Heart attack warning signs you shouldn’t ignore

That unwell, breathless, overwhelmingly tired feeling you’re experiencing could be the first sign of a heart attack. Will you or your doctor dismiss it?

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the US and a leading cause of death for both men and a women in Australia, yet many people still think of it as a “man’s illness”.

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Here are a few things men and women should know about heart disease and how to know if you’re experiencing a heart attack.

“As a health care community, I think that we’ve done a really bad job of treating women,” Dr. Jennifer Haythe, co-director of the Women’s Center for Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center, told NBC’s TODAY.

“We tend to write off women’s symptoms as they’re having a panic attack, they’re anxious.”

Still, predicting a heart attack before it happens can be difficult.

Many men and women who suddenly die of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Some people will say it was out of the blue, and that’s probably most people,” said Dr Sharonne Hayes, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic.

“A substantial minority of patients will have some symptoms that, had they paid attention to them or sought an outpatient evaluation, they might have had a different outcome.”

Potential heart attack symptoms can be subtle. Here are five signs you should never ignore:

1. Chest bread

Even though women may experience some different heart attack symptoms than men, chest pain is still the number one warning sign for both sexes.

“It’s important to say that we’re way more alike than we are different,” Dr Hayes said.

“The main symptom for men and women is some type of chest discomfort, pain, pressure, burning. About 90 per cent plus of men and women have that, if asked.”

The pain could be sharp, dull or the sensation that an elephant is sitting on your chest.

2. Lightheadedness, dizziness, and other pain

Where the differences between the sexes lie is that women have more shortness of breath, or nausea and vomiting than men, Dr Haythe added.

Women also more frequently have pain in the neck, jaw, throat, abdomen or back, the CDC notes.

Nerve fibers in the arm and jaw run together with the cardiac nerve fibers to the brain, so you may feel pain in those areas because your brain confuses the pain signal from the heart, Dr Haythe noted.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, dizziness or lightheadedness can also be warning signs, the American Heart Association warns.

3. Changes in your ability to exercise

One big warning sign is lower exercise tolerance: You used to be able to walk up the stairs easily, but now you feel very breathless or even have to stop mid-way and take a break.

That should be taken very seriously, Dr. Haythe warned.