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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffCommon heart attack symptoms include:
- Pressure, a feeling of fullness or a squeezing pain in the center of your chest that lasts for more than a few minutes
- Pain extending beyond your chest to your shoulder, arm, back, or even to your teeth and jaw
- Increasing episodes of chest pain
- Prolonged pain in the upper abdomen
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Impending sense of doom
- Fainting
- Nausea and vomiting
Additional, or different, heart attack symptoms in women may include:
- Abdominal pain or heartburn
- Clammy skin
- Lightheadedness or dizziness
- Unusual or unexplained fatigue
Heart attack symptoms vary
Not all people who have heart attacks experience the same symptoms or experience them to the same degree. Many heart attacks aren't as dramatic as the ones you've seen on TV. Some people have no symptoms at all. Still, the more signs and symptoms you have, the greater the likelihood that you may be having a heart attack.
A heart attack can occur anytime — at work or play, while you're resting, or while you're in motion. Some heart attacks strike suddenly, but many people who experience a heart attack have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. The earliest warning of a heart attack may be recurrent chest pain (angina) that's triggered by exertion and relieved by rest. Angina is caused by a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart.
Many people confuse a heart attack with a condition in which your heart suddenly stops (sudden cardiac arrest). A heart attack is different from sudden cardiac arrest, which occurs when an electrical disturbance in your heart disrupts its pumping action and causes blood to stop flowing to the rest of your body.
When to see a doctor
During a heart attack, act immediately. Some people wait too long because they don't recognize the important signs and symptoms. Take these steps:
- Call for emergency medical help. If you even suspect you're having a heart attack, don't hesitate. Immediately call 911 or your local emergency number. If you don't have access to emergency medical services, have someone drive you to the nearest hospital. Drive yourself only as a last resort, if there are absolutely no other options. Driving yourself puts you and others at risk if your condition suddenly worsens.
- Take nitroglycerin, if prescribed. If your doctor has prescribed nitroglycerin, take as instructed while awaiting the arrival of emergency medical personnel.
- Take aspirin, if recommended. If you're concerned about your heart attack risk, ask your doctor if chewing an aspirin tablet if you have heart attack symptoms is a good idea. Taking aspirin during a heart attack could reduce the damage to your heart by making your blood less likely to clot. Aspirin can interact with other medications, however, so don't take an aspirin unless your doctor or emergency medical personnel recommend it.
What to do if you see someone having a heart attack
If you encounter someone who is unconscious from a presumed heart attack, call for emergency medical help. If you have received training in emergency procedures, begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This helps deliver oxygen to the body and brain. If you're not trained in emergency procedures, doctors recommend skipping mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing and just doing chest compressions. Do chest compressions at a rate of 100 a minute.
In the initial minutes, a heart attack can also trigger ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which the heart quivers uselessly. Without immediate treatment, ventricular fibrillation leads to sudden death. The timely use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) that shocks the heart back into a normal rhythm can provide emergency treatment before a person having a heart attack reaches the hospital.
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