SPOKANE, Wash. — Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the U.S., according to the CDC. February is ‘Heart Health Month’ and a good time to review the warning signs of a heart attack.
The well-known signs of a heart attack include shortness of breath, chest pain and pain that begins in the jaw and travels down the left arm.
However, women tend to experience different symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and unusual tiredness, according to doctors at Multicare.
These symptoms include nausea, vomiting, unusual tiredness, and simply just not feeling well.
Vicki Good experienced these symptoms first-hand when she suffered a heart attack in October 2024.
She and her fried of 40 years, Jan Lambert, were enjoying their typical ‘girls’ day’ when the symptoms came on.
“I started to vomit, and I knew at that point I was having issues [from shoulder to shoulder] and raving up my neck, and I knew it was a heart attack and I said, ‘we have to go to the hospital,'” Good said.
Lambert took her to the nearest hospital where an ambulance rushed her to Multicare.
“At that point, I thought, ‘I think I might be close to death,'” Good said.
After doctors saved her life, Good learned a blocked artery had caused her heart attack.
Multicare provider, Dr. Mohit Jain, said there are a few warning signs of a blocked artery that people should be aware of.
“Shortness of breath, chest discomfort or unusual tiredness when they try to do any kind of an activity, especially one they were able to do very comfortably previously,” he said.
Good said, leading up to her heart attack, she noticed she was having to put more effort in just to walk, but thought it was just her aging. She didn’t know it could be a symptom of a blocked artery.
She said she is grateful to the doctors who saved her life and she and Jan have already enjoyed many more fun times together.
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