These Are 4 Of The Most Common Heart Attack Signs You Need To Be Aware About

One of the most serious medical conditions nowadays is definitely the heart attack. It appears when usually a blood clot obstructs the supply of blood to your heart. The condition is very dangerous. In case you suspect you’re experiencing it or someone near you has it, you need to call 911 immediately!


It’s also known under the name of CHD or coronary heart disease and it’s one of the main things that causes heart attacks. It’s characterized by blood vessels that are clogged up by deposits of cholesterol usually called plaques.

Before a heart attack can appear, one of the plaques has to burst. It then creates a blood clot at the side where the rupture is. That clot may prevent or even block the blood supply to the heart. That is what causes a heart attack.


Mostly, one of the general symptoms of a heart attack is chest pain that can be spreading along the chest, neck, jaw, arms, back etc. Some of the other common signs are: nausea, shortness of breath, cold sweats and lightheadedness.

Still, there are 25% of the heart attacks that are silent, without any sign. That’s why people mistake them for other conditions or don’t visit their doctor. If you visit your doctor on time, you can prevent the disease and also reverse it.

These are some of the signs that aren’t that obvious and usual as the other signs:

1. Swelling
People usually connect this problem with too much sitting or standing, but also heart problems can cause it. Fluids can accumulate around these areas and they begin to swell. Some people may start losing their appetite, but they still gain weight.

2. Anxiety
Anxiety attacks appear before the heart attack. If you think it’s happening to you, call 911.

3. Pain in Other Parts of the Body
It’s a type of pain that appears in the chest, but spreads in the neck, jaw, arms, abdomen, elbows, shoulders. People who felt pain in their arms often reported heart attacks.

4. Coughing
Phlegm with blood can sometimes be coughed by people who have heart failure. It’s especially common for people with pneumonia, a lung infection.  It appears because of the accumulation of fluids in the lungs. It makes the process of breathing very difficult.

Note: Make sure you NEVER ignore these signs! Be careful about them! If they don’t disappear for several minutes, call 911 or go there right away! You can also take 1 aspirin, unless you’re allergic to it!


Five Red Flags That Your Body Puts Up To Tell You That Your Heart Is In Trouble

The heart is the focal point of the body, is a known fact. So much so that the Romans and Greeks thought of it as the center of emotions too which gave rise to the entire plethora of heart-shaped valentine-related things. The fact that pollution and stress are both on the rise does not help in this scenario either as the heart is one of the most sensitive organs, easily and drastically affected by the general health of the body and the health of its surroundings.


As a result, the heart gets extra protection from the body even on a general basis. What is more, the heart is so important that the body sends out warning signs for you to pick up when it spots trouble.

Here are five signs that say your heart is in bad shape and that you should be taking better care of it. Almost all of these signs are extremely common but sadly, we ignore them for that same reason.

Learn your lesson while there is still time and pay heed to all of these red flags:

1. Extreme fatigue while doing basic physical workouts
This is something that most young professionals face anyway, and might be caused by a number of things. They include a bad diet, irregular sleep cycles, extreme workload, and unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking to ‘take the edge off’. All of these things affect metabolism which in turn affects heart activity and health.


The biggest marker for this will be the inability to carry out tasks that you used to carry out on a frequent basis like cycling to work or climbing the few flights of stairs to your apartment.

2. Chest cramps
Chest discomfort is one of the biggest markers of heart discomfort and should not be dismissed as something arising from bad posture or something along those lines. They may indicate artery blockages and may in serious cases of angina pectoris and other issues.

If you experience those every now and then, it is high time for you to go for a doctor’s check-up, irrespective of the number of sick days you have to take.

3. Discomfort in the upper body
Pain in the upper body, including things like jaw cramps and migraines, are signs of the heart not pumping enough blood throughout the body. Clogged arteries that arise, thanks to unhealthy diets and smoking bouts, will only deteriorate these things.

4. Sleep apnoea and snoring
Shortness of breath, that often accompanies sleep apnoea, is something that indicates inadequate oxygenation in the body. This should be a matter of concern if it continues for long periods of time.

5. General shortness of breath
This should be a matter of grave seriousness irrespective of the organ. Shortness of breath is more often than not a sign of deep-seated troubles like asthma or cardiac issues like arteries getting clogged or losing its elasticity.

If you have any or all of these signs, make sure that you go to a doctor and start changing your habits. It is more than high time!


11 Foods That May Cause a Heart Attack

One of two leading causes of death in American adults are heart attacks. Basically, there is some sort of blockage in the blood flow to the heart. The heart muscle cells start to die, and your heart is unable to work.

