Warning Signs of Heart Attack

                              
Did you know you can have a heart attack and not feel any chest pains? Heart failure and heart disease don’t show the same signs for everyone, especially women. A heart attack—medically known as myocardial infarction—happens when a blood clot blocks flow of blood to the heart muscle.
There are many things that can contribute to a heart attack, including age, heredity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, poor diet, alcohol consumption, stress, and physical inactivity.
To recognize a potential heart attack as soon as possible, learn important signs of heart distress below.

Sweating—Day & Night

Sweating more than usual—especially if you aren’t exercising or being active—could be an early warning sign of heart problems. Pumping blood through clogged arteries takes more effort from your heart, so your body will sweat more to try to keep your body temperature down during the extra exertion. If you experience cold sweats or clammy skin, then you should consult your doctor.
Night sweats are also a common symptom for women experiencing heart troubles

Chest Pain, Pressure, & Discomfort

While chest pains do not occur in every heart attack, they are the most recognizable symptom for good reason. Chest tightness is a common sign of a heart attack. People have described this sensation as feeling like an elephant is standing on their chest. If you experience chest pains or tightness, you or someone around you should call 911 immediately.

Other Pains Throughout the Body

Pain and tightness can also radiate in other areas of the body. Most people associate a heart attack with pain working its way down the left arm. That can happen, but pain can also appear in other locations, including:

• upper abdomen
• shoulder
• back
• throat
• teeth or jaw

During a Heart Attack

If you think you are having a heart attack, you or someone nearby should call 911 immediately. If you’ve been prescribed heart medication and experience heart troubles, follow your doctor’s instructions. Even something as simple as taking aspirin can prevent the clot from becoming worse. If treatment of the blockage can be administered within a couple of hours of the onset of symptoms, the risk of severe damage to the heart is lowered.

Fatigue & Shortness of Breath

Exhaustion and shortness of breath are two ways your body tells you it needs rest, but it can also be a sign of heart trouble as a response to the extra stress on your heart. If you often feel tired or exhausted for no reason, it could be a sign that something is wrong.
Fatigue and shortness of breath are more common in women and may begin months before a heart attack.

Indigestion, Nausea, & Vomiting

Often people begin experiencing mild indigestion and other gastrointestinal problems before a heart attack. Because heart attacks usually occur in older people who typically have more indigestion problems, these symptoms often get dismissed as heartburn or another food-related complication.If you normally have an iron stomach, indigestion or heart burn could be signaling that something else is going on.

Fast action saves life 

Calling 9–1–1 is the fastest way to get lifesaving treatment or go to the hospital. If you or someone you are with has any symptoms of a heart attack, call 9–1–1 immediately! If you have a history of chest pain for which your doctor has prescribed nitroglycerin, then take ONE dose right away. If your symptoms are not better 5 minutes after taking one dose, then you should call 9–1–1 immediately. In the past, you may have been told to take up to 3 doses of nitroglycerin before calling 9–1–1. However, the medical guidelines for the use of nitroglycerin have changed to help people who may be having a heart attack get to a hospital more quickly.

By calling 9–1–1 and taking an ambulance you will be seen in the hospital and treated more quickly.Sometimes emergency personnel will arrive first in a fire truck or other emergency vehicle, but the ambulance will take you directly to the hospital. Emergency personnel can begin treatment even before you arrive at the hospital. For example, emergency personnel may place electrodes (adhesive patches to which wires are attached) on your chest to obtain an electrocardiogram (an ECG or EKG). An ECG records the electrical activity of the heart and will show abnormal patterns of electrical activity in the areas of the heart that are damaged or deprived of oxygen if a heart attack is happening.

The Good News

There are several life-saving treatments that can open the blocked artery that is causing the heart attack. The blocked artery can be opened by injecting clot-dissolving drugs into a vein (you may hear this process referred to as “fibrinolysis”) and through a procedure called “angioplasty.” Angioplasty is performed in a special part of the hospital called a cardiac catheterization laboratory (“cath lab”). Angioplasty may involve the placement of a small wire device called a “stent,” and the procedure is sometimes called “percutaneous coronary intervention,” or PCI. A stent is shaped somewhat like the spring of a ballpoint pen and may be inserted into the artery to help it remain open after the clot is removed.

Written by Brian Krans