How to Treat or Cure Heart Attack

Call 112 or 102 at once. Heart attack treatment works best in the first hours and must be done in hospital.

Step 1: Call for help and get to a hospital

Use an ambulance rather than driving, since paramedics can start treatment and send an ECG ahead. Choose a hospital with a cath lab if possible.

Step 2: Emergency treatment

• Aspirin and other antiplatelet medicines, oxygen if needed, and pain relief
• Primary angioplasty: a catheter opens the blocked artery and a stent holds it open. It is the preferred treatment for STEMI when it can be done quickly.
• Thrombolysis: clot-dissolving medicine, used if angioplasty cannot be done in time
• Bypass surgery: in some people with severe or multiple blockages
• Treatment of rhythm problems, heart failure or shock if they occur

Step 3: Hospital stay

Monitoring in an intensive cardiac unit, further tests and medicines. Most people stay several days.

Step 4: Recovery

• Take all prescribed medicines without gaps.
• Join a cardiac rehabilitation programme if available. It supervises exercise, diet and emotional support.
• Return to activity gradually as your doctor advises. Driving and sex can usually resume after medical clearance.
• Control blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, and stop tobacco.
• Watch for low mood, which is common and treatable.

Supportive care

Ayurveda and yoga may be used later as an adjunct, only after your cardiologist agrees.

Key point

There is no cure at home. Fast emergency treatment and lifelong prevention save lives.

Before your appointment

Bring all your reports, ECGs and medicine strips, and a list of every medicine and supplement you take, including herbal products. Note when symptoms occurred, what brought them on and how long they lasted. Share your family history of heart disease, and your smoking, alcohol, diabetes and blood pressure history. Ask about cardiac rehabilitation and the warning signs that mean you should call 112 or 102.