Doctors told how to distinguish a heart attack from a panic attack

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Doctors from the United States told us in which cases chest pain is a heart attack, and when it indicates panic attacks. According to experts, in order to eliminate the risk to life, it is necessary to seek help from specialists.

Every minute, someone in the world has a heart attack. Panic attacks affect 2.7% of the population annually. Part of the problem is that many of the signs of an anxiety attack exactly coincide with the symptoms of a myocardial infarction. According to the American Heart Association, the latter should be distinguished from the following events: chest pain, nausea, which appear and disappear within a few hours, weeks or months. In the same list, discomfort that appeared in the upper part of the body, confused breathing, increased sweating, pain in the jaw (more common in women).

Panic attacks are more like “lightning strikes”, lasting from 10 to 30 minutes. Suddenly, a person is overcome by very strong symptoms – shortness of breath, a feeling of tightness in the throat, rapid heartbeat, severe sweating, a feeling of imminent danger or death. According to experts, adrenaline in the body causes a wide variety of symptoms.

It is also worth considering that the risk of myocardial infarction increases when a person reaches middle age. Healthy people in their 20s very rarely have problems with the cardiovascular system or blood vessels. As for panic attacks, the likelihood of their diagnosis increases with pre-existing cases.

“If you feel chest pain and don’t know why, get yourself checked right away, don’t delay seeing a doctor. Even if the diagnosis doesn’t show anything serious, it will eliminate the risk to life,” the doctors noted.