Q: Can a young woman (like 18 to 29) have a heart attack? What are the symptoms?
A: Yes, it's possible, but not as likely as if you are older or have a strong family history of heart attacks or strokes at young ages. For young women who have heart attacks, they're usually caused by spasm of the muscle in the artery, rather than a narrowing of the inside of the artery. Both causes have the same symptoms. The trouble is, half of all people who have heart attacks have never felt a symptom—or at least what they recognized as a symptom. That's because the heart itself does not have pain-sensing nerves, so all pain has to be referred from a nerve or symptom that is associated with the heart. The most common signs are chest pain or discomfort (which can feel like pressure or squeezing), shortness of breath, cold sweat, nausea, sudden extreme fatigue. But too often, people write those symptoms off as such things like indigestion, the flu, or everyday stress.
|
