Heart attack - Know the signs and what to do
The warning signs of heart attack vary. The warnings signs usually last for 10 minutes or are severe. You may experience more than one of these warnings signs:
- Pain in the chest: A heart attack usually causes discomfort or pain in the centre of the chest. The pain may come on suddenly, or sometimes starts slowly, developing over minutes. It may feel like tightness, pressure, heaviness, fullness, or squeezing. The feeling has been described as: 'like a steel band tightening around my chest', 'like an elephant sitting on my chest' or 'like a red hot poker in the centre of my chest'. The pain may be severe, moderate or even mild.
- Pain spreading: The chest discomfort may spread to the neck and throat, jaw, shoulders, the back, either or both arms and even into the wrists and hands.
- Discomfort in the upper body: Some people do not get any chest pain, only discomfort in parts of the upper body. There may be a choking feeling in the throat. The arms may feel 'heavy' or 'useless'.
- Other symptoms: Often there may also be difficulty breathing, nausea or vomiting, a cold sweat or a feeling of being dizzy or light-headed.