Emptiness of ERs Worries Doctors as Heart Attack and Stroke Patients Delay Care
The patient described it as the worst headache of her life. She didn’t go to the hospital, though. Instead, the Washington state resident waited almost a week. When Abhineet Chowdhary, MD, finally saw her, he discovered she had a brain bleed that had gone untreated. The neurosurgeon did his best, but it was too late. […]
Ask the Harvard Experts: Details of Your Family Medical History Influence Heart Disease Risk
Q: I am filling out a form that asks for my family medical history. My father died of what we think was a heart attack at age 84. But no one else in my family had heart disease that I know of. Does that mean I check “yes” on that question? A: That’s the problem […]
Women: Don’t ignore these 3 subtle heart attack symptoms
We always associate chest pain with heart attacks, and for good reason, but it’s not the whole story — especially for women. While chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack, women can have symptoms that aren’t related to chest pain at all. They need to be on the lookout for other, […]
Could you have a heart attack and not know it?
Harvard Health Blog Here’s a surprising fact: Nearly half of people who have a heart attack don’t realize it at the time. These so-called silent heart attacks are only diagnosed after the event, when a recording of the heart’s electrical activity (an electrocardiogram or ECG) or another test reveals evidence of damage to the heart. […]
An Aspirin a Day May Keep Heart Attacks and Strokes Away
Aspirin is like the Swiss army knife of medications—it can relieve pain, fever and inflammation and can also help prevent heart attacks and strokes. Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that adults aged 50 to 59 who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (but not prone to bleeding) take a […]
If more people learned CPR, more lives could be saved
By Daniel Pendick Harvard Health Blog Cardiac arrest is the ultimate 911 emergency. The heart stops sending blood to the body and brain, either because it’s beating too fast and too erratically, or because it’s stopped beating altogether. Oxygen-starved brain cells start to die. Death occurs in minutes — unless a bystander takes matters into […]
Listen To Your Heart
What to know about your risks of an attack and what to do when having one By Mary Lorenz Last October, Jeff Espina was playing volleyball when he started to feel symptoms of what he thought was heartburn. Then, on his way home, he noticed his arms and limbs were starting to feel weak. “For a second, I thought, ‘Something’s going on,’” Espina […]
