Category: Signs of a heart attack

How many heart patients get to the hospital by ambulance?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

In 2010, Australia’s National Heart Foundation launched what they called a “hard-hitting” Heart Attack Warning Signs awareness campaign. Physicians and cardiac researchers were concerned that too many Australians did not know the common warning signs of a heart attack. They hoped that such an awareness campaign would encourage high-risk patients to quickly call an ambulance if they were having cardiac symptoms. Their Warning Signs campaign explained why this is so critically important: 
Continue reading “How many heart patients get to the hospital by ambulance?” →

The most frightening cardiac symptom

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

The chest pain. The shortness of breath. The freakish pressure radiating up to the jaw or down the arm. All of these can be signs of a heart attack or other cardiac events..  But for Martie, a 46-year old heart patient diagnosed with Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), her worst symptom was described like this:

“The most prominent symptom I had, which kept getting stronger and would not go away, was the little voice in my head telling me this was NOT normal. It is my one piece of advice to all my friends. Listen to that voice in your head!”              . Continue reading “The most frightening cardiac symptom” →

What I wish I knew back then: “Am I having a heart attack?” Part 1 in a new summer series

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

Part of what made my “widowmaker” heart attack so frightening at the time was simply how much I did not know about what was happening to me. Like many women, if I ever thought about heart disease – which was approximately NEVER! – I considered it to be a man’s problem. And as a healthy woman in my 50s (and a distance runner for 19 years), becoming a heart patient one day was never on my radar.

“What I Wish I Knew Back Then”  is a new back-to-basics summer series of posts here on Heart Sisters that will revisit some of the most frequently asked questions from brand new heart patients. Today, we kick off the series with the very basic question that accompanies almost all frightening cardiac symptoms: “Am I having a heart attack?”         . Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “Am I having a heart attack?” Part 1 in a new summer series” →

Sweating: the neglected cardiac symptom

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 25 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

One of the first heart attack symptoms I experienced (along with central chest pain, nausea and pain down my left arm) was profuse sweating. I was out for my regular early morning walk at the time, but not going faster than usual or trekking up a steep hill. It was a mild spring day – just your average Monday morning walk along the relatively flat streets of my neighbourhood.

As a former distance runner, I have had years of experience on long very sweaty runs. But sudden sweating during an easy flat walk? That just doesn’t happen to me.       . Continue reading “Sweating: the neglected cardiac symptom” →