Heart Attack – How Aspirin Helps
Anna Hart
If you or a loved one has heart disease, heart attack
prevention and treatment are very important subjects. Your
physician may have recommended taking a low dose aspirin each
day to avoid heart attack. You may have heard that you can
increase your chances of survival during a heart attack by
taking aspirin. But how?
How Can Aspirin Help in Heart Attack?
Imagine that you are sitting watching TV with your spouse. You
begin to sense that your chest is heavy. It feels as though
someone is tightening wide steel bands around you. You shift
positions, but the feeling remains. You take a few deep breaths
and try to relax, thinking it is stress. The pain begins to
spread to your jaw and shoulder. You mention it to your spouse,
who turns to look at you, dashes to the phone to call for an
ambulance, and returns with an aspirin. "For your heart
attack," says your spouse. Why?
How can aspirin help in heart attack?
Heart Attack Scenario
A heart attack is an active, ongoing event. It is not something
that begins and ends in five minutes. You can limit the damage
done to your heart and body during this ongoing event by taking
action immediately after the heart attack begins. Calling
emergency services is one action step. Taking aspirin is a
second action step.
Paramedics will arrive quickly when you call 911. They will
give you oxygen and medication for your heart attack. They will
monitor your blood pressure and heart rhythm to try to prevent
heart attack complications. They will rush you to the emergency
room of the nearest hospital.
Once you reach the Emergency Room, doctors and nurses will
hurry to perform an EKG and blood tests to confirm or refute a
heart attack diagnosis. If you are having a heart attack,
doctors will usually try to open the blocked artery with
angioplasty, a stent, or a drug.
But why take aspirin? If they are going to use all of these
modern "miracle-workers" on you, how can aspirin help in heart
attack?
Aspirin's Role
Aspirin has been found to slow down platelets. Platelets are
microscopic blood cells your body uses to trigger blood
clotting. If you cut your finger, blood begins to flow from the
cut. Immediately, platelets move to the cut finger and cause the
blood to clot. If you were to take aspirin the moment you cut
your finger, you would slow down the movement of platelets. The
blood would continue to flow freely for a longer time.
You would need only a tiny amount of aspirin to slow down every
tiny platelet in your bloodstream. You would have to take it
quickly, though. The clotting of blood would increase minute by
minute, so the sooner you took the aspirin, the better your
chances of keeping the finger bleeding.
Of course, this would be foolish action in the case of a cut
finger. You want the finger to stop bleeding. You want the
blood to clot.
In heart attack, however, you do not want the blood to clot.
The reason for most heart attacks is the rupture of plaque in a
coronary artery. When the rupture occurs, the body senses injury
and calls for platelets. The platelets hurry to trigger a blood
clot, just as they will in a cut finger. As minutes pass, the
clot grows larger and larger. It grows until it completely
blocks the artery. Blood can no longer flow to the part of the
heart served by that artery. Blood can no longer carry oxygen
to the heart. Without oxygen, that part of the heart begins to
die. The heart attack runs its course.
If aspirin is taken in the first few minutes of an attack, you
slow down the rush of platelets, just as in our example of the
cut finger. You make it more difficult for the blood to clot.
You keep the blood flowing, carrying vital oxygen to the heart.
You limit the risk of heart attack damage.
How to Take Aspirin for Heart Attack
1. QUICKLY: The most important thing is to take aspirin
immediately if you sense you may be having a heart attack.
Aspirin needs nearly 15 minutes to fully slow platelets. Get it
into your blood stream quickly.
2. AMOUNT: Take one 325 mg. of aspirin for heart attack. Do not
take two or three in hopes of getting better results. A smaller
dose is actually more helpful than a larger dose.
3. TYPE: The aspirin must not be enteric-coated. The coating is
added to keep aspirin from dissolving too quickly in your
stomach. For heart attack, you want it to dissolve as quickly
as possible. Even when chewed, enteric-coated aspirin have been
found to dissolve too slowly. So be sure you always have at hand
non-coated 325 mg. aspirin tablets.
4. CHEW: It is very important that you CHEW the aspirin. Do not
swallow it whole. CHEW the aspirin at least 30 seconds before
swallowing it. Chewing will reduce the tablet to small
particles, ready for digestion. It will also stimulate saliva,
which will start the digestion. CHEW.
In the October 1997 issue of "Circulation," the American Heart
Association (AHA) journal, it was reported that up to 10,000
more people annually could survive heart attack simply by
chewing one 325 milligram aspirin tablet at the first chest
pain or other heart attack symptom. Be prepared.
About The Author: ©2007, Anna Hart. Anna is married to a man
who suffers from heart disease, and brings to her writing years
of experience and research. She invites you to read more of her
articles about heart attacks at
http://www.your-heart-disease-blog.com . You won't want to miss
Anna's insights and perspectives on what to expect after a
heart attack. Visit Anna now.
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