Anxiety Attack And Heart Symptoms

Numerous people frantically contact their doctors fearing they have had heart attacks when in reality all they had was a bout of anxiety attack. In fact, the symptoms of both are so similar that a person cannot be blamed if he/she mistakes one for the other. Doctors say studies have proved beyond doubt that anxiety and heart attacks are not linked to one another. Although anxiety attacks often create similar scary symptoms, they have nothing to do with heart attacks.

Let us now have a look at the similarities between the symptoms of anxiety and heart attacks. It has been observed that in both anxiety and heart attacks heart rate increases, heartbeats become irregular, and there is a feeling of pain and discomfort. According to the American Heart Association, the body may send the following warning signals if a person has a heart attack. These symptoms include uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest, pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms,

Discomfort in chest with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.

Let us compare the above symptoms with those of an anxiety attack, which have been listed by the American Psychiatric Association. An anxiety is usually diagnosed by the presence of at least four of these symptoms: chest pain or pressure on the chest, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating; palpitations or accelerated heart rate, nausea, numbness or tingling in some parts of the body, hot flushes or chills and fear of something disastrous.

However, there are some differences between the symptoms of the two conditions also. For example, unlike in an anxiety attack, rapid heartbeat in a heart attack is followed by pain. In an anxiety attack, you experience rapid breathing while you feel breath shortness in the case of a heart attack. However, such differences are hardly noticed by ordinary people at those moments of panic and they cannot be faulted for that. It is better to be safe than sorry, isn't it? So, whenever you are not sure whether you have an anxiety attack or a heart attack, the best option is to go for a thorough medical examination.

It is, however, desirable not to panic immediately as many healthy people too at times experience some types of heart irregularity such as skipped beat, pounding in the chest or palpitations. Anxiety attacks mimic heart attacks and their symptoms because it is the heart that fuels the body, supplying each muscle in the body with fluids and food with which to become stronger in times of anxiety or stress.

So, even if their symptoms are similar, there is no link between anxiety attacks and heart attacks. After the first anxiety attack, some people develop an intense fear about suffering a heart attack. This fear makes them monitor themselves very closely and if their heart rate increases which is just a normal phenomenon under excitement, stress or fatigue, they believe they are having a heart attack. People who do not suffer anxiety attacks also experience similar symptoms but do not panic and hardly consider them as possible signs of an impending heart attack.

• Matt Thompson
• 13/02/2009, 8:59 PM
• 0 Comments