About every 34 seconds, someone in the United States suffers from a heart attack!

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans survive heart attacks, and are able to enjoy a normal life.

Heart disease is when plaque forms in the arteries that bring oxygen to the heart muscle.

Symptoms of heart disease, which can be a warning of an impending heart attack, are when ordinary physical activity causes you to experience:

  • Undue fatigue.
  • Palpitations which are the sensation that your heart is skipping a beat or ‘racing’, beating too rapidly.
  • Dyspnea which is difficult or labored breathing.
  • Angina pain which is either classified as stable (chest pain with exertion only) or unstable (chest pain even at rest known as ‘acute coronary syndrome’).

Heart Attack!

Most heart attacks start slowly with mild pain or discomfort.

The signs that can mean a heart attack may be happening are:

  • Chest discomfort or pain described as crushing, squeezing, burning pain or pressure, fullness or a feeling of an elephant on your chest.
  • Discomfort in other areas of the upper body such as the neck, one or both arms, the neck and jaw or upper back.
  • Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
  • Other signs like nausea, heartburn or indigestion, sweating or clammy feeling, or dizziness, lightheadedness or even fainting.

Women are more likely than men to present with ‘atypical’ chest pain meaning symptoms other than chest pain. They can present with some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, back, neck or jaw pain.

Learn these signs as the key to survival is to get help fast. Even if your not sure it’s a heart attack, call 9-1-1. Minutes matter and fast action can save lives….maybe your own!

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