strokes and hearts

[dannyday5821]

i work in the ambulance service, and we usually always ask if the patient has a history of heart problems...alot of people always say, "yes, theyve had a stroke". why do some people tend to confuse a stroke with a heart problem? where did that come about?

[shivvy]

I have thought about this before dannyday and I think that it is because of the the sudden and often devastating nature of heart attack and stroke in the general publics perception.
I have noticed that strokes are often being called 'brain attacks' now which I presume is to align them with the 'heart attack' terminology but also explaining that it is a brain issue. Maybe that will help?

[dannyday5821]

its not a problem as such, i usually just then rephrase the question - have they had anything specifically wrong with their heart - like angina or a heart attack? that seems to work. it was more just curiosity - i mean, ive always known, i dont know how, maybe just general knowlegde, the difference between a heart problem and a stroke - i just didnt understand why some people thought they were one and the same...

[Lonnie]

Hi dannyday,
As a thoight, can you not ask them if they've been diagnosed with a heart problem in the past, i'm sure, as a layman, I may not know the difference between a mild heart attack and a mild stroke.

[dannyday5821]

Id thought of asking if they had been "diagnosed" with a heart problem, but sometimes people arent actually diagnosed - for example, they might have had chest pains for months, but never been to hospital about it, or the dr's at hospital dont know whats caused it, they might have had a heart murmer or something similar when they were a kid, but as they never saw it as a serious problem, dont concider it something that was "diagnosed" - its always tricky! bearing in mind im speaking to these people at stressful times, so answers and questions are always going to get muddled. they just want their friend or relative treated, not to be asked 20 questions! lol :P i dont blame them!

[Teasy]

Hi dannyday, my dad has angina and had a mild heart attack and 3 mild strokes, he was told all this at the same time and we all assumed it was all connected to the heart.

[dannyday5821]

maybe this is where some of the confusion comes from then teasy? sounds plausable. and lets be honest, some dr's are hardly helpful! ive had bad experience with dr's pretty much my whole life. now i dont trust them at all! and whatever they tell me, i wont believe them, or trust them, and ill go home and research it on the net myself! of course, this is partly due to my personality as well. for some reason, ive grown to become skeptical of practically everything! my parents say its not so good for someone so young to be so skeptical (im 23...or 22...i forget!) lol :P

[Octavius]

I suppose because people understand that in both conditions (brain attack and heart attack), an interruption of blood supply causes damage and death of tissue that is highly time dependent and potentially life-threatening.

In stressful situations (e.g. being treated by a paramedic in an emergency) they probably feel it relevant to relay the occurrence of any incident which previously threatened their life.