Did you have back, shoulder, or jaw pain during Heart Attack?

[Michael-in-London]

Hi,

Did you have back, shoulder, or jaw pain or sensations during or leading up to a Heart Attack or stroke?

Just one or all three?

Can you please describe it?

Thanks,

Michael

[Rose54]

Hi I had what I thought was chronic indigestion in bed nigh time this radiated into the jaw .As I never had it during the day never took any notice and it went off a bit when I sat up.

GP thought this was a warning sign HA a few days after

[bantam12]

My husband had shoulder pain for a week before being diagnosed as having had a silent heart attack, he thought he had just pulled a muscle !

[Hidden]

I had severe back pain between the shoulder blades. There was no shoulder or jaw pain just a cold sweating sensation and breathlessness.

[Shoshov]

i had what i thought was indigestion for 2 days. no other pain. only knew i was having a heart attack was tingling in left arm. my dad died of heart attack and always knew this. good job for me❤️shiona

[djleighp]

i had back pain pain in arm felt sick and sweated a lot like i was in the jungle lol

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Courtesy of the NHS:

Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

chest pain – a sensation of pressure, tightness or squeezing in the centre of your chest

pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is travelling from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm is affected, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy (abdomen)

feeling lightheaded or dizzy

sweating

shortness of breath

feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting)

an overwhelming sense of anxiety (similar to having a panic attack)

coughing or wheezing

As can be seen symptoms can be quite varied. Relying on specific symptoms could prove fatal. If you think you are having a heart attack ring 999!

[NathanBlau]

I had none of the three symptoms you mentioned. Just indigestion.... so I thought.

[Nella85]

Hi.. I didn’t have any of the 3 symptoms listed. When I had my HA, it was a really hot day & I was on a 2 hour horse trek. It started an hour in, with nausea & a cold, clammy sweat. The nausea/sicky feeling just got worse an worse & sweat was pouring from me (I thought at the time I thought I was suffering with dehydration or heat stroke). Back at stables, I guzzled 2 bottles of water, got in car & I don’t know wether it was just the relief to finally be going home or something, but I actually felt abit better. I drove home & then went straight to my room to strip off with the fan on me as the sweats & flushes didn’t stop. After 10-15 minutes, that’s when the clenched chest pains started. I remember being so restless, like I couldn’t sit still & even when the pains got slightly worse, I was still telling myself it was some serious heatstroke I had. But it did get more intense quickly after that, felt a choking sensation around my throat too.

It was almost an hour after the chest pain initially started tho that I decided something really wasn’t right & an ambulance was called.

[Hidden]

Back and neck pain, the chest was more of a dull aching but I knew it was really bad even though it wasn't particularly painful.

[Smileyian]

I havnt had a heart attack but I have this very strange pain in my teeth when I have short episodes of artery spasms / presumed VA. Bottom teeth seem to pain up but not Jaw.

[Virgil_Anon]

I thought I had heartburn for around 20 minutes while out walking, suddenly lost my breath, rang my wife to come and get me as I felt unwell, and only while waiting for her did I notice that I had sharp pain between my shoulder blades.

[Kristin1812 Heart Star]

In addition to left neck, jaw, and scapula pain. I had mild chest pain, and a feeling of ‘impending doom’ . A and E said the last one is not that unusual!

[Page12]

Hi.Two weeks before my heart attack I use to get this discomfort. In my chest area and I put it down to maybe stress it use to come and go, some days I use to get it and some I didn't, but just few day before the heart attack I was getting like tooth ache in my jaw, also I noticed months before at night I sometimes would wake up sweating buckets, I thought it was hot flushes, but since the heart attack and stents I don't sweat nomore, also no more snoring. Lol

[Pollypuss]

Had all of that for nearly two years. Because all my tests and ecg ‘s were normal and I was a fit tennis player they said it was muscular. However I started having what I thought was bad indigestion at night - especially one weekend and drove myself 16 miles to A&E . I was admitted to hospital for nearly two months with anemia and told if I didn’t have a bypass soon I would have a major heart attack or worse. They had to find the source of the anemia and had loads of tests before they would operate. That was the end of 2019 . I am now back playing tennis at 78. The strange thing is I would start off having bad symptoms at tennis like tight chest and some breathlessness but it would wear off as I played on.

[Misstibbs]

Just had an intense pain in the middle of my back no chest pain hence when gat any back pain now it scares me!

