanks to many studies involving thousands of patients, researchers that have been able to shortlist certain factors that are the Causes of Heart Disease in a person. These are called risk factors. These risk factors contribute to two categories: major and contributing. The major Causes of Heart Disease are:

High Blood Pressure (Hypertension): High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Though other risk factors can lead to high blood pressure, you can have it without having other risk factors. Blood pressure can vary with activity and with age. A healthy adult who is resting generally has a systolic pressure reading between 120 and 130 and a diastolic pressure reading between 80 and 90.

High Blood Cholesterol: this is another risk factor that causes of Heart Disease is high blood cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fat-like substance carried in your blood. This is found in all of your body cells. Your liver produces all of the cholesterol your body needs to form cell membranes and to make certain hormones. Extra cholesterol enters your body when you eat foods that come from animals

Diabetes: Heart problems are the leading cause of death among people with diabetes, especially in the case of adult-onset. If you know that you have diabetes, you should already be under a doctor's care, because good control of blood sugar levels can reduce your risk. If you think you may have diabetes but not sure, you must consult your doctor for tests.

Obesity and Overweight: Extra weight is thought to lead to increased total cholesterol levels. High blood pressure, increased risk of coronary artery disease. Obesity increases your chances of developing other risk factors for example, heart disease, especially high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol.

Smoking: Most people realize that cigarette and tabacco smoking increases your risk of lung cancer, but fewer realize that it is one of the causes of Heart Disease and also other peripheral vascular disease.

Heredity: Heart disease tends to run in families. For example, if your siblings or parents had a heart or circulatory problem before the age of 55. But then you are at greater risk of heart disease than someone who does not have complains for heart disease in their family history.

Age: Older age is a risk factor for heart disease. In fact, about 4 out of every 5 deaths occur due to heart diseases that occur in people older than 65.

In addition to this, there are also certain contributing factor that enhances the causes of Heart Disease. They are: Stress, Sex hormones, Birth control pills and Alcohol. Stress is considered an important contributing risk factor for heart disease. The effects of behavior habits, emotional stress, and socioeconomic status on the risk of heart disease and heart attack have not been proven

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Ischemic Cardiomyopathy is a common type of heart disease caused by the congestive heart failure due to coronary artery disease. There are many names given to this heart disease like Ischemic heart disease. This disease is one of the main causes of congestive heart failure. In United States maximum number of people suffer from this disease. This disease happens when the arteries are blocked and results in inadequate supply of blood to the oxygen. Ischemic cardiomyopathy when the cholesterol level of the body increases and create plaque in the arteries. Arteries are one of the major parts of the body which brings blood and oxygen to the body. The patients suffering from this disease can experience angina, heart attack and unstable angina. In many cases the symptoms are unnoticed which can be very dangerous in future. The reasons why this heart disease happens are obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high fat diet, smoking, high blood pressure, etc. The symptoms of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy are breathing difficulty, decreased urine output, fatigue weakness, shortness of breath, irregular pulse, chest pain and cough.

If the patient is found with these symptoms then immediate check up is required. The patient should be frequently under medical supervision of the doctor. Tests must be done in every months to know about the status. Improper diet is also one of the main causes of ischemic cardiomyopathy. The patients of Ischemic cardiomyopathy are suggested to lay more emphasis on diet and exercise. Usually doctor perform many tests on the patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy. This disease is one of the types of cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is one of the types of heart disease in which the heart becomes enlarged and eventually results in the improper ability of muscles to pump the blood. Abnormalities in ischemic cardiomyopathy is common to see. The disease can be diagnosed physical exam and the patients medical history test. The tests done by the doctor include CT scan, radionuclide studies, cardiac catheterization, chest X-ray, MRI scan, blood tests, exercise stress test, electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiogram. ALL these tests are necessary to detect the risk and complications. These tests will help the doctor to see the depth of the disease. There are many medications available which will improve the heart conditions. But it is suggested to take the medications after the tests are done.

Medications for the patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy are given for two reasons to treat the symptoms and to improve the cardiac function. Whatever may be the medications and tests but if the patient improve his or her diet it can help to remove many symptoms and complications. Regular exercise and maintaining healthy diet is necessary to improve the heart condition. Some patients also undergo many therapies to improve the cardiac conditions. If the disease is extreme then emergency necessary must be done. The rate of heart patients is increasing with each year especially in developed countries. One of the main reasons for the increasing heart risk is the change in the lifestyle.

What is exertional dyspnea?

