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Heart Attack Signs in Women

It's not widely understood that heart attack signs in women can differ significantly from those in men. Heart attack symptoms in women may include:

  • Shortness of breath
  • Weakness
  • Unusual fatigue
  • Cold sweat
  • Dizziness
  • Chest pain, back pain and/or deep aching and throbbing in one or both arms
  • Anxiety--unusual nervousness, feelings of impending doom
  • Fluid retention and swelling usually of the ankles or lower legs
  • Fluttering--rapid heartbeats, palpitations
  • Nausea
  • Feeling of heaviness, chest pain between the breasts that may radiate to the left arm or shoulder

    Often, heart disease women report no chest pain or chest discomfort prior to their attacks.

    Interestingly too, there are often heart attack signs in women approximately one month before the actual heart attack. Those prior symptoms include:

  • Unusual fatigue
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Shortness of breath
  • Indigestion
  • Anxiety

    If you experience any of these women heart attack symptoms, get medical assistance. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women and that is often because they hesitate to call an ambulance. Even if you get it wrong, no one has ever died from embarrassment.

    Lack of oxygen rich blood in certain areas of the heart muscle leads to discomfort or chest pain. The accompanying feelings of squeezing, tightness, burning or pressure in the chest is called Angina, a symptom of coronary artery disease.

    This type of heart disease is most common. The pain can be experienced in jaw, neck, arm, shoulders or back and is often mistaken for indigestion.

    There are three types of Angina; stable, unstable and variant.

    In the stable kind, the pain lasts for five minutes and can be eased with rest or medication.

    The unstable kind is a surprise attack of pain occurring at night when sleeping and lasts for as long as 30 minutes; it is severe with no relief by medication or rest. In fact, it keeps getting worse indicating the onset of a heart attack.

    Variant angina also occurs while the body is in a state of rest but can happen in either the night or early morning hours. Though the pain is severe, it can be eased with medication.

    If there is a family history of heart attack, you can save yourself by adopting simple steps to change your lifestyle. Exercise, diet and moderation in drinking is a start. It goes without saying that if you are a smoker, quitting is the most helpful thing you can do immediately to improve your health.

    Millions of people have done it. You can too. Talk to your doctor about some of the remedies available today.

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