[Ellester]

Hi i had a really bad pain in my upper back for months especially whilst i was asleep and would wake up thinking it was reflux. I was given further tablets (already taking pump prohibitors) from the doctors and the pain in my back was be becoming more regular. 2 weeks after speaking to my doctor about my back pain i began feeling a really crampy pain in my back and then started sweating and feeling weak and unwell. I called 111 and they sent an ambulance. I had an ecg but this proved inconclusive. At A and E they took blood and had a cat scan. An hour after being at A anf E i started having chest psin including my back pain which was extremely painful. 5 hours later had snother blood test and was given morphine. A few hours later Was informed that i had a heart attack as the heart gives off enzymes. I had to have two stents and also had another blockage but only 70% blocked and given loads of tablets to thin blood. I still get back pain and was given a gt spray which helps and was informed i had unstable angina.

My advice is dont shrug pain off call 111 if u feel sweaty or unwell with a back pain or neck or jaw pain u dont always get chest pain.

[EmmyLaury12]

I had a HA in April

Last year.my symptoms were ;

Thought I had a case of indigestion, pain between shoulders ,dull ache in chest radiating down to left arm , jaw ache,vomiting and sweating .

Took my stent a good 6 weeks to settle down and get used to meds. I’m happy to report 🤞a lot better now looking forward to a brighter and healthier New Year x

Hope you ok .

[Stamford1]

Hi Michael,

Woke up after having a nap, had a few weird arm pains, then increased central chest pressure which went through to my back, then started to sweat profusely, medics came and diagnosed blocked main artery

Hope this helps

[Charlie0007]

Hi MichaelI had back and jaw pain when I went for a walk at a reasonable pace. Pain Right in middle of back just. Elbow shoulder blades that radiated a pain up into the jaw bones. I see this now as angina and had had for some time and could have avoided the heart attack for had realised thats what it was. I had been a first aider for many years and the back and jaw pain I don't remember being mentioned it seem a relatively new symptom.

Hope this helps any questions feel free to ask

Charlie

[MountainGoat52]

What I experienced was like having a heavy weight placed on my chest with the sensation that it was dragging me down. Both of my arms became heavy and that confirmed to me that I was having a heart attack.

[Mollhon]

Hello, I had a squeezing sensation, not pain, then the feeling travelled to my jaw, again no pain. I wouldn’t have even followed it up if it hadn’t been for my cousin telling me about her having stents, I asked her what her symptoms were. She’d been walking her dog across the field, when she had a slight pain in her chest, which then crept up to her Jaw. I remembered this, so about 3 weeks later went to the Doctor....Angiogram......emergency triple bypass!

[Egq2016]

I had right sided upper back pain. No chest pain at any point. Felt like I had trapped a nerve. Put up with the pain for 4 days and then it became so intense I didn't know what to do with myself. I don't like making a fuss and it didn't occur to me that I was having a heart attack as I was a slim, fit 57 year old with no family history. I suddenly felt very sick in the early hours of the morning and the penny dropped . Husband called paramedics who confirmed heart attack and I went straight to the cath lab at Royal Papworth. My lad was 100% blocked and Cardiologist said I was within minutes of dying. Have been left with heart failure through my own stupidity for not getting help sooner.

[fedupoffeelingtired]

I had no pain at all. I had breathlessness on walking which just kept getting worse. If I stood still I got my breath back. I was totally shocked to be told I'd had a heart attack

[Pollypuss in reply to fedupoffeelingtired]

What I have read from these replies is quite scary. I always thought a heart attack would be sudden clutching of the chest (like in a tv film) and collapse . It wasn’t like that for me or some of the replies I have read.

[Qualipop in reply to fedupoffeelingtired]

I was left in A&E for 5 hours before anyone came near, purely because I WASN'T grey, clammy, sweating and clutching my chest.

[mrnkar]

My husband thought his was indigestion. It went away and then can back a few weeks later. He had a medic at work and he done an ECG and phoned an ambulance. They discovered that it was his 2nd heart attack. Yes the first episode was actually a heart attack but obviously not severe. He ended up having a bypass. No other symptoms.

[Woodensider]

Like so many of the experiences listed above, no one seems to experience the same symptoms. I had had chest discomfort off & on when exercising for months before my HA. It woke me at night with just the sensation of someone pressing on the end of my sternum. Fast forward a few hours & a work colleague insisted on taking me to A&E because I looked so ill. All of my observations were completely normal, I thought I was wasting everyone's time until my blood test came back, my Troponin level was through the roof. I didn't get seen until the end of the following day, I had 2 complete blockages to the LAD that required stenting, like Egq2016, I too have lasting damage to the left side of my heart due to being more concerned with not wanting to make a fuss than my own health!