Exertional dyspnea basics

When we hear talking about   exertional dyspnea or in other words “shortness of breath” one must think to the difficulty of breathing when is doing an exercise or easier said, lack of comfort in breathing. But isn’t it normal to experience some kind of dyspnea when we are exercising? Apparently not! In the next article I’m going to explain what is exertional dyspnea, when it appears, when we say this condition is pathological or not and what causes it.
The word “dypnea” is originally composed from two greek words: “dysp” which means hard, heavy, difficult and “pnoia” that means breathing. If we combine these two words we have “hard breathing”also said dyspnea. Dyspnea is a breathing disorder characterized by changing the pace and intensity of respiratory movements.
Exertional dyspnea is frequently overlooked because it can occur to healthy people and is frequent confused with fatigue. It isn’t always a pathological symptom. You can experience exertional dyspnea when you are exercising more than your body is used to, if you have a weight problem (you weigh to much or you are obese), if you are an active smoker, or if the air around you is polluted.
Exertional dyspnea becomes pathological and that means that we should worry and go see a doctor when even if we make the same exercise as we did before we feel like our lungs aren’t getting enough air.

 But how does exertional dyspnea appear ?

Dyspnea due to illness can occur when there is an imbalance between tissue oxygen demand, and the amount of oxygen that the body can provide. Many diseases can give exertional dyspnea , the most common being:

• anemia (lack of blood) - Shortness of breath is accompanied by pale skin

• disease with increased energy consumption (as in cancers with different locations, hyperthyroidism, and uncompensated diabetes
• lung disease (dyspnea by lack of oxygen) of various causes, dyspnea is accompanied by coughing and / or wheezing and  sputum
• heart disease – exertional dyspnea occurs first and then it can occur during  rest or lying down, the patient can also feel palpitations and chest pains
• serious liver disease (cirrhosis) - liver as “laboratory” of the body, shortness of breath occurs in cirrhosis by multiple mechanisms
• severe kidney disease - shortness of breath occurs with changes in fluid and electrolyte balance or anemia (erythropoietin synthesized by  kidney, substance that stimulates the bone marrow to manufacture red blood cells that are the cells that  transport oxygen around the body)
• hypertension – exertional dyspnea  occurs by forcing the heart and the  blood vessel
• obesity (fat in the chest and abdomen pressed, preventing the movement of breath, plus a larger amount of tissue needs a greater amount of oxygen).

As you can see there are many conditions that can  manifest as exertional dyspnea, some of them  really serious diseases and that’s why is very important to go see a doctor whenever you notice changes in your breathing rhythm or you experience respiratory problems.

Heart attack symptoms in women over 40

Cardiovascular diseases and especially ischemic cardiomyopathy and heart attack are some
of the causes of mortality and morbidity in both women and men, but heart attack symptoms
in women over 40 may differ from those of men.
Of certain statistical date cardiovascular disease is the first cause of the mortality in women.
Risk factors for heart attack
There are several risk factors that cause different heart attack symptoms in women over 40 :

• Obesity, high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia (increasing the percentage of fat
  in the blood) especially triglycerides.
• Another risk factor is use of oral contraceptives and
  menopause.
• A small percentage of patients who use oral contraceptives appear hypertension
  unrelated to dose contraceptive. However, patients with controlled hypertension may use
  oral contraceptives, but under supervision. If the consumption of oral contraceptives added
  smoking the risk of heart attack increase. If we compare mortality rates of cardiovascular
  disease in men and women over 40 will see a significant increase in mortality after
  menopause.

Heart attack symptoms in women over 40

Today, there are several features of heart attack symptoms in women over 40. The main heart
attack symptoms in women over 40 is not chest pain, but dyspnea which represent shortness
of breath. This symptoms may appear a few hours, days or months before heart attack
symptoms. Most minim discomfort may be an atypical sign or a symptom for heart attack.
One of these is atypical chest pain for which women do not go to the doctor only if the is
persistent and upset the patient. Sometimes heart attack symptoms in women over 40 may be
the absence of pain. Absence of pain can be attributed to nervous or mental disorders. But,
heart attack symptoms in women over 40 like atypical chest pain have a worse prognostic
then men.
Unusual fatigue is another heart attack symptoms in women over 40. This fatigue can be felt
as a state of drowsiness. Patients may not take into account this symptom believing that it is
simply missing out of sleep, an infection with a virus or adverse effect of another drug and not
present at the doctor. Patients may be associated nausea, sweating and chills.
Pain in the calf may be a sign for deep vein thrombosis which may eventually lead to heart
attack. This is another heart attack symptoms in women over 40 which occurs predominantly
in patients with hormone therapy, smokers, who just had surgery or in patients who have
been on a plane flight. If pain is sudden or gradual, patients should consult their doctor
immediately.
Other symptoms or signs for heart attack may be serious and can lead to death of patients if they are not recognized in time.
So how do you know if you have a heart attack?

At the early signs or symptoms, the patients must go to the doctor because they can be heart attack symptoms in women over 40 and their persistence can lead to death.