What Is The Difference Between A Heart Attack And A Heart Seizure?
Written by admin on November 24, 2009I was just reading an article about Florence Griffith Joyner who died in 1998 and it lists her cause of death as a heart seizure. What’s the difference between that and a heart attack?
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November 24th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Heart attack and heart seizure are general laymen terms that are frequently used interchangeably and can describe a broad spectrum of heart related conditions. Sudden death caused by a heart problem is usually related to an arrhythmia, a severe disturbance of the electrical triggering of heart muscle without warning and sometimes with no prior symptoms. The heart ceases its normal pumping action and chaotically spasms. This could be more accurately labeled as a heart “seizure”. If the individual is already in a hospital setting they may be saved by quick action with a defibrillator. (the ” charge” and “clear” shouts you hear in a TV medical drama when they zap the patients chest.)
A heart “attack” more often refers to the condition brought about by a blockage of an artery that feeds blood to heart muscle. The medical terms for the myriad heart conditions are more accurate and may require a bit of explaining to the average individual. Anytime the heart stops pumping for whatever reason, it could be called a “heart attack” while not technically accurate the end result may be the same.