“Why do we observe American Heart Month every February? Well, every year more than 600,000 Americans die from heart disease. The number one cause of deaths for most groups, heart disease affects all ages, genders, and ethnicities. Risk factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and excessive alcohol use. Do you know how to keep your heart healthy? You can take an active role in reducing your risk for heart disease.”.
National Today (nationaltoday.com)
“Any heart attack can be fatal. But one particular kind has earned notoriety and a scary-sounding nickname because it is especially dangerous. A widowmaker is an informal term for a heart attack that involves 100 percent blockage in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery”.
Stanley Chetcuti, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center.
If you have been reading regularly on this blog than you know this past month has been dedicated everywhere for the health topic “HEART MONTH”.
What is a “widow maker”? Well for starters, this is the deadliest heart attack. The symptoms you need to know to possibly prevent the results of this widow maker. It occurs when there is a complete blockage of the left artery feeding the heart with blood. This causes a cut off of oxygen supply to one of the large parts of the heart muscle, which can cause it to stop beating, causing you to die.
A heart attack is when one of the coronary arteries becomes blocked.
The heart muscle is then robbed of vital oxygenated blood, which if left untreated, can cause the heart muscle to begin to die.
A heart attack is a life-threatening emergency.
A widow maker heart attack is caused when the LAD artery becomes blocked.
It occurs when there’s a complete blockage of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, one of two main arteries that brings OXYGENATED blood to the heart=FOOD TO THE HEART MUSCLE (O2).
When it is blocked due to a build up of plaque it is most often deadly, hence the name “widow maker”. How to we get plaque build up?
Cholesterol plaques can be the cause of heart disease. Plaques begin in artery walls and grow over years. The growth of cholesterol! The plaques slowly blocks blood flow in the arteries. Worse, a cholesterol plaque can suddenly rupture. The sudden blood clot that forms over the rupture then causes a heart attack or stroke.
Blocked arteries caused by plaque buildup and blood clots are the leading cause of death in the U.S. Reducing cholesterol and other risk factors can help prevent cholesterol plaques from forming. Occasionally, it can even reverse some plaque buildup.
A widow maker heart attack has the same symptoms as any other heart attack.
They can be difficult to spot for sure, because they can vary from person to person.
The most common signs include:
The first port of call for treatment, is for doctors to treat the blocked artery.
There are two main procedures used to open up the blocked blood vessel.
The first, a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is an emergency coronary angioplasty.
It opens the blockage and helps restore blood supply to the heart.
The second treatment, is thrombosis, also known as a “clot buster”.
It involves injecting a drug into the vein to dissolve the blood clot and restore blood supply to the heart that way. In some cases this procedure can be performed in the ambulance.
While these treatments are common, in some cases they will not be right for the patient and so they won’t be performed. The MD Cardiologist will know the right Rx.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the US. Prevention includes quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, controlling high blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising. About 1 in 5 adults get enough exercise to remain healthy. The simplest way to get moving and improve your heart health is to start walking. It’s free, easy and can be done just about anywhere, even in place.”
Regional Medical Center (https://www.regmedctr.org)
“It’s February – American Heart Month – a time when the nation spotlights heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans. President Lyndon B. Johnson, among the millions of people in the country who’d had heart attacks, issued the first proclamation in 1964. Since then, U.S. presidents have annually declared February American Heart Month. The first Friday of American Heart Month, Feb. 5, is also National Wear Red Day as part of the AHA’s Go Red for Women initiative.
This year, the federally designated event is even more important due to the impact of the coronavirus on the public’s heart health, including potential harmful effects on the heart and vascular system, according to recent research.
Also, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have delayed or avoided going to hospitals for heart attacks and strokes – netting poorer outcomes and prompting the AHA to create “Don’t Die of Doubt,” a national awareness campaign that reminds people that hospitals are the safest place to go when you have symptoms.”
heart.org“Surgery is a last-resort treatment for BPPV and is reserved for people with disabling symptoms which do not respond to any other form of treatment. Surgery is rarely performed on patients with BPPV and surgical techniques only exist for the posterior semicircular canal. In the rare cases where surgery is performed, one option involves selectively dividing the nerve to the posterior semi-circular canal, so that the signals from the canal do not travel to the brain to produce symptoms. This procedure is not common as it is a difficult technique. Another surgical method involves mechanically blocking the posterior semicircular canal and is often very successful if utilized in well-selected patients. It is more commonly performed than the aforementioned operation.”
Ear Nose Throat Specialist Sydney – ENT Clinic
“Your doctor can usually do one of two procedures in the office that works for most cases of BPPV. These procedures are called the Epley maneuver and the Semont maneuver. If you don’t want treatment or if treatment doesn’t work, BPPV usually goes away by itself within a few weeks. Over time, your brain will likely get used to the confusing signals it gets from your inner ear. Either way, you can do some simple exercises that train your brain to get used to the confusing vertigo signals.
Medicine may help with severe nausea and vomiting.
Be extra careful so that you don’t hurt yourself or someone else if you have a sudden attack of vertigo (Ex. Don’t drive till resolved, don’t drink till resolved, etc…)”.
University of Michigan Health – Michigan Medicine
“BPPV occurs when tiny calcium crystals called otoconia come loose from their normal location on the utricle, a sensory organ in the inner ear.
If the crystals become detached, they can flow freely in the fluid-filled spaces of the inner ear, including the semicircular canals (SCC) that sense the rotation of the head. Otoconia will occasionally drift into one of the SCCs, usually the posterior SCC given its orientation relative to gravity at the lowest part of the inner ear.”
Johns Hopkins Medicine