Heart attack can look different for women

Many people are familiar with the image of a heart attack sufferer clutching their chest or feeling surprising, tingling sensations in their left arm. While those symptoms are common, heart attacks can produce a wide array of symptoms, and some of them may actually be much less apparent than chest pain or tingling in the left arm. That’s especially so for women.

The organization Go Red for Women, which highlights women’s heart health during the month of February, advises that many symptoms women can experience when suffering from heart disease may be overlooked or misunderstood as signs of less threatening conditions. However, jaw pain, nausea, pressure and sweating all may be indicative of a heart attack. A failure to recognize that and act quickly could prove fatal.

The American Heart Association says that heart disease is the foremost killer of women in the United States. Despite that, many women are unaware of the threat of heart disease and its symptoms.

Heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked by a buildup of a substance called plaque in the coronary arteries. Heart attack can strike any woman, though women who deal with high stress, are overweight or are heavy smokers are at the greatest risk.

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