Symptoms after heart attack

[iggyslave]

I had a bad bout of what I thought was acid reflux sunday night and my jaw felt weird, sort of like, lock jaw ... uncomfortable but not painful.  When I talked to my doctor's nurse Monday.  She advised me to go to the ER as these were signs of a heart attack.  I didn't go.  But I've been feeling sluggish ever since, not well, not anything that I can put my finger on, just a bunch of little things.  My question is what kind of symptoms hang on after, if it was a heart attack?  Or if it was a heart attack is that it?  Nothing more!

[iggyslave]

Thanks for all your comments.  I did go to the doctor yesterday.  All my vitals were below or normal and they did an EKG and that was also normal.  So it was just a case of Acid Reflux.  Don't know what the jaw thing was all about but I'm not going to worry about it anymore.

[ed34]

Jaw ache was one of my symptoms before my heart attacks and now my arteries are
getting worse, the problem is returning. Sometimes when I chew my food for just two
minutes it feels like I've been chewing gum for non stop for three days.
I would like to ask an important question though and that is "when you felt this
symptom, were you at rest or exerting"
Usually angina starts in people when they are exerting and the symptoms diminish if
you totally relax. If the symptoms started when you were totally relaxed I would go
straight to the hospital for tests. If there is a problem, you have probably got away
with no heart damage. If you leave it and the problem returns more severely, you could
lose some heart tissue which will never recover. It isn't worth the wait.

[MamaBush]

What kenkeith said is correct, but I'd like to add something.

Yes, you can have a heart attack, then feel sluggish afterwards, but have no further symptoms.  A lot depends on what it was caused from and how much damage may have occurred.

I have had five heart attacks, all of which caused minimal damage to my heart in various regions, but damage non-the-less.  Stents did open up four of my arteries, allowing increased blood flow, around the areas damaged, as well as small arteries having grown around all of my damaged areas, in my heart's attempt to "fix" itself.  However, the small arteries that have grown do very little to increase blood flow.

Women tend to have the aching jaw more than men do, when having a heart attack.  You really need to see your doctor, get in to see a cardiologist, and be evaluated.

[kenkeith]

If there was a heart attack that usually indicates heart muscle damage, and that would impair heart contractions and if serious the lack of blood flow can cause heart failure.  There may never be any further symptoms like what you have experienced (if a heart problem) until the heart fails and that results in pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), enlarged heart, shortness of breath, muscle fatigue and eventually cardiac arrest.

I had heart failure and never experienced any symptoms prior.  You should see a doctor, and if was/is a heart issue it can be successfully treated.  To wait too long the condition will cause irreversible damage.