Heart Attack Symptoms in Women

For women, recognizing the symptoms of a heart attack can be challenging. Often, those symptoms are less dramatic than the heart-clutching pain associated with heart attacks in men. Women also tend to minimize the symptoms or attribute them to things like stress, muscle strain, or indigestion. Understanding the more subtle symptoms of heart attacks in women is a major step towards getting immediate care when needed.

Heart attack symptoms in women include:

• Chest pain, pressure, or discomfort
• Discomfort in the neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back, or abdomen
• Shortness of breath
• Pain in one or both arms
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sweating without an obvious reason, like exercise or hot flashes
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Unusual fatigue or decrease in energy level

If you experience one or more of these symptoms and think you might be having a heart attack, call for emergency help immediately.

You can manage many of the risk factors for heart attack through diet, exercise, and by cutting out harmful behaviors like smoking. To learn how to reduce your risk for heart attack and to improve your cardiovascular health, schedule an appointment with your cardiologist.