Women Should Never Ignore These Heart Attack Symptoms

You've probably heard heart attack symptoms are different for men and women, but do you know what you're looking out for?

Once again, we've teamed up with the American Heart Association of Central New York for their "Go Red for Women" campaign. We want to bring attention to the warning signs of heart attack, heart disease, and stroke in women, and help spread the message of preventive measures.

Today we want to focus on the symptoms for women when it comes to heart attacks. According to the American Heart Association, there are 5 key symptoms women should watch out for. These symptoms are:

Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately. Every second counts when it comes to saving your heart.

Another thing to remember is to not blow off any of these feelings as "something else." Many times women say they felt they were just getting sick. We don't know how many times we've heard someone say "I thought I was getting the flu," or "I was just feeling under-the-weather," and then they end up in the hospital... Because they had a heart attack.

With the "Go Red for Women" campaign and the American Heart Association of Central New York, we're trying to help bring awareness to heart disease and stroke and raise funds to fight the number one killer of women. We'll be sharing local survivor stories of heart attacks, disease, and stroke, and bring awareness to the warning signs and precautionary measures to help us all live longer, healthier lives.

Our next big event is the 2018 National Wear Red Day Luncheon in Rome, coming up next month. We'll keep you updated on details for this event and other heart healthy events in Central New York as we get closer to the dates.