Classic symptoms of a heart attack:

If the arteries leading to your heart become too narrowed by plaque, or if plaque buildup causes a blood clot that blocks the arteries to your heart, you may have a heart attack. Warning signs of a heart attack can differ from one person to the next. If you have symptoms of a heart attack, get immediate emergency medical care.

Here are the classic symptoms of a heart attack:

• crushing pain, pressure, or squeezing in the chest that lasts more than a few minutes. It may also feel heavy, stabbing, or burning. The pain may spread to your back, neck, shoulders, arms, or jaw
• discomfort in your chest possibly along with feeling lightheaded, fainting, sweating, feeling nauseous, or becoming short of breath

Other symptoms that may be present during a heart attack:

• anxiety that begins for no reason, weakness, or fatigue
• nausea, dizziness, or difficulty breathing, without chest pain
• back pain
• confusion
• dry mouth
• pain in the arm
• pain in the lower jaw or throat
• rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, or paleness
• sense of impending doom
• stomach or abdominal pain, sometimes mistaken for indigestion
• vomiting
• cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing with or without chest pain

Symptoms can vary from person to personrson. For instance, if you are a woman, you may have less chest pain than a man might have. If you have diabetes or are older than age 75, the chest pain and tightness you feel may be less than what someone else would feel. Or you may feel no symptoms at all. Also, not all symptoms occur in every heart attack. Even if you've had a heart attack before, a second one may feel different.

While symptoms most often occur in the morning within a few hours of waking, they can happen at any time of the day or night. Symptoms may appear, go away, and then return। You can also have a heart attack with no symptoms. The Framingham Heart Study, which has followed 4,000 men for more than 40 years, showed that one out of every four heart attacks went unnoticed until they were discovered through testing. These episodes, also called silent heart attacks, are a problem especially for people with diabetes and for those who are age 75 or older. Despite the lack of pain, silent heart attacks can damage the heart or even result in death.

If you think you are having a heart attack, do the following.

• Sit or lie down.
• Call for emergency help at once. In most areas, calling 911 contacts emergency medical responders. They are trained in cardiac life support. Don't waste time calling your own doctor or a friend or family member. Fill in the correct numbers below.
  • Local emergency number - check to see if your area has 911:_________________
  • Closest 24-hour medical facility that can treat heart emergencies:______________
• Describe your symptoms briefly and clearly. For instance, tell the emergency dispatcher, "I'm having severe chest pain and trouble breathing."
• If your doctor has prescribed nitroglycerin tablets, take them as directed. You can usually take one pill at a time every 5 minutes until the pain has stopped or you have taken three pills. In the meantime, call 911! Never take nitroglycerin without a doctor's prescription.
• Chew and swallow aspirin - as long as you are not allergic to it. Aspirin makes your platelets less sticky. This inhibits blood clotting and helps keep blood flowing through narrowed arteries. Chewing an aspirin during a heart attack can decrease the risk of dying by 25%.

If you're unconscious and you have no pulse, someone should begin administering CPR after calling for help. It's a good idea for anyone with heart problems to ask that family members or caregivers be trained in CPR. If you are with someone else who is having heart attack symptoms and is unconscious and has no pulse, begin CPR. Have the 911 dispatcher instruct you if you haven't been trained.

Time is extremely important in responding to a heart attack. Each minute that an area of the heart is deprived of blood and oxygen, more tissue is damaged or dies. If the blockage of blood and oxygen lasts only a short time and blood flow to the heart is restored, damage may be prevented. Medicines called thrombolytics are sometimes given shortly after the onset of a heart attack. They can reopen blocked arteries, restore blood flow, and prevent permanent damage to the heart.

The key is to be prepared. Know how to respond if you have symptoms, and get help quickly. Talk with friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members about your heart condition so they can be prepared. Don't wait until after you have a heart attack to talk with them. Familiarize them with the warning signs of heart attack. Also let them know what medicines you take and where you keep them. Prompt action can prevent serious damage to your heart and possibly save your life