Heart Attack
A heart attack happens when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked, usually by a clot in a coronary artery. Minutes matter, and so does everything that comes after.
Symptoms
Common warning signs
- Pressure, squeezing, or fullness in the center of the chest, lasting more than a few minutes or going away and coming back
- Pain or discomfort spreading to an arm, the jaw, neck, back, or stomach
- Shortness of breath, with or without chest discomfort
- A cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness
Is a heart attack the same as cardiac arrest?+
No. A heart attack is a plumbing problem: blocked blood flow to heart muscle. Cardiac arrest is an electrical problem: the heart stops pumping. A heart attack can trigger cardiac arrest, which is why it's treated as an emergency.
Causes & Risk Factors
Most heart attacks grow from years of quiet artery disease: cholesterol-rich plaque builds in the coronary artery walls, and one day a patch of it ruptures. The body treats the rupture like a wound and forms a clot over it, and that clot is what blocks the artery.
The big risk factors, most of them movable
- High blood pressure, the silent strain on every vessel
- Cholesterol, including Lp(a), a one-time test worth asking about
- Smoking and vaping
- Diabetes and prediabetes
- Family history of early heart disease
- Inactivity, poor sleep, and chronic stress
Diagnosis
Diagnosis moves fast. An ECG (heart tracing) happens within minutes of arrival and often tells the team immediately whether an artery is blocked. A blood test for troponin, a protein injured heart muscle releases, confirms whether the heart is being damaged. If a blockage is suspected, an angiogram maps the coronary arteries and usually doubles as the treatment, opening the artery in the same procedure.
What happens in the emergency room?+
You'll be seen quickly: ECG within about 10 minutes, an IV, blood draws, aspirin if appropriate, and continuous monitoring. If a major artery is blocked you may go straight to the cath lab. It is fast by design; ask the team to narrate what's happening if that helps you.
Treatments
The first job is reopening the artery. Most often that's a stent: a thin tube threaded to the blockage that props the artery open. When a cath lab isn't close enough, clot-dissolving medication buys time. The faster blood flow returns, the more heart muscle survives.
Afterward comes protection: medications that keep new clots from forming, lower cholesterol, ease the heart's workload, and help the muscle heal. Most people leave the hospital on several; each has a job.
Living Well & Prevention
Recovery has two halves: the heart and the nerve. Cardiac rehab rebuilds both: supervised exercise, education, and people who've been exactly where you are. It meaningfully lowers the chance of a second event, and it's where confidence comes back.
Fear, sadness, and anxiety after a heart attack are common and treatable. They are part of recovery, not a personal failing.
The daily levers
- Go to cardiac rehab; finish the program
- Take medications as prescribed, and say so if cost or side effects get in the way
- Move most days; intensity comes later, consistency comes first
- Eat in a pattern you can sustain (Mediterranean-style has the best evidence)
- Sleep 7 to 9 hours; treat snoring/apnea seriously
- Tend your mood with the same seriousness as your heart
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