First Aid: What Do You Do In Acute Heart Disease?
Heart disease can happen anytime and anywhere. It is wise to learn about it and the risks, but in general such events are almost impossible to predict.
With the high pace of today’s world, most people spend most of their time at work. Therefore, the chances of these episodes occurring in the workplace are quite high.
Heart disease happens more often than we often admit.
- In Norway, 10,000-15,000 heart attacks are registered per year, ie approx. 40 per day.
- In 2016, 3163 cardiac arrests were registered in Norway. 4 out of 5 receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation before the ambulance arrives. 14% live after 30 days.
Acute heart disease: The differences between a heart attack and a sudden cardiac arrest
Myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac arrest are two different things.
- In the first case, there is usually a larger margin to reverse the problem.
- In the event of a sudden cardiac arrest, a person may die within a few minutes.
Myocardial infarction
A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to a part of the heart is completely or partially blocked due to atherosclerosis, bleeding, clots or spasms in the vessels. Myocardial infarction does not necessarily mean that the heart stops beating.
The main symptom is a sudden and very intense pain in the chest, which can spread to other areas of the body such as arms, shoulders, jaw and neck.
There may also be other symptoms, for example:
- Exhaustion
- Dizziness
- Breathing problems
- Nausea
- Sweat
- Heartburn
- Sudden loss of consciousness
It is important to remember that the symptoms are not the same in all cases. Sometimes a heart attack occurs without the affected person perceiving any of these warning signs, or they may confuse them with something else and ignore them.
Sudden cardiac arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly becomes completely paralyzed. The brain and the rest of the body’s organs are deprived of blood flow and oxygen.
Acute cardiac death often occurs so suddenly that it does not give the person time to get help. When the heart stops, the person suddenly faints. Breathing may also stop. Only in a small number of cases does the person feel dizzy before they lose consciousness.
First aid for acute heart disease
- Call emergency medical services (113) immediately and ask for help.
- In the event of a heart attack, place the person on a sofa, as comfortably as possible, and try to remain calm.
- It is important that the affected person tries to breathe normally. Loosen the belt and unbutton the buttons.
- In case of sudden cardiac arrest, breathing and heart rate must be checked.
If you do not receive a response from the person, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately :
- To do this, place both hands on the patient’s sternum and press down, keeping your arms outstretched.
- The sternum should be pressed down at least 4 centimeters, with a frequency of at least 100 compressions per minute.
- Keep the rhythm regular and with as few distractions as possible.
- Word-of-mouth resuscitation should only be used by people who know the technique. Otherwise it is not useful.
- If a defibrillator is available, it should be used to try to resume cardiac activity. These devices do not require special training to be used; they are easy to use and have instructions attached.
The faster you act, the greater the probability of a positive outcome. In the event of a sudden cardiac arrest, an even faster response is required. For every minute that passes, the chances of survival are reduced by 10%, so after 10 minutes they will be zero. If people around the affected person do not act and are just waiting for an ambulance, the chance of a tragic outcome goes up to 95%.
Be prepared for any acute heart disease!
