When a coronary heart assault strikes, it doesn’t all the time really feel the identical in ladies because it does in males.

Girls do not all the time get the identical traditional coronary heart assault signs as males, comparable to crushing chest ache that radiates down one arm. These coronary heart assault signs can definitely occur to ladies, however many expertise imprecise and even “silent” signs that they might miss.

These six coronary heart assault signs are frequent in ladies:

1. Chest ache or discomfort. Chest ache is the commonest coronary heart assault symptom, however some ladies might expertise it in another way than males. It might really feel like a squeezing or fullness, and the ache could be anyplace within the chest, not simply on the left aspect. It is normally “really uncomfortable” throughout a coronary heart assault, says heart specialist Rita Redberg, MD, director of Girls’s Cardiovascular Companies on the College of California, San Francisco. “It looks like a vise being tightened.”
2. Ache in your arm(s), again, neck, or jaw. Such a ache is extra frequent in ladies than in males. It might confuse ladies who anticipate their ache to be centered on their chest and left arm, not their again or jaw. The ache could be gradual or sudden, and it might wax and wane earlier than changing into intense. For those who’re asleep, it might wake you up. It’s best to report any “not typical or unexplained” signs in any a part of your physique above your waist to your physician or different well being care supplier, says heart specialist C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Girls’s Coronary heart Heart at Cedars-Sinai Medical Heart in Los Angeles.
3. Abdomen ache. Typically individuals mistake abdomen ache that alerts a coronary heart assault with heartburn, the flu, or a abdomen ulcer. Different occasions, ladies expertise extreme belly strain that looks like an elephant sitting in your abdomen, says heart specialist Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Heart for Girls’s Well being at NYU Langone Medical Heart in New York.
4. Shortness of breath, nausea, or lightheadedness. For those who’re having bother respiration for no obvious motive, you might be having a coronary heart assault, particularly for those who’re additionally having a number of different signs. “It may really feel like you’ve gotten run a marathon, however you did not make a transfer,” Goldberg says.
5. Sweating. Breaking out in a nervous, chilly sweat is frequent amongst ladies who’re having a coronary heart assault. It is going to really feel extra like stress-related sweating than perspiration from exercising or spending time outdoors within the warmth. “Get it checked out” for those who do not sometimes sweat like that and there’s no different motive for it, comparable to warmth or scorching flashes, Bairey Merz says.
6. Fatigue. Some ladies who’ve coronary heart assaults really feel extraordinarily drained, even when they have been sitting nonetheless for some time or have not moved a lot. “Sufferers usually complain of a tiredness within the chest,” Goldberg says. “They are saying that they can not do easy actions, like stroll to the lavatory.”

Not everybody will get all of these signs. When you’ve got chest discomfort, particularly for those who even have a number of of the opposite indicators, name 911 instantly.

For those who really feel coronary heart assault signs:

• Don’t delay getting assist. “Girls usually wait longer than males earlier than going to the emergency room,” says Rita F. Redberg, MD, MSc, FACC, director of Girls’s Cardiovascular Companies for the UCSF Division of Cardiology in San Francisco. Even for those who assume your signs aren’t that dangerous or will go, the stakes are too excessive.
• Do not drive your self to the hospital. You want an ambulance. For those who drive, you might have a wreck on the way in which and probably harm your self or another person.
• Don’t have a pal or relative drive you, both. Chances are you’ll not get there quick sufficient.
• Don’t dismiss what you are feeling. “Don’t fret about feeling foolish for those who’re mistaken,” Goldberg says. It’s important to get it checked out instantly.

“Folks do not need to spend hours in an emergency room if it is not a coronary heart assault,” Bairey Merz says. “However ladies are literally good at deciding what’s typical for themselves and when to hunt well being care.”