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. These symptoms usually start slowly, and they may go away and come back.
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.
A mild heart attack often doesn't cause much permanent heart damage or only affects a relatively small portion of the heart muscle. It could be the result of a blockage that occurs in a small coronary artery, or the blockage does not completely block blood flow to the heart, or it only lasts a brief time.
Some people experience a "minor" heart attack (although it can still be very serious) with no associated complications. This is also known as an uncomplicated heart attack. Other people experience a major heart attack, which has a wide range of potential complications and may require extensive treatment.
While the term “mini” heart attack may sound as though it is less severe than other types of heart attack, this condition is still serious and constitutes a medical emergency. Therefore, anyone experiencing heart attack symptoms should seek emergency medical attention.
Some may come on suddenly, while others may begin slowly. They may last for a few minutes or several hours. Untreated heart attack symptoms can lead to serious complications or even death. Therefore, it is important that people receive urgent treatment once symptoms begin.
But in real life today, heart attacks aren't usually that extreme. Some produce no symptoms, or only produce mild symptoms that are so unremarkable that people mistake them for something else — heartburn from a lunchtime burrito, fatigue, or a chest muscle strain.
The first week you return home from the hospital, you may feel tired or weak. This is normal. It's because the heart attack damaged your heart muscle, and your heart needs time to recover. Plus, you're adjusting to being up and about after a period of bed rest.
Your risk for heart disease increases with age, especially with people of color and for those who are over 65. While the average age for a heart attack is 64.5 for men, and 70.3 for women, nearly 20 percent of those who die of heart disease are under the age of 65.
Most people survive their first heart attack and return to their normal lives to enjoy many more years of productive activity. But having a heart attack does mean you need to make some changes in your life.
Wires from the electrodes are connected to the ECG machine, which records the electrical impulses. An ECG is important because: it helps confirm the diagnosis of a heart attack.
Each minute a heart attack goes untreated, your heart loses muscle cells. Restoring blood flow to your heart is imperative before critical heart tissue dies or is damaged. If left untreated, a heart attack can weaken your heart and cause heart failure later on down the line.
SMI warning signs
It can feel like an uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, or pain. Discomfort in other upper-body areas, such as one or both arms, the back, the neck, the jaw, or the stomach. Shortness of breath before or during chest discomfort. Breaking out in a cold sweat, or feeling nauseated or lightheaded.
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.
Seemingly healthy people are “suddenly” having heart attacks because, as it turns out, their arteries are not perfectly healthy and they don't know it. With the proper noninvasive tests, these diseased arteries would have been identified, and the heart attacks wouldn't have happened.
Until recently, it was believed that the human heart didn't have this capacity. But the heart does have some ability to make new muscle and possibly repair itself. The rate of regeneration is so slow, though, that it can't fix the kind of damage caused by a heart attack.
An EKG can reveal if you had a heart attack months or years ago. Heart attacks cause significant symptoms that need immediate medical attention. However, in 45% of cases, patients don't detect any abnormality with their hearts. These are “silent” heart attacks that don't cause any noticeable symptoms.
You'll usually stay in hospital for about two to five days after having a heart attack. This depends on what treatment you've had and how well you're recovering. Many people make a full recovery after a heart attack, but you might not be able to do everything you used to.
Sudden stress can cause a cardiac event that feels like a heart attack, called takotsubo cardiomyopathy or “broken heart syndrome.” This stress-induced cardiomyopathy isn't associated with the artery blockages that lead to a heart attack, though it may cause your heart to pump inefficiently for up to a month.
Pre-Heart Attack Symptoms – Female
Men may feel pain and numbness in the left arm or the side of the chest. In women, these symptoms may appear on the right side. Women may experience unexplained exhaustion, or feel drained, dizzy or nauseous. Women may feel upper back pain that travels up into their jaw.
A silent heart attack, also called a silent Ischemia, is a heart attack that has either no symptoms, minimal symptoms or unrecognized symptoms. A heart attack is not always as obvious as pain in your chest, shortness of breath and cold sweats.
Here's a surprising fact: nearly half of people who have a heart attack don't realize it at the time. These so-called silent heart attacks are only diagnosed after the event, when a recording of the heart's electrical activity (an electrocardiogram or ECG) or another test reveals evidence of damage to the heart.
Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG).
This first test done to diagnose a heart attack records electrical signals as they travel through the heart. Sticky patches (electrodes) are attached to the chest and sometimes the arms and legs. Signals are recorded as waves displayed on a monitor or printed on paper.
Signs of a heart attack include:
- Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. - Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort. - Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness. (If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately.)