Heart Attack Signs in Women
- Uncomfotable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
- Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
- Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
- Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
- As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea / vomiting and back or jaw pain.
If you have any of these signs, call our Emergency line (6985 11 200) and we will send the ambulance to get you to the hospital right away.
We’ve all seen the movie scenes where a man gasps, clutches his chest and falls to the ground. In reality, a heart attack victim could easily be a woman, and the scene may not be that dramatic.
“Although men and women can experience chest pressure that feels like an elephant sitting across the chest, women can experience a heart attack without chest pressure, ” said Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director for the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at NYU’s Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association volunteer. “Instead they may experience shortness of breath, pressure or pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen, dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting, upper back pressure or extreme fatigue.”
Even when the signs are subtle, the consequences can be deadly, especially if the victim doesn’t get help right away.
‘I thought I had the flu’
Even though heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, women often chalk up the symptoms to less life-threatening conditions like acid reflux, the flu or normal aging.
“They do this because they are scared and because they put their families first,” Goldberg said. “There are still many women who are shocked that they could be having a heart attack.”
A heart attack strikes someone about every 43 seconds. It occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely. This happens because the arteries that supply the heart with blood can slowly narrow from a buildup of fat, cholesterol and other substances (plaque).
Many women think the signs of a heart attack are unmistakable — the image of the elephant comes to mind — but in fact they can be subtler and sometimes confusing.
You could feel so short of breath, “as though you ran a marathon, but you haven’t made a move,” Goldberg said.
Some women experiencing a heart attack describe upper back pressure that feels like squeezing or a rope being tied around them, Goldberg said. Dizziness, lightheadedness or actually fainting are other symptoms to look for.
“Many women I see take an aspirin if they think they are having a heart attack and never call Emergency line,” Goldberg said. “But if they think about taking an aspirin for their heart attack, they should also call Emergency line.”
Take care of yourself
Heart disease is preventable. Here are some top tips:
- Schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider to learn your personal risk for heart disease.
- Quit Smoking. Did you know that just one year after you quit, you’ll cut your risk of coronary heart disease by 50 percent?
- Start an exercise program. Just walking 30 minutes a day can lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.
- Modify your family’s diet if needed.
Article from : American Heart Association (www.heart.org)
The doctors belonging to the health network of CrossBorderMedCare are very experienced in dealing with medical emergency cases and our specialties cover the whole range of urgent care, from cases that require immediate first aid at the place of the incident to complicated cases that require ambulance transportation and hospitalization, offering in such a way a complete service of medical assistance.
CrossBorderMedCare is a medical care provider with facilities in Sweden and Greece. CrossBorderMedCare offers a wide spectrum of health care services that meet all the needs of an international patient ranging from urgent to planned medical and dental care. 
Athens BioClinic Hospital is a member of Bioiatriki Healthcare Group which is the largest private medical care provider in Greece. Bioiatriki Healthcare Group owns 26 fully automated primary care Diagnostic Centers and 2 hospitals in Athens and Thessaloniki serving more than 2 million people every year. 
