Specific symptoms of heart attacks and panic attacks

Specific symptoms of heart attacks and panic attacks

heart attacks and panic attacks

HEART ATTACK

Pain 

• Virtually always present.
• Pain is often described as a crushing feeling (like someone standing on the chest), intense, severe, riveting or paralysing. Extreme weakness throughout the body accompanies pain.
• This pain is usually located in the central chest and often extends to the left arm, neck/throat/jawbone or back.
• Pain is not usually made worse by breathing or by pressing on the chest. Postural changes or stretches do not ease heart attack pain.
• Pain is usually persistent and lasts longer than 5-10 minutes.

Tingling, body temperature & pulse

 • Tingling, if present, is usually in the left arm.
• All over body feels cold and clammy to touch. • Body is warm to touch, though cold chills or Pulse is thready.

Vomiting

• Common.

Breathing

• A heart attack does not cause you to hyperventilate – panic does. With a heart attack you may feel a little short of breath. It is possible, however, to have a heart attack and then start panicking. In this case, hyper-ventilation is a symptom of panic, not of the heart attack.

PANIC ATTACK 

 Pain 

• May or may not be present.
• Any pain is usually described as 'sharp'/'knife-like'.
• The pain tends to be confined to one small area e.g. localised over the heart.
• Pain is usually made worse by breathing in and out and by pressing on the centre of the chest. Conversely, postural changes or stretches will ease pain caused by panic.
• Pain usually disappears within about 5-10 minutes.

Tingling, body temperature & pulse

• Tingling, if present, is usually over large areas of the body.
• Body is warm to touch, though cold chills or hot flashes may occur. Pulse is usually fast and strong.

Vomiting

• Nausea may be present but vomiting is very rare.

Breathing

• Hyperventilation is an extremely common panic response which precedes most panic attacks. Breath-holding and subsequent gasping ('catch-up' breathing) accounts for most of the other breathing changes that worsen panic. Slow, steady breathing will usually ease pain from panic (and other panic symptoms), but not pain from a heart attack.