The blockage is generally caused by a buildup of fat and cholesterol (plaque) in the arteries. When the plaque breaks loose and impedes the flow of blood.


You develop plaque from smoking, being sedentary, obesity, poor diet, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

If your food is high in salt (sodium), saturated fats, and cholesterol, you are increasing your odds of developing heart disease and having a heart attack. We’ll list eleven foods that add to your risk of heart attack.

11. Sugary Drinks
When industry wants to add sugar to milk, you know Americans have a problem with sugar. Our drinks are sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. A 12-ounce serving of soda includes 10 teaspoons of sugar! Drinking calories leaves you hungry and you tend to overeat.

Sugar causes many health problems including obesity and diabetes. To avoid a heart attack, drastically cut back on sugar in all forms. Artificial sweeteners are worse than real sugar – they’ll make you hungry and are linked to cancer.

10. Refined and Processed Food
Refining grain (turning it into white flour, rice, etc.) removes nutrients. Your body treats refined grains like it does sugar. Refined grains lead to obesity and diabetes.

Whole grains are shown to lower blood pressure and cholesterol!

Processing foods generally includes adding salt and sugar to improve the taste. They also include shelf stable trans fats like partial hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils. These are bad fats that harm your heart.

Whole grains can improve blood vessel function. Eat whole grains!

9. Processed Meats
Processed meats contain saturated fats and salt by the bucketful. Your heart will not thank you for eating hot dogs, sausages, deli meat and bacon. Eating one serving a day of processed meats is associated with a 42% increased risk of developing chronic heart disease. These are inarguably the worst meats you can eat for heart health.


Eating unprocessed, lean meat is far healthier for you. Choose cuts lower in fat, remove the skin from chicken, and don’t smother in high fat toppings!

8. Canned Vegetables
Your body needs salt. The problem is salt is added to everything. It is a flavor enhancer. Too much salt affects blood vessels by making their walls thicker and less flexible. You retain water and that leads to higher blood pressure.

Canned vegetables are a huge culprit. Canning affects the taste and salt replaces some of it. If you use canned vegetables, lower salt versions and rinse before using. You also won’t need to add salt to them later.

7. Restaurant Appetizers
For some specific foods, avoid restaurant appetizers! If you choose anything but a broth-based soup or a house salad with vinaigrette, you are getting a full meal’s worth of calories, fat and sodium in your pre-dinner snack. Even some broth-based soups (French onion comes to mind) are super high in salt! Many are very highly processed and include white flour as breading.

One of the causes of heart attacks is obesity. If you are trying not to gain weight, skip the pre-dinner dinner.

6. Americanized Ethnic Food
Many ethnic foods start healthy but get Americanized. They are full of salt, saturated fats, and sugar. Chinese food is no exception. People think that it is healthy because of all the veggies, but American Chinese offerings like sweet-and-sour are breaded, salted, sugared, and highly processed.

The portions are also Americanized. What passes as Italian pasta in the US would feed a family in Italy where pasta is lightly topped with olive oil and a smidge of sauce.

How about America’s national cuisine?

5. Fast Food
America’s offering to world cuisine, fast food, is loaded with salt, sugar, preservatives, calories, and highly processed. To add insult to injury, it is fried in trans fats. It’s been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. It’s been engineered to be addictive and marketed aggressively.

There is speculation that fast food is one of the drivers of heart attack deaths. Removing fast food from your diet could literally save your life.

4. Premade Meals
Eating pre-made meals from the grocery store isn’t much healthier than fast food. It is stabilized with trans fats, flavor enhanced with salt, preservatives and sugar, and is highly processed. If you choose lower calories and lower salt options, read the labels. They may make those claims by decreasing the portion size!

Also be aware that manufactures only have to list trans fats over 1 gram. In reality, any amount of trans fats are bad and have a cumulative effect.


3. Kid’s Meals
Kids are programmed by nature to love fat and sugar. Kid’s meal manufacturers oblige. Many kid’s meals come with more calories, salt, and saturated fat than adult meals. They are also filled with white flour – bread, breading, and pasta.

If you are trying to teach your kids good eating habits and keep them from a life of obesity, diabetes and heart attacks, cut out macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers and hot dogs. And of, course pizza.

2. Pizza
Pizza is yet another heart attack special. Start with the white flour crust, add sugar laden sauce, preserved fatty salt… I mean meat… like pepperoni, and a ton of saturated fat cheese and you have yourself a future heart attack.

Eating one slice every once in a while is ok. But most people can’t do that because pizza hits all the happy places in our brain and you tend to eat more.

