What Does A Heart Attack Feel Like?

Heart attacks are the cause 500,000 deaths every year in the United States, mostly occurring within the first hour of the attack. Everyone should be able to recognize a heart attack because early detection and treatment can reduce the risk of sudden death.

How To Know:

A heart attack most often causes chest pain. The pain is located in the center of the chest, is intense, and is described by most victims as the worst pain in the world. The character of the pain is quite difficult to describe. Chest pain in a heart attack feels like crushing, tearing, binding, or feeling like a heavy weight on the chest. The pain lasts longer than a few minutes, but In angina pectoris, a milder version of a blocked artery, the pain usually goes away within five minutes.

The chest pain in a heart attack may radiate to the neck, jaw, left arm and sometimes even to the fingertips or back. During a heart attack, there may be nausea with or without vomiting, a sudden bowel movement, profuse sweating, and an ashen pallor. In severe heart attacks, the heart's pumping action may be so inadequate that the victim loses consciousness. With decreased pumping action of the heart, the pulse may feel feeble and thready, and the heart rate is increased. In diabetics, the heart attack may not be very painful, and sometimes there may be no pain at all.

Other disorders that could be confused with a heart attack include:

• acute gallbladder infection


• perforation of stomach or intestine,


• pulmonary embolism and aortic dissection.

A heart attack event can be confirmed by recording an EKG or by analyzing the levels of cardiac enzymes in the blood. Early emergency treatment is tantamount for survival.

Tips to Remember:

• Heart attacks are the most common cause of sudden severe chest pain.


• Early recognition and treatment can considerably reduce risk of death.


• When in doubt about the diagnosis, call 911 immediately for emergency care.

What To Do If You Are At High Risk For Heart Disease

The fact that a high-risk patient is not having symptoms is no reason to relax, especially since, in 30% of patients with coronary artery disease, the very first symptom is sudden death. Being at high risk is very serious stuff, and requires a very serious response.

Modify the risk factors that put you at high risk. Some high-risk patients already have significant CAD, putting them at risk for a cardiac event or heart attack. Consult your physician for an evaluation of your risks. Your doctor should also lay out a plan for modifying your risk factors - including diet, weight loss, smoking cessation, hypertension, and cholesterol levels. Therapy should begin immediately. Additionally, your doctor should offer all available resources at his/her disposal to encourage exercise, losing weight, and stopping smoking.

The doctor's primary duty is to reduce the bad LDL cholesterol, increasing the good HDL cholesterol, and controlling your blood pressure.

Beware of the physician who prescribes a couple of meds, gives you a "good old boy" slap on the back, and feels he has done his job. Your doctor should ultimately understand what "high risk" means, and begin the appropriate treatment. If this devil-may-care attitude is also the one that makes no effort to assess your heart attack risk in the first place, it's time find a doctor who may actually have an interest in whether you live or die.

by Barb Hicks, RN/LMT