heart attack signs

• Symptoms include:
  • chest pain: usually located in the centre of your chest and can feel like a sensation of pressure, tightness or squeezing
  • pain in other parts of the body: it can feel as if the pain is travelling from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm is affected, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and abdomen
  • shortness of breath
  • feeling sick
  • being sick
  • an overwhelming sense of anxiety (similar to having a panic attack)
  • feeling light headed
  • coughing
  • wheezing
  The level of pain can vary significantly from person to person. For many the pain is severe and it has been described as feeling like ‘an elephant sitting on my chest’. For others, pain can be minor and similar to that experienced during indigestion.
  Also, people with diabetes, some women, and older people do not experience any chest pain at all.
  It is not the level of chest pain that is important in determining whether you are having a heart attack, it’s the overall pattern of symptoms that is important.
  Do not worry if you have doubts about whether your symptoms indicate you are having a heart attack. Assume that you are having a heart attack and dial 999 to ask for an ambulance immediately.
  Paramedics would rather be called out to find an honest mistake has been made than be called out when it is too late to save a person’s life.