Sometimes the pain from a heart attack is sudden and intense, which makes them easy to recognize and get help. But, what about when it's not? Most heart attacks actually involve only mild pain or discomfort in the center of your chest. You may also feel pressure, squeezing, or fullness.
Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Feeling weak, light-headed, or faint. You may also break out into a cold sweat.
Is sudden cardiac death painful? Some people have chest pain during the initial seconds of sudden cardiac arrest. However, once you lose consciousness, you don't feel pain.
Answer From Rekha Mankad, M.D. A silent heart attack is a heart attack that has few, if any, symptoms or has symptoms not recognized as a heart attack. A silent heart attack might not cause chest pain or shortness of breath, which are typically associated with a heart attack.
pain that spreads to your left or right arm, or to your neck, jaw, back or stomach. For some people the pain or tightness is severe, while for others it's uncomfortable. It may feel like heaviness, or a burning pain similar to indigestion. feeling sick, sweaty, light-headed or short of breath.
Most people having a heart attack do not die immediately, but some do. This is usually from a too-fast heart rhythm (ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation), but can also be from a heart attack-induced very slow heart rhythm, or from the heart just not being able to pump because too much of it is being damaged.
Difference between heart attack and cardiac arrest
A heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest (also known as cardiopulmonary arrest), but they are two different conditions. The heart is still beating. Blood is still flowing in the body. The person is still alive.
Studies have found that survival rates for people hospitalized for heart attacks are approximately 90%1 to 97%. 2 This varies based on the type of heart attack, which arteries are involved, and additional factors such as age and gender.
A heart attack may strike suddenly, but most people have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks beforehand. One of the earliest warning signs of an impending heart attack is chest pain, or angina, that occurs repeatedly because of exertion and is then eased by rest.
With SMI, you may feel discomfort in the center of the chest and not a sharp pain on the left side of the chest, which many people associate with a heart attack. "People can even feel completely normal during an SMI and afterward, too, which further adds to the chance of missing the warning signs," says Dr. Plutzky.
They Know They're Dying
Dying is a natural process that the body has to work at. Just as a woman in labor knows a baby is coming, a dying person may instinctively know death is near. Even if your loved one doesn't discuss their death, they most likely know it is coming.
Chances of survival depend on the severity of the myocardial infarction. According to recent studies, massive heart attack survival rates are low, but the survival rate after heart attacks in hospital care is between 90% to 97%².
If a plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form. The clot can block arteries, causing a heart attack. During a heart attack, a lack of blood flow causes the tissue in the heart muscle to die.
If a heart attack occurs, often as a result of severe coronary artery disease, it can trigger ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest. Also, a heart attack can leave scar tissue in the heart. The scar tissue can cause changes in the heartbeat. Enlarged heart called cardiomyopathy.
All heart attacks are serious, but one type of is the most dangerous of all and it's known as a STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction), or a widowmaker heart attack.
Both panic attacks and heart attacks can wake you from sleep.
Mild heart attack symptoms might only occur for two to five minutes then stop with rest. A full heart attack with complete blockage lasts much longer, sometimes for more than 20 minutes.
In a massive heart attack, a large part of the heart does not receive oxygen due to a blocked artery. Without quick treatment to restore blood flow, the part of the heart that normally gets blood from the now-blocked artery starts to die.
“Forty to 50 percent of heart attacks present with a fatal event,” Dr. Chawla says. “People ignore symptoms, which are usually taking place for weeks or months before finally having a heart attack with complete blockage.
Overall, life expectancy may decrease by about 8-10% of your expected life. For example, a person with no heart disease will be expected to die around age 85, but in the presence of a heart attack, the life expectancy will be reduced by 10% or 8.5 years.
There is nothing anyone can do to stop a heart attack when it is happening. However, there are things people can do to help avoid having a heart attack in the first place. These include eating healthy, being physically active, not smoking, and getting plenty of sleep.