Cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer worldwide, followed by cancer. Among all cardiovascular diseases, an acute heart attack is the one with the highest mortality. During heart attack, most of the death occurs in the first hours of onset, before the ambulance arrives or the patient is brought to the hospital. The main causes for this are:
- The patient ignored the symptoms and waited too long before seeking professional help.
- Poor health care system of the country like- ambulances not arriving in time, lack of doctors in ambulances, lack of coordination and communication within the healthcare system, lack of centres that are equipped to treat heart attack patients.
- Poor health education and lack of knowledge of the doctors to diagnose and manage a heart attack patient before transferring them to a hospital.
What is Heart Attack?
A heart attack is a sudden occlusion of a coronary artery, which supplies blood to the heart muscle. As a result, the heart muscle tissue starts to die due to the lack of oxygen and nutrients needed for viability.
Patients usually explain the combination of chest heaviness, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, and abundant sweating. Patients feel like a heavy weight is placed in their chest, and they have to breathe with it.
10 Heart Attack Early Warning Signs for Men and Women
Heart disease patients may have warning signs weeks or sometimes months before having a massive heart attack. These symptoms are called prodromal symptoms and are similar to the symptoms that occur during a heart attack. Increasing awareness about your own body, its capacity, its limits will help you to detect these signs and symptoms early. The most common heart attack early warning signs for both men and women are:
1) Chest Pain
In a recent study including 242 patients who had experienced a heart attack, 68% of people experienced occasional chest pain with moderate exercise within the last month.
2) Chest Tightness and Heaviness
The same study also found that 44% of heart attack patients had episodes of chest heaviness, tightness or pressure associated with moderate exercise as prodromal symptoms weeks before the heart attack.
3) Chest Burning
A burning sensation in the chest is another prodromal sign that is frequently misdiagnosed as peptic ulcer, gastritis, or gastrointestinal reflü disorders. While symptoms that occur after a spicy meal and are not associated with any exertion are most likely of gastrointestinal origin, symptoms associated with exertion are most likely of cardiovascular origin. Increasing awareness about your body and its signs and symptoms can help you distinguish these two types of chest burn.
4) Shortness of Breath
Shortness of breath is the most common symptom of all heart disease including heart attack. Heart attack patients usually experience a decrease in their exercise capacity weeks before the incident. This is because the blood vessels of the heart can supply enough blood at rest, but during exercise the increased demand of the heart is not met by the diseased coronary arteries.
5) Palpitations
In a study, 42% of heart attack patients had palpitations weeks before the incident. An ischaemic heart has the potential to develop all kinds of arrhythmia including fatal ones. The most common palpitations are- sinus tachycardia, premature ventricular complexes, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular runs. Patients with depressed heart function have to increase their heart rate to maintain normal cardiac output. Also, heart muscle without enough blood supply is the substrate for the origin of arrhythmias.
6) Bradycardia and Lightheadedness
Heart attack patients may experience episodes of bradycardia or lightheadedness. Ischaemia in the pacemaker cells and conducting system of the heart because of coronary vessel occlusion can cause bradycardia, fascicular block and atrioventricular blocks leading to fatigue and lightheadedness.
7) Fatigue
Fatigue is a sign of extensive heart vessel problems leading to a decrease in heart function measured by ejection fraction. When the ejection fraction of the heart decreases fatigue starts with ordinary exercise or activities. Moreover, patients with an ejection fraction below 45% may experience fatigue even at rest.
8) Swelling of Extremities
Swelling of extremities is a sign of heart failure. When your heart cannot pump enough blood to your body ( either because of heart muscle weakness or stiffness) then it is called heart failure. Every heart disease has the potential to end as heart failure. Heart attack patients may experience symptoms of swelling in their extremities months before the major heart attack. These are the patients having extensive coronary artery disease and require multivessel intervention or surgery.
9) Low blood Pressure During Exercise
Usually, systolic blood pressure increases and diastolic blood pressure decreases and pulse pressure increases during exercise. However, Patients with decreased heart function or heart failure because of extensive coronary artery diseases cannot increase their blood pressure during exercise. This leads to a decrease in exercise capacity, lightheadedness or even fainting during exercise.
10) Syncope During Exercise
Syncope or fainting during exercise may be caused because of heart failure as explained earlier or due to some malign arrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. This is also seen in patients with extensive coronary artery disease.
Conclusion
Heart attacks often come with early warning signs that should never be ignored. Recognizing these above mentioned heart attack early warnings can be lifesaving. If you or your loved ones experience any of these warning signs, don’t wait. Immediate medical attention can make all the difference.
Facing heart issues or have concerns about your heart health? Schedule an online consultation with Dr. Ashok Paudel, the best heart doctor in Turkey with 13+ years of experience and take the first step toward a healthier heart.
