What are the symptoms of heart attack?

Although chest pain or pres­sure is the most com­mon symp­tom of a heart attack, heart attack vic­tims may expe­ri­ence a vari­ety of symp­toms including:

* Pain, full­ness, and/or squeez­ing sen­sa­tion of the chest

* Jaw pain, toothache, headache

* Short­ness of breath

* Nau­sea, vom­it­ing, and/or gen­eral epi­gas­tric (upper mid­dle abdomen) discomfort

* Sweating

* Heart­burn and/or indigestion

* Arm pain (more com­monly the left arm, but may be either arm)

* Upper back pain

* Gen­eral malaise (vague feel­ing of illness)

* No symp­toms (Approx­i­mately one quar­ter of all heart attacks are silent, with­out chest pain or new symp­toms. Silent heart attacks are espe­cially com­mon among patients with dia­betes mellitus.)

Even though the symp­toms of a heart attack at times can be vague and mild, it is impor­tant to remem­ber that heart attacks pro­duc­ing no symp­toms or only mild symp­toms can be just as seri­ous and life-threatening as heart attacks that cause severe chest pain. Too often patients attribute heart attack symp­toms to “indi­ges­tion,” “fatigue,” or “stress,” and con­se­quently delay seek­ing prompt med­ical atten­tion. One can­not overem­pha­size the impor­tance of seek­ing prompt med­ical atten­tion in the pres­ence of symp­toms that sug­gest a heart attack. Early diag­no­sis and treat­ment saves lives, and delays in reach­ing med­ical assis­tance can be fatal. A delay in treat­ment can lead to per­ma­nently reduced func­tion of the heart due to more exten­sive dam­age to the heart mus­cle. Death also may occur as a result of the sud­den onset of arrhyth­mias such as ven­tric­u­lar fibrillation.