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Preventing Heart Attacks by Understanding Cardiovascular Risks

Do you know that heart attacks have "beginnings" that can occur days or weeks before an actual attack? It is important to recognize these beginnings, with the help of an EHAC doctor, to help prevent the actual attack and its potential health consequences. People often mistake the early warning signs of a heart attack, such as chest pain, for heartburn or pulled a muscle. The unfortunate outcome is that many people wait too long before getting help.

At The Hospitals of Providence, we have an EHAC program delivered by a team of cardiologists, nurses and staff who are dedicated to helping men and women recognize the early warning signs of a heart attack. We provide care and treatment options for these signs and help prevent the emergency from happening.

What Is a Heart Attack?

Each year, approximately 1.2 million Americans suffer a heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction. It is a medical emergency that occurs when a part of the heart muscle does not get enough blood. This usually happens when fatty deposits build up over time and form plaque in the heart's arteries, blocking the blood flow. The blockage also limits the oxygen and nutrients that go to your heart.

Heart attacks are sometimes thought to be a man’s problem. But the truth is, more women in the United States die of heart disease each year than men. In general, over 80,000 people die every year from a heart attack and on average, 50% of these patients displayed, but ignored, the warning signs.

What Are the Early Signs of a Heart Attack?

There are heart attack symptoms in women that are different from heart attack symptoms in men. But the common signs and symptoms they usually share are as follows:

  • Chest pain or discomfort: The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or it may go away and come back. The discomfort may feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain at the center of the chest.
  • Discomfort in other areas of the upper body: This may include pain or discomfort in the back, jaw, stomach or in one or both arms.
  • Shortness of breath: This may occur with, before or without chest pain or discomfort.
  • Breaking out in a cold sweat
  • Nausea or light-headedness

Meanwhile, heart attack symptoms in women sometimes go unnoticed. These include the following:

  • Back pain
  • Dizziness
  • Fainting
  • Pressure, fullness, squeezing pain in the center of the chest, spreading to the neck, shoulder or jaw
  • Unusual fatigue
  • Unusual shortness of breath
  • Upper abdominal pressure or discomfort
  • Vomiting

If you experience these early warning signs of a heart attack, please do not delay care. Schedule an appointment with your cardiologist at The Hospitals of Providence as soon as possible. Treatments are usually most effective when they occur in the early stages of chest pain, so early treatment is key. In case of a heart attack, call 9-1-1 and seek medical care immediately.

What Are the Risk Factors of a Heart Attack?

Some of the things or conditions that may increase your risk for myocardial infarction may include the following:

  • Diabetes
  • Excessive alcohol consumption
  • Family history of heart disease
  • High blood cholesterol
  • High blood pressure
  • Obesity and being overweight
  • Old age
  • Physical inactivity
  • Smoking
  • Too much stress
  • Unhealthy diet

How to Prevent a Heart Attack

Aside from working closely with your EHAC doctor and watching out for early warning signs of a heart attack, making some lifestyle changes can also help prevent a heart attack from happening. These lifestyle changes may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Being physically active
  • Eating and drinking healthy
  • Limiting alcohol intake or not drinking at all
  • Losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight
  • Lowering high blood pressure (if necessary)
  • Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels
  • Quitting smoking
  • Reducing and managing stress
  • Treating or managing conditions that can be a risk factors of heart attack such as diabetes

Why Choose The Hospitals of Providence for Your Early Heart Attack Care?

The Hospitals of Providence has EHAC teams who genuinely care about you and your loved ones. Our hospitals are located across El Paso to provide accessible care to the communities in this city and nearby areas. At the same time, we have received multiple recognitions for the compassionate care and patient-centered cardiovascular services we offer.

Some of the accreditations and recognitions we received in recent years are as follows:

For Sierra Campus

  • Chest Pain Reaccreditation by the Society of Cardiovascular Care
  • ACC HeartCARE Center Designation by the American College of Cardiology
  • Grade A rating for patient safety in the Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2019 Safety Score

Take the EHAC Oath with us.

We encourage you to start taking care of your heart health today. We can kick this commitment off by taking the EHAC oath together.

“I understand that heart attacks have beginnings and on occasion, signs of an impending heart attack may include chest discomfort, shortness of breath, shoulder and/or arm pain and weakness. These may occur hours or weeks before the actual heart attack. I solemnly swear that if happens to me or anyone I know I will call 9-1-1 or activate Emergency Medical Services.”

