Massive Heart Attack Symptoms

Let us first try to understand what is a massive heart attack and how does a heart attack affect the body. The heart plays a major role in circulation of blood, oxygen and essential nutrients throughout the body, while the oxygen rich blood is supplied to the heart by the coronary arteries. If due to some reasons, adequate amount of blood does not reach the heart, then the heart muscle tissues are damaged because of the lack of oxygen. This kind of damage is responsible for causing electrical instability in heart muscle tissue. This in turn, results in electrical disturbance in the lower chambers of the heart. As a result, the heart may stop functioning and oxygen and blood supply to the brain gets affected. If this continues even for five minutes, then the patient may fall unconscious and this may even lead to death in a matter of few minutes. The worst part is that massive heart attack symptoms are observed all of a sudden.

Causes

A coronary artery disease called atherosclerosis is the main cause of heart attacks. In this condition, plaque gets accumulated on the inside walls of the arteries and makes it narrow and hard. As a result, proper blood flow to the heart is not possible. And that has an adverse impact on the myocardium or the middle layer of the heart wall which controls blood flow to and from the heart. Moreover, the heart's ability of regular contraction and expansion is badly impaired. Thus, it results in massive coronary heart attack which is also known as myocardial infarction. Formation of blood clot inside the artery or coronary artery spasms are the other two causes. High blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney diseases, stress, heavy alcohol consumption, high fat diet, stress etc. are some of the factors that increase the risk of massive heart attacks.

Symptoms

The most obvious sign of a massive heart attack is a squeezing chest pain which is initially felt at the central part of the chest. It worsens with every passing minute. It gets radiated towards the neck, shoulder, back, jaw and the arms. Along with the pain, patients feel a sense of tightness, fullness and burning sensation in the chest. The painful symptoms in chest is accompanied by breathing difficulty because of which they struggle hard to catch their breath. They take shallow breaths irregularly which may even stop intermittently.

Besides, there are some other signs and symptoms which are less common. Any person who suffer a heart attack may not have all these symptoms. In other words, these symptoms may not occur together in every individual cases. A few less common heart attack signs are listed below.

• Excessive sweating
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Low blood pressure
• Irregular heartbeat
• Palpitation
• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Cold hands and feet
• Low urine output
• Fainting
• Loss of consciousness

Massive heart attack symptoms in men and women are more or less the same. However, sometimes, a few additional symptoms are often observed in women. They are: heartburn, abdominal pain, clammy skin, dizziness, unusual weakness, etc.

Treatment

A massive heart attack needs emergency treatment. One cannot afford to waste a single minute in this condition. Call the local emergency number for help. Till the time the emergency help arrives, you can give the patient an aspirin tablet. This will prevent formation of blood clots in the coronary arteries. If nitroglycerin has been prescribed to the patient in the past, then it can also be administered which helps to decrease the pain. If you find that the patient has become unconscious, then it is advisable to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Press the patient's chest about 2 inches at the rate of 100 compressions per minute. This is beneficial for supplying oxygen to the brain. If you have prior training in CPR, then you can provide rescue breaths too. On the way to the hospital, an automatic external defibrillator (AED) can be used which shocks the heart to restore its normal rhythm. In the hospital, the patient will be treated with medicines which prevents heart failure. Along with the medications, other treatment options include coronary angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery.

Earlier, massive heart attack cases used to have a high death rate. However, today, better awareness among people about its symptoms, has ensured timely treatment for such patients. As a result, it has helped a lot to bring about marked improvement in massive heart attack survival rate. Healthy lifestyle changes are essential for recovery. It includes a low fat diet, stress free life, some physical activities as per the instructions of the doctor. The blood pressure and blood sugar level also has to be kept in check.