Are the symptoms of heart attack different for women?
Actually in the best studies that have been done, the symptoms that women have with heart attacks really are the same as the symptoms that men have. However women tend to have their heart attacks when they’re about ten years older,and people who are older are more likely to have the less common signs and symptoms of heart attack. At least, the ones that people think of less. So that when you’re older, you’re less likely to have chest pain with your heart attack. You might only have unusual fatigue or shortness of breath or lightheadedness and you might not really have symptoms in your chest or arm or shoulders. And since women are older, they may fall into the group that is a little less likely to have chest discomfort. But, in fact, the kind of chest discomfort they have when they have chest discomfort is the same as men describe. The mistake we make with both men and women is to ignore the chest discomfort that isn’t really very severe, that could be put up with, because we think it
