“Can someone survive a heart attack without medical attention?”
I am a 42 year old male. I want to know if someone can survive a heart attack without medical attention?
4 Answers
CardiologistCardiologist
Mark Rasak
Cardiologist
Yes, it happens more often than you think. If it's a small heart attack or elderly female or diabetic patient, the whole thing can be written off as a GI issue or some other non-cardiac issue.
Yes. You can definitely survive many heart attacks without seeking medical attention. However, and as we have been seeing three in the Covid when patients are not coming to the hospital people often arrive with fatal complications. Approximately 25% of all heart attacks are “silent,” meaning that the person had a heart attack and it is only picked up months or years later by testing. Obviously all of those people have survived their “silent“ heart attack.
Yes a person can survive a heart attack without medical attention, however with every heart attack there is a loss of heart muscle meaning muscle dies. This leaves the heart to function with less muscle tissue which in some cases can lead to future heart failure. The purpose of treatment is to save heart muscle. Always seek medical treatment if there may be a heart problem.
Yes! Heart attacks come in all sizes, so they are not always fatal. It is not uncommon for a patient to be asked, “When did you have your heart attack?” but they have no idea they even had one. It may show up on an ECG, echocardiogram, or other heart scan.
