Aspirin has an anticoagulant effect and therefore improves blood circulation.

A real horror notion: you have a heart attack and nobody notices, nobody is there to help you, nobody holds your hand, you are on your own. What to do if you have a heart attack and you are alone

What exactly is a heart attack?

When you have a heart attack, heart muscle cells die. As a rule, it is the occlusion of a coronary artery to blame. These are the vessels that supply the heart muscle with blood. The heart muscle cells then die after two to four hours at the latest.

The larger the closed vessel, the larger the infarct. This threatens our pumping organ very much and makes the heart attack a life-threatening event. The risk of sudden cardiac death is particularly high in a heart attack.

In the event of a large infarction, the heart’s pumping capacity can be so severely impaired that the circulation more or less breaks down.

Therefore, even if you have the slightest suspicion when you have a heart attack, you should  not lose any time and call the emergency doctor immediately! Heart attacks are the leading cause of death, accounting for 47 percent of all deaths in Europe.

Symptoms

If severe pain occurs suddenly behind the sternum on the left side, this is always an absolute emergency sign. The pain can radiate into the neck or into the back, upper abdomen and arms.

A typical sign of a heart attack in women is nausea. Men do not show this symptom. A heart attack often occurs with intense pressure or a very strong feeling of constriction or constriction in the heart or chest area.

It can feel like an elephant is standing on your chest or someone has sat on your chest. The tightness in the chest, the feeling that someone is sitting on you, is also often manifested in shortness of breath.

This is a very typical symptom of a heart attack. Women in particular tend to be very scared when they have a heart attack . This makes the skin pale and cold and cold sweats can occur.

If a woman is very exhausted and inexplicably tired for no reason, a heart attack should always be suspected.

An upset stomach for no reason, stomach pinches without having eaten “wrong” and the combination with other of the symptoms mentioned here are alarm signs.

These symptoms can include nausea, shortness of breath, anxiety or sweat, tiredness and exhaustion for which there are no obvious reasons.

Immediate action

Now you know what symptoms to expect if you have a heart attack. But what to do when it happens

Emergency call

First of all: call the emergency doctor! First of all, give them your address. So your rescuers know where to go. That I am the most important and must always be mentioned first. The more precisely you describe the address (for example: “gray side door on the left”), the better!

Then explain what happened, share your suspicions that you are having a heart attack and that you are alone and no one can help you.

Don’t drive a car!

Never try to drive yourself to the hospital! In doing so, you not only endanger yourself, but above all other road users! After calling 911, stay where you are so that you will be found!

Keep the phone free

Until your rescuers have reached you, they must always be able to reach you for queries, for example if they cannot find the entrance, the door is locked, etc. So do not call anyone until then and do not take any calls. Keep the line clear for your rescuers!

Stay calm

Sit upright and lean against a wall, for example. Make sure your torso is elevated.

Loosen your clothes, you should open tight-fitting blouses so as not to constrict your chest from the outside. Stay calm to save extra stress on your heart.

Fresh air

If possible, provide fresh, oxygen-rich air. For example, sit near an open window, outside door, or in a larger room. Oxygen is important to you and your heart now!