1. Ice Cream
Ice cream… yummy. And heart attack friendly. Because it is dairy and generally made with full fat milk, it is full of saturated fat. – the bad fat that is hard on your heart and cholesterol levels. It also contains a lot of sugar, both naturally occurring and added. Then add in the fruit, nuts, caramel bits and other goodies they add and you have a calorie bomb.

If you must have a dessert, eat fresh fruit or a bit of dark chocolate.

Conclusion
The American diet adds up to a heart attack. Eliminate bad fats like trans fats, cut down on saturated fats from meat, stop adding sugar and salt to everything, and eat less refined or processed foods. Perhaps the most important food you can stop eating is fast food.

Stop smoking and get a bit of exercise. Check your blood pressure. Lose weight. Heart attacks are not inevitable. A little effort can keep you from being a statistic!

You’ll find a healthy diet is every bit as satisfying and tasty. It just takes a bit of time to wean yourself off salt and sugar!


11 Signs You Are About To Have a Heart Attack

Heart disease is either the number 1 or number 2 killer of Americans. Heart attacks present themselves differently in each person and even between the sexes.

However, there are enough common symptoms that if you experience one or two of these symptoms suddenly, you may want to either call 911 or visit the ER.

Risks include age (over 65), sex (male), family history, race (African descent), smoking, obesity and diet, lack of exercise, high cholesterol, alcohol consumption, and stress.


You don’t have to have risk factors to have a heart attack, so be aware of symptoms!

11. Chest Pain
Both men and women tend to experience chest pain. In general, chest pain may be pain or may feel like pressure, squeezing, or fullness.

The pain often comes and goes and will last a few minutes. It may occur over several days. People describe the pain differently. Men describe it as an elephant sitting on you; women as a squeezing or feeling of fullness.

Chest pain occurs when your heart is not getting enough oxygen. Take time to have it looked at!

10. Jaw, Neck or Back Pain
Both men and women generally experience some sort of pain in the arms, neck, or back. The classic radiation pain down the left arm is usually a symptom for men.

Women generally tend to feel pain in the lower abdomen, lower chest, and upper back pain. Some people will feel pain into the jaw or neck but not always.

Radiating pain may or may not be associated with chest pain. Have unexplained pain in the torso, neck or jaw checked out.

9. Cold/Hot Sweats
If you suddenly break out in a cold or hot sweat or your skin gets clammy, and have one or two other symptoms, get help. Clammy skin feels cold and damp and is not normal in any instance.

Women may be going through peri-menopause and hot flashes. It can be difficult to separate “normal” hot flashes from heart attack sweating. If your sheets are soaked or you can’t sleep due to excessive sweating, insist that your doctor check you out.


8. Lightheadedness
If you suddenly feel like you might pass out if you stand up or do a normal activity, it is worth getting yourself checked out. Lightheadedness makes you feel like you are going to pass out. You may feel like throwing up.

Lightheadedness is caused when blood doesn’t reach the brain. There are many causes. Ongoing lightheadedness may have some serious causes. It is worth having it checked out. If you have other symptoms, call for help.

7. Indigestion, Nausea, and Vomiting
Older people are more at risk for indigestion, so it can be hard to figure out a reason. There are a lot of causes for these symptoms. Nausea and vomiting also have many causes.

You might also feel full but on an empty stomach. All these symptoms occur because your digestive system is getting less blood and not working regularly. However, one of these in conjunction with another symptom warrant a visit to the ER.

6. Shortness of Breath or Exhaustion
If you are having shortness of breath for no reason, you might be suffering a heart attack. Shortness of breath that has a sudden onset and occurs without exertion should be checked out.

Women, in particular, may experience exhaustion or unexplained weakness. You may experience exhaustion or fatigue when trying to complete a task that is generally easy.

You may feel like you are coming down with the flu. Any changes that occur without warning should be checked out.

5. Odd Heart Beats
A racing heart or the feeling that your heart has skipped a beat is normal. You might have had too much coffee or not enough sleep. Maybe you overdid the workout.

If it happens often or the skipped beat occurs several times in a row, you need to contact your doctor. Abnormal heart beats may cause anxiety or unease, or you may feel it in the neck but not chest. If these are associated with any other symptoms, contact a doctor.

4. Swollen Legs, Feet, and Ankles
Generally, you will see swelling in both extremities, not just one. Your heart isn’t able to pull the blood against gravity and the blood backs up, making your feet, legs, and ankles swell. You might also see bloating as your kidneys are unable to cope with changing salt concentration.

