Medical emergencies are the last thing we all want for ourselves or for our loved ones. But it does not take away from the fact that emergencies can happen anytime. They do not arrive with warnings. As much as we would wish for a medical emergency to not happen to a loved one of ours, it can happen to anyone, anytime, and anywhere. The best one can do is to learn beforehand how to act in case of an emergency beforehand.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause for deaths around the world. The biggest reason behind heart related or cardiovascular diseases to cause so many deaths is lack of awareness. Every adult should know at least what conditions qualify as heart-related or medical emergencies and which conditions can lead to them.
Some of the most common and fatal cardiovascular emergencies are:
Cardiac arrests usually occur to someone due to a sudden malfunction of the heart. Many a times, even the smallest of faults in the electrical receptors of the body can lead to the irregular heartbeats for a person. And irregular heart beats render the heart incapable of pumping the blood to the body in an effective manner and eventually causing a cardiac arrest.
Some of the most common symptoms of cardiac arrest are :
Disappearance of pulse within seconds
Heart attack is a commonly known term as it is a cause for a huge number of deaths every year around the world. In medical terms, this emergency is called myocardial infarction. A heart attack is a result of the narrowing of the coronary artery. The coronary arteries in a human body are the carriers of the oxygenated or pure bold. These arteries do the function of taking this pure or oxygenated bold to the heart, which then pumps it back.
When a coronary artery narrows or in case there is a blocking, the artery fails to supply blood in an effective manner. Many a times, because of this blocking, the blood supply gets cut off completely, due to which the heart muscle goes into shock and causes a heart attack.
Some of the symptoms of a heart attack are:
It should be noted that unlike cardiac arrest, a heart attack with or without any strong symptoms. In fact, in case of a heart attack, the symptoms vary from person to person. Therefore, the best thing that one can do is to keep in mind these possible symptoms and call an emergency helpline as soon as there is any need.
The primary function of the human heart is to pump blood. As the name suggests, Heart Failure is a condition in which the heart fails to pump blood efficiently. In case of a heart failure, the walls of the heart may become thicker or thinner to keep the blood flowing. However, because of this, the pressure in the heart increases and results in fluid retention in different body parts, especially the lower body parts.
People tend to mistake heart failure with heart attack. But the two are absolutely different things. A heart failure can be caused due to valve diseases, coronary artery diseases, heart attack, etc. It can even be caused by the excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs.
If there is someone in your house that you know experiences problems with the heart, it is advisable that you use the mHospitals to consult a doctor regularly instead of waiting for an emergency. However, in case an emergency does take place, what you need to remember is that it is important that you take action quickly.
Keep in mind that cardiovascular emergencies are life-threatening fatalities. Therefore, acting quickly is of prime importance. For instance, in case of a heart attack, the patient needs to be properly treated within an hour or two. Moreover, a cardiac arrest can lead to a person’s death in the matter of just a few minutes.
For a layman, it is obviously not possible to figure out the difference between a heart attack or a simple chest pain. Therefore, in case a situation arises involving chest pain, dizziness, fatigue, breathing problem, or any other similar symptom, make sure that you consult a doctor on mHospitals or visit a doctor as soon as possible.