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disease information

Heart Attacks

Symptoms of a Heart Attack

Overall, the symptoms of a heart attack vary from person to person, ranging from mild discomfort, to severe chest pains to somewhere in-between.2 Usually, pain from a heart attack feels like a tightness or heaviness in the chest, which can also spread to the arms, neck, jaw, back, or stomach.2 Sometimes, this pain travels between the shoulder blades, back, and the abdomen.3 In other cases, the pain may only affect the neck, jaw, arms, or stomach, and not the area where the heart is.2

Pain caused by a heart attack can vary, lasting from less than five minutes to as long as several hours. Often, this pain will not change by moving your position or resting. Sometimes the pain can be constant while in other cases it can be intermittent and feel like pressure, or squeezing on the chest.2 You may also feel other symptoms, such as sweating, light-headedness, nausea, or breathlessness.5

Not all heart attacks start with a sudden crushing pain. In many cases, heart attack symptoms start slowly as a mild pain or discomfort.4 In other cases the heart attack is ‘silent’, producing no symptoms at all. For this reason, silent heart attacks can be especially dangerous since you will not know to seek medical help.5 Studies have found that up to 20% of mild heart attacks go undiagnosed, resulting in progressive damage to the heart muscle that’s occurred without the person’s knowledge. This type of heart attack tends to happen to people who have diabetes, or those who are over seventy-five years of age.2 If you’ve already had a heart attack, your symptoms may not be the same if you have another one.4

Many people develop chest pains that are not due to a heart attack, but caused by other conditions including heartburn, angina, or gallbladder problems.1 Angina symptoms are often confused with a heart attack, but the main difference is that angina pain in the chest is usually brought on by activity, and stops again after a period of rest. Angina that does not go away with rest or changes in its normal pattern, can signal the start of a heart attack and should be checked by a doctor as soon as possible. 4

Certain tests can usually confirm a heart attack, including:

  • Electrocardiograph (ECG): This traces the electrical impulses in the heart that produce the heartbeat. As well as detecting problems with your heart’s rhythm, an ECG can also detect damage to the heart muscle, which may indicate that you’ve already suffered a heart attack.5
  • Blood tests: When your heart is damaged from a heart attack, an enzyme called troponin is released into your blood. If you have had a suspected heart attack a sample of your blood is tested for troponin levels over a period of days.2, 5
  • Chest x-rays: This examination checks for an enlarged heart, or if there is any fluid in the lungs which could be the result of a heart attack.5

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Last Updated 12/06/2009 12:09:01
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