The signs of a heart attack for women and older adults can be different. Often their symptoms present as atypical chest pains. This means it feels more like indigestion or heartburn and can include nausea and vomiting. Women are more likely than men to have a silent or unrecognized heart attack. For women they will also experience shortness of breath and fatigue and weakness of the shoulders and upper arms.
Older adults will often seek medical attention for a variety of symptoms including difficulty breathing, confusion, fainting, dizziness, abdominal pain or cough. They often think they are having a stroke when in fact they are suffering a heart attack.
Other symptoms that occur during a heart attack are responses to the damage that the heart is undergoing during the attack. Anxiety, tachycardia (rapid heart beat), and vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) occur in response to sympathetic nervous system stimulation.
This results in cool, clammy, mottled skin. The respiratory center of the brain responds to pain and blood chemistry changes by increasing respiration rate. Death of heart tissue causes inflammation that causes an increase in white blood cells and an elevation in temperature.
Depending of the location and amount of infracted (dead) heart tissue other signs of heart can include high blood pressure, low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, or bradycardia (slow heart rate). Irritation of the diaphragm can cause the hiccups as well. In extreme cases the first sign of a heart attack is a sudden death. This is particularly likely in the event that a major blood vessel is completely blocked.
It is utmost importance to seek medical attention at the first signs of heart attack. The sooner a heart attack victim receives medical attention the better their chances of survival.
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