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 Heart Attack

A heart attack usually occurs when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood through a coronary artery — a blood vessel that feeds blood to a part of the heart muscle. Interrupted blood flow to your heart can damage or destroy a part of the heart muscle.

Years ago, a heart attack was often fatal. Thanks to better awareness of heart attack signs and symptoms and improved treatments, most people who have a heart attack now survive.

Your overall lifestyle — what you eat, how often you exercise and the way you deal with stress — plays a role in your recovery from a heart attack. In addition, a healthy lifestyle can help you prevent a first or subsequent heart attack by controlling risk factors that contribute to the narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to your heart.

Heart Attack Symptoms

Common signs and symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Pressure, fullness or a squeezing pain in the center of your chest that lasts for more than a few minutes
• Pain extending beyond your chest to your shoulder, arm, back, or even to your teeth and jaw
• Increasing episodes of chest pain
• Prolonged pain in the upper abdomen
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Impending sense of doom
• Fainting
• Nausea and vomiting

Signs and symptoms of a heart attack in women may be different or less noticeable than heart attack symptoms in men. In addition to the symptoms above, heart attack symptoms in women can include:

• Abdominal pain or "heartburn"
• Clammy skin
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Unusual or unexplained fatigue

Not all people who have heart attacks experience the same ones or experience them to the same degree. Many heart attacks aren't as dramatic as the ones you've seen on TV. Some people have no symptoms at all. Still, the more signs and symptoms you have, the greater the likelihood that you may be having a heart attack.

A heart attack can occur anytime — at work or play, while you're resting, or while you're in motion. Some heart attacks strike suddenly, but many people who experience a heart attack have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. The earliest predictor of an attack may be recurrent chest pain (angina) that's triggered by exertion and relieved by rest. Angina is caused by temporary, insufficient blood flow to the heart, also known as "cardiac ischemia.

  signs of heart attack

It normally occurs when the heart is working harder, such as during exercise or physical activity, but goes away when the activity is stopped.

The chest pain associated with a heart attack can occur at any time, most notably in the morning, and is of long duration and continuous. People with a history of angina may experience more frequent anginal attacks in the weeks or days before they have a heart attack.

The chest pain is often described as severe, as if something was crushing the heart attack victim's chest; a heavy, squeezing or extreme pressure sensation. Some people have described it as a tightness of the chest or burning sensation. The pain itself usually begins in the center of the chest. Then it can radiate outwards and affect the shoulders, neck, jaw, or arms. These chest pains will last 15 to minutes and are not relieved by resting or taking nitroglycerin.The signs of a heart attack for women and older adults can be different. Often their symptoms present as atypical chest pains. This means it feels more like indigestion or heartburn and can include nausea and vomiting. Women are more likely than men to have a silent or unrecognized heart attack. For women they will also experience shortness of breath and fatigue and weakness of the shoulders and upper arms.

Older adults will often seek medical attention for a variety of symptoms including difficulty breathing, confusion, fainting, dizziness, abdominal pain or cough. They often think they are having a stroke when in fact they are suffering a heart attack.

Other symptoms that occur during a heart attack are responses to the damage that the heart is undergoing during the attack. Anxiety, tachycardia (rapid heart beat), and vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) occur in response to sympathetic nervous system stimulation. This results in cool, clammy, mottled skin. The respiratory center of the brain responds to pain and blood chemistry changes by increasing respiration rate. Death of heart tissue causes inflammation that causes an increase in white blood cells and an elevation in temperature.

Depending of the location and amount of infracted (dead) heart tissue other signs of heart can include high blood pressure, low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, or bradycardia (slow heart rate). Irritation of the diaphragm can cause the hiccups as well. In extreme cases the first sign of a heart attack is a sudden death. This is particularly likely in the event that a major blood vessel is completely blocked.

It is utmost importance to seek medical attention at the first signs of heart attack. The sooner a heart attack victim receives medical attention the better their chances of survival.

heart attack women

A study of 515 women who had an acute heart attack (MI, Myocardial Infarction), reported symptoms that were not your typical heart symptoms. The most commonly reported symptoms were unusual fatigue, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, indigestion, and anxiety.

Only 30% of the women who reported chest pain had reports of aching and tightness.  Women who experience symptoms of heart disease tend to ignore or deny that any discomfort exists.  Women are less likely to seek help early when symptoms of heart disease begin to manifest themselves. They figure if they are feeling tired, its because the week must have been particular busy, let alone the fact that she may be having problems sleeping.  The most remote thing from her mind is that she could be on the road to an impending heart attack, thus is less prone to get needed medical attention. 

Statistics have shown that women have a higher risk for heart attack than men, due in part to changes in estrogen levels that take as she ages. Women who take birth control pills and smoke  are also at a higher risk.  In addition to this, as a woman ages, her risks for heart attack increase, and is more likely to succumb to heart disease.  Even if she suffers a heart attack while hospitalized, her chances of survival are less than that of a man.  Also, women tend to experience a cardiac event 10 years later than men do.  It is paramount for women to get educated and know their risks to prevent becoming a statistic.

Although a woman of any age can fall victim to a heart attack, having a family history of heart disease should be her first clue of what her risks involve.  Women need to realize that heart disease is their number one killer, and it is not just a disease of men. That is why its important for women to take charge of their health to know what her risks for heart disease are, and learn to recognize the signs and symptoms.

There are many options for treatment available, including the immediate opening of a blocked artery, restoring blood flow to the heart. Realizing the early symptoms of heart attack aids in the accuracy of the right diagnosis and the right treatment. Your health is your responsibility, so take care of yourself to ensure you live a healthy quality of life for as long as possible.