Individual Responsibilities

Your health is your responsibility. You have to service and maintain your health…You even will have to identify the early warning signals of heart attack… You must be familiar with the atypical presentation of heart attack…At that ultimate moment of crisis - you are on your own…Having good health insurance or a great doctor isn’t good enough.”

Maintenance of your health is fundamentally your responsibility. The old diction “prevention is better than cure” itself is paradoxical in the case of CVD as it is not a curable disease once established. Modification of the various cardiac risk factors, and utilization of all high tech modalities of treatment can certainly alter the course the disease problem in your favor, but certainly not curative. Therefore, it is all the more important that you be aware of the various cardiac risk factors that could lead to premature atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries, and take stepwise measures to modify the risk factors to the best of your ability. However, even with the best of your efforts, CAD will still afflict individuals, and the toll on human life will still continue no matter what, but hopefully to a lesser extent. Today if an American lives up to the age of 60 or above, he or she has a 50/50 chance of dying from cardiovascular disease. Needless to say, this is an issue very close to home.

Today if an American lives up to the age of 60 or above, he or she has a 50/50 chance of dying from Cardiovascular Disease

Typical and atypical presentations of coronary artery disease must be made very well known to the individual, particularly those at high risk. Chest pain is not always a must for heart attack. The older the individual is, the more atypical the presentation will be. An epigastric discomfort in a 25-year-old man with no cardiac risk factors could be a case of mild indigestion; however, the same symptoms in a 55-year-old diabetic who smokes might signal the onset of a heart attack. In a high-risk individual for coronary artery disease, symptoms of fatigue, sweating, indigestion and shortness of breath must be viewed with caution.

Individual Responsibility—A Personal Agenda

An individual must be fully aware of the major and minor cardiac risk factors that put him/her at high risk for coronary artery disease.

Individuals must take every step to modify the risk factors so that the chance and severity of CAD is reduced.

Be aware of the typical as well as the atypical presentation of CAD, particularly people at high risk for CAD.

In suspected situations of heart seizure, make the first cardinal call as early as possible so that a disastrous situation can be avoided; every second counts, they are the golden moments.

In high risk patients with typical or atypical complaints of chest discomfort, chew a SOLUBLE ASPIRIN as early as you can. If a soluble aspirin is not available, take any type of aspirin, but you must chew first and then swallow. You must always keep Nitroglycerin and soluble aspirin within easy reach.

Preferably every adult should know the technique of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and must have periodic training and recertification. Certainly, the family members or co-inhabitants of a CAD patient must have proficiency in CPR.

If an individual feels lightheaded, he or she must lie down, preferably with the legs elevated and try to practice rhythmic coughing of about 40-50 per minute. Coughing is considered to be an internal CPR.

The availability of a Defibrillator in the house of a high-risk cardiac patient is encouraged. There must be someone in the house who will have the expertise and presence of mind to use the equipment correctly.

A poet and philosopher "The art of medicine consists of trying to amuse the patient while nature takes its own course." Voltaire (Paris, 1694-1778)