Heart attacks are sudden and, in most cases, powerful. One must not wait to get help when a heart attack occurs, as it can lead to death. Furthermore, there are some early warning signs of cardiac arrest that sadly most people are unaware of.
Below are the four key signs of an imminent cardiac arrest that a person should never ignore.
1. Chest pain
Feeling a strange discomfort in the chest is the most common indicator of a heart attack at any point in the following days. The pain stems from the buildup of plaque inside the arteries, Dr. Roger Blumenthal, the director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told The Guardian. The typical chest pain is known as angina, which can also occur due to a constriction or spasm of the arteries on the outside of the heart.
Blumenthal, therefore, said it’s important to reach out for medical help at the earliest in case one experiences the said discomfort.
2. Searing pain in the neck, shoulder, or jaw
A neck pain, which sometimes one might mistake for a muscle strain, can have far more dangerous implications. Blumenthal said a pain that zaps through the neck or shoulder or arm, could mean a heart attack is likely.
“Sometimes angina is synonymous with chest pain or chest pressure but sometimes, especially with older individuals, there may be other associated symptoms like … pain that radiates through the neck or shoulder or arm,” Blumenthal said.
Those who experience jaw pain on one side in conjunction with neck pain or chest discomfort are also at immediate risk of a heart attack. Jayne Morgan, MD, cardiologist and the clinical director of the COVID task force at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA, said jaw pain before heart attack is more common in women than in men.
“Women’s symptoms can be less dramatic than the crushing chest pain and tightness, and shortness of breath that drives most men to the…
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