what exactly is the differnce between heart attack and heart failur?
954903
A heart attack is an acute condition caused by a thrombus (a blood clot) occluding (or blocking) one of the vessels supplying the heart muscle. This results in severe pain usually radiating down the left arm but may be referred to the neck or jaw. The Normal treatment would be additional oxygen, an anticoagulant and perhaps an enzyme that helps to dissolve the clot. Of course because of the severity of pain, morphine or demerol is usually used to both relax the patient and mitigate the pain. It is customary to use an intravenous solution drip to administer medications but also as a ready pathway if a further attach occurs. This is called a myocardial infarction.\nHeart failure is the inability of the heart to circulate blood over distal areas and causes a pooling of blood with concomitent swelling of extremities. The small valves within the veins have lost their integrity and are no longer able to assist the heart in the upward movement of the blood. Drugs such as digitalis are used to slow down and strengthen the heart beat but such patients are usually treated with bed rest and elevation of the legs, elastic wraps and diuretics to reduce fluids. This is preventable by moderate exercise but once condition is established it is an up-down course with the circulatory system slowly becoming dysfunctional.
372781
Did you keep the appointment with the neurolgist? Have you seen your family physician? I work at a hospital as a tech on a cardiac floor. You need to see your family doctor pronto and keep him informed as to the ongoing situation. Also, a heart attack does not have to radiate down the arm. Lose of consciousness with head and back of neck pain can equal extremely high blood pressure. Which could lead to stroke as well as heart attack. Seek more medical attention!!
349565
ISCHEMIA - Myocardium ( heart muscle) is alive but inefficient to do its work, because of narrowing of the artery that supply that particular area.\n\nINFARCTION: Death of the mycardium, due to lack of blood supply to that particular area. \n\nCertain type of Ischemia can be reversible, by proper perfusion therapy at proper TIME, but not the all ischemia, and infarction are reversible.
474045
There are two diagnosis here.  Hypertension and heart attack.  Hypertension increases the workload of the heart.  So when the heart is over worked it can become stressed and this could possibly cause a heart attack.  There is a term hypertensive heart disease you can look this up by typing this into your Explorer bar.
105505
Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become hardened and narrowed. The arteries harden and narrow due to buildup of a material called plaque (plak) on their inner walls. The buildup of plaque is known as atherosclerosis (ATH-er-o-skler-O-sis). As the plaque increases in size, the insides of the coronary arteries get narrower and less blood can flow through them. Eventually, blood flow to the heart muscle is reduced, and, because blood carries much-needed oxygen, the heart muscle is not able to receive the amount of oxygen it needs. Reduced or cutoff blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart muscle can result in:\n\n    * Angina (AN-ji-na or an-JI-na). Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when the heart does not get enough blood.\n    * Heart attack. A heart attack happens when a blood clot develops at the site of plaque in a coronary artery and suddenly cuts off most or all blood supply to that part of the heart muscle. Cells in the heart muscle begin to die if they do not receive enough oxygen-rich blood. This can cause permanent damage to the heart muscle.\n\nOver time, CAD can weaken the heart muscle and contribute to:\n\n    * Heart failure. In heart failure, the heart can’t pump blood effectively to the rest of the body. Heart failure does not mean that the heart has stopped or is about to stop. Instead, it means that the heart is failing to pump blood the way that it should.\n    * Arrhythmias (a-RITH-me-as). Arrhythmias are changes in the normal beating rhythm of the heart. Some can be quite serious.\n\nCAD is the most common type of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death in the United States in both men and women.
273812
Please NEVER take any chest pain lightly; it could be life-threatening.  That being said, the major signs of heart attack are for men, a crushing pressure on the chest, which may or may not be accompanied by pain radiating down the left arm, jaw, or shoulder.  Also, cardiac arrest can include the victim becoming unresponsive, fainting, stopping normal breathing, and loss of pulse.  \n\nI am not a doctor, but it seems to me as if this may not be heart-related, but once again, I reiterate that I am not a doctor.  I have heard of a condition where your sternum (the bone in the middle of the chest) becomes infected and inflammed, and causes great pain.\n\nRegardless of whether you have insurance or not; you have to get this checked out immediately.  Go to your nearest County Hospital (they usually care for people without insurance and can help you obtain state financial help), or go to the nearest ER, and tell them you are having chest pains.  They will see you right away, and have to treat you, whether you have insurance or not, because chest pains are considered a life-threatening emergency.  And then, when you get that huge bill, just pay whatever you can afford each month, even if it's only $5.00.  They can't report you for non-payment if you're making payments, you are in fact showing good faith.  Just make sure you send a certified letter to billing notifying them of your financial condition and ability to pay only *x* amount of dollars per month.\n\nHope you get help soon.........let us know.
