How Do You Know It's A Heart Attack?

One of our clients missed her workout last week.

When she came in this week, she said, "My mom had a heart attack last Tuesday!"

Over 800,000 Americanshave a heart attack every year. About 12% don’t survive.

Heart attacks happen when blood flow to the heart suddenly gets blocked or squeezed off. Lack of bloodflow can kill the affected part of the heart muscle. The longer the delay, the more damage.

That’s why knowing what it looks like matters.

The Symptom Most People Expect: Chest Pain

Chest pain is the classic sign, but it doesn’t always feel the way you’d imagine.

People describe it as:

• Pressure

• Tightness

• A squeezing or heavy feeling

• Like “an elephant sitting on my chest”

Some mistake it for severe heartburn. But heartburn usually burns. A heart attack feels more like uncomfortable pressure or fullness.
If it lasts more than a few minutes, comes and goes and keeps coming back, or if the symptoms are unusual for you, that’s not something to “wait and see” about.

Pain That Radiates

Chest discomfort can spread to other parts of the body. Sometimes the spreading pain shows up before the chest pain starts.

People often feel:

• A heavy or aching feeling down the left arm (sometimes the right)

• Pain into the back or jaw

• Pressure in the neck, shoulders, or arms

It’s all the same “pressure-type” feeling, just in different spots.

Shortness of Breath

A heart that’s struggling can lead to fluid in the lungs, making breathing suddenly feel harder.

Shortness of breath while you’re sitting still, with or without chest discomfort, is a red flag.

👉 The Sneaky Symptoms 👈

Not all heart attacks look like chest pain, particularly in women.

Symptoms doctors say to take seriously:

• Sudden, unusual fatigue

• Nausea

• Feeling lightheaded

• Breaking out in a cold sweat

• Feeling anxious or “a sense of doom”

• Indigestion that doesn’t quite feel like normal indigestion

Extraordinary tiredness and indigestion were the primary symptoms my mom and our client's mom had.

The doctors in the emergency room were on the verge of discharging my mom, chalking her symptoms up to indigestion, when her cardiac enzymes changed dramatically.

Her heart attack was the one called "the widow maker." She likely would have died if she'd been sent home. As it was, her heart was severely damaged, requiring open heart surgery to excise the damaged area of her heart.

Silent Heart Attacks (Yes, They’re Real)

​Over 20% of heart attacks are considered "silent."
They're mistaken for the flu, food poisoning, bad sleep, stress—anything but a heart issue.

They’re often discovered later, on a scan or a cardiology workup.

If Something Feels Off....

​Women are more likely than men to dismiss the warning signs of a heart attack. If you’re noticing symptoms that are:

• Sudden

• Unusual

• Severe

• Or simplynot you

Don’t drive yourself to the hospital. Call 911!

It’s quicker, safer, and paramedics can start treatment immediately.

Ideally, you want to be at the ER within30 minutesof realizing something’s wrong and be treated within 90 minutes of arriving at the hospital.

When in doubt, get checked out.

The best-case scenario is that it’s nothing.
The worst-case scenario is missing the early window for care.