Related Blog Post: Read More About Heart Attack
FAQs on Heart Attack
Are there warning signs weeks before a heart attack?
Heart disease patients may have prodromal signs weeks or sometimes months before having a massive heart attack. These symptoms are called prodromal symptoms and are similar to the symptoms that occur during a heart attack. The main signs and symptoms include- chest pain, chest heaviness, chest burning, fatigue and dyspnea, arrhythmias, signs of heart failure and sometimes syncope or fainting.
What are the most common heart attack early warning signs for men and women?
The common heart attack early warning signs for men and women are:
- Chest Pain
- Chest Tightness and Heaviness
- Chest Burning
- Shortness of Breath
- Palpitations
- Bradycardia and Lightheadedness
- Fatigue
- Swelling of Extremities
- Low blood Pressure During Exercise
How do you reduce the chances of a heart attack?
Awareness about your body and education about the nature of a heart attack and its symptoms is the key to noticing early signs of a heart attack and reducing the chance of having a massive heart attack.
How do you feel after a mild heart attack?
After a heart attack patients usually experience emotions like anger, guilt, denial of problems, fear, loneliness, loss of identity, inferiority complex, withdrawal from people, regular activities and hobbies. They develop cardiac anxiety and fear of future heart attacks and death. The incidence is even higher in well-educated patients.
How can I test myself for a heart attack?
Many people occasionally have symptoms of a heart attack like chest pain and chest burning. These symptoms may also be caused by many other diseases like gastrointestinal reflux disease, peptic ulcer, esophageal spasm, costochondritis, lung diseases and the list goes on. A simple and effective way to test whether these symptoms are related to your heart or not is by finding their correlation with your physical movement or exercise. During physical exercise, the heart beats faster and demands more oxygen. If the problem is heart related then the pain or burning gets worse.
What should you never do during a heart attack?
These are the things that you should not do during the time of a heart attack.
- Do not hesitate to inform relatives and call an ambulance.
- Do not neglect the signs and wait for the symptoms to go away without taking any precautions.
- Do not exercise to relieve pain.
- Do not take any other medicine except aspirin 300 mg.
What does cardiac anxiety feel like?
After surviving a heart attack or major heart problem if a patient has disproportionate worries affecting daily life then it is called cardiac anxiety. I had patients who, after having a major heart attack, isolated themselves in their house. They have signs of hidden depression like:
- Being irritable and angry.
- Losing interest in pleasurable activities like sex, hobbies etc.
- Using excessive alcohol and cigarettes.
- Isolating themselves from social circles.
- Over Research on the internet and worries about future heart attacks.
How long does your body warn you before a heart attack?
Our body starts to warn once the blood vessels of our heart get 70% or more blocked. People with stable blockade usually have mild symptoms for more than a month. When the problem is severe the symptoms get worse and the patient should seek professional help immediately.
- Patients with good collateral circulation( new vessels that the patient has developed over time to protect the heart- an adaptive feature), may not have any symptoms at rest and in regular exercise.
- Normally patients with above 70% blockade are good at rest but feel chest pain at exertion( climbing stairs, running etc) that is relieved by rest. With time, either the patient develops collateral blood vessels and the pain goes away, or the blockade gets even narrower and the symptoms may get worse.
- If the patient feels chest pain even at rest then it means this patient does not have any reserve. These patients should be intervened immediately. Otherwise, a massive heart attack is inevitable.
How do I know if I’m on the verge of a heart attack?
You will have moderate or severe symptoms of chest pain, tightness, heaviness even at mild or ordinary exercise. Also, the mild symptoms that you have had for months, may get moderate to severe even at ordinary exercise. When the symptoms are progressing, it is a sign of an impending heart attack.
Can ECG detect heart attack?
ECG is the number one test to detect a heart attack. Moreover, a massive heart attack is diagnosed only by symptoms and ECG, not by blood tests. An ECG should be taken within 10 minutes after a patient arrives with a symptom of a heart attack. Waiting for blood test results means waiting for more than one hour, which will cause more damage to heart tissue and sometimes fatal arrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation while waiting. Every physician should know how to read a heart attack ECG and the basic management of heart attack before transferring them to a catheter laboratory for intervention.
What happens to your body 1 month before a heart attack?
Our body starts to warn once the blood vessels of our heart get 70% or more blocked. People with stable blockade usually have mild symptoms for more than a month. When the problem is severe the symptoms get worse and the patient should seek professional help immediately. Inflammatory biomarkers like high sensitive CRP, myeloperoxidase (MPO), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and many other cytokines may be detected in the blood a month before the heart attack. However, their use in clinical practice has not been proven yet.