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Symptoms Of Heart Attacks In Women
While chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack in men and women, there are distinct symptom differences between the sexes. Females are more likely to experience a variety of other symptoms, like shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and back or jaw pain, than males.
Heart disease, which includes heart attacks, is the number one cause of death for women in the United States (US). Know the following heart attack signs and symptoms in women, and call 9-1-1 if you or someone you know has one or more of the following symptoms.
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The most common symptom of a heart attack is chest pressure or pain, but the kind of pressure or pain women experience can be different than what men describe. Females are more likely to experience the other common and less common signs than males. In addition, women may experience more subtle symptoms, and these symptoms can occur with or without chest pain.
Chest Pain or DiscomfortAny acute chest pain or pressure, such as the classic "feeling like you have an elephant standing on your chest" deserves prompt attention. The pain or discomfort can be subtle or strong, last a few minutes, or come and go.
Males usually describe their chest pain as crushing or intense pressure. In females, however, it may feel more subtle, like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, or fullness.
Upper Back, Neck, and Jaw PainPain in the neck, upper back, jaw, teeth, one or both arms, and shoulder blades is a frequent symptom of a heart attack in women. Upper back pain is often described as pressure or a squeezing feeling around the shoulder blades.
"This is called 'radiating' pain and is due to the fact that the heart has many fewer nerve endings than, say, the fingertip, where pain will be localized," Sharonne Hayes, MD, founder of the Women's Heart Clinic and a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told Health. "When the heart is being injured, pain can be felt in other areas."
Generally, though, pain related to a heart attack is confined to the upper body.
Nausea or VomitingFemales are twice as likely as males to experience nausea, vomiting, or indigestion-like symptoms, such as heartburn, while having a heart attack. "Unless they're also having chest pain, many women write it off as something they ate when they should be calling 9-1-1," added Dr. Hayes.
When heart cells get injured or die, as they do during a heart attack, they release chemicals that stimulate the nervous system. This stimulation can cause nausea and vomiting.
Shortness of Breath"Although men also have this symptom, women are more likely to have shortness of breath or trouble breathing, even without concurrent chest pain," said Dr. Hayes. The difficulty breathing is usually sudden and may come on in the absence of exertion.
The shortness of breath happens when the blood going from your lungs to your heart leaks back into the lungs because your heart isn't pumping blood as it should.
A variety of heart attack symptoms can happen in women. Additionally, more unique combinations of symptoms happen to women, making it more difficult to diagnose a heart attack in women than in men. These symptoms can happen with or without chest pain. Some less common symptoms include:
Additional rare symptoms of a heart attack may include heartburn or indigestion. Sometimes, it may be tricky to tell which is which, though. When in doubt, call 9-1-1.
Heartburn happens when your stomach acids travel up into your esophagus—the tube that carries food from your mouth to your stomach. This causes a feeling of chest burning or pain that can spread to your upper back, throat, and jaw.
Indigestion, while you may hear it used interchangeably for heartburn, is different from heartburn. Indigestion is an uncomfortable full feeling in the upper abdomen area that can include pain, burning, and bloating. It can be mistaken for heartburn because this feeling can happen right under the rib cage, You can have indigestion and heartburn at the same time.
The chest pain signaling a heart attack usually isn't a burning feeling. It's in the center of the chest and more of an uncomfortable pressure or fullness or stabbing pain rather than a burning sensation. This kind of chest pain can last a few minutes or go away and come back.
The biggest factor in the symptom differences between females and males seems to be estrogen—a hormone responsible for female reproductive organs and sexual characteristics. One of the effects estrogen has on the body is protective effects on the cardiovascular system. Estrogen:
In general, women have heart attacks at an older age than men, which corresponds with menopause—a normal point in time that is 12 months after a menstruating person's last period—occurring later in life.
One of the most obvious signs a menstruator is approaching menopause is a drop in the level of estrogen. The loss of estrogen during menopause increases a person's risk for heart disease. Females receiving estrogen replacement therapy to treat menopause symptoms decrease their risk of heart attack by 50%.
High blood pressure, which increases everyone's risk of heart disease and stroke, often goes undiagnosed in women. Pregnant people having high blood pressure during pregnancy double their risk of developing heart disease compared to pregnant people who don't have high blood pressure during their pregnancy.
Other sex-specific reasons for symptom differences may include:
If you or someone else is having any symptoms of a heart attack, call 9-1-1 immediately. Even if you think it might be heartburn or indigestion, when in doubt, seek medical attention right away.
The signs of a heart attack in women may not be as obvious as the classic chest pain symptoms men experience. Women tend to have more varied and subtle symptoms. Know the common and rare symptoms so you can recognize if you or someone else may be having a heart attack.
Call 9-1-1 right away if you suspect a heart attack.
Heart Attack Warning Signs Not To Ignore
Typical signs of heart attack can include tightness and pain in the chest. But other signs can also include lightheadedness and pain in the neck or jaw.
Every year, an estimated 805,000 people in the United States have a heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Chest pain is the most common heart attack warning sign, but there can be other symptoms, too, such as shortness of breath or lightheadedness. Symptoms may be severe or mild, and can vary from one person to the next.
Sometimes, a heart attack can be mistaken for heartburn or an anxiety attack. In addition, heart attack symptoms can vary between men and women.
