Atypical Heart Attack Symptoms

When one mentions heart attack, you begin to imagine crushing chest pain, dizziness and a person collapsing on the floor. These symptoms are not always observed and by the time one recognizes its signs it's too late. Atypical heart attack symptoms are quite abrupt and makes one wonder if they are having a bad case of indigestion or heart attack. When the flow of blood is affected due to an abrupt obstruction or halt, it leads to a heart attack. One of the biggest cause of death is due to failure to recognize the atypical symptoms of heart attack.

Atypical signs of heart attack are also called silent heart attacks. These atypical symptoms are very hard to recognize as they do not include the typical chest pains, squeezing sensation and other classic symptoms of heart attack. It has been observed more women die than men due to these type of heart attacks. This is because women are more prone to develop atypical signs of heart attack than men. This makes early detection impossible and women do not receive the much-needed heart attack treatment during the golden hour (first hour after a heart attack). Thus, it is important to learn about these silent heart attack symptoms to seek immediate help, if need arises.

Atypical Symptoms of Heart Attack

The common victims of a silent heart attack are generally women, old people or people with diabetes. Let us have a look at some of the atypical signs of heart attack:

• Nausea
• Sweating
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Heartburn
• Sudden lightheadedness
• Tingling sensation in the left arm and shoulder
• Palpitations
• Bloated stomach

Symptoms in Women

Women are less likely to show typical signs of heart attack than men on an ECG. This makes it very difficult to seek timely medical help in case of a cardiac arrest. The atypical heart attack symptoms in women include the ones mentioned above. A few other atypical signs specific to women are as follows:

• Flu like symptoms are seen affecting 71% women like fever, chills, headache, cough, sore throat and body ache before they develop heart attack symptoms
• Many women tend to have a mild burning sensation in the upper abdomen or indigestion before a heart attack
• Nausea and vomiting accompany indigestion
• Women may experience upper body pain mostly in the arms or between the shoulder blades
• Pressure or pain in chest
• Unusual fatigue that is felt for several days before an attack is one of the mild heart attack symptoms in women
• Sleep disturbances
• Shortness of breath
• Anxiety
• Feeling of fullness and tingling

As you can see most of these atypical symptoms in women are very vague and do not indicate anything serious like heart attack. Therefore, mistaken for general sickness and prompt medical help is not taken. Women also tend to suffer from chest pain and discomfort when suffering from a heart attack. Women who are prone to a major risk of developing heart attack are those with:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Family history of heart disease
• Obesity
• Smokers

Heart attack can prove to be devastating as it can seriously damage the cardiac muscle tissues. Many people suffering from silent heart attack never experience any major symptoms. One should get their heart health checked regularly to keep the symptoms at bay. Exercise and following a healthy diet will help prevent heart attack. If you smoke, stop smoking immediately. This will help reduce your chances of developing heart attack. Remember, heart attack symptoms in men are different from those in women. If you have any further queries about atypical symptoms of heart attack, speak to your health care provider for more details.