[Hidden]

Started as pain behind my shoulder blades which moved around to my lower chest after 30 minutes. I couldn't readily identify the exact location of the pain and I thought there was something wrong with my ribcage. After another hour or so I started getting a pain in both of my wrists. No arm pain, no jaw pain.

[Fk15ue]

Hi MichaelI had shoulder , and back an chest fiscomfory/ tightness for months before going to doctor. Used to sef medicate as thought I had muscle pain due to driving lots and seated at work all day.Eventually I went to docs and was not my usual doctor who asked if I had sny heart problems. Said no but father died of a heart attack. Gave me naproxen and left. Driving to work I was stuck in a jam when I had a severe pain in back, shoulder and bot arms sweating. Was clamy and frightened...stuck for some time but carried onto work as few minutes from there and drank some water whilst I settled myself.

Had been exhausted for months and should have done more about it but my work took priority at that time.

Few days later at home in the evening I didnt want my tea at night as pain had travelled to jaw along with other pain in shoulder and chest radiating into topp arms.

Went to bed and got upset at 2am as couldnt stand the pain. My husbsnd insisted I contact nhs24 which I did and they sent an ambulance. All I could think about was what if someone needed it more.

Arrived at A&E in considerable pain, waited 6hrs in corridor until taken in for consultant to review and send for tests.Given morphine and later told I had a heart attack...

Happy New Year Michael and better 2021 to everyone!

[Qualipop]

I had severe indigestion for two days, pain in my back next to the edge of my shoulder blade then eventually a slight tingling down my left arm. The indigestion was by far the worst.

[Tindy2]

It was explained to me by the coronary care doctor that women often present with different symptoms than men. Women are more likely to get back neck and jaw pain, which was my case . The pain in my jaw and back were the first symptoms, slight chest pain came later. Like many posts on here I was convinced it was bad attack of indigestion, as I also felt slightly sick.

[Truesta123]

I had swollen face felt so I'll and n pain in face 100 appointment drs before I walk into a e horrible dull pain tummy fir months couldbt walk 10 feet before started again 3 stents last sept then startd again feb 2020 . Bk ae thn iver edin.. got triple heart by pass lot better now so any symptoms my advice go ae

[Handel]

Just thinking about my late mum. Indigestion was diagnosed in hospital 35 years ago and she was sent home. Three weeks later she had what she called 'toothache' even though she had no teeth and dentures! The GP sadly ignored that! Two weeks after that - cardiac arrest and she was gone. xxx

[celtical]

Yes. Was looking back over my daily log book and five days before my attack I wrote, worst shoulder pain ever

[Hidden]

No pain just a heaviness in chest and left arm - over 5 years post op and still alive and kicking

[Michael-in-London]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I hope you are all doing better now. I have had lots of clear tests and am waiting for results from an MRI. I had covid in Feb and and still have lingering symptoms. It plays havoc with the body so I'm having lots of pains including chest pains which may be at least partially explained by costochondritis. Also other more needle point pains which may be acid/GERD. I have a niggling pain in my jaw and also a warm sensation in my back and shoulders which may be nerve related pain. The horrible thing is so many of these pains would ordinarily warrant a trip to A&E (3 so far + lots of tests). I don't want to miss what might be heart related problems brought on by or unconnected to covid. I have another question but I'll put it up separately. Stay at home and wear a mask if outside your house. Thanks, Michael

[Sunnysummerdays]

yes upper left back pain in March at the beginning of covid, I thought it was corona virus and took paracetamol for a few days,thinking it was my lungs,afraid to go to hospital,then I went for an evening walk ,it was very cold in March and I felt my chest very sore ,like eating mints and drinking freezing water,I said to my husband that i didnt feel well,sweaty,pain in back and feeling sick,I sat on a wall for 5mins and felt ok again,H.A never entered my head. A few days later I woke up at 6.00 am and had the same sensations,very weak..I said to my husband i needed an ambulance,first time in my life,and found myself in a n e 30 mins later , doctor was going to let me home with painkillers for a trapped nerve,when blood tests came in stating I had H.A. Straight up to lab ,angioplasty and stent,home next morning with cocktail of meds... I got a G.T.N spray for angina which I never had before. I still get a pain in my back,neck or shoulder and take the spray,scares me at times,but I dont have that same feeling,like sweating, sick,or severe pain when breathing,so I try not to panic and take the spray,feel strange for 2 or 3 mins but then ok, i do believe its now a combination of statins, bloodthinners, and blood pressure tabs....its been 10 months and im still here,staying positive and happy,could be worse!!!It is as it is and life goes on