Since growing up watching TV,movies when you see a heart attack its a dramatic event.Face contorted in pain, gripping the chest, falling to the floor.
I apparently had a STEMI LAD one, I didn't feel any huge crushing pain, it was nothing like the movies.
When I phoned 111, they kept asking me on a scale of 1-10 how bads the pain and I kept saying it uncomfortable so it's a 4.
They kept asking if it feels like my chest is being crushed, has a heavy weight on it and I said no it just feels tight like a muscle sprain when over doing it on the bench press.
I'm wondering are the symptom questions asked by 111 looking for extreme symptoms thus potentially making people rule themselves out or was what happened to me not a heart attack but somwthing much much less serious and frankly I shouldn't be posting here.
I know what I'm saying sounds so stupid so weird but I had some facetime calls with some relatives checking on how I was and they looked at me and said are you sure you had a heart attack and I'm thinking why are they asking that?
I asked the cardiologists several times over the days I was in hospital and even I asked them are they sure have they got me mixed up with someone else.
I know that none of this makes any sense but I feel a bit embarrassed/ fraudulent about it as everyone's expecting me to be on my back in bed and very very poorly but they see me and I look normal.
Its not daft at all! I had rather mild to middling pain in my left arm and neck, with each of three heart attacks, and on occasions I have been taken into hospital with symptoms of a heart attack, but it has turned out to be angina,
It can be confusing.
The research shows that people can have very different presentations, with differences between men and women. As you say, the dramatic crushing pain we see in the movies is only one presentation.
thanks Kristin, I'm going through a weird phase, I suppose it's all kind of sinking in post hospital and not being able to do what I normally do right now which would usually be coffee, warm up, weights, cycling, gardening, cleaning house, hoovering, washing car, a bit of DIY, etc etc means I'm just overthinking too much. I should just chill put.thank you
I’m sure ‘chilling out’ is best, but,. i found it much easier said than done. And you’re right, it is a weird time. I found it a big shock thinking my whole life woukd never b3 the same. It might change for a while, but you may need to be patient! I’m sure you will get back to some kind of normality. It may not be exactly the same normality.
I had no pain with my HA, just a weird feeling of general discomfort and an inability to sleep. It was only picked up because I had a pre-booked hospital appointment the next morning.
When they said I’d had an HA in the previous 7 days I couldn’t believe it, took us nearly a week to work out when it was.
OK, I’d been ‘not right’ with an inability to tolerate any exercise for 7 months beforehand so, in a way, I’d become conditioned to feeling unwell.
I’ve ended up with 2 x PCI, AVR and CABG as I had more than one issue to be addressed. Finally don’t believe anyone who says you won’t be fit again, I’ve never been one for running but my times for 5k are now back to where I was 12 years ago! It’s been hard work but I’ve been supervised by a brilliant physical rehab team.
From personal experience, and talking with others on the ward and at rehab hardly any of us had had "hollywood" heart attacks. I didn't, mine started with an ache in my left forearm at the end of a swim. I put it down to muscle strain at the time. I got out and felt very tired followed by feeling very sick in the changing room but still didn't think HA as I had no pain in the chest. Like a fool I walked home and fell asleep on the sofa. It was only later when not feeling "right" we rang 111 and ambulance was sent and I was taken to a&e "as a precaution". Roll forward several hours and I'm about to go home fed up, my wife asks what's happening and is told something had shown in my bloods. After that more bloods, an echocardiogram, dr casually announcing I'm having an ongoing heart attack and that they need to start acs treatment. Then spent several hours in the trolley bay before being taken to CCU and an angiogram in the evening, 24 hours after ambulance arrived. Was never in any real pain with none in chest.You often that hear men and women present differently and whilst that may be the case it's worth recognising that there can be big differences within the sexes too.
Talking with my cardiologist after the event it seems likely I may have had an earlier undetected one.
You are not alone in your experience. A week later I still can’t work out what has happened the last thing I was expecting was someone looking at me in hospital saying we need to do some checks but I am very confident you have had a heart attack.
I’ve just read your posts and all these interesting comments. My husband, too (22 years ago) was asked “are you sure you haven’t had a heart attack?”. No he hadn’t actually. More or less fit and well since btw.
Friend of mine, similar, felt a bit sick and drove to A&E. He’d had a HA.
When I had a heart attack my ONLY symptom was 3 days of horrific indigestion. It was only when my arm and neck started to tingle a bit that I phoned for help. The paramedics could see suspicious activity on the ECG so they rushed me in BUT when I got there the triage nurse only asked if I had gripping chest pain and asked if I would like some aspirin. Had no idea why so because aspirin kills my stomach and I had no pain at all so I refused it. I know better now of course.
I wasn't grey, sweating or clutching my chest so I was left on a locked corridor and no one came near from 10pm to 8am and only then because I had to ask someone passing who had the code for the door, if they could help me to the loo. Once I was on the corridor close to reception I asked why I'd waited so long with a suspected HA and I finally got the blood test. The results came back positive at 2pm and I was finally moved to a single room and monitored. I had an angiogram at 8am next day and stents fitted. It's bad and downright dangerous when even the nurses are not taught about different symptoms, especially in women.