Swelling in one leg should be checked out as well, as it can be a symptom on a blood clot that could eventually cause a stroke.


3. Coughing
Usually, coughing is a sign of heart trouble, not an impending heart attack. It can be a symptom of heart congestion. Your heart’s weakness allows fluids build up in the lungs. You cough to try to clear your lungs.

If you know you are at risk or have heart disease and you have a long-lasting cough, have it checked out. If you start spitting up white or pink mucus, you should definitely have yourself checked out.

2. Snoring
Snoring is not a sign that you are having a heart attack, but it can be a sign of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can trigger a heart attack or cause extra strain on your heart.

If you don’t have a partner to comment on your snoring, look for signs like gasping for air while sleeping, morning dry mouth or headache, or daytime sleepiness. If you snore badly and stop breathing for a moment or two, go to the doctor.

1. Confusion
If you are having memory loss or disorientation, you may want someone to check you out. There are many causes for confusion, but one of them in heart failure or coronary disease.

These occur because your blood chemistry is changing and certain substances within the blood are out of normal ranges. Your brain is also not getting enough blood to function properly.

Many times, someone else notices these symptoms first. Insist confused loved ones get checked out.

Conclusion
The challenge of a heart attack is deciding that symptoms all add up to a serious event. Each one can be attributed to non-serious conditions. If you experience more than one symptom, have it check out.

People are also unwilling to disturb emergency workers. Most EMTs and firefighters don’t mind getting called out because you never know. They would rather roll on a mistake than try to revive a corpse.

Put the odds in your favor. Workout, eat right, stop smoking, and control your cholesterol. You’ll feel better in the long run and may stave off a heart attack.


5 Signs You Are About to Have a Heart Attack

Some might assume that going into cardiac arrest is something that everyone knows the signs and symptoms of. However, that isn’t always the case. While some symptoms in the lead up to having a heart attack are well known there are some that aren’t. There is a reason it’s called the silent killer. If you are unsure whether or not you’ve just suffered from a heart attack, go see your doctor immediately!


1. Fatigue
In the lead up to going into cardiac arrest a lot of patients say they felt extreme fatigue in the days leading up. Not your usual hasn’t had enough sleep kind of tiredness but an extreme kind. When you’re unable to do simple tasks that normally aren’t an issue for you. This is mainly because during a heart attack blood flow to the heart is reduced which then in turns put extra stress on your muscles to perform.


2. Sore back, arms or chest
While most people are aware that pain in your chest is a sure sign of a heart attack, it’s also very likely to have pain in other less well known areas like your back and arms. Some avid exercisers say they felt pain while they were working out before they had a heart attack but put it down to the strenuous activity.

3. Difficulty breathing
Feeling short of breath when you’ve just run up a flight of stairs is fairly normal, but randomly have bouts of inability to breath or needing to catch your breath when you are sitting down for example, is not normal. A sign to look out for when dealing with heart attacks is whether or not you are struggling to breath when you first wake up.

4. Heartburn
If you do experience some sort of heart burn in your day to day life that’s completely fine and you shouldn’t stress out just from this one symptom. However, if heart burn isn’t normal for you and you find yourself feeling heart burn in your chest, this could be a sign you are either just about to have a heart attack or it’s already happening.

5. Feeling off
Put it down to intuition but a lot of people who have suffered from a heart attack say they knew something was off before it even happened. Almost as though their body was trying to prepare them for what was about to happen. So, if you’re experiencing one or more of these signs and symptoms get yourself to the emergency room or your local GP as soon as possible.

5 Surprising Facts That Heart Attack Is Different in Women

Heart attacks are one of the most common causes of death. The good news is that there are many symptoms that show the onset of heart attacks and thereby, it can be prevented if we try hard enough. But a recent discovery has shocked the medical world. While heart attacks may be common for both men and women, the symptoms are not identical.


Women show different symptoms when a heart attack is going to happen. Surprisingly, it has been found out that many women report that they have one of these symptoms for a month or so. Here are some of the facts that women need to know about heart attacks.

Chest Pain
The chest pain experienced by women is much different than those which are experienced by men. For men, the chest pain has been described as a burning sensation or a dull ache. However, for women, it is more of a tightness or crushing pressure.

Other Pain
Women also experience neck, jaw and back pain, unlike men. This is generally followed by palpitations, whereas men feel weakness and exhaustion. Women have also reported experiencing indigestion, nausea, dizziness, and cough. According to Atiq Rehman, MD, one of the reasons for the difference in symptoms is that since women have to work in different areas every day, which includes office, kids and family – they get stressed and depressed which masks the common symptoms.


