Heart attacks: symptoms and prevention
| Updated: 8/22/2012 10:15 am |
Published: 8/21/2012 8:39 pm
|
She wasn't feeling pain but Joyce Reynolds knew what she was feeling just wasn't right.
"I just got kind of short of breath and felt funny," she said.
Joyce said she noticed feeling strange when she would exert herself and go up stairs or a hill. Sometimes her jaw would tingle. She knew that something was off.
"It wasn't pain but kind of a squeezing feeling," said Joyce.
It took her two weeks to visit her primary physician and she was originally given prescription medication for high blood pressure.
"I knew my body and knew something wasn't right and pushed and said I think I need a stress test," Joyce said.
Joyce said the stress test revealed a large portion of her heart wasn't receiving oxygen. An emergency heart cath surgery revealed a 99.5 percent blockage in her heart.
"Had I had a heart attack outside of the hospital I probably wouldn't have survived," said Joyce.
A heart attack happens with the blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, usually by a blood clot. If blood flow is cut off completely, the part of the heart muscle supplied by that artery begins to die.
Cardiologist at OSU Medical Center, Dr. Michael Carney, said he sees patients with blocked arteries every day. He says a blockage can be caused by a build up of cholesterol, triglycerides, red and white blood cells.
"It becomes like rust in the pipes of your sewer at home," said Dr. Carney.
It turns out that there are 523 to 727 heart attack deaths for every 100,000 people in Oklahoma every year.
Dr. Carney said there are certain signs and symptoms that should not be ignored because they could be a precursor to a heart attack.
Copyright 2012 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
