Could You Describe a Heart Attack?

[Raistlin]

hmmmm ok, so that's probably not exactly what I mean.

Please could someone try to describe for me (and I know that this might be tough/difficult, but.....), preferably from your own experience, the sorts of pains/discomfort that you get in your chest or wherever when you're experiencing heart problems (either angina, or a heart attack).

If you could relate it to something that somebody else might have knowledge/experience of then that would be useful. By that I mean, if you were able to say "it's the sort of feeling you get when....." then that would really help.

Thanks

[Russ]

My mother has had a few of both (the grim reaper must get pretty annoyed every time he sees her name on his list) and she said it starts off with very sharp shooting pains on the left of the chest which drift off to the shoulder then down the arm, followed by what feels like someone standing on her chest. Suddenly you get VERY warm and breathing becomes shallow then difficult.

[Raistlin]

Thanks Russ, much appreciated.

[superbiatch]

I think the symptoms can be different between women and men IIRC.

[Gary L]

There's a few descriptions on Google.
it's got me worried now from reading some of them. I get a pain (more discomfort than pain) what feels like it's inside of me and stems out towards my back.

[Raistlin]

Yep.....the Internet is a wonderful thing isn't it.

TBH, reading through some of the descriptions of different illnesses that get thrown up by Google is enough to make anybody ill (or at least, to make them think that they're ill ).

---------- Post added at 15:03 ---------- Previous post was at 15:02 ----------

Originally Posted by superbiatch

I think the symptoms can be different between women and men IIRC.

I think that women have some 'atypical' symptoms that Men don't get, but that the general symptoms are more or less the same. Maybe....

[EBO48]

i woke early hours with what i can only describe as severe indigestion went back to sleep woke later with not so bad indigestion as the day wore on just felt really tired and very hot and sweaty then arm aswell started to feel"dead"

[Taf]

Look up "referred pain"

[alferret]

My late mother had 8 heart attacks in total over 10 years, IIRC all had different symptoms.

The pain in the arm is as Taf mentions "referred" as the pain nerves for the heart and upper arm are quite close to each other (or something like that) or the receptors in the brain.

Contrary to belief your heart doesn't stop when you've had a heart attack, part of it can't function right due to the lack of blood. I didn't know this till the other week when we went on a First Aid refresher course.

Some Myocardial Infarctions can be totally symptomless

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by zing

Some Myocardial Infarctions can be totally symptomless

If we're going to get technical. don't forget Ventricular Fibrillations