Everything You Need to know about sudden cardiac Arrest

Cardiac arrest is a trending disease these days. Unfortunately, many people lose their lives due to sudden cardiac arrest. It is a serious heart condition. Arrest means stop, in simple words, cardiac arrest means suddenly the heart stops beating without any warning sign.

Hey Readers!!! How are you all? Hope you are all doing well. Today’s topic is all about cardiac arrest. People are often confused between heart attack and cardiac arrest.

Although both come under cardiovascular diseases yet both are different, cardiac arrest is an electrical problem whereas a heart attack is a circulation problem.

Now let’s understand in detail, a heart attack means your blood flow stops, your heart is not able to pump properly and cardiac arrest means, your heart stops beating suddenly, it blocks the blood flow to every organ ( Brain, lungs, etc).

It could be life-threatening and deadly if untreated. If you feel any discomfort please consult the cardiologist as soon as possible. ” Ignorance is not bliss at all”.

Symptoms of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Now let us see the different symptoms of cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest happens suddenly without any warning sign, that is the main tragedy here.

It is so fast, within a minute your heart, brain, lungs are other essential organs stop functioning. If the person does not get immediate treatment, death can occur within a minute.

• A person will have no pulses.
• A person may suddenly lose consciousness.
• The patient may experience mild to severe chest pain.
• A person could feel a shortage of breaths.
• The patient might have irregular and rapid beats.
• A patient may feel dizzy, and extremely weak.
• A patient may have nausea or vomiting before a few hours of arrest.
• Heart palpitation is another symptom of cardiac arrest.

However yes all the symptoms I have mentioned above are not mandatory, you may not have any of these symptoms sometimes it could happen suddenly.

What causes Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Do you know! Your heart produces an electrical wave and it helps to control your heartbeat and rhythm. As we all know heart keeps beating regularly.

But in a sudden cardiac arrest case, your heart’s electrical system suddenly gets disturbed which leads to an abnormal breathing pattern known as (arrhythmia).

It may beat slowly, sometimes very fast so in simple terms heart beats irregularly, but do you know one fact, often these arrhythmias are not dangerous, or harmless, but some types can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

There are some factors ( Different heart conditions) that could lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Different Heart conditions that can lead to Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Certain problems could create or disturb the electrical problem, which leads to sudden cardiac arrest.

Congenital heart disease:

congenital heart disease means a heart defect present at birth, sometimes it is seen there is a sudden cardiac happen in the child even in adolescence, mostly it is due to congenital heart diseases.

Even after surgery for congenital heart defects also, they still have a very high risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

Coronary artery disease:

People who have coronary heart disease also are at high risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Coronary heart disease mainly occurs when a waxy-like substance like cholesterol deposits on the wall of arteries and eventually blocks the blood flow to the heart.

Enlarged Heart:

What is an enlarged heart means actually? sometimes due to high blood pressure or any advanced heart problem muscles of the heart abnormally stretches and thicken, which leads to cardiac arrest in some patients.

Valvular heart disease:

Here what happens narrowing of the heart valve occurs which ultimately stretches the heart muscles. The Chamber of the heart becomes enlarged, which puts pressure on the heart and leads to cardiac arrest.

Ventricular fibrillation

The human heart has a four-chamber, two atria, and two ventricles. So when the lower chamber of the ventricles does not beat properly, it is not able to pump the blood so that blood flow stops to every organ and leads to cardiac arrest.

Other causes of Cardiac Arrest

• Intense and vigorous exercise if you have a heart issue.
• It may hereditary, you may inherit it from your family.
• Lack of oxygen.
• High blood pressure.
• High cholesterol.
• Obesity.
• Diabetes
• A nutritional imbalance like a very high level of magnesium and potassium could lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Who is at high risk of Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

• If you have a Family history of heart disease then you are at high risk of cardiac arrest.

• This risk increases with age so yes older people have at high risk.

• If You have severe coronary heart disease.

• Alcohol consumption could be a reason for sudden cardiac arrest.

• If you smoke then there is a high chance.

• It’s more common in men than women.

• Chronic kidney-related diseases.

• A previous history of a heart attack.

• High blood loss.

• Intense emotions like high anger may lead to cardiac arrest.

• Mental problems like depression and stress could also lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Apart from these, Corona yes you heard it right, it has been seen post corona few people are developing a heart condition known as Subclinical Myocarditis.

This is a condition in which the patient may not experience any pain there will be no ongoing symptoms however internally heart does not function properly. Any vigorous or intense exercise can put pressure on the heart and leads to sudden cardiac arrest.

Treatment options

There is a machine called a defibrillator, which sends an electrical signal to the heart, that may help your heart to beat again. But it should be done as soon as possible. you do not need to be an expert to use this machine.

Just follow the directions. This device can sense dangerous arrhythmias and send a lifesaving shock to the heart if needed. You can start the process until proper treatment starts.

Your doctor will observe will closely and try to find the possible reason for cardiac arrest, if it is due to coronary heart disease, the doctor may start immediately bypass surgery, which will open your blocked arteries.

After recovery, your cardiologist comes with different treatment plans as per the severity of your condition and he/ she may suggest some lifestyle changes to avoid another cardiac arrest.

There are different tests available:

• Electrocardiogram: Helps to read your heart’s electrical waves and activities
• Echocardiography: It helps to show your heart’s size, shape, and how functions!
• Cardiac MRI: This is a very detailed analysis, it shows the complete heart and it works.
• MUGA (multiple gated acquisition): Radioactive material injected into your bloodstream, helps the camera take pictures of your heart. 

How to Prevent

• Lifestyle changes, Try to have lots of green vegetables and fruits because diet plays a very crucial role.
• Manage your stress.
• Cut down on sugar and unhealthy junk foods.
• Watch out for your weight, try to maintain a healthy weight( BMI under 25)
• Abstain from alcohol.
• Quit smoking.

Conclusion

I tried to share the information best of my knowledge. In the next blog post, I am going to share home remedies and foods which will help to take care of your heart. Because I always believe prevention is always better than cure.

If you like my article please feel free to share. If you have any concerns related to health then do let me know in the comment section down, I would love to answer.

Thank you!! Spread the knowledge.