Sore throat, shoulder pain, left arm pain...
Common symptoms or myocardial infarction warning? See through at a glance
The snowfall weather for the past few days directly froze the temperature.
Cold weather can not only cause strong vasoconstriction, but also induce diseases such as hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and cerebrovascular accident, and even fatal arrhythmia.
The age of onset of acute myocardial infarction ranges from 80 to 90 years old, down to 20 years old.
The study showed that from 2000 to 2013, the incidence of patients under the age of 35 increased by 59%.
Studies have shown that 70%-80% of myocardial infarction patients actually have myocardial infarction signals, but only about 25% of young patients will provide it to doctors, and 75% of young patients will not notice such myocardial infarction signals.
Therefore, if the myocardial infarction signal can be recognized, it is very important for patients to seek medical treatment early.
Sore throat, cold or heart attack?
Throat pain, in some patients, may present as a precursor symptom of myocardial infarction.
In fact, our perception of the location of pain comes from the brain.
The periphery sends a lot of signals to the brain, telling the brain where the pain is, so people know where the pain is.
But the signals are sometimes confused, and because the afferent nerves to the heart are intertwined with many other nerves, the brain sometimes mistakenly believes that the source of pain is not the heart, but somewhere else.
Generally speaking, in addition to the description of a sore throat, there will be some other descriptions, such as: burning sensation in the throat, tightness in the throat, and some patients describe "as if eating chili peppers".
But not all sore throats are actually symptoms of the heart.
How to distinguish the sore throat of myocardial infarction and cold?
Generally speaking, a sore throat from a cold is an inflammation that lasts for a week.
In addition to a sore throat, there are some other symptoms during a cold, such as runny nose, sneezing, dizziness, etc., but the symptoms of runny nose and sneezing are often not associated with myocardial infarction.
However, myocardial infarction usually does not last for a week, angina pectoris or pre-infarction symptoms usually do not exceed half an hour, and even if myocardial infarction has occurred, the symptoms of myocardial infarction usually do not exceed a day.
Shoulder pain, cervical spondylosis or myocardial infarction?
When a myocardial infarction occurs, the left shoulder blade is accompanied by pain in the left upper arm, and there is an uncomfortable feeling in the precordial area (chest).
Therefore, the repeated left shoulder pain before the onset of the disease may also be a signal of myocardial infarction.
How to distinguish shoulder pain from myocardial infarction and cervical spondylosis?
The relationship between shoulder pain in myocardial infarction and shoulder pain in cervical spondylosis is the same as the inner logic of throat pain just mentioned.
If it is cervical spondylosis or shoulder pain due to frozen shoulder, it will affect local functions and restrict certain movements. This is also an important part of the doctor's medical history.
The characteristics of shoulder pain in myocardial infarction are mainly reflected in the impact of activity.
Myocardial infarction is caused by blockage of the blood vessels (coronaries) that supply blood to the heart, resulting in the death of heart muscle cells.
During activity, the blood supply required by the heart increases, and the symptoms of ischemia caused by myocardial infarction will be more obvious.
In addition, the duration of the triggering pain is also different.
This premonitory pain before a myocardial infarction usually lasts no more than half an hour, while frozen shoulder pain may be longer, usually lasting several days.
Left arm pain, muscle injury or myocardial infarction?
The sensory nerves of the left upper extremity and the heart’s sensory nerves overlap in the uploading path. After reaching the brain, the brain may misjudge the location of the pain from the left upper extremity. If the pain on the left side is accompanied by radiating pain in the chest, it is typical pre-myocardial infarction signals.
How to distinguish between myocardial infarction and muscle problems?
Symptoms of the muscle itself can affect function, while radiating pain does not.
In addition, the soreness and numbness of the left upper extremity may have physical causes, such as compression of blood vessels in the arm or compression of nerves during sleep in the left lateral position.
Symptoms can be relieved by adjusting the posture, and the radiating pain of myocardial infarction will not be changed by the change of posture.
Suggestions from myocardial infarction have their own characteristics
Activity related If this symptom is clearly related to activity, it is very likely to be a warning symptom of myocardial infarction.
Unrestricted function If the symptom does not limit the function of the site, it is most likely due to other diseases, including myocardial infarction.
Physical methods cannot be improved If the symptoms cannot be improved by some physical methods, such as changing posture, kneading, pressing, massaging, etc., some visceral diseases, including myocardial infarction, need to be considered.
Generally speaking, we describe chest pain in MI as "squeezing", like a pinching sensation.
Other descriptions include "the feeling of choking on the steamed buns and being stuck" and "the feeling that there is a stone pressed against the chest" and so on.
Know the causes of myocardial infarction
Lower temperature Our skin senses the change in temperature and activates the sympathetic nervous system to defend against the cold.
However, while resisting the cold, it may cause some cardiovascular changes, such as an increase in blood pressure, or the production of some chemicals, which make the plaque on the blood vessel unstable, and it is more likely to cause the rupture of the plaque, which will lead to the growth of blood clots.
This is a particularly classic cause of myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction.
If you eat too much, a lot of blood will be distributed to the digestive tract, which will promote the peristalsis of the digestive tract and accelerate the absorption of food.
If there is a problem with the blood vessels supplying the heart itself, it is easy to cause insufficient blood supply.
Heavy drinking Some patients experience spasm of myocardial blood vessels after heavy drinking.
There are circular muscles on the blood vessels of the heart. When the muscles spasm, the blood vessels will contract and the lumen will be narrowed, resulting in stasis of blood flow and even the formation of blood clots.
Staying up late is also a particularly common cause of myocardial infarction.
Feeling dizzy after staying up late is actually a manifestation of sympathetic nerve excitation, which will be reflected in the contraction of blood vessels, the rise in blood pressure, the increase in myocardial contractility, etc., and even some patients will have arrhythmia due to staying up late.
In the case of a sudden increase in nerve excitability, the blood vessels will also experience spasm and other reactions, resulting in a sharp narrowing of the lumen and the formation of thrombosis.
Text/Xu Xinye (Peking University Third Hospital)