Recognizing the early symptoms of a heart attack can mean the difference between life and death. While many symptoms mimic those of other, less serious ailments, you should seek emergency medical treatment immediately if you are experiencing chest discomfort, pain in the jaw, neck or arms, or unexplainable indigestion. Women should be particularly vigilant about recognizing symptoms since they tend to have milder symptoms than men.
Types
Early physical heart attack symptoms include, but aren't limited to, tightness in the chest, shooting pain in the arms, jaw pain and shortness of breath. Sometimes symptoms are mild, such as feelings of indigestion, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, or breaking out in a cold sweat.
Effects
Early symptoms, especially those that are mild, are only a precursor to worse heart attack symptoms and can lead to death. People without a history of heart problems can suffer the symptoms with a heart attack and not even realize what is happening. This leads to minor damage or death of heart muscle, and the possibility of the symptoms recurring with more intensity is highly increased.
Time Frame
Those experiencing early heart attack symptoms have a short window of time to get to a hospital before irreversible damage to the heart muscle occurs. Treatment must start within an hour of symptoms manifesting or else a full recovery is nearly impossible due to the extent of damage.
Considerations
For unknown reasons, women's symptoms tend to be milder than men's. Weakness, fatigue and sleep disturbances are sometimes reported. Medical studies have shown that women's symptoms aren't as predictable as those experienced by men, and more than 75 percent of women can pinpoint symptoms occurring up to a month prior to suffering a full-fledged heart attack.
Warning
Anyone who suffers symptoms that can be considered those of a heart attack must seek medical help immediately. A feeling of indigestion is all too commonly ignored and not seen as an early symptom of a heart attack, which leads to irreversible damage to the heart muscle and possibly death.
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