No. 3: Myocardial infarctions Now we’re literally talking about a heart attack! A myocardial infarction is nothing more than a blood flow blockage to your heart which causes muscle tissue damage and/or death in and around the heart. As I discussed above, some of the symptoms of a heart attack can be very subtle, so it’s important for patients to discuss all their symptoms, regardless of how minor, with their doctor, and for that physician to order the proper diagnostic tests.
In diagnosing a heart attack the biggest obstacle is time, because once a diagnosis is made it can sometimes be too late. Preventative measures, such as ensuring your LDL-cholesterol is low; that your blood pressure is within normal ranges; and, should you have diabetes, that you are properly maintaining your condition through medication and proper diet, are all important factors to reducing your chance of a heart attack. A family history of heart attack also genetically puts you at a higher risk of a myocardial infarction, thus increasing the urgency that you take preventative steps early in life to avoid a disease like this, or worse, a misdiagnosis, later in life.
No. 2: Neoplasms You may not recognize the scientific name, but a neoplasm is an abnormal growth of tissue most commonly referred to as cancer. Keep in mind that cancer can be benign as well, so with increasingly better medication and early stage detection in some cancer types, it’s no longer the death sentence it once was. However, properly diagnosing cancer can often be very difficult if the needed tests aren’t ordered or a patient’s subtle symptoms aren’t taken into account.