4 Heart Attack Symptoms in Women You Shouldn't Ignore

Knowing what the most common heart attack symptoms in women are can prevent a tragedy.

Heart disease is one of the most common afflictions that claims hundreds of lives around the world on a daily basis. Knowing how to identify the most common heart attack symptoms in women may actually help get prompt medical attention, and actually save a life.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every 40 seconds someone in the United States suffers from a heart attack. The statistics are extremely frightening, and knowing what are the heart attack symptoms warning sings provides a better chance of survival.

Although not everyone without medical training knows this, it is actually possible to suffer a heart attack and not even realize it. The danger lays in the aftermath of such attack and how dangerous it can be.

Women and men are equally prone to suffering from an attack, however, the signs of a heart attack in women are particularly different than from those in men, just like adults’ symptoms are different from those on younger patients.

Heart attack symptoms in women may even be confused with something like a strong episode of the flu, because the experience is not necessarily extreme.

The most common signs of a heart attack in women include:

Unusual Fatigue: feeling tired may be a normal situation for women who have an active lifestyle, a packed schedule or that don’t have a lot of time to get a lot of rest. Nonetheless, feeling suddenly worn out after a common work out, a simple activity like making the bed or going up the stairs needs special attention.
Neck and/or Jaw Pain: when there are signs of trouble with your heart, the nerves around that area of your body and bound to react. Experiencing a discomfort in the neck and/or the jaw that grows and becomes more painful must be addressed appropriately in the shortest amount of time possible.
Heavy Cold Sweats: episodes of cold sweats or hot flashes are heart attack symptoms warning signs that women can experience even when they are nowhere close to having their menopause. This need to be treated as soon as possible.
Shortness of Breath: if you suddenly experience shortness of breath without a real cause, and a breathlessness that seems to get worse when the minutes pass or when you lay down, is a clear sign that something is happening with the heart.

In addition to these complex symptoms, women may also experience well-known sensations such as:

Chest pain
Stomach pain
Nausea
Dizziness
Pain in the arms
Paleness
Tightness or pressure on the torso
Pressure in the upper back
Feelings of heartburn
Confusion (especially in senior ladies)
Brief loss of consciousness

As important as it is to be able to identify these heart attack symptoms warning signs, it is also important to seek immediate help as soon as you start feeling ill or unwell, and you have the suspicion it may be a heart attack.

While the signs of a heart attack in women are slightly different from those in men, certain feelings such as chest pain or pressure, sudden shortness of breath and heavy sweats can apply to both and require prompt medical attention.

There are certain characteristics that may put someone at a higher risk of suffering from a heart attack, such as suffering from hypertension, smoking, having diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, lack of exercises or extreme inactivity, and having a family history of heart disease.

While heart disease is preventable, by having regular check-ups with your physician and modifying your lifestyle, suffering a heart attack will require immediate medical attention wherever you are.

If you – or someone you love – is experiencing some of the most common heart attack symptoms in women, and they seem to worsen as the minutes pass, please call 911 immediately to get help right away.