Article Spotlight:
Women's Heart Attack Symptoms

Women often experience new or different physical symptoms as long as a month or more before experiencing their heart attacks. These symptoms are often different from men's. In addition to the usual symptoms experienced by both sexes, women can experience abdominal discomfort or indigestion and maybe a burning sensation in the chest or upper abdomen. Their symptoms are also usually more subtle. Women experience chest pain occur less frequently than do men. Doctors have to be careful to make sure they do not miss a woman's signs during the office examination. Because women's symptoms are often misdiagnosed, they are far less likely to be treated with aspirin, beta-blockers, and other heart-attack prevention medications. This places them at greater risk due to a lost of time to seek medical attention. Knowing these symptoms creates an awareness for physicians and the public alike.

These symptoms include:

• Slight discomfort in the chest
• Uncomfortable pressure
• Shortness of breath
• Unusual fatigue
• Cold sweat
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Pain below the left shoulder blade
• Back pain
• Tingling in the jaw, elbow, arm or throat
• Pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck, jaw orarms

Article Spotlight:
10 Signs of Heart Attack You Need To Recognize

The usual 10 symptoms of a heart attack differ from person to person and are not as obvious and dramatic as one might imagine. Knowing these early warning signs of heart attack is critical for one to promptly recognize and immediately get treatment. Myocardial infarction is a common medical emergency usually included in first aid courses. This helps to more people recognize a symptom and seek medical attention at the nearest hospital with 24-hour emergency cardiac care. Everyone should have an emergency action plan in case the sign indicates a second heart attack. Women may can have very different symptoms from men and fail to recognize them as signs of a heart attack. Heart attack rates are higher in association with exertion more intense than normal.

Heart attacks are generally caused by severe coronary artery disease and can be caused by a blood clot that gets stuck in a narrow part of an artery to the heart. Heart attacks can be undiagnosed and over-diagnosed due to different levels of severity of the sign. Acute myocardial infarction is the death of heart tissue caused by a complete blockage in one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart (coronary arteries). This blockage results in an interruption in the blood supply to the heart and causes a mild to severe affliction to areas both small and large areas of the heart. Become familiar with the most common 10 signs - it can save a life!

The first 10 signs of heart attack are not necessarily chest pains. The 10 signs of heart attack usually vary for each individual.

• 1. Chest discomfort. Most heart attack symptoms involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• 2. Discomfort in other areas of the upper body.
• 3. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms
• 4. Pain or discomfort in the back
• 5. Pain or discomfort in neck
• 6. Pain or discomfort in jaw
• 7. Pain or discomfort in the stomach
• 8. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• 9. Breaking out in a cold sweat.
• 10. Nausea and/or Lightheadedness

If you are totally unaware that you have heart disease and develop any of these symptoms you may be having angina. The medical term for angina is angina pectoris. Angina is a precursor to a heart attack. You can experience angina during during physical exertion, stress or while in an emotionally charged situation. Increased adrenaline in the bloodstream can contribute to a rupture of the plaque ( the substance that forms the blockage) causing the formation of a clot and lead to the eventual heart attack. Fear or wishful thinking often causes people who experience chest symptoms to deny the significance of the symptoms.

Angina should never be ignored. In cold weather or after a big meal, the heart beats faster thus requiring more oxygenated blood flow to the heart muscle to maintain the increased beating rate. If the vessels by which the blood and oxygen flow to the heart are narrowed and not enough nutrients get to the heart muscle, the heart tissue suffers oxygen deficiency and announces this with a pain. The pain is quite distinct and has been described as a heavy, strangulating, suffocating event. This event can be far more intense than anything like indigestion, chest wall injuries or pleurisy that you are familiar with.