Ischemia Symptoms

Ichemia or cardiac ischemia is a condition that occurs when there is decrease in the blood flow to the heart. This condition occurs when the arteries are blocked fully or partially due to high cholesterol. This decrease in blood flow causes less oxygen to reach your heart, damaging the heart muscle. When heart muscles are damaged, it lowers the capacity of the heart to function normally. When a sudden blockage of arteries occurs, it leads to myocardial infarction or heart attack. Thus, it is very important to understand ischemia symptoms to prevent a heart attack. With treatment, one can improve the blood flow to the heart, decreasing the chances of developing a heart attack. Let us have a look at the symptoms of ischemia in the following paragraphs.

Myocardial Ischemia Symptoms

As we already know from the above paragraphs, myocardial ischemia is caused by decrease in blood flow to the heart through the coronary arteries. The arteries are blocked over a period of time and in some cases it becomes almost suddenly. There are a certain causes that may lead to cardiac ischemia symptoms are:

• Atherosclerosis (Coronary artery disease)
• Blood clots
• Coronary spasm
• Severe illness, infection or bleeding

If these conditions are present, it may lead to myocardial ischemia symptoms. However, in most cases, people do not observe any cardiac ischemia symptoms. This is called silent ischemia. The symptoms of ischemia when exhibited are as follows:

• Chest pain on the left side of the body
• Jaw pain
• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Arm pain
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Irregular pulse
• Cough
• Sweaty palms
• Clammy skin
• Dizziness

You can learn in detail about the transient ischemic attack symptoms.

Cerebral Ischemia Symptoms

Just like reduction of blood supply to the heart, decrease of blood flow to any body part of the body may lead to ischemia. There are different types of ischemia apart from cardiac ischemia. If the blood flow to the brain arteries decreases, it leads to cerebral ischemia. This is the main reason of stroke symptoms experienced by many patients. A person with blood clots in the brain may be prone to developing cerebral ischemia. There are two types of cerebral ischemia. The first type is called focal ischemia, where only a specific region of brain is affected. The second type is called global ischemia. In this condition, a wide area of the brain tissue is affected. The cerebral ischemia symptoms include the following:

• Blindness in one eye
• Weakness in arms or legs
• Weakness in one side of the body
• Dizziness
• Double vision
• Vertigo
• Slurred speech
• Loss of coordination

These symptoms may last for a few seconds or more periods of time. When the brain gets damaged due to lack of oxygen supply, it leads to infarction. This causes many of the cerebral ischemia symptoms to become permanent. Prolonged brain ischemia may lead to unconsciousness and in severe cases brain death.

Intestinal Ischemia Symptoms

Similar to cerebral ischemia and myocardial ischemia, one may suffer from intestinal ischemia. This condition occurs when the blood flow to intestines decreases. This condition can affect small intestine, large intestine and in some cases both. This is a very serious condition that can lead to severe pain and loss of intestinal function. Intestinal ischemia is also known as visceral ischemia or mesenteric ischemic syndrome. There are basically three main blood vessels that supply blood to the abdominal region. These include celiac artery, superior mesenteric artery and inferior mesenteric artery. When two or all three of the arteries are blocked it leads to intestinal ischemia symptoms. The blockage may occur dye to atherosclerosis, blood clots or aneurysms in the blood vessels. Intestinal ischemia symptoms are divided into two, acute, that occurs suddenly and chronic, symptoms that occur over time. Let's have a look at the mesenteric ischemia symptoms.

Acute Mesenteric Ischemia Symptoms

• Sudden severe abdominal pain especially in one area of the abdomen
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Bloody stools
• Abdominal distention
• Urgent bowel movement
• Fever

Chronic Mesenteric Ischemia Symptoms

• Pain in abdomen after meals
• Weight loss
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Weight loss as the person fears to eat due to the pain
• Bloating

These were some of the symptoms of ischemia that may be experienced in case of blocked artery. It is very important to discuss any of the symptoms as soon as possible with your doctor. This especially is true, if you have a history of ischaemic heart disease. Early medical intervention will help in prevention of infarction and permanent damage to your organs. In case of cardiac ischemia symptoms, the doctor may suggest bypass surgery. Cerebral ischemia symptoms need to be treated with 4 hours with Alteplase (tpa) to reduce permanent damage to brain. Intestinal ischemia symptoms include surgery to remove the blockage, repair or remove the damaged intestinal part. In some cases, angioplasty is carried out to help restore blood flow. Anticoagulants may be given if one is experiencing blood clotting problems.

This was all about ischemia symptoms. One needs to follow a healthy lifestyle to avoid cholesterol and plaque build up in the arteries. If you have any further questions, speak to your health care provider for more details.