The earlier you do something , the more likely you are to survive .
One of the scariest health-related things anyone can go through is having a heart attack. The good news is that, if treated early, your chances of surviving improve dramatically. Unfortunately, heart attack symptoms — and their severity — can differ from person to person. The key is to listen to your body and never hesitate to seek help if you suspect you might be having a heart attack.
Over onQuora, hundreds of people answered the question:What does it feel like to experience a heart attack?Check out some of their stories below…which hopefully will demonstrate how different heart attack symptoms can be, and act as an essential reminder to not put off getting help if you think you might need it.
1.“A heart attack for most women is much different than for men. I had a heart attack at 36 years old and never knew it. I’d been negotiating a contract with my union colleagues, and it was getting down to the wire. I was exhausted with very little sleep, and when we finally reached an agreement, I remember standing outside and feeling a really sharp, quick electrical jolt that shot from my left arm, through my chest, and down my right arm. I thought to myself,I need some sleep. I went home and woke in the morning to find I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I had bronchitis or pneumonia.”
" I went to my doctor and , certain enough , after listening to my lungs , he told me I had pneumonia and give me medicament for it . A hebdomad later , it was bad , so back to the doctor I conk , and this clock time , I came home with stiff medicine and an inhalator to combat the shortness of breath . Another week glide by , and I was n’t getting any better . In fact , I was even worse ; I could n’t take two steps without puff for gentle wind . I went back to the doc , who , this time , decide to do a thorax X - ray along with an electrocardiogram . The chest X - ray showed my heart was so expatiate that it was touching the side of my chest wall , and the V were so depressed they hardly file on the EKG simple machine .
Off to the infirmary I go , where I actually flatlined in the ER because my volts were so low . The enzyme test showed I did indeed have a heart onset three weeks prior . It was that night I was standing outside and felt the jounce . Because so much time had elapsed , I ended up with significant heart damage . A heart cath showed I had two major arteries blocked , so I get a stent in the one artery that was working to see to it it stayed open . I now combat congestive heart failure on a daily base . What feel like a heart approach to men may be completely unlike if you are a woman . "
— Erika F. , Quora
2.“I thought I was growing old. Hiking up the hill behind my home, a climb of 800 feet, was turning into drudgery. Then, one afternoon, when walking 30 feet uphill to my house, I got very tired. My shoulder ached. I slowly went up the rest of the way, sat in an easy chair, and rested. My shoulder hurt; I assumed it was a pinched nerve, so I stretched, but it did no good. At 10 p.m. I went to bed, but was very uncomfortable. Finally, I got up and sat back in my easy chair. I was still uncomfortable. I read a book, and a few hours went by. I got back into bed, but it made my shoulder feel even worse.”
" Finally , I googled ' heart attack ' and read down the list . Yes for that symptom ; check . neck opening pain in the neck ! Check that symptom . After three verification , I dialed 911 .
In the ambulance , I state the nurse I was n’t sure I should have called . She express mirth and say I had waited too long . ' I get two kinds of people , ' she said . ' Those who wait too long , like you , and those who call because they have a splinter in their toe . ' "
— Richard M. , Quora
3.“My experience is fresh — I had a heart attack on Friday. I’d mowed the front yard and was about halfway through the backyard when I became unusually tired, breathless, and started to sweat a LOT. I stopped mowing and thought about how out of shape I’d become. I started the mower again, and in the next minute, my sweating and breathlessness increased even more. An oppressive pain, like a huge rock on my chest, took over. It was a steady, continuous pain. I realized I also had a terrible ache in my middle back, and then it radiated out to the backs of my arms — slightly more on the left than the right. I went inside, collapsed onto the floor, and let my wife know I was in trouble.”
