Classic Symptoms
For both men and women, heart attack symptoms can include:
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Squeezing chest pain or pressure
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Shortness of breath
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Sweating
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Tightness in chest
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Pain spreading to shoulders, neck, arm, or jaw
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Feeling of heartburn or indigestion with or without nausea and vomiting
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Sudden dizziness or brief loss of consciousness
Heart attack symptoms that are more likely in women include:
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Indigestion or gas-like pain
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Dizziness or nausea
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Unexplained weakness or fatigue
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Discomfort or pain between the shoulder blades
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Recurring chest discomfort
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Sense of impending doom
But, it should also be remembered that for women the signs that they will be suffereing from a heart attack occur months before it actually happens. Just that they don’t know it, so they don’t go to the physician to get it checked out
Symptoms: Unusual fatigue
As Early Warning: Wake up tired. Difficult to carry out usual activities; gets worse over time.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Overwhelming exhaustion—too tired to do anything.
Symptoms: Shortness of breath
As Early Warning: Winded with little exertion. Improves when you stop.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Often the first symptom; continues or worsens.
Symptoms: Mood changes
As Early Warning: Fleeting feelings of anxiety for no reason. Goes away.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Anxiety occurs along with shortness of breath and doesn’t let up.
Symptoms: Digestive changes
As Early Warning: Frequent indigestion.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Terrible heartburn, often with nausea and vomiting.
Symptoms: Weakness
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: No strength—like having the flu.
**Symptoms: Sleep disturbance**
As Early Warning: Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
**Symptoms: Chest discomfort**
As Early Warning: Pressure, pain, burning, or discomfort, like a pulled muscle.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Common, usually through chest or back. May or may not be the “Hollywood heart attack”: crushing chest pain, pain radiating down arm.
Symptoms: Other pains
As Early Warning: Aching arms and hands; may have numbness or tingling.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Discomfort and/or pain in jaw, upper back, shoulders, neck, arms.
Other symptoms
As Early Warning: Headaches and periods of blurry vision.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: Cold sweat, pale skin.
Overall
As Early Warning: Symptoms come and go, but may increase in intensity and number as attack nears.
As Sign of Impending Heart Attack: You may have six or more different symptoms that become more intense and pile on top of one another.