stroke

Stroke is a brain attack. It ismuch like a heart attack, only it occurs in the brain.Like a heart attack, stroke is a medical emergency. Do not wait or hesitate to call for emergency medical help. Fast treatment makes a big difference in outcome for someone having a stroke.

CALL 911 for STROKE

When the blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off or greatly decreased, a stroke occurs. If the blood supply is cut off for several hours or more, the brain cells, without enough blood supply,die.

Depending upon the amount of blood involved and location of the stroke area in the brain, a person having a stroke can show many signs and symptoms. These can range from barely noticeable difficulties moving or speaking to paralysis or death.

Until recently, doctors were unable to do much while a person was having a stroke or immediately afterward. Now however, treatments for the acute event, while it is happening, are available, which makes recognizing strokes and getting immediate care critically important.

·About 750,000 new strokes occur in the United States each year. Stroke is the third most common cause of death (after heart dieses and cancer). Strokes occur more frequently in older people but can occur in persons ofall ages, including children. African Americans are at a higher risk of stroke than whites. Hispanics have an intermediate risk. 

·A transient inchemic attack (known as a TIA or ministroke) is similar to a stroke except that, with a TIA, the symptoms go away completely within 24 hours. People who have a TIA are very likely to have a stroke in the near future.


by fazli

Heart Attacks and Heart Disease

More than 1 million Americans have heart attack each year. A heartattack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is permanent damage to the heart muscle. "Myo" means muscle, "cardial" refers to the heart, and "infarction" means death of tissue due to lack of blood supply.

What Happens During a Heart Attack?

The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. The coronary arteries provide the heart with this critical blood supply. If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as they should. Fatty matter, calcium, protiens, and inflammatory cells build up within the arteries to form plaques of different sizes. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside.

When the plaque is hard, the outer shell cracks (plaque rupture), platelets (disc-shaped particles in the blood that aid clotting) come to the area, and blood clots form around the plaque. If a blood clot totally blocks the artery, the heart muscle becomes "starved" for oxygen. Within a short time, death of heart muscle cells occurs, causing permanent damage. This is a heart attack.

While it is unusual, a heart attack can also be caused by a spasm of a coronary artery. During a coronary spasm, the coronary arteries restrict or spasm on and off, reducing blood supply to the heart muscle (ischemia). It may occur at rest and can even occur in people without significant coronary artery disease.

Each coronary artery supplies blood to a region of heart muscle. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and the time between injury and treatment.

Healing of the heart muscle begins soon after a heart attack and takes about eight weeks. Just like a skin wound, the heart's wound heals and a scar will form in the damaged area. But, the new scar tissue does not contract. So, the heart's pumping ability is lessened after a heart attack. The amount of lost pumping ability depends on the size and location of the scar.

Heart Attack Symptoms

Symptoms of a heart attack include:

·                     Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breastbone

·                     Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm

·                     Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn

·                     Sweating, nausea, vomiting, or dizziness

·                     Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath

·                     Rapid or irregular heartbeats

During a heart attack, symptoms last 30 minutes or longer and are not relieved by rest or nitroglycerin under the tongue.

Some people have a heart attack without having any symptoms (a "silent" myocardial infarction). A silent MI can occur in any person, though it is more common among diabetics.

by nazmi