Silent Heart Attack SymptomsOur Nation Under PressureSilent heart attack symptoms are more accurately stated as signs, since symptoms are NOT silent. However, as patients we tend to use 'symptoms' more than 'signs' so we will here too. Silent heart attack symptoms can kill. This type of heart attack usually only shows up on an electrocardiogram and shows damage to the heart muscle. We call this a silent heart attack because there are no recognizable or easily recognizable symptoms. At times, there are no symptoms at all. The term "Silent heart attack symptoms" is like an oxymoron... If the heart attack is silent how can we identify symptoms? We may not be able to. However, signs are different. We can monitor and keep track of our blood pressure, the stress in our lives, our emotional and physical fitness. Other known risk factors for heart attacks that we can chose to change include things that we can change like:
You can, however, take control over some other factors such as:
So, bad news and good news... and even better news... You can begin now to unlearn the ways you live which are slowly, silently killing you! Silent heart attack symptoms (or more accurately signs) can slowly or instantly kill you. (For more information on the symptoms of a heart attack, click
here.)
Beyond Exercise and No SmokingBeyond the typical items that your doctor typically would discuss with a patient regarding heart disease, our emotional state can contribute to silent heart attack symptoms in a very subtle yet detrimental way. A less than optimal lifestyle is the major cause of a silent heart attack. This includes our physical AND emotional lifestyle and is largely related to our everyday decisions.Whether those emotions are volatile like anger and hostility or quieter like passive aggression or resentment, each can be damaging to the heart. This is important for Caregivers and Patients to remember. Caregivers can develop a growing resentment towards a non-cooperative loved one or patient/client while patients can be down right angry and hostile about a new disease diagnosis or injury/accident. Loneliness, isolation and depression rank high among those most susceptible to premature death. This dynamic plays a big role in the patients seen by home health care professionals. On the one hand, people coming into the home every day or every other day can help alleviate these feelings. ON the other hand, some patients get sick again on purpose after home health care has discharged them to gain, again, the weekly visits by health care professionals. Depression, social isolation and lack of support all have been seen to contribute to complications after a heart attack. I would suggest that these factors may lead up to a silent heart attack (again, no physical symptoms but the emotional fitness can be a good indicator). Your emotional fitness (health) can be a silent heart attack symptom that you actually could identify. Women, more then men tend to simply become more nurturing and care giving. This can lead to resentment, anger or disappointment that is internalized. Even though kept inside, these destructive emotions will cause stress on the body.
"Broken Heart Syndrome"Nieca Goldberg, MD, chief of women's cardiac care, Lenox Hill Hospital, who runs a practice for heart disease in women cites a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins. The researchers found that sudden emotional stress could result in severe weakness in the heart muscle, making it seem as though the person was having a heart attack. This "broken heart syndrome," says Goldberg, was more common in women."I think it's a common thing that women put themselves last on the list and feel very time-pressed to go to exercise or take down time for themselves," says Goldberg, who feels it's especially important to help women identify their support network. Emotions need to be balanced yet it can be difficult to measure them in a way that gives a picture of balance or imbalance. It is important to remember that there is help out there. Our emotions can kill us - they can be a very real factor in silent heart attack symptoms. Emotional fitness is just as important as physical fitness in the lives of caregivers and patients alike. It's easy to fix high blood pressure with a pill...but much more difficult to remedy the stress and anger that may be causing it. The high blood pressure may appear fixed but the emotional state of being continues to damage the heart, potentially leading to silent heart attacks or even heart attacks that are not silent. At our
online fitness site
, we've written up several exercise programs that may surprise you. Since our emotional fitness is just as important as our physical fitness, we must find the balance in life for both of them. This may require some major simplification in our lives but it is worth the peace and contentedness that follows.
Don't let Silent Heart Attack Symptoms Kill You!
|
