A Panic attack can be easily confused with a heart attack because the symptoms are somewhat similar. Strong chest pain, sweating, prickly and tingly feeling, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and even nausea. There is also the possibility that a heart attack could trigger a panic attack. How do you distinguish one from the other. Although we hope that none of our valuable readers suffer from both conditions, still this article could be of invaluable help in recognizing the difference between panic attack and heart attack.
1 Main Symptoms to Recognize a Heart Attack
As described by people, chest pain from a heart attack appears as crushing and constricting.
The pain originates from the center of the chest and moves downward. It travels along the left arm and along your back.
Heart attack pain can spread to shoulders, teeth, jaws, and neck.
The intensity of pain can fluctuate.
In most cases, the prickly or tingly feeling of a heart attack is limited to the left arm followed by nausea, cold sticky sweat, and possible vomiting.
During a heart attack, people have said that the fear experienced is focused exclusively on chest pain because of the fear of death.
It is a general rule that in heart attack, people do not hyperventilate (increased rate of breathing or over breathing) BUT!! This symptom can occur if the heart attack triggers a panic attack.
If you do experience any of the above symptoms for more than 5 minutes call emergency or an ambulance. If you have someone nearby and you are unable to call help, ask the person to rush you to emergency immediately.
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2 Main Symptoms to Recognize a Panic Attack
Panic attacks can occur even in ordinary circumstances and there is a misconception that it can only happen during selective incidents of fear, anxiety and danger.
Panic attack symptoms usually peak after 10 minutes.
The main difference between panic attack and heart attack is that pain experienced during a panic attack will be localized in the chest region. It will come and go but it won’t be of the same constricting and crushing nature of a heart attack.
Tingling, numbness and prickly feeling is not restricted to the left arm but will be felt in the right arms, fingers, legs and toes.
While in a panic attack, people have mentioned experiencing irrational fear similar to a sinking feeling, suffocation or even going insane.
Hyperventilation: In a panic attack you can experience increased breathing and heart palpitations. In some cases, you can also experience shortness of breath.
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3 Then You Can’t Figure It out This Is What You Should Do
Sometimes kit may be hard for some to make out the difference between panic attack and heart attack. In such a case, you should rush to a doctor immediately or call for instant help. Waiting isn’t an answer as it is better to be safe than sorry. Not receiving medical help in time in the event of you actually having a heart attack could have fatal consequences. In the case of panic attacks, suffering silently hoping it will go away isn’t a solution. Remember you are not alone.
Millions of people worldwide suffer panic attacks due to factors of stress and anxiety. Not doing anything about it could make it worse. Medical and professional help will improve your mental well-being, your quality of life and certainly help you live longer.