Heart Attack vs. Panic Attack: When to seek medical attention
Heart disease impacts your heart muscle, blood vessels, and electrical system. Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease. Coronary artery disease involves the build-up of plaque deposits on artery walls. This plaque build-up is called atherosclerosis. When this plaque ruptures it cause a blood clot to suddenly block an artery. If this happens within the heart, it causes a heart attack. When this occurs, it’s imperative you receive life-saving treatment within the first 30-minutes to prevent permanent damage and death.
Symptoms
Chest pain and breathing difficult are common symptoms for both a panic attack and a heart attack. Additional symptoms for both can include palpitations, dizziness, feelings of impending doom, burning sensation in the chest, numbness of hands and feet, unusual fatigue, fainting, and sweating. Panic attacks occur spontaneously, maybe triggered by a stressful event. Chest pains, as a part of anxiety, are not normally considered to be dangerous. However, chest pain and breathing difficulty can also be signs of a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle.
How do you differentiate?
Heart Attack:
- Increasing chest pain reaching max severity in a few minutes
- Constant pressure, pain, aching
- Left chest pain
- Pain that radiates from the chest to other locations
- Pain connected to movement or exertion
Panic Attack: Continue reading
