Heart Attack

A heart attack is also known as a myocardial infarction. A heart attack is when a part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies because it is not receiving oxygen. A heart attack is the death of heart muscle and it is caused by a sudden block of a coronary artery by a blood clot. Coronary arteries are blood vessels that supply the heart muscle with blood and oxygen. Causing injury to the heart muscle can cause chest main and pressure. If blood flow is not restored within 20 to 40 minutes permanent damage and death to the heart muscle will begin to occur. The heart muscle will continue to die for another 6-8 hours at this time the heart attack is complete. The death of heart muscle is replaced by scar tissue. Your over all lifestyle, what you eat, your exercise, and stress plays a role in your recovery from a heart attack. One million Americans suffer a heart attack each year. Four hundred thousand of those one million die each year. Coronary heart disease is America’s number one killer. Before going back to work, several weeks may be needed for the heart muscle to heal. There are three types of a heart attack a small, moderate, and large. After having a small heart attack, with little damage to the heart muscle, a patient usually can resume work after about two weeks. A moderate heart attack has moderate damage to the heart muscle and you gradually increase activity for up to four weeks. A large heart attack has lots of damage to the heart muscle and it may result in a recovery period of six week or longer. This is necessary in order for the dead heart muscle to substantially complete the scarring process. During this healing period the patient should avoid heavy lifting or lifting things over 20 pounds. A heart attack can occur at any time though most heart attacks occur between 4:00A.M. and 10:00 A.M. because of the higher blood levels during the morning hours. The sooner you get treatment the greater the chance that the doctors can prevent further damage to