This article will take a closer look at the warning signs of a heart attack, what it typically feels like, and how the symptoms can vary between men and women.
A heart attack (also known as a myocardial infarction) happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked. If there's not enough blood flowing to your heart muscle, it can damage the affected part of your heart and cause the muscle to die. This can be life threatening.
Heart attacks are usually caused by waxy plaque that's built up inside the blood vessels that lead to your heart. This plaque is made up of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, fats, and other inflammatory products.
When a hard plaque bursts, a blood clot forms quickly. If the clot is big enough, it will disrupt blood flow to your heart.
If the flow of oxygenated blood is completely blocked, the heart tissue supplied by that artery becomes damaged and may die, placing you at higher risk of heart failure and other serious complications.
If you suspect you or someone close to you is having a heart attack, call 911 or local emergency services. Don't try to drive yourself to the hospital if you have heart attack symptoms. Immediate medical treatment that restores normal blood flow quickly can result in less damage to your heart tissue.
A heart attack usually involves pain in the center or left side of the chest that lingers for several minutes or comes and goes. The pain can feel different from one person to the next. It's often described as:
However, sometimes there are other symptoms in addition to chest pain. And, in some cases, these symptoms may be present without chest pain.
Symptoms that often accompany — or are present without chest pain — include:
Chest pain or pressure is a common heart attack symptom among both men and women.
However, the feeling of chest discomfort can be somewhat different for men and women. There are also some non-classic heart attack warning signs that are more common among women.
Heart attack warning signs for menThe classic symptom of chest pain may not be present in every heart attack, but it remains the most common warning sign, especially among men.
The pain is often described as a heavy weight on the chest. It tends to be located in the center of the chest, but it can be felt from armpit to armpit.
Other heart attack symptoms that are common among men include:
While chest pain is often a symptom of a heart attack among women, the pain is often described as pressure or tightness instead of the "heavy weight on the chest" pain that men describe.
In some cases, there may only be other symptoms and very little or no chest pain.
Women are also more likely than men to experience nontraditional heart attack symptoms, such as:
Women are often reluctant to seek medical attention for heart attack symptoms, partly because of delays in recognizing heart attack symptoms since they're not commonly talked about.
While women are slightly less likely than men to have heart attacks before menopause, the odds essentially are equal after menopause.
Because certain symptoms, such as nausea or fatigue, can signal any number of health concerns, it's important to be aware of other possible heart attack symptoms.
If you suddenly become nauseated and are having trouble catching your breath or you have serious jaw pain, call 911. Tell the 911 dispatcher you may be having a heart attack.
You may be reluctant to call 911 if you're not sure whether you or a loved one is having a heart attack, but it's better to err on the side of caution.
A heart attack is often a life threatening emergency. The faster you get medical attention, the better chance you have of a good recovery.
When to call 911
Any time you have pain or pressure in your chest that lasts more than a few minutes and is different to pain you've felt before, it's important to get medical attention as soon as possible. This is especially important if you have other symptoms, too, such as:
While you're waiting for an ambulance to arrive, make sure to stay on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, and unlock the front door for emergency personnel to come in.
The 911 dispatcher may tell you to chew on an aspirin while you wait for them. This may not be safe to do if you take blood-thinning medications.
Try to remember how and when your symptoms began so you can provide this information to the emergency personnel.
To make matters even more complicated, some heart attacks occur without any traditional symptoms, or even any noticeable symptoms at all.
These so-called silent heart attacks could represent nearly a quarter of all heart attacks in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.
A silent heart attack may resolve on its own if, for example, the clot blocking blood flow dissolves or becomes dislodged and is absorbed into the body. But a silent heart attack can still cause damage.
If a doctor discovers that you had a silent heart attack, you may want to consider cardiac rehabilitation and the type of care that any other person who's had a heart attack receives.
A silent heart attack may be discovered months or years after the fact if you have an electrocardiogram (EKG) to check your heart's electrical system. Evidence of a heart attack can often be seen in the electrical patterns picked up by the EKG.
Even though a heart attack is a sudden event, some symptoms can come on mildly and slowly.
You may feel unusually tired for a few days leading up to the onset of more serious symptoms. Some people who've experienced a heart attack report feelings of anxiety and dread for a few days before the onset of other symptoms. This tends to be more common among women, but can happen with men, too.
Mild to moderate pain in one or both arms, along with shortness of breath and nausea, may also occur in the lead-up to a major heart attack.
Some people are at a higher risk of a heart attack than others. If you have any of the following risk factors, it's especially important to pay attention to any warning signs of a heart attack:
Chest pain is the most common heart attack warning sign. What it feels like, though, can be somewhat different for men versus women. With men, the pain is often described as a heavy weight on the chest, and tends to be located in the center of the chest.
With women, chest pain that's associated with a heart attack is often described as pressure or tightness. In some cases, there may only be other symptoms and very little or no chest pain.
Other heart attack symptoms that are more common among women include abdominal discomfort, dizziness, extreme fatigue, and jaw pain.
It's very important not to ignore any symptoms that feel like a heart attack. Even if you're not having a heart attack, it's better to be evaluated than to risk serious, life threatening complications.
Trust your instincts and pay attention to what your body is telling you. If your chest pain or symptoms last more than a few minutes, don't hesitate to call 911 immediately.
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