Would you recognise the symptoms of a heart attack?

Heart attacks are one of the leading causes of death in western nations (along with cancer); we hear about heart attacks in the media regularly but do you actually know the symptoms? Most people think of chest pain when they think of heart attacks, but there is a lot more to the story. Most people experience other symptoms before they get any chest pain, and some people don’t get chest pain at all. Furthermore, the symptoms of a heart attack are usually quite different between men and women.


We’ll start with the symptoms of a heart attack in men. The vast majority of men experience chest pain and a heart burn sensation in their chest, along with shortness of breath. However, they may have experienced the following symptoms one or two days before the heart attack:

--Extreme fatigue. The type of fatigue where you think you are coming down with the flu.
--Feeling lightheaded.
--Being in a very bad mood.
--Nausea, which may or may not lead to vomiting.
--An infection like the flu or a bad cold sometimes precedes a heart attack. If you are at the tail end of such an infection, you are at higher risk of having a heart attack (provided you also have other risk factors).
--Pain in the neck or upper arm. This type of pain is often mistaken for a muscle strain.

Some people get such mild symptoms, they had no idea they actually had a heart attack.

Symptoms of a heart attack in women

Studies have shown that only around 30 percent of women who have had a heart attack experienced chest pain. The most common symptoms are unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance and shortness of breath. If women do experience an uncomfortable sensation in their chest, it is usually far milder than in men. It is important to keep these symptoms in mind because far more women die of heart attacks than from breast cancer. Most women are continually reminded to be vigilant about breast cancer detection, and are very scared of the disease, yet heart attacks are a much greater cause of death.

We will all die of something one day, but far too many people die far too young from heart attacks. It is important to take good care of your heart and blood vessels, as you want them to be healthy as long as possible. Most heart disease prevention in the media focuses on cholesterol; however cholesterol is a minor player in the equation. Yes you should know what your cholesterol level is, but there are several other things you should have tested; these include your blood pressure, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, C reactive protein and homocysteine levels. You can read all about heart attack prevention in our book Cholesterol the Real Truth.