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Heart Attacks

More than 1 million Americans suffer heart attacks each year. A heart attack happens when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle itself; the myocardium is severely reduced or blocked. The medical term for heart attack is myocardial infarction. The reduction or obstruction occurs when one or more of the coronary arteries providing blood to the heart muscle is blocked. This is frequently caused by the buildup of plaque (deposits of fat-like substances), a process called atherosclerosis. The plaque can at some point burst, rip or come apart, creating a snag where a blood clot forms and blocks the artery. This leads to a heart attack. A heart attack is also sometimes called a coronary thrombosis or coronary occlusion.

If your blood supply is cut off for more than a few minutes, muscle cells suffer permanent injury and die. Depending upon how much of the heart muscle is damaged, the victim could be disabled or killed. The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. The coronary arteries provide the heart with this critical blood supply. If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as it should. Fatty matter, calcium, proteins and inflammatory cells build up within the arteries to form plaques of different sizes. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside.

Symptoms of a heart attack include: discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat or arm; fullness; indigestion or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn); sweating; nausea; vomiting; dizziness; extreme weakness; anxiety or shortness of breath; rapid or irregular heartbeats and discomfort; pressure; heaviness or pain in the chest, arm or below the breastbone.

Many of today’s prescription drugs cause heart attacks. Cox-II Inhibitors (Bextra, Celebrex and Vioxx) and HRT drugs (Premarin, Premphase and Prempro) are the most common drugs that cause heart attacks.

If you or a loved one has suffered a Heart attack as a result of taking HRT drugs or COX-II Inhibitors, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified defective drug attorney.