Heart attacks are the number one killer of South African men. Know the symptoms and know what to do when someone is having a heart attack – acting quickly could save the person's life.
Take action:
Act on the following symptoms: a pressing pain in the centre of the chest that spreads to the arms and/or jaw, anxiousness, nausea, a pale, grey complexion, a rapid pulse and profuse sweating. This is an emergency and the person must be rapidly diagnosed and treated in hospital. Treatment with “clot-busting” medication within the first two to four hours of the heart attack decreases the chances of early death from abnormal heart rhythms, so it is very important to get the patient to a hospital as soon as possible.
Visit our Heart Centre for more info.
- (Health24, June 2005)