WARNING SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK

Heart attack is the death of or damage to a part of the heart muscle due to the lack of adequate blood supply, it is caused due to a clot that blocks the arteries supplying blood to the muscles of the heart. With time, these muscles die and lead to a heart attack. Also known as myocardial infarction (death of heart tissue). Having a heart attack is a medical emergency and recognizing the symptoms is key to get life saving treatment.

Common signs of a heart attack

As researches say ‘No one is immune to heart attacks – even people in their 20s and 30s.  If a person is aware of this, it becomes easy to diagnose heart problems. People have trouble recognizing the symptoms and around 25% of patients turn up worried that they have a heart attack.’

Major Signs & symptoms:

• Discomfort or pain arising at the centre of chest (also known as angina).
• Feeling of suffocation with chest pain.
• Difficulty in breathing.

Most diabetics develop atypical (unusual) symptoms like profuse sweating or loss of consciousness during a heart attack which may be misinterpreted as symptoms of low blood sugar levels.

Other signs and symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Anxiety
• Cough
• Fainting
• Light-headedness, dizziness
• Nausea or vomiting
• Palpitations (feeling like your heart is beating too fast or irregularly)
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating, which may be very heavy

In the case of women they must be careful about the specific symptoms of a heart attack because they don’t experience the ‘classic’ symptoms.

Symptoms women often experiences:

• Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the centre of your chest. These pains are infrequent and come and go.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness.
• As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting and back or jaw pain.