HEART PAIN AND HEART ATTACK
How is the heart pain?
Pain due to ischaemic heart disease
(IHD) is quite unique in its character, distribution and behavior. Doctors call
such pain as Angina Pectoris. What is angina pectoris? Angina means crying and
pectoris means chest. So angina pectoris means nothing but crying of the heart.
If a baby does not get enough milk, he cries like that if heart does not get
enough oxygen through flow, it also cries. A patient with angina usually
describes the pain as tightness, fullness, heaviness, a feeling, as if their
chest is in a vice, or a dull aching discomfort. As a rule, it is provoked by
exertion, although it can occur at rest if the victim is experiencing a great
deal of emotional distress. Usually heart pain is confined to the centre of the
chest, and occupies an area about the size of a hand. Sometimes it may spread
across the whole chest. Occasionally it may radiate to the neck, jaw, left
shoulder and along the inside of the left arm. The feeling starts gradually;
within 30-60 seconds it intensifies until the victim is forced to stop whatever
he is doing. These symptoms often appear during exertion, after eating, during
sex, in cold weather or under stress. As a rule, the pain disappears within a
few minutes of stopping the activity, although occasionally it may last longer.
Putting nitroglycerine causes relief of the pain within few minutes.
What is sudden cardiac death?
Sudden cardiac death is defined as
unexpected death that occurs within one hour of onset of symptoms. But the time
interval from onset of symptoms to death has been defined by some investigators
as less than minutes but by others as up to 24 hours. Nearly 75% of all sudden
deaths occur at home; 8-12 percent at work. About 90% of sudden cardiac deaths
are caused by IHD.
