

This could affect your heart’s rhythm and its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body. If you’ve had a heart attack, your heart may be damaged. Take our quiz external icon to see how much you know about cardiac rehabilitation. Learn more about women and heart disease. Women are more likely to have these other symptoms. Other symptoms of a heart attack could include unusual or unexplained tiredness and nausea or vomiting. This often comes along with chest discomfort, but shortness of breath also can happen before chest discomfort. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders.Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back.You may also break out into a cold sweat. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. A less common cause is a severe spasm, or sudden contraction, of a coronary artery that can stop blood flow to the heart muscle.

The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart muscle.Ĭoronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of heart attack. A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, happens when a part of the heart muscle doesn’t get enough blood.
