Be On Your Guard Now: Know the 5 Signs of an Impending Heart Attack

A heart attack as popularized in movies and TV shows is often characterized by a sudden and intense pain in the chest area, leading the person having the attack to clutch his or her chest in pain and typically collapse to the floor. This “Hollywood heart attack” is accurate in some cases, but not all the time. As a matter of fact, many imminent heart attacks are signaled by medical cues and warning signs that are not as sudden or intense as often pictured by most people. What are these distinguishing signs and symptoms of an impending heart attack? Learn all about them below and you may help save someone’s life someday—maybe even that of your own.

1. 1. Chest discomfort

An early warning sign of a looming heart attack is a feeling of burning or pressure in the chest area, a sensation that may be described by some as similar to having a pulled muscle. Sometimes it can be a sudden, sharp, stabbing pain, while at other times the discomfort may involve a nagging uncomfortable squeezing or fullness in the chest area. 

This feeling of chest pain or pressure is a result of the mounting injury to the heart muscle that occurs in an impending heart attack. A common cause of this injury is the blockage of a coronary artery by fat deposits or a clot. When they are blocked for some reason, the heart is deprived of blood flow and no oxygen and nutrients can reach the heart muscles. The heart tissues become damaged and eventually die, causing the sensations of chest pressure, fullness, or pain. 

This chest discomfort may be similar to the experience of angina, or chest pain that occurs in those with coronary artery disease. The difference between the chest pain in angina and that of an impending heart attack is that the latter cannot be relieved by rest. Also, while angina typically occurs only upon physical exertion, chest discomfort in an imminent heart attack occurs frequently even at rest.

1. 2. Discomfort in other upper body areas

In an impending heart attack, the chest discomfort or pain felt may radiate to other upper body areas. The person may experience numbness, tingling, or an aching sensation in the upper back, the arm (usually the left), upper or middle abdomen, the jaw, the teeth, or the head. In some cases, headaches may be coupled with dizziness, blurry vision, and fainting.

1. 3. General body malaise or unusual fatigue

An early warning of an imminent heart attack is waking up tired and finding normal daily activities more exhausting than usual. These feelings of fatigue and body weakness tend to get worse day after day. 

1. 4. Heartburn, indigestion, and other digestive problems

In many cases, the chest pain or discomfort in a looming heart attack may be perceived as heartburn by some people. Frequent indigestion, nausea, and vomiting are also other warning signs of an imminent heart attack.

1. 5. Sense of impending doom

An imminent heart attack may bring about feelings of anxiety with no known cause, and the person experiences a nagging sense of impending doom. The person may also show signs of pallor, break out in a cold sweat, and have clammy skin.

These signs may occur anytime and they don’t need to be present all at the same time for alarm bells to go off that something might be wrong. If you experience any of them and suspect an impending heart attack, promptly seek medical help to ensure your safety.

What Are the Causes of Lung Cancer?

Lung cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer. Observed worldwide in people from different walks of life, this is a type of cancer that doesn’t choose anyone. A very important way to prevent lung cancer is determining the different causes for its emergence. What are the causes of lung cancer? Here is a list of the different reasons why it can come about.

1. Smoking- It’s been established in different studies that smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer. But how does it exactly become the biggest culprit in causing this type of cancer? First, there’s the sheer number of chemicals present in cigarette smoke. It’s been reported that over 4000 chemicals, including some that are carcinogenic, are present in this smoke. In addition to this, the length of time the person is smoking can be a major determining factor. It’s been discovered that people who smoke high amounts of cigarettes a day have a higher risk of having cancer. As proof of its dominant role in causing lung cancer, around 90% of all lung cancer cases are due to cigarette smoking.

2. Pollution- The air you breathe has a huge say on how your lungs will hold up in the short and long terms. Constant exposure to polluted air significantly increases the person’s risk of having lung cancer. This can be caused by 2 reasons. First, pollutants have a way of irritating the alveoli and the numerous air pathways (namely the bronchi and other subcomponents) inside the lung. Second, the different substances and chemicals found in polluted air can have an adverse effect on lung tissue. Forms of air pollution include fumes from industrial processes, vehicles, and even passive smoke from cigarettes.

3. Asbestos exposure- There used to be a time when asbestos is considered to be an important component for a lot of items, including fireproof construction materials. However, it’s been well-documented since that asbestos has the tendency to fragment to small fibers, entering the lungs, and damaging its inner structure in the process. Not only is it linked to lung cancer, but it is also linked to other chest-area cancers such as mesothelioma.

4. Other lung diseases- The presence of other lung problems can also play a big role in the development of lung cancer. Those who have lung conditions such as tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease play a big role in increasing one’s risk of having cancer of the lungs. It’s been scientifically proven that these diseases can exponentially increase one’s risk of acquiring lung cancer.

What are the causes of lung cancer? The following are just some of the most common causes out there. That said, the best way to reduce your risks of having this potentially deadly disease is to try and avoid the aforementioned causes. You must stop smoking as soon as possible, try to stay away from polluted areas, refrain from using materials made from asbestos, and treat lung conditions such as COPD and tuberculosis as soon as possible.