Is it a heart attack, cardiac arrest or stroke?

Heart Attack: What is it?

A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to the heart is severely reduced or cut off. The blood supply is usually blocked by narrowing arteries or a blood clot. If the blood flow isn't restored quickly, the lack of oxygen can damage the heart muscle, and it will begin to die.

Heart Attack: Causes

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of heart attacks. The condition arises when fatty material called plaque builds up on the walls of blood vessels. The plaque can burst, and a blood clot can form where the rupture occurred. If the clot is big enough, it can restrict the blood flow through the artery.

In rare cases, a coronary artery will spasm, stopping the blood flow to a part of the heart. Drugs such as cocaine can set off this process.

Heart Attack: Risk factors

• Smoking
• High cholestrol
• High blood pressure
• Not enough physical activity
• Obesity or excess body fat, especially at the waist
• Diabetes
• Family history of heart attack
• Aging
• Gender: Men are generally more likely to suffer heart attacks than women, and they tend to have them earlier in life.

Note: stress, drinking too much alcohol and poor nutrition can contribute or worsen some of the risk factors above.

Heart Attack: Symptoms

Discomfort for more than a few inutes in the center of the chest that feels like pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain. The episodes could stop and recur.

Discomfort can extend to other areas of the upper body, including the shoulders, arms, back, stomach, jaw and teeth.

Shortness of breath

Sweating

Fainting

Note: Women may exhibit different or less visible symptoms from men. In addition to the warning signs listed above, women may feel abdominal pain or what they think is heartburn, clammy skin, dizziness, and/or unusual or inexplicable fatigue.

CARDIAC ARREST: What is it?

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, preventing blood and oxygen from getting to vital organs. If the heart isn't shocked into beating again using an automated external defibrilator, death can occur within minutes, which is called sudden cardiac arrest.

With each minute that passes without cardiopulmonary resuscitation or defibrillation, the likelihood of survival becomes 7 to 10 percent less, according to the American Heart Association.

Cardiac Arrest: Causes

Coronary heart disease is the most common underlying cause of cardiac arrest. Most cardiac arrests are cause by abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmia. Arryhthmia can cause the heart to beat much faster or slower and eventually can make the heart stop.

Respiratory arrest, electrocution, drowning, choking and traum also can result in cardiac arrest.

Some people experience cardiac arrest for no known reason.

Cardiac Arrest: Risk factors

• Smoking
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Not enough physical activity
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Not enough blood pumping from the heart
• Prior instance of cardiac arrest or heart attack
• Significant change in electrolytes
• Hyperthyrodism
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Taking drugs that effect heart rhythm
• Using drugs such as cocaine or ampthetamines

Cardiac Arrest: Symptoms

Cardiac arrest often comes about without warning. Symptoms include:

• Loss of consciousness
• Breathing stops
• Pulse stops
• Blood pressure stops
• Blackouts, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, palpitations, shortness of breath or vomiting before cardiac arrest

STROKE: What is is?

People experience strokes when the blood flow to the brain is interrupted or severely limited, cutting off oxygen and nutrients from brain tissue. Brain cells start dying minutes after a stroke.

Transient ischemic attacks, also known as "mini-srokes," occur when the blood flow to the brain is briefly disrupted. More than a third of people who have had at least one of these later will have a stroke, according to the American Stroke Association.

Stokes: Causes

There are two types of strokes: ischemic stroke, which occurs when teh brain gets too little blood, and hemorrhagic storke, when there is too much blood within the skull. More people die of hemorrhagic strokes than ischemic strokes, and those victims are usually younger.

Ischemic Strokes

Ischemic strokes account for about 83 percent of strokes, according to the American Stroke Association; among these, the most common types are thrombotic strokes and embolic strokes.

Thrombotic strokes occur when a blood clot forms in an artery that carries blood to the brain. These clots usually form in areas damaged by fatty deposits in the arteries, known as atherosclerosis. A person has an embolic stroke when a blood clot or other particle forms in a blood vessel away from his or her brain -- often in the heart -- and gets lodged in a narrowed artery that is in the brain or carrying blood to it. Abnormal beating in the heart's two upper chambers often triggers this, as it can lead to weakened blook flow and development of a blood clot.

Hemorrhagic Strokes

Hemorrhagic strokes occure when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or bursts. Hypertension -- or uncontrolled high blood pressure -- and aneurysms -- which are blood-filled pockets that distend from weak spots in the artery wall -- can bring them on, as well as head injuries.

People can be genetically predisposed to hemorrhagic strokes if they are born with an arteriovenous malformation. They suffer strokes when these abnormal tangels of thin-walled blood vessels burst.

Stroke: Risk Factors

• Personal history of stroke or "mini-strokes"
• Family history of stroke, heart attack or "mini-stroke"
• Age (older than 55)
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Poor nutrition
• Cardiovascular disease
• High levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood
• Using birth control pills or other hormone therapy
• Race: Blacks are nearly twice as likely to have first-time strokes than whites
• Gender: Men have more strokes than women, but more women die from strokes
• Artrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder that makes the heart's upper chambers tremble instead of beat strongly)
• Sickle cell anemia

Symptoms:

• Difficulty walking
• Difficulty speaking
• Difficulty seeing
• Headache
• Paralysis, weakness or numbness on one side of the body
• Severe headache, nausea and vomiting often accompany hemorrhagic strokes

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