The Male Health Center - Heart Attack in Men

How to avoid the mourning ritual

Every morning, hundreds of American men perform the same deadly ritual: They meet buddies for breakfast, where they put away eggs, sausage, hash browns, buttered toast and plenty of cream in their coffee. Full to the point of discomfort, they head off to meet the day.

Perhaps half an hour later, breakfast begins to catch up—or so it seems. Nausea rises, along with pressure in the chest. Most pass it off as indigestion. Another half an hour passes before sweating and lightheadedness join the symptoms. More time passes, and the pressure in the chest grows, pain begins to radiate through the left shoulder and arm, and it becomes hard to breathe. Even at this point, it's often someone else who recognizes that something is truly wrong.

On average, men wait almost two hours before they admit to the symptoms of a heart attack. This male ritual ends when half of them die before ever reaching the hospital. And those who survive pay for the delay: Most of the permanent damage to the heart occurs during the first hour after a heart attack begins.

That's why it's so important to know the symptoms and act promptly. Aside from the immediate symptoms I mentioned above, nearly half of all heart attacks send out warnings well in advance: recurrent chest pain during exertion that goes away with rest.

You should also know what puts you at risk. Some of the factors that increase your odds include smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, a family history of heart disease, being a male over 45, being black, being more than 25 percent over weight, living a stressful life, and not exercising.

But even if your risk is low, you should know the five steps for caring for anyone who may be having a heart attack:

Call 911
In general, help can get to you before you can get to help. Be sure to mention heart attack symptoms.

Begin CPR
Even if you don't know how, the 911 dispatcher may be able to instruct.

Try coughing
If heart beat is very rapid (called fibrillation), vigorous coughing may subdue it.

Chew an aspirin. Only one
Death rates are about 25 percent lower when people having a heart attack immediately chew (for rapid absorption) this simple medicine.

Get clot-breaking drugs—as quickly as possible
When administered within the first 70 minutes, these breakthrough emergency-room drugs help up to 75 percent of all people survive with little or no heart damage.

Pay attention and get attention, and you won't join the morning ritual.

Seven Emergency Symptoms

Listen to your body before it's too late.
Early in their lives, men are taught by our culture that it's manly to hurt. We admire the sports hero who overcomes his injury to achieve, even as he hides his face to prevent the world from seeing the truth. Is it any wonder that a boy shows off a skinned knee like a "red badge of courage?"

Most of the time, pain does go away, if only to return another day. But sometimes, there's no second chance. Know these symptoms and waste no time getting help:

Chest pain - Pain, especially during exertion—ranging from tightness in the center of the chest to severe pain that might radiate to the neck or down the left arm—may be a sign of heart attack. On the other hand, if the pain begins when you cough or take a deep breath, it might be a sign of pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in a lung.
Sudden,intense headache - Especially when accompanied by vomiting, a severe headache may be a sign of a broken blood vessel in the brain—a condition that can cause brain damage and death.
Leg pain - If accompanied by loss of skin color and coldness, it might be a sign of a blocked artery, which can result in loss of a leg. If the discomfort includes swelling and fever, it may indicate a blocked vein, called thrombophlebitis.
Pain around the navel - When this sensation is followed by tenderness in the lower right abdomen, a mild fever, and nausea and vomiting, it may be appendicitis. Rupture of the appendix can be very dangerous.
Upper abdominal pain - Extreme pain in the upper abdomen, along with nausea and vomiting, may be a warning of pancreatitis, which is often fatal. Serious but less-immediate dangers include gall bladder disease and ulcer.
Abdominal pain accompanied by abdominal swelling - Especially with severe constipation and fever, this may be a sign of an intestinal obstruction.
Severe abdominal pain - If it spreads into the groin or back, this sort of pain my indicate a weakened artery, which can be fatal if the vessel ruptures.

With the exception of chest pain that warns of heart attack, none of the conditions I've just mentioned are very common. They're certainly nothing to fret about deep into the night. But they do happen, and should the unlikely catch up with you, you'll be prepared.

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