Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. Of those who die, almost half suffer an attack so suddenly that they don’t have time to call an ambulance or get to a hospital in time.
Luckily, there are several warning signs that can indicate an impending heart attack. Here are ten early warning signs that can help you save a life…
1. Sweating
Leading up to a heart attack, many patients notice perfuse, cold sweating without any exertion or apparent reason. Your clothes and skin may become soaked in cold sweat, and your face may turn pale or white as a sheet.
2. Restricting Feeling
Others have told of feelings of suffocation prior to a heart attack, where there is restriction around the upper back and torso as pressure builds as if a rope is being squeezed around the body and pulled tight.
3. Fatigue
Oftentimes, during the weeks before a heart attack, individuals will feel a gradual feeling of fatigue set in, which starts as a slow drain on energy and becomes complete exhaustion a few days prior to the heart attack (i.e., bending down to tie your shoes may even be too tiring).
4. Shortness of Breath
Many folks, particularly women, describe a feeling of breathlessness in the days or moments before a heart attack. It might be so severe that you are unable to even carry on a normal conversation without feeling short of breath.
5. Flu-Like Symptoms
Many people who suffer a heart attack say that they thought they had the flu, due to suffering flu-like symptoms leading up to their attack—including indigestion, nausea, bloating, and diarrhea, which they excuse as “just the flu”.
6. Dizziness
Oftentimes, patients also complain of lightheadedness prior to a heart attack. Individuals often feel dizzy, like you’re about to pass out—some even do faint!
7. Anxiety
A sudden onset of stress so severe that it causes an anxiety attack is common to heart attack sufferers. Some even explain it as a feeling of impending doom setting in without any apparent reason, which is actually the body trying to get your attention that something is wrong.
8. Insomnia
Almost 50-percent of heart attack patients (mainly women) complain of an inability to fall asleep in the days prior to suffering a heart attack or coronary episode. This insomnia can strike for weeks in advance to an attack.
9. Chest pain
Chest pain leading up to a heart attack can range from mild to severe (feeling like a weight is on the chest). However, most often it’s experienced in the breastbone, one or both shoulders, and upper back, but not always in the actual area of the heart.
10. Pain in Other Areas
Discomfort or a mild tingling sensation in areas such as the stomach, back, neck, jaw, and most typically in the one or both arms (in the upper or shoulder area) is very common prior to a heart attack.
– activebeat.com
