Heart Attack Signs

One and a half million Americans suffer heart attacks each year, and invariably 30% of them will die. Heart attacks, also known as myocardial infarction, are no laughing matter. Heart attacks occur because vessels supplying blood to the heart are blocked. This can be a result of atherosclerosis (a build up of plaque in the artery due to high cholesterol) or the blockage of an artery by a blood clot, known as coronary thrombosis.

Symptoms of heart attacks should be given close attention. The signs or symptoms of heart attacks are not very typical, and they do not necessarily present the same in people suffering from heart disease, which causes heart attacks. Symptoms that may lead you to believe that you're suffering from a heart attack are things such as a burning sensation in the chest, sudden weakness, nausea, breathlessness, vomiting, palpitations, and of course chest pains or angina. While all of the symptoms indicative of a heart attack should be taken seriously and evaluated by a physician, the latter is the one that gives the greatest indication that a heart attack is about to occur. However, it is also the one that is most often overlooked.

Chest pains or angina occur because blood is not reaching the heart in the supply that it needs. Because the heart is a muscle, it needs the oxygen in blood to function properly. The lack of oxygen to the heart is made evident by the pain you feel in your chest. The chest pains or angina are of two basic types: 1) stable angina, which causes chest pains at expected times such as when you're exercising and 2) unstable angina, which is when chest pains occur at very unpredictable times when you're least likely to expect them. Also they often occur with increasing severity. Chest pains associated with a heart attack may seem like a stabbing, pressing, or heavy feeling. It is very common for this pain to present either in the center of the chest or below the center of the rib cage. Typically it then spreads to the arms, and other parts of the body. It is important to pay attention to these symptoms and not assume they are due to something else.

Believe it or not, the fact that many mistake the chest pains, vomiting, burning feeling, and nausea for gas or indigestion, account for the high fatality rate of heart attacks.

The point is if you feel pain in your chest you should immediately stop, pay close attention to the characteristics of the pain, and contact an emergency health provider if you think you are having a heart attack. Given the serious of heart attacks and the unpredictability with which they occur, you should never make assumptions about the condition of your heart. It could very well cost you your life.