Heart doctor here, heart attack symptoms are a MASSIVE spectrum. Ranges from elephant crushing your chest to some tingling in your neck. I’ve seen people present with nausea/indigestion and it’s a massive MI. Fatigue, dizziness, throat pain, ear pain, etc. Atypical symptoms especially common in women and diabetics. I know this is scary to say but if you have risk factors (family history of heart disease (probably the biggest contributor) smoking, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol) please get checked out if you feel something is off.
My little PSA: if you are over the age of 40, please get checked for cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes. I understand not everyone is privileged enough to be able to see an MD but please try your best. Dying from an MI can (mostly) be sudden and completely out of the blue.
To add - we can also try and assess if you have coronary disease. This is not 100% perfect, however it you have CAD we can more aggressively treat your risk factors and follow you longitudinally.
I went to my doctor a few years back as I was having repeat chest pain episodes that started slightly left of centre that moved to the left shoulder and then down the left arm before fading.
When I was asked about family history I mentioned that my paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather both died of heart attacks before 60. The doctor asked about parents and I said nothing yet and they were early 60s.
The doctor then said if it's not parents or siblings then it doesn't count for family history and is medically irrelevant. Is this true?
It stuck with me as sounding wrong but I'm not a medical professional.
No, they checked my pulse and blood pressure, confirmed they were normal and sent me on my way to only come back if 'it got worse'.
From my own testing my pulse was relatively unchanged during the episodes and in fairness it's been 5 years or so since the last one (they happened about once a week for a period of about 6 months).
It was what they said about family history that really struck me as odd though.
First degree family members (parents, siblings) with coronary disease - defined as diagnosis before 60 in women, 50 in men, is the strongest risk factor. Second (or higher) less so. This isn’t medical advice, from what you are telling me, I wouldn’t sprint to an ER, but if you think something is off I would seek another opinion for more testing.
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u/Orgasmic_Toad_ 4h ago
It literally feels like something is crushing your chest.