That's what got me to the ER when I had my first heart attack. Well, a Lyft, but whatever.
So a heart attack is not the "heart attack" you see on TV. That's cardiac arrest. Often fatal. Heart attacks are much often not immediately fatal (but can be). Cardiac arrest is electrical system problem; heart attack is plumbing problem (veins/arteries), usually not great and does cause damage to the heart. but often survivable.
In my case, I had increasing shoulder pain over the course of 2-3 weeks. Got to the point where I could barely sleep and absolutely could not find a position that lessened the pain. Finally went in - via Lyft - to the ER. They did an EKG and immediately gave me baby aspirin and set up for a hearth catheter.
Your standard ejection fraction (amount of your blood your heart pumps with every beat) is around 60% or so, give or take, like 55%-70%, big range. Mine dropped to 35%. Came back up to 45% over time. Alas, had more heart attacks and I'm now around 35% pretty permanently. Seven heart attacks in total.
My standard symptoms:
- Shoulder pain
- Lightheadedness (low blood pressure)
- Nausea
- Sense of Doom (this is not like "I feel ill" this is "There is something wrong with my body. I don't know what, but..... this not good. Something wrong.")
These are standard "women's" symptoms. Notably missing for me? Chest pain (Angina). I haven't gotten it.
So I just try to spread the word a bit.
Alas, cardia arrest is usually fatal - although worth doing CPR because if it makes a difference, hey, a life saved, y'know? But worth knowing heart attack symptoms because you really want those checked out. Heart attacks mostly aren't immediately fatal if you get treatment quickly.