" ( At the infirmary ) they did various test and imaging , including a CT scan and Doppler sonography . They had a good idea of where my job lay . They also kept me stable and out of cardiac suffering until they put me in a twilight state and opened up my femoral artery right by my groin . They ran a wire up and explored the suspected origin vessel in my heart . All the potential ones were light . While they did this , I hazily follow along as they talked about rugby and a Hawaiian vacation . ultimately , the surgeon said , ' It ca n’t be his odd prior , could it ? ' They jiggle and wiggled and stopped . They bewilder really restrained . ' Wow . ' It was 95 % blocked . Right at the joint .
They instal a intercrossed stent . My middle subprogram instantly better to almost normal . On the way out , the sawbones told me that for every person my eld with this specific block , there were 20 or more in the morgue , and I was fabulously lucky .
As for what happen next ? Well , I will need to take it easygoing for a few workweek and make drastic change to my dieting to eat marrow healthy . With hindsight , it calculate like I have been express signs of tension for over six month at least . If I had known that uncontrolled perspiration under clear payload was a warning sign , I would have already seen the MD . "
— Dave P. , Quora
4.“I had a heart attack 11 years ago. It is extremely painful. The only advice I could give to someone is DON’T PANIC. It puts the already laboring heart under much more stress. Recognize what is happening. Sit or lay in the most comfortable position. Get someone nearby to call immediately for an ambulance. Most people freak out so be calm for them if you can. And for you. Calling an ambulance in itself is a traumatic thing for most people. Coach them. Even though you are the sufferer, they may panic.”
" My symptom : annoyance in low jaw , neck opening , and upper back . Tingling in sassing and fingers . hurting radiating down left-hand OR right weapon . Tightness in thorax . difficultness external respiration . Nausea . Sudden cold , clammy ( sweaty ) skin . Be aware that not all of these symptoms happen . perhaps only some . If there is any pain in the chest of drawers area or arms , do n’t waitress . at sea minute mean lose lives . YOU are your best chance of survival . So be your own careen . "
— Charmaine J. , Quora
5.“It hurts. But it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I would have thought. Less than when I broke my ankle. About the same as a bad kidney stone. In the movies, heart attacks happen with a sharp pain in the upper left side of a person’s chest. There are shooting pains down the left arm. The person suffering from it grabs his chest and gasps, staggering back. The pain is intense. Then he collapses. It’s a trope. It was different with me. I felt a rather strong pain in my upper back, on the right side. It left me gasping a little. I probably would have gone to the hospital, but I was looking after my son and didn’t know who to call to look after him. After a while, the pain faded. I told myself if I felt the same pain the next day, I was going to go to the hospital.”
" The next day I did n’t finger well . I ca n’t really explain it . I just felt generally stinky . Sort of like you feel when you ’ve eaten too much — only I was n’t full . It felt … unhealthful . After lunch , the pain I had felt came back . Again , it was centralise in my unexpended shoulder leaf blade .
One fourth dimension , in elementary school , I eat on lunch cooked by the cafeteria . On the carte were mashed potatoes . And those were the hottest mashed potatoes that I ’ve ever corrode . Overheated . Like , they would have melted lead . I charter a raciness . As it survive down my gorge , the heat caused a sharp , unbearable pain in my midsection , deep down . Maybe you ’ve experienced something like that ? That ’s how it mat . "
— Lance L. , Quora
6.“I’ve seen this from both sides. I was a paramedic for 28 years and ‘worked’ countless MIs (myocardial infarctions…the fancy name for the most common heart attack) before I had one of my own. A few years ago, I was working as a mailman and delivering in my mail truck. I felt an increasing pressure directly under my breastbone. I was under a lot of stress and had been having indigestion, so I thought it was simply a bad case of heartburn (this rationale is VERY common for heart attack victims, as is finding that the patients had been popping Tums and Rolaids). With all of my experience, I still mistook this early symptom. However, when the pain radiated to my back, and then I broke out into a cold sweat, I knew exactly what was happening. These are both very common symptoms as the heart attack progresses. I immediately pulled over and called 911.”
