Heart attack symptoms

[baly_2023]

A rant at the human body.

The human body has evolved over time ( a long time) to give warnings about dangers caused by injury.

You get a small paper cut and a million nerve cells scream out.

You have a heart attack and your brain says " hmm might have overdone it at the gym, hmm I might have overindulged overindulged, hmm I must be tired, I think I will sit down".

Did some kettle bells yesterday, definitely feeling chest muscle soreness ( I can prod the area and it feels tender, I twist my chest, torso it feels sore) but my heart attack felt like a sore muscle chest pain , it felt similar. It freaked me out .

The human body needs to do better at telling us about heart attacks, because at the moment I give it a " you could do better D minus).

rant over

[BaronFrankenstein]

I agree! When i had my heart attack I had worse pain in my wrist and hand than my chest.

I was told this is because the areas in the brain that register pain sensation from the heart are close to those for the left arm and hand. So when you get pain in your heart you can also get referred pain in your arm because those neurons are close together and can also fire, giving pain in your arm as well as your chest.

I always thought the pain in the arm was due to restricted blood flow rather than referred pain.

[Sb1171]

To be fair, evolution “designed” the human body for an average life expectancy of 35 years. If you are over 40 you are pushing it well beyond design parameters. It also did not evolve to burn wheat, grains, rice, pasta, bread or refined sugar. It seems to cope pretty well with the mis-fuelling. It should also be given a good run to warm it up regularly (aka exercise) but often goes without. Remarkable machine really.

On a more serious note, my HA manifested as abdominal pain, but I still “just knew” despite no history of heart problems.

[scentedgardener]

To be fair don't you think we are "trained" to respond to things as well. I always joked that my parents brought us up to think if we could stand up, walk, and talk we weren't really ill. I vividly remember 10 years ago when I had pneumonia, I live alone, and feeling so dreadful I was seriously considering ringing 999. The thought that went through my mind was "If I'm still just thinking about it I don't really need to."When I was recovering I said to my sister, who visited every day, that for the first time in my life I honestly didn't think I would survive. She said "You weren't the only one, I wondered every morning if I'd find you dead."

I'd give my body an A, it has been pretty reliable over the years and saved up most of the issues for my old age.

[Alison_L]

Totally agree!! My massive heart attack presented as a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea, after which I felt a bit breathless. It was 3 weeks before I bothered going to see my GP. I’ve never had anything resembling chest pain.

[Qualipop]

I agree. When I had mine, my only symptom was 3 days of horrific indigestion then a very vague tingle in my arm and neck. It was only that slight tingle that made me think, hey that's odd.

[mesally]

The symptoms can be so varied. Mine was breathlessness and indigestion. Previously I'd been a bit breathless and my blood pressure was high. The pratice nurse (during covid), referred me to a cardiac specialist who said nothing was wrong with me. Two weeks later I had the heart attack! I knew something was wrong! We are all different

[Yodayodz]

Well said