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.
Chest Pain, Pressure, Fullness, or Discomfort
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.
Imaging tests, such as an electrocardiogram or echocardiogram, are the only way to identify a silent heart attack. If you think that you've had a silent heart attack, talk to your health care provider. A review of your symptoms and health history and a physical exam can help your provider decide if you need more tests.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others.
- Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest that comes on quickly and won't go away with rest. - Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. - Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
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.
They may go away and come back again, or they may occur intermittently over several hours . In most cases, the symptoms will begin slowly and cause mild pain or discomfort. Sometimes, however, the symptoms can be sudden and intense.
In this type of heart attack, blood flow through one of the coronary arteries was partially blocked, limiting the supply of oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. “If you were told you've had a mild heart attack, it probably means your heart didn't suffer much damage and still pumps normally,” Dr. Campbell says.
Although most cases of chest pain are harmless, you should go to the emergency room immediately if your chest pain is intense, prolonged, or is accompanied by other symptoms. Here are some symptoms that may indicate you need immediate medical attention: Difficulty breathing/shortness of breath. Confusion/disorientation.
Symptoms of a heart attack can include: chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest. pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy.
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.
Anger, grief, and stress are known triggers of heart problems, but joyful events can sometimes lead to a heart attack as well. It can be triggered by the kind of emotions that go along with a surprise birthday party, a wedding, or the birth of a grandchild.
With a silent heart attack, symptoms can make you feel like: You have the flu. You have a sore muscle in your chest or upper back. You have an ache in your jaw, arms or upper back.
You might receive clot-dissolving drugs (thrombolysis), balloon angioplasty (PCI), surgery or a combination of treatments. About 36 percent of hospitals in the U.S. are equipped to use a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a mechanical means of treating heart attack.
An ECG is important because: it helps confirm the diagnosis of a heart attack. it helps determine what type of heart attack you have had, which will help determine the most effective treatment.
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. If you've had coronary angioplasty or stents, it's likely you'll stay in hospital for two or three days.
An ECG can show if you are having or have had a heart attack. Blood tests. Certain heart proteins slowly leak into the blood after heart damage from a heart attack. Blood tests can be done to check for these proteins (cardiac markers).
What do these early symptoms typically look like? Dr. Xu says the majority of patients experience somewhat typical symptoms, such as radiating chest pain, heaviness or discomfort, heart palpitations, cold sweats, and shortness of breath.
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“I understand that heart attacks have beginnings and on occasion, signs of an impending heart attack may include chest discomfort, shortness of breath, shoulder and/or arm pain and weakness. These may occur hours or weeks before the actual heart attack.
Taking aspirin during a heart attack is safe and recommended. If you think you're having a heart attack, call 911 or emergency medical services. Don't delay calling for help. Aspirin alone won't save your life if you're having a heart attack.
An electrocardiogram (EKG) is the most common initial test and may be given within minutes of your arrival at the hospital. An EKG will check whether you may be having a heart attack. Based on the results of the EKG, your doctor may then order more tests, ask you about your medical history, and do a physical exam.
Troponin blood test - troponin is a protein which is released into the blood stream when the heart muscle is damaged. The troponin level provides a quick and accurate measure of any heart muscle damage. It's used to help in the assessment following suspected heart attack.
A heart attack is a medical emergency in which the blood supply to the heart is suddenly blocked. Warning signs that occur a month beforehand could be chest discomfort, fatigue, and shortness of breath.