Heart Attack: The silent killer in people with diabetes mellitus

Heart Attack is perceived by a lot of the population through health education on radio and television stations, some health contents on social media, watching movies on television as only a crushing chest pain that should let them get to the health facility or emergence department for check-up. For Medical Doctors, Clinicians and Health Care Practitioners, Myocardial Infarction (MI) is the clinical or medical name of the condition and Heart Attack becomes the common name easily to go with for the ordinary persons understanding. The basic understanding of Myocardial Infarction or Heart Attack is that it occurs when the flow of blood to the heart is severely reduced or blocked.

In diabetics, Heart Attacks can be silent or have atypical symptoms to the extent that there can be little to no chest pain at all. Long-term high blood sugar without effective medical control, can damage nerves, including the nerves that carry pain from the heart and this usually leads to a condition termed cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Diabetes Mellitus when not medically managed earlier enough damages blood vessels and accelerates atherosclerosis (plaque build-up). Many people develop multi - vessel disease and "silent ischemia" (low oxygen to heart muscle without pain).

People who suffer from diabetes and who suddenly experience breathlessness, sweating, nausea, jaw/arm/back discomfort, or extreme fatigue, may have a potential Heart Attack warning signs without the accepted crushing chest pain and should quickly report to emergence departments to see medical doctors for further assessment and management before the worse happens. Richard Owusu Nyarko, M.D, Ph.D, Medical Doctor, Academic Researcher & Member of American Heart Association, and Vice President, Ghana Christian University College, Accra, wrote the article.