Heart Attack Symptoms

People suffer from heart attack symptoms  worldwide, which are the signs before getting a heart attack. A large number of people experience the frightening heart attack which is a medical emergency occurring usually when the flow of blood to the heart is interrupted or blocked by a blood clot. Therefore, the tissue is devoid of oxygen and the person struggles and often dies. Various treatment methods are available for heart attack including medication, cardiac rehabilitation, lifestyle changes, bypass surgery and stents. Actually, during heart attack there is death of a heart muscle segment taking place due to the blood supply loss. Blood supply is cut off when an artery supplying the heart muscle gets blocked by the blood clot. The top symptoms of heart attack includes chest pain as well as pain in the back, neck and arms. People will feel fatigue, abnormal heartbeat, lightheadedness and anxiety too. Men and women both suffer from heart attack.

Heart attack is also called myocardial infarction and according to the statistics, it occurs in every 40 seconds worldwide. 

Symptoms in Men and Women

Men and women can suffer from some of the heart attack symptoms mentioned earlier before the heart attack. Below we describe the symptoms in detail.

1. Chest Pain: There’s a chest discomfort in the center of the chest (angina) which lasts for over a few minutes; also, it may go away and then return. It is a feeling of discomfort, pressure, squeezing, pain, heaviness or fullness.

2. Upper Body Pain: People may suffer pain or discomfort in other areas such as arms, neck, back, stomach or jaw.

3. Sweating: Unusual sweating may occur in people as a sign accompanied with pain and discomfort.

4. Nausea: A sensation of an urge to vomit called nausea or lightheadedness may occur in many people as one of the heart attack symptoms.

5. Extreme Fatigue: People may feel extremely tired and unable to do normal activities or chores.

6. Difficulty in Breathing: People may feel uneasy to breath due to chest discomfort and not enough oxygen passing to the essential tissues.

Heart Attack Symptoms in Women

Women have atypical symptoms often and experience specifically as follows:

1. Anxiety.

2. Chest pain.

3. Dizziness or Uncomfortable headache kind feeling

4. Arm and jaw pain emanating from the chest

5. Pain or discomfort in the stomach stemming from the chest.

Some More Facts About Heart Attack Symptoms

• Pain in the areas between shoulder blades, arm, chest, jaw, left arm, or upper abdomen

• A clenched and squeezed fist type pain in the chest

• Pain circumstances can even occur during rest

• Changes in the whole body via fatigue, dizziness, light-headedness, clammy skin, sweating or cold sweat

• Gastrointestinal symptoms can occur such as heartburn, indigestion, nausea, or vomiting

• Discomfort or tightness in arms that makes people difficult to move properly

• Discomfort or tightness in the neck region

• Some common symptoms also include anxiety, feeling of impending doom, chest pressure, palpitations, shortness of breath, or shoulder discomfort

Causes of Heart Attack

Heart attack may be caused due to plaque build up in the arteries and the term given to this condition is atherosclerosis. It prevents blood from entering the heart muscle. Another common reason is blood clotting which is also called a torn blood vessel. The least known cause of heart attack can be blood vessel spasm. Building up fatty deposits, bad cholesterol and narrowing of arteries are therefore the top causes of heart attack. Therefore, people should be careful of the lifestyle and food habits. One should avoid too much junk food on a regular basis that consists of unhealthy oil and cholesterol raising substances. Also, if people include routine exercise in day to day lives, it can prevent them from getting heart attack to the maximum. 

Treatment of Heart Attack

Some of the treatments for heart attack include Angioplasty with special tubing, laser angioplasty, artificial heart valve surgery, atherectomy, bypass surgery, cardiomyoplasty, heart transplant, minimally invasive heart surgery, radiofrequency ablation, stent procedure and TMR- transmyocardial revascularization. 

Some of the medications for heart attack include anticoagulant, antiplatelet agent, angiotensin II receptor blocker, Beta blocker, combined alpha and beta blockers, calcium channel blocker, digitalis preparation, diuretics, vasodilator, etc.