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National Health Observances

Symptoms of a Heart Attack and Stroke in Women

Signs and Symptoms of Heart Attack

If you have any of these signs, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away.

  1. Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back.
  2. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
  3. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
  4. Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
  5. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

 

Signs and Symptoms of Stroke

If you have any of these signs, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away.

  1. Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
  2. Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  3. Sudden trouble seeing or blurred vision in one or both eyes
  4. Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
  5. Sudden severe headache with no known cause

 

If you had heart disease, would you recognize the symptoms? You might be thinking, “Of course!” Many people are familiar with the scene of a man clutching his chest and falling to the ground, but there’s plenty more you need to know.

While there are many similarities in the symptoms of heart disease in men and women, there are even more differences – differences that could save, or end your life if you don’t know them. So before you pass that jaw pain off as the result of sleeping funny or lightheadedness as something a snack or rest can fix, learn the symptoms. And don’t ignore them.

Source https://www.goredforwomen.org/en/about-heart-disease-in-women/signs-and-symptoms-in-women