Can You Have Mini Heart Attacks and Not Know
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En español | Despite its depiction in the movies, a heart assault doesn't always produce pain or pressure so intense information technology causes a person to clutch their chest and collapse to the floor. Near people who have a heart attack experience a much less dramatic version. And some accept no symptoms at all — or symptoms that are and so subtle they're mistaken for something else entirely.
These and so-called silent centre attacks account for well-nigh 20 percent of all heart attacks, according to the American Center Association. Some experts gauge that number is even higher — closer to l pct.
What is a silent heart attack?
A heart assail happens when the arteries that deport claret to the heart go blocked, thereby depriving the heart muscle of oxygen and nutrients. If a person having a heart attack feels pain or pressure, it's because of this blockage, says Eduardo Marban, M.D., executive director of the Smidt Heart Establish at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Symptoms of a silent heart attack
Few people really exhibit no symptoms. But signs of a heart attack tin can be muted or confused with other weather condition. Here's what to look out for:
- Shortness of breath
- Weakness or fatigue
- A general feeling of unease or discomfort
- Sweating
- Nausea or vomiting
- Lightheadedness or dizziness
- Mild pain in the throat or chest
- Hurting in the back or arms, like a sprained or pulled musculus
The same matter happens during a silent eye attack — blocked arteries brand it so that oxygen-rich blood can't reach the center. The only difference is the trouble goes unnoticed. "It's not necessarily that there were no symptoms; it may just exist that the patient didn't recognize them as eye symptoms and wasn't concerned," Marban says.
For example, it'southward not uncommon for silent heart attacks to exist written off as indigestion, a sprained or strained muscle, fatigue, or "just feeling run-downward," Marban says.
People who subsequently realize they've had a silent centre attack may also call up experiencing shortness of breath at the time, or a general state of discomfort that led to a nighttime of lost sleep, says Robert Lager, K.D., an interventional cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. Nausea, sweating, dizziness and an overall feeling of unease are too signs of a silent heart assault.
If you feel any of these symptoms, "don't sit down around and wonder" what could exist wrong. "Fourth dimension is muscle," Lager says, referring to the damage that decreased blood flow tin can inflict on the center. "The longer 1 waits to get evaluated, the more than probable that at that place will exist irreversible harm."
That said, some people truly experience no symptoms — understated or otherwise — when they have a center attack. Diabetics who have nerve issues that interfere with pain signals (called neuropathy), for case, are at college gamble for having a literal silent heart attack, Lager says. Women and older adults are also more than likely to have an outcome without warning signs.
Is it a heart attack … or something else?
Silent centre attacks don't simply fool patients; they can be misdiagnosed in wellness care settings, likewise. Shortness of jiff may be mistaken for a pulmonary problem, for case. And pain in the shoulder or arm can be misdiagnosed every bit an orthopedic effect. "So there are lots of different forms of symptoms that are referred hurting from the eye that can be very confusing and sometimes can be misleading," Lager says.
One style to tell if the symptoms you lot're experiencing are due to a heart assail or another condition is to know that the warning signs of center trouble are "not positional," Lager says. This means that the sprain-like pain in your neck and arm won't become better if you stretch it or milkshake it out. And shortness of breath or sweating won't subside if yous accept it piece of cake and prevarication down.
"That's a actually good rule of thumb," Lager says. "If you're not sure if you're having a symptom, run into if you lot can manipulate information technology in some way. Can you lot printing on the breast? Tin can yous change your position? Can you lot stand up up or sit downwardly? Does it make a difference, positionally? Because the heart has no gyroscope; it doesn't know where it is in infinite. And it doesn't matter if you put the heart upside down or right side upwardly, information technology'due south going to requite you the same signals if it'due south in trouble."
Some other thing to keep in heed: Any symptom that results from the loss of oxygen to the heart will mostly get worse if you increase demand on the middle. "So if someone has breast discomfort at rest and gets up and walks around, you're increasing the heart'due south demand for oxygen, then the symptoms usually will become worse if information technology'due south a heart event," Lager says.
The risks factors for silent eye attacks are the aforementioned as those for a center attack with symptoms. The almost common include:
- Age (for men, 45 and older; for women, 55 and older)
- Diabetes
- Excess weight
- High claret force per unit area
- High cholesterol
- Lack of do
- Prior heart attack
- Tobacco use
- A family unit history of heart illness
The dangers of having a heart set on and not knowing
Many people who accept had a silent heart attack find out about information technology later on the fact — sometimes months or years later — usually during a routine electrocardiogram, or EKG. Symptoms that arise afterward can also bring patients in to see a wellness care provider. Lager says people who have suffered a silent eye assault may notice a faster center rate or increased practice intolerance, for instance.
Commonly when someone finds out they had a silent heart set on, the damage has already been washed. But identifying a by heart attack can aid you and your doctor mitigate risks for future cardiac events. After all, a silent heart attack can increase take a chance of heart failure past 35 per centum, one study shows. It also increases the likelihood of sudden death, stroke and having another heart attack.
Dangerous eye arrhythmias are some other concern your doctor may monitor for if y'all had an undetected center attack in the by. These tin develop when parts of the centre muscle are scarred from the loss of blood. And another worry: Because "our blood gets thicker under stress," Lager says, blood clots are also more likely to crop up after you've had a heart attack.
"In one case the diagnosis is made, either of a recognized heart assail or a silent heart attack, everything is put into a higher risk category in terms of the complications that tin can ensue," Marban says. "So it'south not something that we should just consider a curiosity and do nil about. … Detecting a heart attack and acknowledging it is the commencement step towards putting the patient dorsum on the kind of effective therapy that nosotros know is helpful."
Don't ignore out-of-the-blue issues
The accept-abode message, Lager says, is to pay attention to a modify in patterns in your trunk.
"If yous're someone who occasionally has some chest discomfort that's mild, transient and occurs in sure predictable patterns, so it'southward non nearly the same equally someone who has new symptoms never felt before," he says.
And if you're prone to indigestion and just ate a spicy repast, the called-for feeling in your breast is likely heartburn. Just if it comes on out of the blue and the symptoms become worse, specially as yous walk around or exercise, "that's a real warning sign that it'southward non gastrointestinal," Lager says.
Source: https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2021/silent-heart-attack.html
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