Ischemic Heart Disease
One of the reasons why women suffer from ischemic heart disease is due to narrow arteries. Women who have ischemic heart disease also have their major arteries cleared of plaque but their smaller coronary blood vessels tend not to dilate or constrict properly. The result is a low flow of blood to the heart.

However, this can be countered by proper exercise and medication. There may be a need for lifestyle changes too. Maybe going for low-fat food and meditation will help. One of the problems in women with ischemic heart diseases is that they have normal angiograms, which means that you can detect many problems beforehand.

Other Symptoms
According to Cedars-Sinai Institute, women who suffer from menstrual cycles which are irregular or have problems with their estrogen levels have more risk of contracting a heart attack. Similarly, polycystic ovary syndrome can be a cause as well.

Proper Tests
One of the major problems in our medical system is that when women go to the doctor with a physical problem like shortness of breath or maybe a chest pain, doctors tend to go for stress tests. That’s because these issues can be a wide range of things and stress is a likely option too. However, when the stress test is conducted, it ends up being normal or a false positive. We should rather go for a heart checkup when such a situation occurs rather than a stress test.

Since this is new knowledge, we still do not have enough information on it. However, we must try to use the available information and go to the doctor immediately if something out of the ordinary takes place. And we need to cultivate a healthy lifestyle too.


A Month Before a Heart Attack, Your Body Will Warn You With These 8 Signals

Prevention is better than cure. This simple rule applies to any disease and is especially valuable when symptoms are not properly acknowledged.

8. Fatigue
Unusual fatigue is one of the main symptoms that indicates an impending heart attack. Women are more likely to report this type of symptom than men.


Description: Physical or mental activity is not the reason for the fatigue, and it increases by the end of the day. This symptom is quite apparent and will not go unnoticed: sometimes it’s exhausting to perform simple tasks, like making a bed or taking a shower.

7. Abdominal pain
Abdominal pains, empty/full stomach nausea, feeling bloated, or an upset stomach are several of the most common symptoms. They are equally likely to occur among women and men.

Description: Abdominal pains before a heart attack have an episodic nature, easing and then returning for short periods of time. Physical tension might worsen upset stomach pains.

6. Insomnia
Insomnia is also associated with an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke, which is more common among women. Insomnia features often include a high level of anxiety and absentmindedness.

Description: Symptoms include difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and early-morning awakening.

5. Shortness of breath
Dyspnea, or breathlessness, is a strong feeling of being unable to draw a deep breath. It often occurs among both men and women for up to 6 months prior to having a heart attack. It’s usually a warning sign of a medical condition.

Description: Feeling like you can’t get enough air, dizziness, and shortness of breath.

4. Hair loss
Losing your hair is considered to be just another visible indicator of the risk of heart disease. Most commonly it affects men over 50, but some women may also be in the risk group. Baldness is also associated with an increased level of the hormone cortisol.


Description: Pay close attention to losing hair from the crown of your head.

3. Irregular heartbeat
Skipped beats or arrhythmias are often accompanied by a panic attack and anxiety, especially among women. It appears unexpectedly and reveals itself differently: arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) or tachycardia (increased heart rate). Physical exercises might give an extra stimulus to the increase of heart rate, especially in cases with atherosclerosis disease.

Description: The irregular heartbeat lasts for 1-2 minutes. If it doesn’t fade, you might feel dizziness and extreme fatigue. Call the doctor right away.

2. Excessive perspiration
Unusual or excessive sweating is an early warning sign of a heart attack. It might occur at any time of the day or night. This symptom affects women more often and is usually confused with the hot flashes or night sweats typical of menopause.

Description: Flu-like symptoms, clammy skin, or sweatiness occurring regardless of air temperature or physical exertion. Sweating seems to be more excessive at night; the bedsheets might be damp by morning.

1. Chest pain
Men and women experience chest pains in different intensities and forms. In men, this symptom refers to the most important early signs of an impending heart attack that should not be ignored. On the other hand, it affects only 30% of women.

Description: Chest pain can expand to uncomfortable sensations in one or both arms (more often the left one), the lower jaw, neck, shoulders, or stomach. It may have a permanent or temporary character.

Risk factors
We all know about the most common risk factors, like obesity, lack of physical exercise, and smoking. However, there are some often-missed indicators that might improve your health awareness and help you prevent a heart attack.
  • Earlobe crease (presence of an earlobe crease that lies diagonally from the ear canal).
  • Yellow patches on the inside corners of the eyelids.
  • Light soreness in the calf muscles brought on by walking.
  • Ear canal hair (among men).
  • Early hair graying (among men).