When a coronary heart assault strikes, it doesn’t at all times really feel the identical in girls because it does in males.
Girls do not at all times get the identical basic coronary heart assault signs as males, resembling crushing chest ache that radiates down one arm. These coronary heart assault signs can definitely occur to girls, however many expertise obscure and even “silent” signs that they might miss.
These six coronary heart assault signs are frequent in girls:
- Chest ache or discomfort. Chest ache is the most typical coronary heart assault symptom, however some girls might expertise it in another way than males. It might really feel like a squeezing or fullness, and the ache might be anyplace within the chest, not simply on the left facet. It is often “really uncomfortable” throughout a coronary heart assault, says heart specialist Rita Redberg, MD, director of Girls’s Cardiovascular Companies on the College of California, San Francisco. “It looks like a vise being tightened.”
- Ache in your arm(s), again, neck, or jaw. This sort of ache is extra frequent in girls than in males. It might confuse girls who count on their ache to be centered on their chest and left arm, not their again or jaw. The ache might be gradual or sudden, and it might wax and wane earlier than turning into intense. In case you’re asleep, it might wake you up. You must report any “not typical or unexplained” signs in any a part of your physique above your waist to your physician or different well being care supplier, says heart specialist C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Girls’s Coronary heart Middle at Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle in Los Angeles.
- Abdomen ache. Typically individuals mistake abdomen ache that alerts a coronary heart assault with heartburn, the flu, or a abdomen ulcer. Different occasions, girls expertise extreme stomach strain that looks like an elephant sitting in your abdomen, says heart specialist Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Middle for Girls’s Well being at NYU Langone Medical Middle in New York.
- Shortness of breath, nausea, or lightheadedness. In case you’re having hassle respiration for no obvious purpose, you may be having a coronary heart assault, particularly in case you’re additionally having a number of different signs. “It may really feel like you’ve got run a marathon, however you did not make a transfer,” Goldberg says.
- Sweating. Breaking out in a nervous, chilly sweat is frequent amongst girls who’re having a coronary heart assault. It’ll really feel extra like stress-related sweating than perspiration from exercising or spending time outdoors within the warmth. “Get it checked out” in case you do not usually sweat like that and there’s no different purpose for it, resembling warmth or sizzling flashes, Bairey Merz says.
- Fatigue. Some girls who’ve coronary heart assaults really feel extraordinarily drained, even when they have been sitting nonetheless for some time or have not moved a lot. “Sufferers typically complain of a tiredness within the chest,” Goldberg says. “They are saying that they can not do easy actions, like stroll to the lavatory.”
Not everybody will get all of these signs. If in case you have chest discomfort, particularly in case you even have a number of of the opposite indicators, name 911 instantly.
In case you really feel coronary heart assault signs:
- Don’t delay getting assist. “Girls usually wait longer than males earlier than going to the emergency room,” says Rita F. Redberg, MD, MSc, FACC, director of Girls’s Cardiovascular Companies for the UCSF Division of Cardiology in San Francisco. Even in case you suppose your signs aren’t that unhealthy or will move, the stakes are too excessive.
- Do not drive your self to the hospital. You want an ambulance. In case you drive, you may have a wreck on the way in which and probably damage your self or another person.
- Don’t have a buddy or relative drive you, both. Chances are you’ll not get there quick sufficient.
- Don’t dismiss what you are feeling. “Don’t be concerned about feeling foolish in case you’re incorrect,” Goldberg says. It’s important to get it checked out instantly.
“Individuals do not need to spend hours in an emergency room if it is not a coronary heart assault,” Bairey Merz says. “However girls are literally good at deciding what’s typical for themselves and when to hunt well being care.”
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