The signs and symptoms of a heart attack are likely to vary from person to person.Symptoms of a second heart attack may not be the same as that of the first attack
The symptoms of angina are more or less similar to those of a heart attack. If you suspect angina and notice a change or a worsening of your symptoms, don’t hesitate to report to your doctor at the earliest.
The treatment effectiveness lies in your speedy understanding of the warning signs of heart attack. Most people who have a heart attack wait many hours after their symptoms begin before they seek medical help. This happens especially in the night when patients wait till morning to go a doctor. This delay can prove to be fatal or can result in irrepairable damage of the heart.
The benefit of treatment is maximum in the first hour after the onset of symptoms (either thrombolysis or primary angioplasty),and the benefit decreases with each passing hour ie,the amount of heart muscle salvaged decreases.
DISCOMFORT IN THE CHEST
Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or hours and then disappears.Sometimes patients may experience many attacks of short lasting discomfort before they actually get an attack. This is termed preattack angina or preinfarction angina.This actually provides a window period in which proper treatment can abort an attack.The discomfort can manifest as intolerable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Heart attack pain are sometimes felt like indigestion or heartburn also.Heart attack classically presents as intense excruciating pressure in the chest with an impending sense of the doom and radiation of the discomfort to the left arm. The discomfort can radiate to the jaw, neck, shoulder, back or both arms. Patient may also present with nausea, vomiting or cold sweating. Sometimes patient may experience pain only in the arm, shoulder, upper stomach or in the neck. Any person with risk factors for heart attack like smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension or family history should give special attention to the above mentioned symptoms. The chest discomfort of heart attack is usually continous and lasts for more than 20 minutes. But, on occasion patient may experience waxing and waning of the intensity of the discomfort.
Every chest pain is not a heart attack
Not all cases of chest pain is due to heart attack. Many occasions, it can be as simple as bone pain or muscle pain or sometimes it can be due to acidity, gall bladder infection (cholecystitis). There are other serious conditions like pulmonary embolism (clot in the lungs) or aortic dissection which can be mimic a heart attack.
Character of pain
Eventhough the pain is classically described as constricting, crushing, compressing discomfort in the centre of the chest. Patients may also experience a burning or stabbing type of pain. Some patients feel like somebody standing on the chest. The pain may radiate down the inner aspect of the left arm and may be felt as parasthesias or dull ache of the left wrist. It is important to seek medical attention in case of an event like this even after the pain has subsided. The pain can be sometimes so intense that one patient commented after surviving a heart attack (when I die, I prefer some relatively painless methods like crucifixion).
BREATHING DIFFICULTY OR DYSPNOEA
Shortness of breath can occur as a heart attack symptom often at the same time or before you feel uneasiness in the chest.
OTHER SYMPTOMS OF HEART ATTACK
Other symptoms of heart attack includes cold sweat, nausea and vomiting, abnormal heartbeats, or feeling lightheaded or dizzy.
Certain vague heart attack symptoms which are more common in women include:
- Unusual tiredness
- Unexplained sweating(low sugar is the other condition which can cause this)
- severe fatigue
- Breathing difficulties.
- Indigestion
- Anxiety
Heart attacks can occur at any time, day or night.But mostly tend to occur more frequently during early morning, within a few hours of waking up.More than half of the cases will have a trigger factor like emotional stress, physical exercise, or aviral illness .
CONCLUSION
The possible symptoms of a heart attack explained in this article may or may not be sure signs of a heart attack. Certain other medical conditions can also cause similar symptoms.Anyway, a heart attack is a life-threatening episode. Taking into granted the potentially serious complications, if you experience any of these possible symptoms rush to your doctor in no time. Also, if your angina pain does not go away as usual when you take your medicine as directed ,seek medical aid promptly.Timely treatment of a heart attack can help prevent or limit lasting damage to the heart and can be life saving also.
