Heart attacks happen when part of your heart suddenly stops getting blood, mainly due to a blockage in the arteries.
Heart attacks, also known as myocardial infarctions, are different from cardiac arrest, where the heart suddenly stops beating.
While some symptoms are clear signs of a heart attack, there are some that you might not realize are signaling a heart attack. These might be known as silent signs. There are four main ones to look out for.
Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This article uses the terms “women,” “men,” or both when discussing people assigned female or male at birth to reflect language that appears in source materials.
While gender is solely about how you identify yourself, independent of your physical body, you may need to consider how your personal circumstances will affect diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment. Learn more about the difference between sex and gender here.
1. Chest discomfort
Heart attacks are very common in the United States, where more than 800,000 people have a heart attack every year. Of these, 1 in 5 are silent heart attacks. This means that the person had a heart attack without knowing it.
People having a silent heart attack can feel discomfort in their chest that can range from a feeling of pressure, to a feeling of fullness, to chest pain.
Chest pain occurs because, during a heart attack, blood vessels in your heart constrict and your heart starts working harder to pump blood.
This feeling can last a few minutes and come and go throughout the day.
2. Shortness of breath
Shortness of breath is one of the most common symptoms of a heart attack. This happens because, since your heart is not working as it should, it can’t receive oxygen-rich blood and can’t pump enough blood to organs like your lungs.
Shortness of breath can come with dizziness, lightheadedness, and a cold sweat.
3. Upper body pain
When you’re having a silent heart attack, you may experience pain in your arms and shoulders and your upper body in general.
People can feel pain in the jaw, stomach, back, neck, and even their teeth. This pain can vary in intensity and can come and go throughout the day.
Pain in the upper body during a heart attack is more common among women and might be overlooked if it isn’t a pain in the chest.
4. Fatigue
Fatigue and tiredness are heart attack symptoms that are more common among women, as well.
People having a heart attack are fatigued and exhausted because the heart, which isn’t receiving enough oxygen-rich blood, is working extra hard to pump blood to the rest of the body.
Other symptoms
Other symptoms of a silent heart attack include:
- nausea
- indigestion
- cold sweats
- lightheadedness
- feeling of pain, like you have a strained muscle
- pain in other parts of your body
- flu-like symptoms
If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above and in the previous section, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency healthcare service. Silent heart attacks are an emergency — the sooner it’s treated, the higher the chance to avoid damage to your heart.
Treatments
Silent heart attacks increase the risk of heart failure by 35%, according to a 2018 study.
So the sooner a silent heart attack is caught by watching out for warning signs, like chest pain, upper body pain, and extreme fatigue, the better the outcome for long-term health.
Treatment for a silent heart attack includes:
- Medical procedures: Medical and surgical procedures to treat a silent heart attack include angioplasty, heart valve surgery, bypass surgery, atherectomy, stent procedure, and a transmyocardial revascularization.
- Medications: Medications to treat a heart attack include:
- angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors like captopril (Capoten), fosinopril (Monopril), and ramipril (Altace)
- anticoagulants or blood thinners like heparin and warfarin (Coumadin)
- antiplatelet agents, such as aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), prasugrel (Effient), and ticagrelor (Brilinta)
- beta-blockers like atenolol (Tenormin), carvedilol (Coreg), and metoprolol (Lopressor)
- calcium channel blockers, such as amlodipine (Norvasc), diltiazem (Cardizem), and verapamil (Isoptin)
- vasodilators like nitroglycerin (Nitrostat)
Lifestyle measures are key in preventing a heart attack. Consider:
- eating a balanced diet, low in sugar and greasy foods
- practicing regular physical activity
- reducing stress
- avoiding or limiting alcohol, if applicable
- quitting smoking, if you smoke
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