Signs of death from heart failure

Sudden death from heart failure can happen to anyone. Patients with diagnoses or people who are not even aware of any abnormalities in the work of the cardiovascular system - no one is immune from it.

Cases of death due to complications of cardiovascular diseases are not uncommon.

This occurs as a result of cardiac arrest, and in medicine it is customary to consider sudden death as a lethal outcome that occurred naturally. The reasons may be different, but the symptoms are the same, so everyone should know the "enemy in the face."

Causes of sudden death

Sudden death occurs when the heart stops working abruptly as a result of acute heart failure (AHF).

The characteristic features of this process may look like this:

• death occurs in a very short time from the onset of the first dangerous symptoms of AHF (dyspnea, foaming from the mouth, cyanosis of the skin, and others);
• before death, a person does not express signs of any ailments, and also does not cause concern for his well-being;
• death is caused naturally, and not as a result of trauma or mechanical damage.

Sudden or, as it is also called, sudden death has a huge list of reasons, as a result of which heart failure may occur first, and then death.

Some illnesses or an unhealthy lifestyle can be the basis for a sudden death, while people at both the elderly and young ages are at risk.

Among the most common reasons, statistics highlight the following:

• ischemia, or poor blood flow to the heart. There are cases when this disease does not manifest itself in any way, and the person does not even know about its presence;
• painful enlargement of the heart muscle, as a result of which heart diseases develop;
• weakened state of the myocardium or congestive heart failure;
• acute insufficiency of the left ventricle;
• accumulation of fluid between the sheets of the pericardium;
• blockage of a lung artery;
• inflammation of the heart caused by any of the factors;
• chronic heart disease and diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• heart injury, regardless of when it was received;
• dysfunction of metabolic processes;
• poisoning the body with toxic substances.

Most often, sudden death overtakes those who have suffered an acute heart attack, people with heart failure, having bad habits and with coronary disease, which is accompanied by hypertension. Patients who suffer from obesity and metabolic disorders can also be hit.

Symptoms prior to sudden death

Most often, sudden death overtakes patients outside of medical facilities, which significantly increases the number of deaths from heart failure, especially in elderly patients. Regardless of the causes of death, most people have pressing pain in the chest before the attack. As a result, a person begins to experience fear for his life, thereby exacerbating the situation. Although in ¼ of the victims, death occurs instantly, in the rest, some signs of heart failure appear 1-2 weeks before its onset.

Symptoms may include:

• dyspnea;
• pain in the heart area;
• lethargy;
• fast fatiguability;
• increased heart rate and others.

During an attack, the ventricles begin to contract at a high speed, and cardiac arrest entails a state of severe weakness and fainting. The subsequent development of symptoms causes asynchronous muscle contraction and heavy breathing.

As a result:

• the skin becomes pale, gray, cold;
• the pulse disappears, and the heart rhythm is not audible;
• pupils become wide, and their reflexes disappear;
• respiration irregular, there are respiratory convulsions.

Pathogenesis

The majority of patients who died as a result of acute heart failure (including people at a young and middle age) had severe atherosclerotic changes in the coronary arteries. These deviations resulted in myocardial damage due to limited blood supply, resulting in death.

Half an hour after stopping the coronary circulation, the patient has:

• abnormalities in myocardial cells. The duration of the process is about 2 hours;
• dysfunction of the heart muscle, as well as rhythm failure, which is fatal.

First aid

It may take several hours from the onset of the attack before the state of affairs becomes hopeless. Therefore, timely assistance can save the life of a person who has experienced an attack of heart failure. The patient himself, who felt the first signs of manifestation of AHF, needs to pull himself together and calm down, since the psycho-emotional state affects the development and transience of symptoms of acute deficiency.

When an attack occurs, you need:

• call the cardiological team;
• take a comfortable sitting position;
• put a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue.

This will help slow down the development of the process and wait for the ambulance to arrive. Unfortunately, it often happens that an attack of acute heart failure occurs in a dream, then there is practically no chance of saving the patient and providing him with first aid.

Prevention

As a preventive measure, the patient is obliged to regularly visit a cardiologist who will conduct research, monitor the patient's condition and the development of cardiovascular diseases.

In particular, the prevention of AHF is recommended for patients:

• with ischemia;
• with high blood pressure, which is life-threatening;
• with weakened functions of the left ventricle and its contractility.

Sudden death can occur even in those who do not have any symptoms of HF at all. Therefore, each person needs to carefully monitor their health and try to eliminate as many factors as possible that can provoke an attack. Quitting bad habits, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and getting regular checkups with your cardiologist can all help reduce your risk of heart failure.