heart attack symptoms

These days, we often hear so much about the symptoms of heart attacks. As I know them, they are: pale and clammy skin, anxiety/fear/denial, shortness of breath, sweating, indigeston, tightness, overall fatigue, nausea. Usually the line following these descriptions reads "if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, go to the nearest medical facility"
My question is: how can you run to the hospital at any of these symptoms, many of them could be something else. What would be the defining line between go or stay home? How do you decide? I realize it's better to err on the side of caution, but that could result in many unnecessary expenses. What would a person look for that would tip the decision. Sorry if this seems like a silly question, but I live alone and I don't want to run to the hospital everytime I wake up with some anxiety or indigestion, but I don't want to delay treatment either. How do you decide when to go and when to stay home?

[KLB32]

It is a tough call.  Any doctor will tell you if you think you're experiencing symptoms of a MI to immediately go to the ER.  

I can tell you what works for me.  I have a history of anxiety (and this has been confirmed by professionals) and have been given a prescription of low dose Xanax.  If I am having symptoms, I'll take a Xanax.  If the symptoms go away (and they always do for me) then I know it's my anxiety.  I seriously doubt Xanax would help if the symptoms were due to a cardiac problem.

I'm not suggesting this method is appropriate for everyone but it's worth mentioning to your doctor.  Xanax can be addictive if it's used too often so keep that in mind.  I use it maybe once a month.  

[bb1199]

When I had my first heart attack (age 41) I had all the symptoms described along with pain in my chest so bad that I could not take a deep breath. I did not go to the ER until my left arm starting going numb/tingling and my husband decided we had better see what was wrong.
When my husband had a heart attack I took him when I noticed that he was holding/rubbing his jaw. He had the crushing pain in the chest but had recently been told he had acid reflux not heart problems so he wouldn't go earlier in the evening to the ER. His heart attack was so severe that he has lost heart function and I was told if we had waited any longer he would not have survived.

[PikaPika88]

A nurse told me if it is a heart attack, the medical teams can reversal the damaged if you're attented in the ER within 24 hours.  After 24 hours, it is lesser and lesser chance to reverse and may result to permanent damaged.  

I'm wondering, would heart attack will damage the valves or not?  Could they reverse the damage of valves or just muscle?

[motherof6538]

what does it mean when your toes feel numb,and your left arm hurts?

[momtofourboys]

We think my 4 year old just had a small heart attack this past wednessday. he had been grey for a couple of hours(Chris can turn grey without any symptoms this is due to the shunting going on) plus he was sweaty, however it was very warm out so I wasn't really sure if something was going on. I tried to take his pulse but there is a pause in his Heart beat.. (oh he was slleping in the car with the windows down. finally after an hour of slleping, normal nap time, he woke up on the way to get 2 of his brothers off the bus(we were a few minutes early. at the bus stop Chris started to cry that his heart hurts really bad (3rd time in 10 days) and it is going down his leg and back up his leg and into his arm and to his heart. he had a hard time talking. I was totally like scared. 2 of my kids were on a 40 minute bus ride that took a little longer and Ihad no cell phone signal to call 911 there were no houses around execpt 1 and no one was home. I called the doctors as soon as I got signal and the nurse there asked if he was still symtpomatic and I said no. they said then don't worry about bringing him to get checked there isn't anything they can do. I got a call from his cardiac doctor 2 days later and he said i should have gone with my gut instinc that they could have tested him for a H.A and help him if he infact had one the cardiologist feels he did even though he was fine after.
I say if you havve nore then just one symptom, execpt chest pain then I would go for help, if oyu have just chest pain I would go. you never know. I could kick my butt for not taken him. I am very upset that I put my little guy in danger.
who knows, you say you live by yourslef and want to try to save on the $$ however when in doubt go to the ER, you might not be here to enjoy your $$ if you don't go. better to be safe then sorry.
michelle

[fluffypurrcat]

HI, I know exactly what you mean. I recently had a heart attack, and I knew that the symptoms were different than anything I had experienced before, and my gut insticts told me it was probably a heart attack, it was something NOT NORMAL, my mistake was not going to the E.R. and because of that, I am having difficulties now getting diagnosed.

My attack started around 5:00 p.m while at the local video store, returning a video. I suddenly felt pain, not the usual pain, but a Hard Squeezing pain, hard to breathe, pain in my jaw, cold sweats, some nausea, and more than anything FEAR, I was afraid of fainting or falling down in the store, I should have had them call 911, but I did not, I only wanted to get home to where my husband was.

This attack lasted about 15 minutes of intense squeezing, probably more. I just checked out any video and walked home as quick as I could. ( I don't drive.) I told my husband when I got home, just so if I died in the night or was sick he would know why. Really Stupid, I know. All he did was give me an ASPIRIN right away, but it was what made the difference I am sure. It was not untill about two weeks later I saw my dr. who was smart enough to referr me for some tests. She knew she said I had all the Classic symptoms, and Denial, which is another one.I was given a big lecture.

A couple of week ago I was given a Stress test where they inject radioactive dye and can look at your heart under a camera and allso had a special med injected to stimulate as if I had been exercising on the tread mill.( I have a bad back and two recent foot operations.) My dr. allso prescribed Nitroquick while waiting for the results of the test and told me to be careful not to exert myself, incase I had a blood clot . The results showed that I had a Recent MI, and my test results were abnormal

I was releived to find out I had been correct, I knew I had experienced something not normal, but stupid that I had not gone to the ER. So now for the bad news, my dr. referred me to a Cardiologist, I have been on pins and needles waiting for the call to come in. Yesterday the call came in, and the thing is that the Cardiologist thinks I dont really need to be seen. He doesnt agree with the results that the dr. who read the test and wrote the results that my dr. saw. In other words, he doesn't want to see me. My dr. talked him into it, because she does not agree with this dr. that I am "Ok" so he agreed to see me as a consult only. I was pretty upset and called my dr. to see if I could get a referral to see someone else. ( Also I was not going to get in to see this other dr. till Mid JUNE! ) So they told me it would take about a week to get a referral and not to expect to hear from them till then.
To my surprise, I got a referral to see this other Cardiologist next week! My DR. stood up to bat for me and apparently did not like the attitude of this other dr. either. She was able to pull some strings and got things done right away. Now I feel like I can relax some for another week.

My point is this, If I had gone to the ER when I had been having the attack, I would have gotten the treatment I needed and also they can diagnose for certain if it is an attack of your heart and not something else with different tests, These can only be done for a short amount of time, Because I waited I have had to go through all of this, and the worst thing, is that it looks like I have some areas of dead tissue in my heart, because I did not get treatment.( this is what the stress test suggested, but I won't know for sure till I have more tests )  If you are feeling any thing out of the ordinary, esp, a squeezing pain in mid chest and any other symptoms, have it checked out. Don't wait, till It may be too late.

The comparison I have heard that is very accurate is this; You would take your car in if you heard unusual noises or it was not acting right, isn't your body worth as much as your car? Also, Women often have atypical symptoms when having a heart attack, and may not present with as much " Pain" as a man does. Women often have symptoms days before an attack such as unusual tiredness or fatigue, just not feeling well. Good luck and don't make the mistake I made.                    fluffypurrcat