Recognizing Heart Attack Symptoms: From a Paramedic and Son's Perspective

I myself have never personally experienced the symptoms a heart attack. But as a paramedic, I have seen, firsthand, many a person suffer from cardiac problems, even my own father, who eventually died of cardiac-related problems.

A common symptom of a heart attack, which is a symptom my father exhibited, is shortness of breath. On the streets, the accepted care for shortness of breath is high flow oxygen. Pops had this classic symptom. Since he was on home oxygen, I was able to crank the flow up and give him supportive, reassuring care until the first responders arrived. The most important point is supportive care. Reassure the person. Even if you don't have access to oxygen, that reassurance can help the person breath a little easier. You can see in a persons eyes whether that calm, gentle reassurance is working. You will also see their breathing become less labored. I was told by many patients, my father included that this made a difference to them. A calm patient can maybe survive their bout of heart attack symptoms with simple supportive care until the Medics can get them to more definitive medical treatment.

Another classic heart attack symptom is fear, or as taught in Medic school, "a sense of impending doom". Walking into a house, you can almost feel this fear, not only from the person experiencing this symptom of a heart attack, but from the family members as well. This is where professionalism on the part of the medic comes in. I would walk into the situation in a calm, professional manor. My crew and I were well trained. As I Talked to the patient, sometimes even taking their hand as I did, I would be mentally assessing the patient's condition. My crew would be doing the technical, blood pressure, pulse, getting the IV and monitor ready. One time, in the middle of this though, a lady, as I held her hand, had a massive heart attack and died. This was a hard one for me since her son and young grandchildren were there. It was also Thanksgiving morning. My father also exhibited this classic heart attack symptom. His was heightened by the fact that he had an implanted defibrillator that had already shocked him once. Once we got to the emergency department, he was placed in a bed and a cardiac monitor was put on him. He kept on having runs of an elevated heart rate. This was a time, my mother, who is a RN and I were not as reassuring as we could have been. We were watching the rhythm on the monitor, our faces telegraphing concern, trying with words to reassure my dad that he was to be OK. He could read the concern in our faces. Until the Emergency Department Nurse arrived to administer medications to help both his heart rhythm and to calm him, he remained highly agitated and afraid.

One heart attack symptom that has commonly been described to me by many patients is a crushing pain in the chest. Most times as described, this pain is centered in the chest. Often, though, this pain radiates to other areas. I have been told by patients this pain goes to there jaw, through their back, down their left arm and sometimes both arms. A few patients have described it to me as just a dull pain. On the streets as a Medic, I can treat this pain with morphine. With dad, I called 911 and provided once again, reassurance and care.

Symptoms of a heart attack are many. In some cases though, there are no symptoms at all. Without medical equipment, the best thing you can do for someone who is experiencing symptoms of a heart attack is to call 911.