Do you know if you are having a heart attack (in women)?

I am researching everything I can about this. I do not understand how you could not tell if you are in so much pain you cannot talk and are throwing up so much

Women tend to have different symptoms than men and yes they often dismiss heart attacks as something else. In fact, doctors do too. When I was young it was common for ER doctors to send women home blaming anxiety or something else when the woman was having a heart attack. Especially if they were young doctor’s didn’t take it seriously enough that the patient might be in acute danger. Now, there is more awareness that women often have different symptoms like jaw pain and stomach upset.

Barbra Streisand was and I assume still is involved with a charity for women’s heart disease to specifically do research for women. I remember watching an interview and part of what they found was women getting blockages in smaller arteries. I really don’t know what else they found.

It sounds like your mom was young, and young heart attacks can be the most deadly, because the person has not created additional tributaries for blood flow if a main artery gets blocked. My mom recently had stents put in and the doctor said one of the arteries she has just as much blood flow throw that main artery as the tributaries around it. She is in her early 80’s.

I’m assuming your mom had a clot and not an electrical problem? Did they do an autopsy? Do you know what caused the heart attack?

About 50% of heart attacks lead to sudden death. We hear about people surviving heart attacks all of the time, but the actual stat is 50/50. Even people who make it to the ER sometimes die. I have no idea if being at the hospital would have helped your mom, but definitely it is understandable that she might not have realized she was having a cardiac problem. It can be very confusing. It’s also understandable if you feel angry about. I don’t know if you feel angry or just sad or just want to understand. I’m not assuming anything.

I had a heart attack and did not know it. I was getting my heart checked for other reasons and the doctor told me I had had a previous heart attack.
He also discovered a 99% blockage in my LAD, or my main artery to the heart. I had no idea I had heart issues.

I think it would behoove one to get medical help but who can judge another’s situation?

Medical help is great but people don’t always seek it for every ache and pain.

I have friends who died because they felt weird but didn’t think it was worthy of a doctor visit. I know the older I get, if I feel an ache or pain, I just hope it passes. Plus by the time you make an actual doctor appointment, it could be weeks out. It’s helpful to know signs of a heart attack to know whether it might warrant an ER visit or maybe it’s nothing.

Here are some websites with advice:
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/womens-heart-attack-symptoms
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/warning-signs-of-a-heart-attack/heart-attack-symptoms-in-women

Thank you. My neighbor had told me that my mom knew she was having a heart attack because she said you know what is happening to your body. That really scared me.

@SergeantQueen People say all kinds of dumb things. You have to learn to filter out what doesn’t make sense. A male speech therapist once told me that my younger son had a speech delay because I had breastfed him. Luckily, I knew at the time that it was crap.