Heart disease causes more deaths than any other illness, so it is no surprise that so many people are afraid of it. This is also the reason that doctors will get so many calls about heart attacks. Someone feels any kind of a pain in their chest and their instant fear is that they are suffering from a heart attack. Thus, they run straight for the phone and dial 911, often only to find that they were suffering from something much milder.
So, what should you do? Do you ignore these symptoms and hope they pass? Doing so could potentially mean that you don’t get the help you need and that in turn could be a fatal mistake. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
But likewise, it’s not good to constantly worry about the doctor who could be dealing with genuine problems. That and you can end up causing yourself a lot of unnecessary panic and distress if you mistake symptoms of indigestion, or of a panic attack for a heart attack.
With all that in mind, it can certainly help to know of the most common symptoms of heart attacks. That way, you can get a better idea of whether it’s really a heart attack you’re experiencing or whether it’s something less serious. Moreover, knowing how to spot the signs of a heart attack will help you to spot symptoms that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. There are many symptoms of a heart attack that are a little less dramatic and learning to identify these could save your life.
So with that in mind, here are 16 of the most common symptoms of a heart attack.
1. Chest Pain
One of the most obvious signs of a heart attack is of course chest pain. After all, your heart is located in your chest and so it follows that you would feel pain in that area.
This is also a symptom of indigestion of course, but the type of pain is notably different. In indigestion, you will feel a burning sensation in the chest. This is often described as feeling like a lump in the throat and it might also be felt in your back.
With a heart attack, however, the pain tends to be more of a ‘dull ache’ and this can feel like a gentle pressure on the stomach. Some people describe it as being akin to having someone sit on their chest.