I was very much like you , my pain was uncomfortable at most. I was told that I didn’t present like a “normal” heart attack. Studies have proven that hear attack present in different ways - pain in neck, jaw shoulder etc- and in women in particular and it isn’t always the crunching chest pain that indicates trouble with the heart. You are not a fraud and you need to be aware that if you have pain that is not relieved with your GTN spray that you should attend A&E and get checked out. Best wishes.
Soo true, my experience was similar. I was in the middle of the woods, no mobile signal. Riding a red graded MTB route. I knew something was wrong and managed to get back to the car with my son. Drove home and waited an hour before dialling 111. Eventually got bluelighted to local hospital. I didn't think it was too serious, so delayed in case it got better. Big mistake as due to scarring I now have an ef of 36%. Even if you don't think it's that bad get it checked!
I had a pain across the top of my abdomen which came on whilst I was using my spin bike. It felt like I had torn a muscle or something. A shower and sitting down didn't stop it and I felt pins and needles in my hands so asked my wife to take me to the local urgent treatment centre. They did an ECG and as soon as the nurse saw the trace all hell broke loose. Had GTN and aspirin and they called for a category 1 ambulance. The ambulance crew kept updating the hospital on our ETA and they had the PPCI suite ready to receive me, bypassing A&E. After the stent I recovered well and seems that very little damage was done. I was on my bike at 11:30 and in the recovery suite post stent by 13:30, so it was pretty quick. I have since shown a copy of my ECG to a paramedic who said "bloody hell, you didn't do it by half did you?" It was a STEMI, with somewhat dramatic elevations on the ECG it seems. The question of how "serious" it was is an odd one. On the one hand, at the time, it was about as serious as a heart attack gets. They got me to hospital pretty quick, but I was going grey and fading a bit on arrival and death was inevitable and imminent without the PPCI. On the other hand, it was resolved so quickly that there was hardly any lasting damage and recovery was pretty rapid. The psychological impact was probably the harder bit to deal with. I am so grateful that things worked out the way they did in the end. The NHS provided an absolutely gold-plated service in my case for which I am so grateful. I am even back on the bike!
It is confusing isn't it. 18 months ago I rushed into A&E because of chest pains that felt like too much exercise or even too much to eat. They just lasted too long.
3 days later I was out of hospital after an angiogram etc feeling fine. In fact, I never felt really bad at all. But, I am now on a lifetime of pills.
All because 50 years of type 1 diabetes had narrowed arteries. So we all have a TV inspred image of a heart attack, but we all experience them differently.
Good luck!
Thank you all, this forum is an absolute godsend and you are all brilliant
It most certainly is not a daft post. I had a heart attack early morning last Christmas and called 111, who arranged a doctors return call. They advised I went into hospital.I had zero pain and walked into A&E from the hospital car park! It was the ECG and blood test that showed I was having a heart attack. I was asked a number of times about the pain and when it started.
Since then a consultant did a talk at the rehab group I attend and he mentioned the high number of silent heart attacks people have, without realising.
There is often pain elsewhere from the back, the jaw or ears that can be linked to angina. So remember no question is draft, no concern so be ignored and it is important to follow things up. Only you know how you feel and what your body is telling you.
I felt silly waiting around that first day as I started to feel better, but I needed to be in hospital.
omg Ears, you mentioned ears , I had intense and I mean intense ear pain on the days leading up to it especially after I did my weight lifting and bike ride, I thought I had an ear infection on the way. I even told the 111 nurse that my ears were in a lot of pain. She said that's odd.
Over a number of years I have experienced back pains from a sports injury, ear pains from an inner ear issue and jaw aches from a wisdom tooth.Or that is what I thought!
When the heart consultant mentioned a previous heart issue I was shocked, as I didn't know about this one let alone an earlier one. They explained about the pain in different areas and unfortunately without a blood test at the time I will never know if any of those pains was really heart related.
I can certainly relate to that as my heart attack manifested itself as a 'funny turn' and brief slowing down of my heart rate. Also, slight ache in my right arm, which apparently is more common in women and I'm male.Paramedic came and checked my 'vitals' but found nothing of concern. After deliberating, suggested I went to A&E so called an ambulance. I was much less keen and suggested it wasn't necessary but they persuaded me to go. Boy, am I glad they did!
Long story short, I'd had a mild HA (confirmed by high troponin levels initially and an MRI a few weeks later) and have been on medication since. I did feel a bit of a fraud but everyone since has reassured me that I'm not.
In retrospect, I feel fortunate it was caught early and that I'm now on the right medication to help prevent something more serious happening.
Good luck with the follow up treatment and please don't feel embarrassed!
My heart attack happened at the gym, I just felt faint and had a burning sensation in my chest.I walked home feeling grim, my wife used to be a nurse, she took one look at me and called an ambulance.
The paramedic said it was a HA and I was straight off to the hospital.
I was lucky, my HA started at 10:30 and by 14:30 I had a stent fitted in my RCA.
The NHS are great at emergency treatment, not so good at screening and prevention.
