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Heart attack (Myocardial infarction)
More than a million Americans suffer a heart attack each year. Key to survival is recognizing the symptoms and getting fast treatment at a hospital. A heart attack occurs when your heart -- a muscle -- doesn’t get enough blood to keep it working, primarily because one or more of the arteries -- which carry the blood to your heart -- is blocked. Heart attack warning signs:
- Pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in chest
- Pain or numbness in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach
- Shortness of breath
- A cold sweat
- Nausea, vomiting
- Lightheadedness
Heart failure
Heart failure occurs when your heart can’t pump blood like it should, most often because of another condition. Nearly five million Americans have heart failure, typically treated with medication, a good diet, exercise, and perhaps surgery. Conditions that can trigger heart failure are a heart attack, blocked coronary arteries (which supply blood to the heart), damaged heart muscle and high blood pressure.
Heart failure symptoms:
- Shortness of breath at rest or during activity
- Swollen feet, ankles, legs, abdomen
- Cough, wheezing
- Dizziness, fatigue, weakness, nausea
- Rapid or irregular heartbeats
- Impaired thinking, trouble concentrating
Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia is a condition occurring when your heartbeat is too fast, too slow or irregular. A heart beat is regulated by electrical impulses within our body and coronary artery disease can disrupt this synchronization. Two kinds of arrhythmia are the more common tachycardia – when your heart beats too fast, more than 100 beats per minute; and bradycardia – when your heart beats too slowly, less than 60 beats per minutes.
It’s not uncommon for a person to occasionally feel like their heart has skipped a beat; if this occurs more often, please see your doctor.
Arrhythmia symptoms:
- Repeated heart palpitations
- Quick heartbeat
- Slow heartbeat
- Chest discomfort
- Fainting
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
This page was last updated on 10/7/2003
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