Symptoms Can Be Different for Men and Women Men and women experience heart attack symptoms in slightly different ways. For men: Pain will spread to the left shoulder, down the left arm or up to the chin. For women: Pain can be much more subtle. Women are also more likely to experience these accompanying symptoms: shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and back or jaw pain.
Read an in-depth overview of heart attack symptoms for women here. What is Chest Pain? Find emergency care Need emergency care in the Valley? Sections Your cardiovascular health Cardiac catheterization Defibrillator implant surgery Diagnosing heart failure Diagnostic heart tests Heart attack symptoms and warning signs Heart failure monitoring system How the heart works Pacemaker implant surgery Recovery after heart surgery Reduce your risk of heart disease Risk factors for heart disease Women and heart disease.
Women are more likely than men to experience shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and back or jaw pain. Like in men, chest pain or discomfort is a common heart attack symptom in women. The pressure or squeezing can last for more than a few minutes or be intermittent in women. Seek emergency medical treatment immediately if you have heart attack symptoms. Not all left arm pain, achiness or difficulty moving is a sign of a heart attack.
Bursitis is inflammation of the bursa. Left arm pain may be a symptom of shoulder bursitis, which usually results from overusing this joint. If the bursa sustains direct trauma or becomes infected, this may also contribute to left arm pain. Tendonitis is the inflammation of the connective tissue between muscle and bone. Tendonitis often develops due to repetitive joint use. For this reason, tennis players, swimmers, and musicians often get tendonitis. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that hold the shoulder in its socket and help a person rotate the arm and lift objects.
A tear in the soft tissue of the rotator cuff can be very painful. It typically results from shoulder overuse or direct trauma.
Aging also causes degeneration of the shoulder tissue, which can increase the risk of a tear. Here, learn more about a torn rotator cuff. When one of the cushioning disks between the vertebrae of the spine ruptures, it juts out between the spinal bones and pushes against the surrounding nerves.
If the disk pushes against nerves that serve the arm, a person may feel arm pain, numbness, or weakness. These symptoms might resemble those of a heart attack, but the cause is different.
Although arm and shoulder injuries may not be life-threatening, it is still important to seek medical evaluation from a doctor. Early treatment can help tissues or bones heal and prevent further damage. The most important factor of early treatment for left arm pain, however, is ruling out a heart attack. If emergency doctors decide that arm pain is the symptom of a heart attack or an arterial blockage, they will act immediately. First, they will most likely perform an electrocardiogram, blood work, a chest X-ray, and possibly a CT tomography angiography scan.
A doctor may also use an imaging procedure called cardiac catheterization. This test allows doctors to assess the extent of blockages by injecting a dye into the arteries. Based on the results of this test, doctors may choose noninvasive treatment. For example, they may prescribe a drug that breaks up blood clots. More severe blockages may call for surgery. There are many different heart procedures, and the factors that go into choosing the most appropriate one are complex.
Some potential options for restoring blood flow to the heart include:. New Health Guide. What causes pain on the left arm? Your browser's JavaScript functionality is turned off. Please enable JavaScript for full functionality of this site. Enter your keyword. Back Left arm pain: symptoms, causes and treatment Updated: February Pain in the arms is a common complaint.
Symptoms of left arm pain Pain in the left arm can be acute when it comes on suddenly and lasts for a short time or chronic when it lasts for over three months. Causes of left arm pain The causes of left arm pain can vary. Is it a heart attack? Treating left arm pain If your left arm pain is benign, you can initially treat it by resting, applying a cold compress to the painful area and elevating your arm.
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