Visit Deputy Heart Attack website for more information about heart disease and prevention or click here to download an educational brochure.

Find a Cardiologist

Recognize early warning signs of a heart attack and get the care you need as early as possible with the help of a cardiologist in El Paso. Call 866-934-3627 to schedule an appointment or to request an EHAC doctor referral.

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A Healthy Heart is Your Best Defense

Heart disease is our country’s number-one killer and it doesn’t stop because of a pandemic. More Americans die from cardiovascular diseases, more than all forms of cancer combined. It is more important now, than ever that you know your risk for heart disease and that you stay on top of treating it if you’ve been diagnosed. According to the CDC, 4 in 10 people have reported avoiding medical care due to concerns over COVID. Your heart health can’t wait, take a health risk assessment or visit your doctor today.

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That being said, there is plenty of good news. Because so much is understood about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, as well as ways to treat it, you can work with your doctors to greatly reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular issues. Even now, hospital and doctors’ offices are the safest place to be if you’re experiencing a medical emergency.

Causes of Heart Disease

A number of conditions, habits and other factors increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Some are out of your control—for example, everyone’s risk rises with age. But most risk factors are under your control, and making important lifestyle changes can improve your odds of enjoying good heart health.

Some of the risk factors you can control:

  • SMOKING: This is the most important controllable risk factor for cardiovascular disease; a smoker’s risk of developing heart disease is much higher than that of nonsmokers. Smoking also acts with other factors to increase your overall risk.
  • HIGH CHOLESTEROL: As your blood cholesterol level rises, so does your heart disease risk. There are three types of cholesterol: high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good” cholesterol); low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol); and triglycerides.
  • HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: Blood pressure measures how hard your heart is working to pump blood. High blood pressure strains your heart over time, stiffening the muscle and increasing your risk of heart attack, stroke and other conditions.
  • OBESITY/BEING OVERWEIGHT: Because being overweight or obese can raise cholesterol levels, increase blood pressure and trigger type 2 diabetes, it’s a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
  • TYPE 2 DIABETES: People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke. If you have prediabetes or diabetes, you have high blood glucose (sugar) levels, which in turn leads to increased plaque buildup in your arteries.

Types of Heart Disease

These are some of the most common cardiovascular conditions:

Heart Attack

Your heart is a muscle—and it needs oxygen to stay alive. Sometimes, plaque (a substance made of up fat and cholesterol) builds up in the arteries that feed your heart, or plaque breaks off and forms a clot that severely or even completely blocks blood flow to the heart muscle, depriving it of oxygen and other nutrients. That’s called ischemia, and when heart muscle begins to die as a result of ischemia, it’s called a heart attack or myocardial infarction.

Ischemic Stroke

As in a heart attack, ischemic stroke happens when plaque builds up on artery walls. In this case, though, the plaque that may form a clot happens in a blood vessel that leads to the brain. When the blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, brain cells die, potentially damaging your ability to do things like walk or talk.

Arrhythmias

Put simply, an arrhythmia is an abnormal rhythm. Though the heart itself is a muscle, it is controlled by an electrical rhythm, and when that rhythm gets out of whack, the heart doesn’t do its job properly. Arrhythmias can take the form of a too-fast rhythm (tachycardia) or a too-slow rhythm (bradycardia). You can also have atrial fibrillation, which is when an erratic rhythm in the upper chambers of the heart leaves you vulnerable to a stroke, or ventricular fibrillation, an erratic rhythm in the lower chambers of the heart, which is very serious and can trigger cardiac arrest.

Heart Valve Disease

Your heart has four valves, and each valve has a flap of tissue that opens and closes every time your heart beats, controlling the flow of blood into and out of the four chambers of your heart. There are three main problems that affect heart valves: regurgitation, which is when the valve doesn’t close tightly and allows blood to flow backward; stenosis, which is when the flaps of the valve stiffen or fuse together, so the valve can’t open all the way; and atresia, which is when a valve is missing an opening altogether. Some heart valve problems are congenital, which means you’re born with them. In some cases, you can have a heart valve problem your whole life with no symptoms. Or problems can become progressively worse and eventually lead to other forms of cardiovascular disease such as stroke or heart attack..

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