For heart attacks and women, does heartburn start off mild and comes and goes, or is it strong and sudden?
Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at
5:04 am
Some women don’t get heartburn when it comes to heart attacks. I’m talking about the ones that do.
Filed under: Heartburn Questions
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Common signs and symptoms of a heart attack include:
Pressure, fullness or a squeezing pain in the center of your chest that lasts for more than a few minutes
Pain extending beyond your chest to your shoulder, arm, back, or even to your teeth and jaw
Increasing episodes of chest pain
Prolonged pain in the upper abdomen
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Impending sense of doom
Fainting
Nausea and vomiting
Signs and symptoms of a heart attack in women may be different or less noticeable than heart attack symptoms in men. In addition to the symptoms above, heart attack symptoms in women can include:
Abdominal pain or "heartburn"
Clammy skin
Lightheadedness or dizziness
Unusual or unexplained fatigue
Not all people who have heart attacks experience the same ones or experience them to the same degree. Many heart attacks aren’t as dramatic as the ones you’ve seen on TV. Some people have no symptoms at all. Still, the more signs and symptoms you have, the greater the likelihood that you may be having a heart attack.
A heart attack can occur anytime — at work or play, while you’re resting, or while you’re in motion. Some heart attacks strike suddenly, but many people who experience a heart attack have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. The earliest predictor of an attack may be recurrent chest pain (angina) that’s triggered by exertion and relieved by rest. Angina is caused by temporary, insufficient blood flow to the heart, also known as "cardiac ischemia."