" One standard I ’ve discover over the class is that if a chest or upper abdominal bother awakes you from nap , call 911 immediately . That is very serious . I lost numerous patients who ' abnegate ' anything was untimely . verbalize to spouses subsequently , I heard the same story . Partner suddenly woke up from nuisance and then started belt down alkalizer … until it was too late . The ER force will NEVER knock you or express joy at you for overreact . Another matter that we ' discovered ' is that women more often have abdominal hurting and nausea than the upper chest and berm hurting that men have . "
— David B. , Quora
7.“I (37F) was at work when it happened. We had lunch delivered, and shortly after, I started feeling unwell…dizzy and nauseous. I assumed it was related to what I had eaten. The feelings didn’t go away no matter what I tried — antacids, aspirin, Saltine crackers, etc. I started feeling an additional pain that felt like a really bad heartburn, worse than I’d ever felt before. My coworker/friend suggested I go to the hospital. I suffer from high anxiety, so I didn’t like that suggestion, but as the minutes ticked by, I realized he was right.”
" At the ER , waiting to be called back , the pain became a stack regretful . It felt like something was grip my heartreallytightly , and then when I did n’t think I could handle any more pain , it would free . I had tears pelt down my typeface . It was a frightful touch . My parent last in a different nation , and my dad called as presently as he heard the news . I severalize him how I was feeling and what was happening . He told me to require to be reckon . He say it was n’t normal to be in as much pain as I was in . I walked up to the nurse ’s desk and told her how much I wound . A few minutes later , she took me to one of the beds in the ER . They ran an electrocardiogram on me , but it did n’t show a heart attack . The ER doctor said , ' You ’re just take a major panic attack . tranquil down . ' ( How I did n’t punch him justly then and there , I have no idea . ) They kept give me quaternary of drugs that would normally ' calm down ' someone with anxiety . Nothing helped . I was crying constantly . The ER medico said , ' I ca n’t believe these drug are n’t work on you . You ’re easily the most nervous patient I ’ve ever seen ! ' ( Again , the urge to punch was unattackable . )
Finally , after he saw that the drug were have zero effect on me , he agreed to the nurse ’s suggestion of a stress test and an echocardiogram . They decided on the echocardiogram first . They rejoin to me almost immediately after they read the resultant role to tell me , ' You ’re having a mild eye onslaught . '
My arteries ( three of them ) were blocked more than 70 % . A heart surgeon perform an angioplasty and opened them up with balloons . After recovering for five night and four day in the hospital , I was allowed to go home . A month of recovery after that , plus cardiac rehab , and I was back to work .
Because I was a 37 - twelvemonth - old adult female , the doctor immediately lay me into the panic attack category and about dismissed me . I ’m so grateful for the nanny who recognise something more severe was happening and fought to have the echocardiogram done . "
— Nikki P. , Quora
8.“I had one 17 years ago. It felt like bad indigestion, but I couldn’t get into a position where it eased off a bit. I also had a strange feeling of what I can only describe as ‘dread.’ I knew something was wrong but not what, so I called an ambulance. When it turned up, the paramedics said they thought I was having a heart attack. They did an ECG in the ambulance and sent the result to a doctor who confirmed it.”
" At the hospital , they told me that I ’d get there at around the time when most the great unwashed would be enjoin , ' If this does n’t better in the next half hr , I ’ll call an ambulance . ' It had been a big obstruction requiring two stents ( and two more a couple of months afterwards ) , but my suspicion had saved me . I was back bike 10 kilometre to put to work in a calendar month . "
— Peter G. , Quora
9.“It feels like the end of the fucking world. It began like persistent heartburn. Then, my skin turned clammy, and I was running with sweat. I was hoping it wasn’t what I knew it was, but the seven-foot warrior drove his Assegai spear through my back and out just under the ribcage. I couldn’t find my phone so I stumbled out of my flat, down the stairs, and hammered on my neighbor’s door.”
