Blog Post

Cardiovascular health forms a necessary foundation of health for everyone. We all need to take proper care of our hearts, arteries, veins, and blood vessels. Your heart is one of the hardest-working organs in your body, beating 100,000 times a day and pumping 2,000 gallons of blood in that time. 

Sadly, cardiovascular disease is also one of the leading global causes of death, often from a range of preventable conditions. 

Whether or not you have cardiovascular disease, you may think you’re having a heart attack, but struggle with symptoms of another condition, known as a panic attack, and not realize it. To find out which is which, let’s examine the symptoms.

Whether you think you’re having a heart attack, panic attack, or  another alarming problem, you can get medical help from our dedicated team at Houston Medical ER.

Defining a panic attack

An intense feeling of terror, apprehension, or fear, a panic attack occurs suddenly, peaks in about 10 minutes, then subsides, whether you’re in danger or not. Some attacks can last longer or recur, making it difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins. 

This can affect anyone, but traumatic events, or related anxiety or panic disorders can also trigger the symptoms.

The cause of these attacks isn’t well understood, but contributing factors include brain chemistry, family history, stress, personality, and temperament. You can have different types of panic attacks:

• Spontaneous — those completely out of the blue
• Cued —  those that happen in specific situations
• Situationally predisposed — having a higher chance of dealing with them in some situations

Facts about a heart attack

Also known as a myocardial infarction, a heart attack is a blockage of blood flow to your heart and can lead to a lack of oxygen-rich blood getting to your heart, causing lasting damage. 

A heart attack can also happen due to issues like torn blood vessels, blood vessel spasms, drug misuse, and low oxygen problems like hypoxia or hypoxemia.

Several preventable issues can raise your chances of dealing with heart attacks, including hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, high stress levels, sleep apnea, diabetes, alcohol abuse, and a diet high in trans and saturated fats.

Similarities and differences

Understanding the differences between panic and heart attacks can be lifesaving. Panic attacks can feel scary but may not be life-threatening, while even mild heart attacks can be harmful to your heart health. 

Here are the similarities and differences between the two conditions:

What’s similar

Both attacks cause symptoms such as chest pain or pressure, a pounding or racing heart, dizziness, lightheadedness, a feeling of impending doom, and sweating. Breathing problems can also occur, with heart attacks causing shortness of breath, and panic attacks causing trouble breathing.

What’s different

The differences can determine whether you need emergency care, as heart attacks also have cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, upper body pain or discomfort (in the jaw, neck, shoulders, arms, or back), and heartburn. Patients sometimes say they feel like an elephant is sitting on their chest. 

Panic attacks also have specific signs, like sharp or stabbing pain, shaking, trembling, a strong sense of anxiety or fear, and stomach pain. Heart attacks have pains that can move to different places in the body, while panic attack pain tends to stay in the chest area.

Both conditions can be terrifying, but heart attacks need medical care as soon as possible. For more ways to determine which condition you have, contact us at Houston Medical ER in Houston or Spring, Texas, today. If you have any of these symptoms, call 911 right away.