TIME IS MUSCLE TIME WASTED IS MUSCLE LOST
 This
is a familiar term to nurses and physicians working in the Emergency
Room when a patient enters with chest pain indicating that a heart
attack is in process. Loss of time is equated to loss of heart
muscle resulting in less life enjoyment that depends on physical
activity. The cause of the heart attack is usually a complete blockage
of one of the heart vessels and over a six hour period of time
leads to complete destruction of the muscle being supplied by that
vessel. However, most of that muscle damage (85%) takes place within
the first 1 to 2 hours (golden moment). It is within these two
hours that therapy in opening the heart vessel needs to take place.
If time is lost and the vessel is opened after this, the benefit
is much less.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance and imperative that action
be taken early. Thus the term, "Time is Muscle". This is a truly
an emergency. Not only is the person's life at stake but the level
of performance for future life actions is also at stake.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Remember this when considering whether to send or not to send someone
having chest discomfort or chest pain into the hospital. It is
better to be safe than sorry. Remember that it is heart muscle
that you may be saving and Time is of the Essence as Time Does
Fly (Tempus Fugit).
TEMPUS FUGIT
Time waits for no one. Just like a river without banks, it easily
escapes you. Time Flies ....... "Tempus Fugit" is how the Romans
stated it. The heart attack process when activated is like a train
coming at you it will run you over and stop you dead in your tracks
unless you can interrupt the process. The best way to do this is
to detect the symptoms early. These early warning signals allow
you to escape the big one. This body of knowledge is known as EHAC
It becomes a powerful weapon in heart attack detection. It enables
one to detect the smoke before the fire.
OFFICE VISITS TEACHING EHAC
When I see patients in my office, the last two minutes I spend
with them, I give them the two minute EHAC drill that may save
their life. Yes, I read them the riot act concerning risk factors
for hypertension, cigarette smoking and high cholesterol, but I
also tell them should they have any chest discomfort quickly get
to a Chest Pain Center or Emergency Department to be quickly evaluated.
It is important that everyone know this and that everyone develop
a contingency plan whenever chest discomfort takes place. If one
were to be registered into a hotel, after arriving at the room
and shutting the door, one would immediately see a contingency
plan on the back of the door in case of a fire in the hotel. This
is deemed very important but your chances of dying in a hotel fire
are one in a million whereas your chances of having a heart attack
are one in two.
Therefore, it is important that you know the difference and be
prepared. You need to know that it is just not the heart attack
itself that kills (blockage of the vessel) but it is also the time
wasted when one is trying to decide whether to go or not to go
to the hospital and be checked out.
Teaching school students about heart attack prevention has been
found to be very effective. It is not just teaching kids about
a heart attack (reducing primary risk factors) but it is also about
teaching them what to do should a heart attack occur. You may say
that it will be thirty to forty years before kids are old enough
to practice this but what one doesn't realize is the fact that
kids become caregivers overnight. They bug their parents to wear
seatbelts or stop smoking but also bug the parents to get to the
hospital should they have chest pain. Thus, kids seemingly are
visionary when it comes to the heart attack problem. They don't
have the hang-ups adults have when chest symptoms occur. Most adults
will find reasons why the chest discomfort is not important and
will attempt to put these symptoms on the back burner thinking
that the activities of the day are more important than one's health.
Kids can be taught easily how destructive this behavior can be.
They thus can teach parents what to do when parents are ignoring
chest symptoms that should be checked out. Adults unfortunately
have been taught by their parents that they don't cry wolf with
mild discomforts. This is okay when it comes to most symptoms in
the body but when it occurs with the chest discomfort, this rule
does not apply. The mild chest ache may be a sign that a heart
attack is impending. Teaching this (EHAC in the schools not only
alerts kids about heart attack risk factors but also how to prevent
death and damage from occurring once the heart attack is beginning.
Kids can walk away with this important knowledge and its application.
In doing so, they instantly become caregivers and can be in a position
to talk their parents into doing the right thing.
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