593781
If your doctor actually said that the walls of your heart were thickening,he is talking about heart enlargement,maybe to the point that the heart,a muscle,is having troubles opening and closing(also called pumping) and pushing  blood through it's four chambers to circulate oxygen-enriched blood throughout the body. This is commonly referred to as heart failure.If your doctor said there was thickening in the arteries,this means that the major arteries are clogging up with fatty placque which also impedes the circulation of the blood throughout the body;it can also lead to a heart attack or stroke.Go to the website for The American Heart Association and the site mywebmd.com for more clarification.
424631
Please see a doctor.  Yes, it could be something besides cardiac problems - and that is very, very likely.  But in some people, especially females, heart attacks don't follow a "traditional" pattern of clutching your chest and dropping to the floor.  Nobody can make a diagnosis online, not even a doctor.  Odds are, it's nothing to get worked up about - but please see a doctor to be sure.
713095
The heart IS a muscle, but a heart attack isn't a cramp like you would get in say a leg muscle. \n A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, refers to the death of a certain segment of the heart muscle (myocardium).  It's usually the result of a complete blockage in one of the main coronary arteries or a branch which supplies oxygentated blood to the heart muscle.  The main cause of myocardial infarction is atherosclerosis (the build up of plaque on the inside of the blood vessels due to fat substances, cholesterol, calcium and other substances)  in the coronary arteries which results in impaired contractility of the heart muscle within seconds, and is initially restricted to the affected segment.\n\nThe myocardial ischemia or infarction begins in the endocardium (the inner lining of the heart) and spreads to the epicardium (the outer lining of the heart). Irreversible heart damage will occur if the blockage is complete for at least 15-20 minutes. Irreversible damage occurs maximally in the area at risk, and when the occlusion is maintained for 4-6 hours. Most of the damage occurs in the first 2-3 hours.  Restoration of flow within the first 4-5 hours is associated with salvage of the heart muscle, but the salvage is greater if flow is restored in the first 1-2 hours.\n\nA major determinant of death and illness is the size of the infarct. Increasing the oxygen supply to the involved site of blockage by coronary reperfusion can be done through use of certain medications and angioplasty, stents or artherectomy.\n\nAddendum: \n(Impaired contractility means a muscle is unable to contract the way it should or can't contract at all.)\n\nCramps:\nA muscle cramp is an involuntary, painful CONTRACTION of the muscles which produce a hard, bulging muscle. Muscle twitching, also called fasciculation is the result of spontaneous local muscle contractions that are involuntary. The muscle cramp usually only affects the individual muscle groups connected to a particular motor neuron.  Some common causes of cramps are:\n\nMuscle fatigue\nHeavy exercise \nDehydration \nPregnancy \nHeat Cramps\n\nThere may be some temporary loss of circulation to the muscle group that is cramped because of muscle contraction, but there is NO death of tissue due to a clot or embolus.  There are no clots or emboli involved in a cramp therefore they aren't the same as an infarction (as explained in the answer below).     :-)
765560
lots of things:\n\n-diet\n-illness\n-dehydration\n-medications\n\nthose are off the top of my head, but without some sort of senario i really can't give you a better answer. \n\nvery important however: if you have a heart condition then don't strain too hard when pushing, or you could have a heart attack.
61144
Yes, a stroke is caused by a blocked artery causing a decrease in blood/oxygen to the brain.\n\nConversely, a heart attack is caused by a blockage that prevents blood/oxygen from reaching the heart.
759116
heart attack during sleep\nsupposedly
748127
Heart Attack---What Can Be Done?\n- Recognizing and Acting On the Symptoms <*\n- Actions for Survival\n- How Can the Risk Be Reduced?\n- The Road to Recovery\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/19961208/article_01.htm\n\nThe Marvels of the Circulatory System\nhttp://watchtower.org/library/g/2001/3/22/article_01.htm
665130
Let me assure you, as a physician, that your own physician would be overjoyed to hear from you with regard to this question.  He or she would be less overjoyed to know you are seeking out advice over the internet, because the answer depends on many details of your medical history and not just the fact that you've had a heart attack.
943113
In reality there is no such thing as a big or small heart attack as the chances of surviving ANY type of heart attack is 50%.  Once you have had one heart attack then yes you are at an increased risk of further attacks.  But with medication, treatment such as angioplasty or bypass surgery and suitable lifestyle changes (ie not smoking, eating healthier and exercising regularly)  the risks of further attacks can be substantially reduced.\nIn the UK it is estimated that someone has a heart attack every 2 minutes, so out of the 30 per hour, it is likely 15 will die.  Now the majority of these people didn't know beforehand they were going to have a heart attack and not survive, so were not necessarily concerned about it.
227401
Wow.  I can honestly say that I haven't a clue what's going on here.  Clearly, you're mad about something.  I truly hope whatever it is either gets better or dies because you're going to give yourself a heart attack--and certainly none of us would want that.
143951
Just a small addition to the answer above: permanent brain damage occurs minutes after the heart stops, but  a  person becomes unconscious long before that (in the matter of seconds).