Cardiac Care
Choose Tyler Heart Institute
Tyler Heart Institute is focused on providing high-quality, results-driven cardiac care with outstanding service. Your experience should feel seamless, from diagnosis through recovery.
Learn more about Tyler Heart Institute.
Find out more about our quality results for interventional cardiology and open-heart surgery.
Heart attack symptoms
According to the American Heart Association, common heart attack symptoms may include:
- Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain.
- Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach.
Atypical symptoms include:
- Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
- Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness.
Women may be less likely than men to experience chest pressure during a heart attack. They may be more likely than men to experience shortness of breath, dizziness, and pressure in the upper abdomen and back.
Community Hospital has been accredited as a chest pain center by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. This accreditation recognizes our expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with symptoms of a heart attack.
What should I do if I think I’m having a heart attack?
- Call 9-1-1. Even if you aren’t sure that you’re having a full-blown heart attack, your symptoms need to be evaluated immediately to prevent damage to your heart. Let a 9-1-1 dispatcher send an ambulance to pick you up; don’t drive yourself to a hospital.
- Take an aspirin. If you are not allergic to aspirin, while you wait for the ambulance to arrive you can place a regular-strength aspirin on your tongue and allow it to dissolve to prevent blood from clotting.
