Read The Signs of a Heart Failure
Although some heart attacks occur without any symptoms at all, any one of the following symptoms is a strong warning that you are probably having a heart attack:
- Uncomfortable pressure - not necessarily pain- in the chest, most often experienced as a deep central discomfort (or feeling of fullness or squeezing) below the breastbone. This kind of crushing pain or heaviness in the middle of the chest is the most common symptom of a heart attack (about a quarter of patients however will not experience this sensation). If it lasts more than a few minutes, or if it subsides when you rest but increases with activity, that increases the likelihood that what you are experiencing is a restriction of blood flow to heart muscle.
- Chest pain that radiates to the jaw, neck, back, shoulder or arm. In some patients, the pain is experienced primarily, or even exclusively, on other locations.
- Chest discomfort that is accompanied by light-headedness, nausea, sweating or shortness of breadth.
It should be noted very carefully that youth is no guarantee against a heart attack. Even if someone is in 20s, a long episode of chest pressure needs to be promptly evaluated by an expert to exclude the possibility of a hearth problem, even a heart attack.
Many heart attacks occur in those without any of the traditional risk factors for heart disease. So even if you have no history of high blood cholesterol or hypertension, do not ignore prolonged episode of chest discomfort.
Some heart attacks are signalled by atypical symptoms, which may run the gamut from heartburn to sudden recurrent vomiting. Complaints that arise with activity and subside with rest often also serve as early warning signs of a heart attack.
On the other hand chest pain is unlikely to be a heart attack if it is -
- “Stabbing” pain that can be localized to one small spot on the chest (about the size of a coin). For instance, a feeling as if a pencil is being poked into the chest for an instant.
- Pain/discomfort that lasts for less than 30 seconds.
- Pain that is felt exclusively in the region of the heart itself (that is the left side of the chest).