The biggest symptom of a heart attack is considered to be sharp pain in the chest. Often in a film scene, when someone has a heart attack, he clutches his chest tightly, panic appears in his eyes due to the pain and he falls on the ground. We all think that a heart attack will give the same feeling as if our chest is being crushed. Such a feeling is there, but not always.
A heart attack occurs when blood supply to the heart is not possible. Usually, due to a blood clot, blood is not able to reach the heart, that is why there is sharp pain in the chest. But sometimes there is no pain in a heart attack.
Sometimes there is very mild pain and people think that this pain is due to gas caused by indigestion and then whenever an ECG is done in the hospital, it is found out that they had a heart attack. This is called a silent heart attack.
According to a research study published in 2016, 45% of heart attack cases may be silent heart attacks.
However, these data have been collected for research since 1990 and since then there has been a lot of improvement in the diagnosis of heart attacks. So the truth may not be so terrible, but there are still many people who do not know that they are having a heart attack.
Many times the patient has pain in the jaw, neck, arm, stomach or back, difficulty in breathing, feels weak, feels dizzy, sweats, vomits – but does not have severe chest pain and they do not understand that they actually have heart disease.
It is generally believed that cases of heart attack without chest pain are more in women, due to which they get medical help late and their chances of survival decrease. To test this belief, Canadian researchers studied 305 patients who had undergone angioplasty in 2009 to measure the symptoms of a heart attack.
Angioplasty involves inserting a small balloon into a blocked blood vessel and inflating it so that it can be opened again. The symptoms of this procedure are somewhat similar to the symptoms of a heart attack. So during the study, when the balloon was inflated inside the blood vessel, the patients were asked what they were feeling. Symptoms such as chest discomfort, arm pain, shortness of breath, sweating or nausea were similar in men and women. But women complained more about chest pain as well as pain in the neck and jaw than men.
Some other studies were done, but no concrete results came out regarding this belief. Then in 2011, a comprehensive review was done whose sole purpose was to understand whether there is any difference in the experience of women and men regarding heart attack.
The review included studies from the US, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Japan and Canada. In this largest study, more than 9 lakh heart patients were reviewed. Data from the 26 best studies were taken, combined and then re-analyzed.
The conclusion of this review was that women complain less about chest pain in case of heart attack than men, but complain of fatigue, nausea, dizziness, neck, jaw or arm pain more than men. But it was also found that in most cases both men and women complain of chest pain, but about 33% women and about 25% men did not feel any pain or burning or discomfort in the chest during the heart attack and due to this they also found it difficult to understand what was happening to them.
It is simple, if you do not understand the seriousness of the symptoms, then you will not even ask for help. On an average, people wait for 2 to 5 hours before seeking medical help.
A new study tried to understand the thought process of people, how people decide that the condition is very serious and doctor’s help should be taken. Some women who had suffered a heart attack were interviewed. Half of them felt that something was wrong with them at the time of the heart attack and they immediately sought medical help. Whereas half of the women did not even know that their symptoms were of a heart attack. They did not tell anyone anything and decided to wait.
So the lesson is that severe chest pain is dangerous and can be caused by a heart attack, but other symptoms such as pain in the jaw, arm or neck, nausea or dizziness are equally dangerous. So do not ignore these symptoms and seek medical help immediately.
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