I've dutifully read all of the info about how different heart attack symptoms can be for women, as opposed to men. Pretty much have it memorized.

But what bothers me is, how would I know? I have almost ALL of those symptoms off and on. Shortness of breath? Check. Impending doom? Check. Fullness/discomfort in chest? Check. Nausea? Check. Fatigue? Check. Pain in upper back? Check. And so on.

If I called am ambulance every time one of these symptoms got a little worse, they'd stop coming. And yet...

I'm afraid that if I didn't have a sudden, crushing pain, I probably would just go ahead and have my heart attack. Kind of freaks me out sometimes. And no, I'm not a hypochondriac. At least I THINK I'm not. If I thought I were on, wouldn't that mean...I'm not?

I wonder if you can give yourself a heart attack by reading about the symptoms?

I've heard Medical School students feel thy have what they read. What I thought was MS wasn't. It's hard to know if it's MS, age, family disposed to, etc.

Who said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? AAARRRGGGHH!!

the thing is women dont follow the rule book. Some women have an elbow ache! some women have the crushing chest pain. Some women just have a tummy ache, with burning belches. Take your pulse. is it steady? under 100? are you skipping beats, or having long pauses between beats? If its under 100 and steady, you should be ok. Just check yourself for anxiety levels. Does meditation make it better? can you distract yourself? Will a TV show, book or email take you away? "most" real heart attacks wont let you be distracted from the pain, and emergent need for help. Anxiety will allow you to be distracted.

I am one of those that can feel my own heartbeat with anxiety, and it took me years to learn that my own heart beating is my friend.

Hang in there.

It's the power of suggestion, and my truly hypochondriac mother will read stuff on the internet, or see a commercial on tv, and all of a sudden she's got whatever it is she's reading or seeing on tv.

We've taken my mom to the ER more than once for chest pains, and it's usually some acid reflux thing.

I'm of the opinion, that if you think you're having a heart attack, go to the ER and dont worry if they think you're a hypochondriac.

My sister only had diarrhea, lightheadness and weakness, nothing else. I was with her at Olive Garden when she had a small heart attack. Never second guess yourself, when in doubt, call an ambulance.

Great advice; when in doubt please go to the E.R. Always better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes symptoms can be way different than the classic crushing chest pain.

My friend just felt nauseous and not quite right. She debated awhile and finally decided to DRIVE HERSELF to E.R.!

She ended up having a quadruple bypass and is fine now.

I watched a program on tv awhile back about autopsied bodys of heart attack victims and stomach contents most of the time contained antacids!

My biggest fear is that I'll dismiss something serious as being caused by something minor like MS.

I had an ascending aortic dissection 6 years and 5 days ago. The aortic artery tore at the heart. Extreme dizziness and bad lower back pain. I called my wife, had a beer and a cigarette, and then called 911. It saved my life (no, not the beer, calling 911).

Sheesh. I hate January. Only 10 more days. Tomorrow will be 22 years with MS (1/22/88 - woke up blind in right eye from ON). 1/12/08 - aneurysm in abdomen found. 1/16/04 - the heart thing.

Tom