Heart Attack vs Cardiac Arrest

Within a week of each other, two friends were taken by ambulance to the cardiac care unit of our local hospital.  They both came very close to death and were lucky that friends/family were close at hand and able to quickly take action.

It turns out that these two women had a different diagnosis for their heart problems.

The first had a heart attack.  After arriving at the hospital, it was discovered that she had a 98% blockage in one artery and an 85% blockage in another.  Her cardiologist told her he was amazed that she made it to the hospital alive.

A heart attack occurs when a blocked artery prevents oxygenated blood from reaching a section of the heart. This can cause damage to the heart.

Sue was playing tennis on a Tuesday morning, when she started having some intense symptoms.  She crumpled onto the court and said it felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest.  By chance, a fire truck was slowly driving by and one of the women at the scene ran out and flagged it down.

The paramedics were able to assess the situation and immediately called an ambulance.

The second friend had a cardiac arrest.  This is caused when the heart's electrical system malfunctions. Death can result when the heart suddenly stops working properly.

Cardiac arrest may be reversed if CPR is performed and a defibrillator is used to shock the heart and restore a normal heart rhythm within a few minutes.

When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the brain is the first part of the body to suffer because it doesn't have a reserve of oxygen-rich blood. Reduced blood flow to your brain causes unconsciousness.

Betsy was feeling very tired and went to bed early that Friday night. After a while, her husband decided to go in and check on her.  He said her breathing was loud and erratic and she was unconscious.  He immediately called for an ambulance.

The paramedics were able to perform CPR and used a defibrillator on her before taking her on a wild, hour-long ride to the hospital.

Her cardiologist found that she did not have a blockage in her heart, but her potassium levels were drastically low, thus causing her heart’s electrical system to malfunction.  Turns out she was taking the diuretic hydroclorothiazid(HCTZ) which leached all the potassium from her system.

Her pulmonologist had to place her on a ventilator to help her breathing.

Sue had two stents placed to help open her arteries and was sent home after a couple of days.

The doctors were trying to stabilize Betsy’s heart for nearly ten days before they inserted a defibrillator/pacemaker.  Finally, she was feeling better and released a day after her surgery.

There's no sure way to know your risk of sudden cardiac arrest or of having a heart attack, so reducing your risk is the best strategy.

Steps to take to reduce your risk include regular checkups, screening for heart disease and living a heart-healthy lifestyle with the following approaches:

• Get careful monitoring if you are taking a diuretic
• Don't smoke
• Use alcohol in moderation
• Stay physically active
• Eat a nutritious, plant-based diet, and
• Get your total cholesterol level below 150 mg/dL naturally.

Such incidences as these can certainly scare friends and family, but they can be totally life altering for the victim.

Thank goodness these lovely women lived through their horrible ordeals!

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© 2007-2017 Melinda Coker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: “Melinda Coker, health coach and author of the book, Diet and Cancer: Is There a Connection?, teaches men and women around the world how to develop a healthy lifestyle.”

Carrie and Debbie

Carrie Fisher, 60, was on a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles when she suffered what most experts believe was a heart attack.  Even though we think of heart attacks and heart disease as diseases in men, heart disease is the number 1 killer of American women over the age of 65.  And, as in the case of Carrie Fisher, if a woman has a heart attack, she is more likely to die than a man.

Debbie Reynolds, her 84-year-old mother, died a day after Carrie of a presumed stroke.  Reynolds was reported to have had a number of previous “small” strokes.

Heart disease and stroke are responsible for far more deaths in women than all cancers combined. Despite this, there is still a myth that heart disease is a man's disease.

What are some causes of heart disease and stroke?

The vital arteries in your body, which supply blood and oxygen to the heart muscles and the brain, can narrow because of fatty materials collecting along their walls. That can cause calcium deposits (plaques), which in turn, cause the blood flow to be restricted or even completely blocked.  This can then cause a piece of plaque (clot) to break off (rupture).  If the plaque travels towards the heart it causes a heart attack. If it travels to the lungs it causes a pulmonary embolism and if it moves to the brain it can cause a stroke.

Some causes of coronary heart disease (CHD) include high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, obesity and high blood pressure.

Heart attacks and strokes are actually preventable diseases – not through pills or medical procedures - but through your lifestyle.  It’s much more important to learn how to prevent (or even reverse) the narrowing of your arteries through your diet, than to just assume strokes and heart attacks won’t happen to you.

If you need more of an impetus to make a drastic lifestyle change than just reading this post, there are a few simple tests you can have done.  Blood tests to measure your total cholesterol plus your LDL and your HDL are important as is a reading of your blood pressure.  Other blood tests to check your level of inflammation (c-reactive protein) and your homocysteine levels are important, too. Of course, if you smoke, you must quit.  If you are obese, you must lose weight.  If your waist circumference is over 32 inches, you must shrink it. 

To find out what the optimal "test scores” are, you can check out the Healthy Is A Habit website.  

Please make it a priority to get healthy, so you don’t suddenly leave your family without you!

Sign up to receive new blog posts directly to your inbox.  Just fill in your name and e-mail address in the gray box to the left and hit the "submit" button. You will then get an e-mail asking you to confirm your e-mail address.  Once you do that, you will be signed up to receive new blog posts.

© 2007-2017 Melinda Coker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: “Melinda Coker, health coach and author of the book, Diet and Cancer: Is There a Connection?, teaches men and women around the world how to develop a healthy lifestyle.”