A study recently published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that many people who experience heart attacks have telling symptoms in the weeks leading up to them, but because they aren’t always the expected signs, such as chest pains, many times they go unnoticed and unreported.
The following are a list of signs that the NIH says shouldn’t be ignored:
Extreme fatigue: A strong sense of exhaustion that lasts more than a day or two can be a sign of heart trouble. More than 70 percent of women reported experiencing extreme fatigue in the weeks leading up to an attack.
Swelling or pain in the legs: When the heart muscle isn’t functioning properly, waste products aren’t carried away from tissues by the blood, and the result can be edema, or swelling caused by fluid retention. Edema usually starts in the feet, ankles and legs, because they’re farthest from the heart, where circulation is poorest.
Changes in heart rate: Rapid and irregular pulse and heart rate, or ventricular tachycardia, which happens spontaneously when there is no overexertion or other signs that heart attack may not be far off. The episode usually lasts a few seconds or more, and may be accompanied by dizziness and weakness.
Nausea: Cramping, indigestion, vomiting, nausea and other related stomach pains that occur unexplainably, may be causes for concern if one hasn’t been exposed to the stomach flu and there has been no recent change in diet. This symptom is most popular in women and is commonly overlooked.
Sexual dysfunction: Difficulty getting and maintaining erections is a popular indicator in men with coronary artery disease. Just as arteries around the heart can narrow and harden, so can those that supply the penis, and because those arteries are smaller they may show damage sooner. One survey of European men found that two out of three suffered from erectile dysfunction before they were ever diagnosed with heart trouble.
Moving pains in the upper body: Pain in the neck, shoulder area, jaw, and/or ear that comes and goes similar to the feeling of a pulled muscle have often gone overlooked because the pain is not unrelenting, and therefore can be hard to identify.
Shortness of breath: Difficulty taking deep breaths is an indicator that there isn’t enough oxygen circulating in the blood, which can cause a feeling of lightheadedness and dizziness. According to the NIH study, more than 40 percent of female heart attack victims remembered experiencing shortness of breath prior to an attack.
Unfamiliar symptoms and/or behavior: Overall, not feeling like yourself, such as experiencing exhaustion or an unrelenting feeling of the blahs, can be a sign of a pending attack, as well as symptoms that seemingly come out of nowhere and crash down on a person all at once are signs that something is wrong.
Insomnia: Many individuals who have had heart attacks remembered experiencing a sudden, unexplained inability to get a satisfying night’s sleep the night before. Many patients even experienced anxiety and an unshakable feeling that a disaster was going to occur.
Flu-like symptoms: The clammy, sweaty skin, lightheadedness, fatigue, and heaviness or pressure in the chest that are common when a person is coming down with the flu, are also possible signs that one may be about to experience a heart attack. Even continuous coughing and wheezing point to a much bigger issue than the common cold because it is likely is poor circulation is causing fluid to build up in the lungs.
Differences in race: A study by Jean McSweeney, a professor and researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, reported that there is a difference in the heart attack symptoms of African-American and Caucasian women.
The survey found that 36 percent of Black women who had heart discomfort said they had it high in the center of their chest, compared to only 24 percent of Caucasian women.
Thirty-three percent of African-American women who had discomfort reported that it was in the shoulder blade area, compared to 24 percent of Caucasians.
Thirty-eight percent of African-American women reported discomfort in the left arm or shoulder while only 20 percent of Caucasian women with discomfort reported having it in that area.
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reported much of the same information, but added that 24.9 percent of Caucasians experienced profuse sweating as a symptom compared to only 12.3 percent of African Americans.
