12 Warning Signs of a Heart Attack

If there are more than one or two of these signs present, take action. Better to be safe, and a little embarrassed, than to waste precious time"waiting to see." Just call an ambulance or get some help immediately.

• A feeling of discomfort, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest.
• The pain spreads to the shoulders, neck or arms. It may vary in intensity, from a sense of pressure, constriction, burning or weigh heavily.
• It may be located in the chest, upper abdomen, neck, jaw, or inside the arms or shoulders.
• Lightheadedness.
• Fainting.
• Sweating,
  
• Nausea
  
• Shortness of breath.
• Anxiety, nervousness and/or cold, sweaty skin.
• Paleness or pallor.
• Increased or irregular heart rate.
• Sense of dread.

A heart attack may occurr at any time. A woman of about 60 was driving when she noticed the tightness in her chest and lightheadedness. She dismissed it, thinking it was just because she had sat too long in one position. When she got home, she knew it was something more serious and phoned the ambulance. They informed her she had had a heart attack. She was lucky, but she did go on to have surgery.





"Silent" heart attacks are quite common though. In a study at Duke, 185 patients with ongoing coronary disease (but no heart attack), were examined using a Delayed Enhancement Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance device. One third of those patient had already had heart attacks.

The challenging fact is that for those patients, ignorance is definitely not bliss. In the same study they were also found to be 17 times more likely to die from heart disease than the general population. There are things that we can do, if we don't let complacency and the "it will never happen to me" syndrome take over.

Heart Health and Depression.

Things are not always as logical as we would like.

Research has shown that depression increases the risk of heart failure in otherwise healthy people. Antidepressants help many people improve their mental health, but does the heart condition also improve?

You might think so, but studies of 13,708 people by Heidi May, an epidemiologist at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, proved that it is not the case.

Even more interesting, or perhaps scary, is that 10% of those studied developed depression after they were diagnosed with heart disease! And they then had double the risk of heart failure.

When you think about it though, it does make perfect logical sense. People who have depression are less likely to look after themselves properly. Eating properly, exercising, all are harder when you are depressed.

And if your doctor does not notice your depression, or realize its significance, the depressed person may not realize that they are adding to the strain on the heart.

For women the risks are even greater, as research from Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC) shows. Women with more severe depression or those who were taking anti-depressants were at higher risk of sudden death through a heart attack.

This was the case even when certain lifestyle factors were taken into account, eg high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

The maxim "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought," has never seemed more true.

The links between depressive symptoms and cardiac events were not always clear because they were mixed up with other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking, said the researchers.

Whang and colleagues studied 63,469 women from the Nurses Health Study who had no evidence of prior heart disease or stroke.

The study found that women with more severe depressive symptoms or those who reported taking anti-depressants were at a higher risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD).

In particular, women with clinical depression were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death. Surprisingly, this risk was associated more strongly with anti-depressant use than with depressive symptoms, said a CUMC statement.

Research also shows that children with chronic heart conditions, whose mothers are also anxious, will be at more risk than those in less anxious environments.

For information about how to keep your heart healthy, CLICK HERE.