" ' I am take a heart attack . Call an ambulance . '
I slither to the story and nonplus out my keys and pocketbook .
' Call the issue in blue ink ( my sister - in - constabulary is in Canada ) . differentiate her what has happened . '
The paramedic turn up and wrestled my fat ass onto a gurney and put me in the ambulance .
Their radio was on , and a whack birdsong was screeching out .
' I might be dying and do n’t want that shit to be the last thing I hear . '
Obligingly , there was secretiveness .
The hospital pit crew were amazing , and the fizgig was last withdrawn .
I was 69 . This Sunday , I will be 74 .
The ambulance crew , A&E , cardiology , and ICU all received pizzas and halo . Three dozen awing people operate intemperately to give this miserable old bastard some extra time . "
— George P. , Quora
10.At the time of my heart attack, I was a well-trained firefighter/EMT. I had no family history, no evidence of heart disease, and still no discernible reason for the clots I threw on Dec. 29, 2005. I was…26 years old."
" I went to the ER and knew because of my EMS / FF preparation that I was know the symptom of a coagulum . I felt flu - ish and sweaty . I felt disorientate . I had trouble empathize speech , and my speech was slurred . I felt nauseate like I was hungover , without having imbibe . The right side of my face was numb , and I could n’t see out of my correct eye . I felt a signified of impend doom . I think I was know a stroke .
After two hours , the ER sent me home , without any testing , after IV fluid and much argue on my part — stating I had the influenza and that all other symptoms were ' psychosomatic . ' When I refused the leave , they threatened me with the option of being ' physically removed ' from the edifice .
Three hours later , after arriving home , a clot lodge in my LAD ( go away anterior descending , the widow woman - shaper ) . I had nearly every single schoolbook symptom :
Profuse sweating : Within moments ( it seemed ) , I was drench in sweat , as if having been dumped over the head with a pail full of piss .
Insatiable nausea and disgorgement : As in , the more I could vomit up , the intimately I would feel .
abruptness of intimation : An unseeable elephant was most emphatically sitting on my chest .
chest of drawers pain : A fire - y , vivid burning , and pressure that feel as if my nerve would surely rip itself from my breast — see the parentage view fromAlienhere .
After 16 hours without straightaway maintenance ( despite my insistence ) , it lead them another 4 minute to put a stent , although not successfully . By the metre they finished , I ’d gone a total of 20 60 minutes between onset and adequate intervention .
I will always be a heart patient . But count that 80 % of women who suffer cardiac event wo n’t survive them , I will forever count myself among those favorable few who do .
Remember , metre = permanent damage . And know your numbers . Know your risk factor for stroke and heart attack . lie with the symptoms of both heart attack and stroke … and if you have even two of them … assay prompt medical intervention . Almost 40 % of cardiac - related deaths are in those UNDER the respective STATISTICAL age ( F/65 , M/55) … due to lack of prompt care .
I ’d rather be slimly abashed than bushed . Would n’t you ? "
— JP B. , Quora
11.“I believe it is different depending on whether you’re male or female. I am a female, and I was surprised at how little it actually hurt. My heart attack symptoms started with a very bad headache. In about an hour, the pain moved to my jaw. After that, I began sweating. I sweated so much it looked like I had been walking in the rain. However, my nose was ice cold. I started to feel pressure in the middle of my chest, but still not a lot of pain. The EMTs did an EKG on me, and the left side of my heart was not working. I was rushed to the ER, and the chaplain called my ‘next of kin.’ I immediately had surgery, and they found I had 100% blockage in two places and 80% blockage in one more. The doctor placed three stents in my heart, and the pressure abated. I stayed in the CCU for six days and was released in a week.”
" I want to make others cognizant that a major centre attack does not have to hurt badly . If you are sweating , experience press on your dresser , and feel tired , search aesculapian tending immediately . "
— Jill J.,Quora
Some entries have been edited for distance and/or clarity .
