Most people mistake that a heart attack is always accompanied by severe chest pain.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States (US). As indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 80 percent of deaths cardiovascular because of heart attack and stroke, with one third of these deaths occurring prematurely in patients 70 years of age or younger.
Therefore, recognizing the signs of a heart attack (especially the more subtle ones) is one of the best ways to prevent heart trouble sudden and life-threatening. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about half of Americans are believed to be at high risk of having a heart attack. That’s because half of all Americans have at least one of the three major risk factors heart disease namely high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking.
Other factors can also increase this risk, including the presence of other underlying health conditions, certain lifestyle factors, advanced age, and a family history of heart problems. All of them are linked to higher heart attack rates.
“Some risk factors cannot be controlled, such as age or family history. But you can take steps to lower your risk by changing the factors you can control,” the CDC says.
This includes quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, maintaining an ideal body weight, and treating underlying health conditions. Many people believe that they will recognize the signs of a heart attack if it happens to them.
But a cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, Richard Wright, warns that the most well-known symptoms of a heart attack are not necessarily the most common. “Most people mistakenly believe that a heart attack is always accompanied by… chest pain severe. This is not true,” he said, quoted from Best LifeSaturday (6/8/2022).
Instead, he says, many people experience a more subtle sensation of discomfort, which is often overlooked. “While it’s possible to experience severe chest pain during a heart injury, most of the signs and symptoms are more subtle,” he says.
“Typically, people describe a feeling of pressing discomfort and a heavy feeling they don’t call ‘pain’, most often located in the center of the chest,” he said.
According to the CDC’s records, some patients may describe this sensation as one of pressure, squeezing, or fullness. Wright says this discomfort can also appear in other areas of the body above the waist, including the left side of the chest, neck and throat, lower jaw, either shoulder, and/or upper arm (most commonly the left arm). “This feeling can last for several minutes without interruption, or stop and start,” he says.
He said some of the other symptoms of a heart attack are also non-specific, and therefore easy to ignore. “These include cold sweats, nausea, indigestion, heartburn, belching, ‘feeling bad,’ and/or shortness of breath,” she says.
Cardiologists note that this type of symptom is much more common in older people, especially in older women. Because they usually don’t have a heart attack until 10 years after most men have a heart attack. Often women feel their heart attacks are different than men. Most of the time this has to do with the fact that they were older at the time of the incident.
If you think you’re having a heart attack, don’t ignore your worries. It’s important to seek medical advice so that your doctor can help assess your condition.
“There’s no simple way for someone to determine for themselves whether or not they’re having a heart attack if they have certain signs or symptoms,” Wright said.
If a person is concerned that they may be suffering from a heart attack, it is necessary to immediately contact their medical professional, go to the emergency room, or call for paramedic assistance.