They missed my prostate cancer until it was stage 3a, Gleason 8 although I had been complaining to my GP about slow wee for some time. My PSA of 30 was eventually picked up by CHAPS, a men's health charity, otherwise I would still be blissfully unaware until had spread and would be untreatable by now!
The moral of this story, if you have doubts, insist on being tested and don't be fobbed off by GP's trying to keep their workload down.
You don't sound daft to me. I remember when I first had my cardiac arrest, I joined a social media group for general heart related stuff and there was one lady who said she didn't call an ambulance when she felt unwell as she didn't want to turn up at the hospital looking a mess. She then had a nice soak in the bath, shaved her legs, did her hair so it looked great and put on full make up. She then got dressed and drove herself to the hospital. She managed to just about reach the checking in desk and collapsed in a heap on the floor. She was later told that when she first felt unwell she was actually having a heart attack
When the story was first posted there were a lot of replies just like yours. People had got as far as parking up in a hospital car park and collapsed too. I suppose a hospital car park is as good a place as any to have that kind of emergency. The cardiac arrest groups are full of people with a dark sense of humour who greet new members with 'Welcome to the group that people are dying to join' ..it doesn't always go down too well. Some of us celebrate their rebirthday on the anniversary of when they had their cardiac arrests,
i hope you feel reassured that your non-hollywood heart attack was not unusual
if movie & TV heart attacks were not dramatic we would not get the hint that a character is about to drop in front of our eyes! but this causes the problem that we have a completely distorted view of what a serious acute heart condition feels like - heart attacks are only one of several acute heart conditions with potentially serious consequences and similar symptoms.
the bigger problem is that the health professionals don't always realise that either and coupled with our difficulty in telling medics what we feel in a way which helps them recognise important symptoms means that it is amazing that so many of us get the treatment we need when we need it!
make sure that all your family and friend know about what you experienced and tell them how it felt - learn how to give CPR and encourage people you know to do the same - find out where local public defibrillators are (defibfinder.uk/) and be part of the solution!
Not daft at all. After being for a swim I started to feel out of sorts. Even now I can’t describe it. I then started to get pains across both shoulders and down both upper arms before getting a horrific pain in the middle of my chest. I thought I’d pulled a muscle swimming. Took a couple of ibuprofen and a couple of paracetamol. The pain subsided. When the ibuprofen and paracetamol wore off, the pain came back, so I took more. This continued for 3 days and by day 4 I felt fine.
I had arranged a call with my GP (as this was during something that can’t be mentioned) and he told me that there was nothing to worry about but I should go to hospital now and not to drive.
I had all the usual tests- x-ray, CT scan and MRI scan. It was the blood test that revealed what had happened. Like you, I was told that I didn’t look like someone who had suffered a HA, but my enzymes were 3,367 instead of up to 50.
No left sided pain, no jaw pain (like a lot of women) and I didn’t look like anyone having a HA on the telly.
My LAD artery was 85-95% blocked and one stent later I’m here to tell anyone who will listen what the pain was like and how it presented itself - and not to leave it 4 days before seeking medical advice 🤦🏽♀️.
Think everyone has a different experience. Mine was a tightness across my upper chest when walking up a shallow incline - an experience I’d had on at least two previous occasions but dismissed as not anything to worry about. Don’t know what got me to contact the doctor the third time anyway it started a chain reaction resulting in a diagnosis of heart attack and subsequent triple bypass. At every stage even the doctors were saying don’t think it’s anything to worry about until the final diagnosis of blocked arteries. So guess I’m saying I found it impossible to tell, so don’t feel a fraud. Do however take all the help on offer - blood tests, heart monitoring, meds, cardiac classes and you’ll soon be back healthier and fitter than before.
My husband had a heart attack with no real pain. My takotsubo episodes have only caused mild pain. The pain is definitely not always severe. However, having less pain does not mean the heart attack is less serious. Some people have a high pain threshold.
Haha same here. I was out on a 20 mile off road mountain bike ride. Apparently i had three heart attacks. Ermm I had an ache in my back that was it. These I had whilst riding, stopped had a stretch and carried on. Finished the ride. Since then I have had a triple bypass operation. It is not the same for everyone. Whilst in the LGI i had my own little walking club doing 10,000 a day up and down the corridor hahahhahahahahah
For me, the difference is that a muscular pain you can relieve it by moving your body. Heart attack pain you cannot relieve it at all........ until the paramedic gives you a big Aspirin!
Ive had 2 heart attacks and both times they felt like a tightness or discomfort. Women often present differently from men which is why we are easily dismissed. If you're worried in future I'd ring for an ambulance.
all I had was mild indigestion pain when I ate central chest went to the gym no problem wife was worried so visited doctor, he said have a stress test asap rang private hospital they said it will cost £750.00 can do tomorrow she said cheaper than a funeral so go, I had 3 blocked arteries after 3 stent all is good . But that was 6 years ago and am going for another stress test on Wednesday so don't feel guilty about it every one's different it's not like on the T.V
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Can't believe it
I’m confused 
stent or bypass graph ? 
Struggling!! 
