10 Critical Symptoms That Could Mean a Heart Attack: Act Fast

5. Cold Sweat

Patients having a heart attack may break out in a cold sweat. Sweating is a normal occurrence in environments of high temperature and when an individual is running a fever. However, suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat can without reason is concerning. A large portion of individuals who go to the emergency room while having a heart attack were prompted to seek help by sudden and unusual sweating. This symptom occurs because the heart tissues do not receive enough oxygen to meet their demand, and they stop functioning during a heart attack. When this occurs in the body, surge of biochemical and inflammatory events that include the activation of the affected individual's fight or flight response ensue. The sympathetic nervous system regulates the fight or flight response and numerous other autonomic functions. It is the surge of hormones in this response that cause an individual to break out in cold sweats during a heart attack.

6. Nausea

A heart attack occurs when a blood clot obstructs the flow of blood through an individual's coronary arteries that supply the tissues of the heart itself. At any given time, between twenty and twenty-five percent of the oxygen-rich blood pumped by the heart is allocated to the digestive system. However, the flow of blood to an individual's digestive system doubles in volume following the consumption of a meal. The same blood clots that produce a heart attack can produce the same effects in the digestive system organs, like the stomach and intestines. This malfunction can cause food to stagnate in the digestive tract, allowing bacteria to overgrow and even causing a bowel obstruction. Bowel obstructions and bacterial overgrowth in the intestines can produce symptoms like bloating, nausea, and vomiting. When an individual experiences a heart attack, blood can become shunted away from the digestive tract to supply more vital organs in the body, which can also produce nausea.