What's the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest?
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Heart attack is behind a large number of hospitalisations in the UK, claiming the lives of approximately 160,000 people each year. According to sources, lesser-known signs of a heart attack may arise in the mouth. The peculiar taste is often listed as a symptom of indigestion and acid reflux.
A heart attack occurs when blood flow through a coronary artery is suddenly obstructed, depriving the vital organ of oxygen-rich nutrients.
There are different possible causes for this obstruction, but generally, a blood clot causes a sudden blockage.
The most immediate evidence of the cells in the heart dying is a sharp pain in the chest.
This chest pain can sometimes be accompanied by sudden weakness, sweating, nausea, vomiting, breathlessness or lightheadedness.
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According to some sources, one of the lesser-known signs of a heart attack may be a sudden sour taste in the mouth.
The British Heart Foundation states that sour taste is usually a sign of indigestion – a condition that shares some symptoms with myocardial infarction.
But the website Doctors Hospital lists the symptom as a sign of a heart attack on its website.
“Chronic or severe indigestion without burping, belching, heartburn, nausea or sour taste in the mouth,” it states.
Other symptoms listed on the site include a “sensation of panic with a feeling of impending doom”, and “breaking out in a sweat for no apparent reason.”
While the symptoms are generally the same for women and men, figures suggest women are more likely to succumb to an event, according to research.
How to avoid a heart attack
Conditions such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure are both precursors for heart attack, and both are manageable through diet.
Shunning saturated fat is paramount, as this will lower the odds of cholesterol clogging the arteries.
Other lesser-known known risk factors for a heart attack could include stress.
Researchers at cardiac centres put the recent 25 percent increase in patients hospitalised for N-STEMI heart attacks down to stress.
N-STEMI heart attacks are a potentially fatal type of heart attack caused by partial blockages.
This connection is likely to be the effect of stress on blood pressure, which is a known precursor for heart attack.
“Being active or doing regular exercise will lower your blood pressure by keeping your heart and blood vessels in food condition,” explains the NHS.
“Regular exercise can also help you lose weight, which will help to lower your blood pressure.”
Smoking is another major risk factor for heart attack listed on the NHS website, because it causes atherosclerosis and raises blood pressure.
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