Image: Shutterstock/ Maridav
The real danger of a heart attack is that it’s often hard to notice the signs before it’s too late. And it’s even harder to tell if you’re having a heart attack when you have fibromyalgia. That’s because fibromyalgia pain can often mimic some of the symptoms of a heart attack, like tightness in the chest.
So if you have fibromyalgia, it’s important to know when tightness in the chest is a sign of an impending heart attack and when it’s just a symptom of fibromyalgia. So, what exactly are the signs of a heart attack? How can you tell the difference between fibromyalgia pain and heart attacks? And what should you do if you think you’re experiencing tightness in your chest?
Heart Attack Warning Signs
A heart attack occurs when the arteries of the heart become blocked. As a result, blood can’t escape from the heart and carry oxygen to the brain. Heart attack victims can quickly lose consciousness and heart attacks are often fatal if not treated quickly. That’s why it’s so important to be aware of the symptoms.
Some of the early signs of a heart attack include:
- Tightness in the chest or a feeling of intense pressure.
- Pain in the arms that radiates up towards the jaw or back of the head.
- Sweating, nausea, and lightheadedness.
- A tingling, numb feeling in the arms.
Women, in particular, are more likely to experience the feeling of pressure in their chest and shortness of breath rather than pain. But fibromyalgia can often cause similar symptoms in women, so it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between fibromyalgia symptoms and heart attacks.
And often, heart attacks can cause no obvious symptoms at all. Not every case of a heart attack involves dramatic pain in the chest. Instead, you might have less noticeable symptoms like chronic indigestion or neck pain. If you’ve experienced any kind of pain in the chest or persistent pain through the jaw, it’s probably a good idea to be aware of the possibility that you’re having a heart attack. But the tricky part is that many of these symptoms can be attributed to fibromyalgia as well.
Fibromyalgia Symptoms That Are Similar To Heart Attacks
Fibromyalgia cause pain in a number of tender points around the body. Two of those points are located under the ribs. So it’s easy to imagine how the sharp, stabbing pain that sometimes affects those tender points would be easy to mistake for a heart attack.
In addition, fibromyalgia often causes people to experience shortness of breath in a condition called dyspnea. It’s believed that this condition is the result of a lack of proper thyroid functioning in people with fibromyalgia. That leads to weakness in the muscles that control your breathing and thus shortness of breath.
Finally, many people with fibromyalgia suffer from a condition called costochondritis, which leads to inflammation in the cartilage of the chest. Costochondritis can lead to a stabbing, or burning feeling along the ribs and inside the chest. It can also cause a tight-feeling in the chest that’s similar to the the tightness associated with heart attacks.
But there are a few ways to tell the difference between costochondritis and heart attacks. The pain of costochondritis tends to come and go, especially as you move your chest. And you can often tell if you have the condition by pressing your hand against your ribs. If the tissue feels tender, the pain is probably a result of inflammation in the cartilage rather than a heart attack.
What To Do If You Have Tightness In The Chest
Even if you think you’re not having a heart attack, you should always these kinds of symptoms checked out. If you’re suffering from a different condition like costochondritis or dyspnea, doctors can do a number of things to help treat you.
And if you think you might be having a heart attack, there are a few things that you should do right away. First, call 911. If you wait, you may lose consciousness before you can make the call, which will seriously delay treatment. When it comes to heart attacks, just minutes can make the difference between life and death.
Doctors also recommend chewing an aspirin tablet as aspirin can help to thin the blood and allow it to flow around the blockage in the arteries.
But again, the most important thing you can do is to get medical attention as soon as possible. And if you can notice the symptoms of a heart attack before it occurs, your odds of a successful recovery are much higher.
So, do you ever get a tight feeling in the chest? Was it a heart attack or fibromyalgia? Let us know in the comments.
Comments