Heart Attack Symptoms|Heart Attack Signs.

Not all patients of heart attack or myocardial infarction experience symptoms of heart attack.  About 20% of patients who have a heart attack do not present any symptoms. Such a heart attack is called a silent heart attack or a silent infarct.

In such cases,  the heart attack is noticed later by the Physician when the patient undergoes an ECG or some such test, and the changes of an old Myocardial infarct are seen on the ECG. In diabetes, this incidence is higher.

It is vital that you seek medical aid within that first hour of experiencing these symptoms of heart attack. This vastly improves your chances of recovery. Know, therefore, the symptoms of heart attack.

Symptoms of Heart Attack|Signs of Heart Attack.

Men and women, while experiencing a heart attack  may present with the following heart attack symptoms. Symptoms of heart attack in men are typically explained below while symptoms of heart attack in women, though being similar may present with certain differences as explained further below.

1. Pain in the chest.

Sometimes there may be no chest pain. But, typically chest painis the presenting symptom of a heart attack. There may be variations in the type of pain experienced:

  • There may just be discomfort in the chest.
  • Fullness in the chest.
  • Squeezing sensation in the chest.
  • A sort of heavy pressure on the chest

This may last for more than a few minutes.

2. Radiating Chest Pain.

This chest pain may radiate to  the back or the shoulders and arms or the neck and the jaw. This radiated pain may be felt in both the upper extremities, but more often than not on the left side.

3. Sweating in heart attack.

4. Cold clammy skin.

5. Shortness of breath

6. Nausea and at times vomiting

7. Burning in the chest

8. Abdominal Discomfort.

9. An unexplained feeling of fatigue.

10. The patient experiences a feeling  of anxiety.

Image showing symptoms of heart attack.

attack symptoms1 Symptoms of a Heart Attack.

Signs of Heart Attack.

Sometimes,  early warning signs of heart attack may occur before the onset of a heart attack. They are illustrated below:

Image showing early heart attack symptoms.

attack symptoms 2 Symptoms of a Heart Attack.

Symptoms of Heart Attack In Women.

Heart Attack Symptoms as explained, do vary from person to person and also in men and women. For example results of studies conducted show that only 1/3rd of the women complained of chest pain and less than half did not have chest pain during the heart attack. Women may experience a mild to moderate pain at the back between the shoulder blades. Or there may be no pain and the heart attack symptoms in women may present as only sleep disturbances, or an unusual feeling of fatigue and/or shortness of breadth.


A Must Do: Any resemblance to the  above  symptoms of heart attack to yourself or any person with you, should not be ignored, as timely medical help can make the difference between life and death and morbidity after recovery.

Optimized Call to action logo Symptoms of a Heart Attack.

Your action step.

If you feel this article could be useful, do share it on social media and pass a comment below.

Medic On Web

Related posts:

  1. Heart Attack|Myocardial Infarction.
  2. How to Prevent a Heart Attack.
  3. Treatment of Heart Attack.
  4. Complications of Heart Attack.
  5. What Causes a Heart Attack.
  6. Life after a Heart Attack.
  7. Risk factors contributing to a Heart Attack.
  8. Heart Murmur Grades, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment.