Where There Is No Doctor 2011 325
OTHER IMPORTANT ILLNESSES OF OLD AGE
Heart Trouble
Heart disease is more frequent in older people, especially in those who are fat,
who smoke, or who have high blood pressure. Men and women share many of the
same signs below, but women more often have unexplained tiredness, sleeping
problems, and shortness of breath. Women also feel an ache or tightness in the
chest more than the sharper pains felt by men.
Signs of heart problems:
• Anxiety and difficulty
in breathing after
exercise; asthma-like
attacks that get worse
when the person lies
down (cardiac asthma).
• Shortness of breath
without exercise,
unexplained tiredness,
weakness, dizziness.
• Sudden, painful attacks
in the chest, left shoulder,
or arm that occur when
exercising and go away
after resting for a few
minutes (angina pectoris).
• A rapid, weak, or
irregular pulse.
• Swelling of the feet—
worse in the afternoons.
• A sharp pain like a great
weight crushing the chest;
does not go away with
rest (heart attack).
Treatment:
• In women, a feeling
like indigestion, nausea,
clamminess, spasms, jaw
pain (heart attack).
♦ Different heart diseases may require different specific medicines, which must
be used with great care. If you think a person has heart trouble, seek medical
help. It is important that he have the right medicine when he needs it.
♦ People with heart trouble should not work so hard they get chest pain or have
trouble breathing. However, regular exercise helps prevent heart attacks.
♦ Persons with heart problems should not eat greasy food and should lose
weight if they are overweight. Also, they should not smoke or drink alcohol.
♦ If an older person begins having attacks of difficult breathing or swelling of the
feet, he should eat food that contains little or no salt for the rest of his life.
♦ Also, taking one aspirin tablet a day may help prevent a heart attack or a stroke.
♦ If a person has angina pectoris or heart attack, she should rest very quietly in
a cool place until the pain goes away.
If the chest pain is very strong and does not go away with rest, or if the
person shows signs of shock (see p. 77), the heart has probably been
severely damaged. The person should stay in bed for at least a week
or as long as she is in pain or shock. Then she can begin to
sit up or move slowly, but should stay very quiet for
amonth or more. Consider getting medical help.
Prevention: See the next page.