This Surprising Symptom May Indicate a Heart Attack in Women

What comes to mind when you picture someone having a heart attack? You're probably inclined to imagine them doubled over with severe chest pain. While this may be one of the symptoms of a heart attack (alongside many others - these symptoms will help you recognize a heart attack months in advance), symptoms of a heart attack in women can actually be a lot more subtle than they are in men. 

 

The Facts: The American Heart Association found that with regard to heart attacks, women are being under-treated. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, statistics show that 50,000 women died from a heart attack in 2014. It is also estimated that around 735,000 Americans have heart attacks each year.

So how do heart attack symptoms in women differ from men? A woman may experience pressure or pain in the center of her chest, but while having a heart attack, she may also experience jaw pain. Other symptoms specific to women include upper back pain, arm pain, an overwhelming sense of fatigue, heartburn, or a sense of not feeling right. But how can jaw pain relate to symptoms of a heart attack? According to the American Heart Association, if the heart does not give out a good signal, pain can radiate to the jaw, neck or back. However, it is still unclear why jaw pain and upper body discomfort manifest as symptoms in women and not men.

Another question that needs answering is why women aren't getting the treatment they need. The AHA have reported that women generally wait around 54 hours before visiting a doctor, while men wait about 16 hours. It may be because women are more passive about their health than men. It may also be because they have more barriers preventing them from doing so, such as having children to take care of. 

 

However, waiting too long to seek treatment may also result in developing cardiogenic shock, meaning that your heart won't be able to pump enough blood. As a result, waiting too long could also mean that aggressive treatments may no longer be an option. Furthermore, women need to keep an eye out for recurrent symptoms. Statistics show that having another heart attack is actually higher among women than it is in men.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Signs of silent heart attack

Most people don't realize that they could have a heart attack without even knowing it. Although these are commonly referred to as "silent" heart attacks, a more accurate term may be "unrecognized" heart attack, says cardiologist Dr. David Morrow, director of the cardiac intensive care unit at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"Some people do have symptoms, so in that sense, their heart attack is not silent. They just don't recognize the sensations as coming from their heart," he explains. They may think it's just indigestion or muscle pain, when the real cause is actually reduced blood flow to the heart. People may also experience other atypical symptoms, such as nausea or excessive sweating during a heart attack (see "Heart attack symptoms").

People with diabetes are more likely to have minimal or atypical symptoms. That's especially worrisome because they already face a higher-than-average risk of heart attack in the first place.

Raising awareness of unrecognized heart attacks is important because over the long term these events are just as dangerous as recognizable heart attacks (see "Survival after an unrecognized heart attack").

During a heart attack, the duration and intensity of symptoms can vary quite a bit. In general, there must be 15 to 30 minutes of reduced blood flow to result in a detectable heart attack (that is, part of the heart muscle becomes damaged or dies). But sometimes symptoms come and go; these are known as stuttering symptoms. And the intensity doesn't correlate with the size of the heart attack. Some people have mild symptoms from a very large heart attack, while others have severe symptoms with a small heart attack, says Dr. Morrow.

 

Heart attack symptoms

Although the most common sign of a heart attack in both men and women is the classic one — discomfort in the center of the chest that spreads through the upper body — this symptom doesn't always occur. Some people experience non-classic symptoms, and these might be slightly more frequent in women and in older people. 

 

Classic symptoms	Non-classic symptoms
Pressure, aching, or tightness in the center of the chest Pain or discomfort that radiates to the upper body, especially shoulders or neck and arms Sweating	Shortness of breath Weakness Nausea or vomiting Dizziness Back or jaw pain Unexplained fatigue

 

How long, how strong?

Silent heart attacks are usually discovered on an electrocardiogram (ECG), which is a recording of the heart's electrical activity. Damage to the heart's muscle caused by a heart attack shows up as a distinct signature on an ECG.

ECGs are quick and inexpensive, but they can miss a prior unrecognized heart attack or produce false positives, meaning they find evidence of a heart attack when there actually wasn't one. As a result, ECGs are not recommended for routine screening for people with an average risk of a heart attack who don't have symptoms. However, an ECG and other testing is appropriate for people with symptoms that suggest a heart attack, even if the cause is unclear. "I'd much rather have people get evaluated and it turn out to be nothing serious than not be evaluated and weather a heart attack at home," says Dr. Morrow.

 

Survival after an unrecognized heart attack

A 2019 study reported in JAMA Cardiology identified people who'd experienced heart attacks — some recognized, some not — as well as others who'd never had a heart attack, and followed them all for about 13 years.

Here's a summary of the findings:

Who: 935 adults in Iceland with an average age of 76.

How: MRI of the heart (which can reveal damage caused by a heart attack) done at the start of the study showed that 17% of the participants had at some point had an unrecognized heart attack, while another 10% had a recognized heart attack.

Why: To determine the short- and long-term prognosis after an unrecognized heart attack.

Key findings: After three years, those who'd had unrecognized heart attacks were no more likely to have died than people with no history of heart attack. But after 10 years, about half of the people with unrecognized heart attacks had died — a rate that was nearly identical to those who'd had recognized heart attacks.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement
https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs