It is a universally-acknowledged fact that heart attack is among the single, biggest reason of fatalities among men and women above the age of 40 years. However, all heart attack symptoms cannot be easily decoded. Yes, a pain in the chest or excessive anxiety along with prolonged discomfort in the upper body area, with radiating pain to the chest and shoulders are ready indicators of a heart attack, but some heart attack symptoms are rather difficult-to-recognize. These are referred to as Silent Heart Attack Symptoms. These symptoms can prove to be very fatal as they don’t put forth the typical traits associated with a heart attack, i.e. the patient enters a cardiac arrest without the slightest symptoms, exponentially raising the chances of the heart attack going unnoticed. This means that critical care cannot be called upon by those around the heart attack sufferer, radically reducing the chances of the patient’s survival.

Typically, a Silent Heart Attack is induced by silent or dormant ischemia. Please note that ischemia or reduced blood supply to the muscles of the heart is the underlying cause of most heart attacks. However, ischemia usually develops in such a manner that it raises some visible symptoms. This includes reduced breathing capacity and reduced ability to sustain physical exertion.. When silent ischemia is established, these typical symptoms don’t present themselves and instead, the patient slowly drifts into a state of continuously-reduced blood supply, i.e. to the cardiac muscles. Due to this, the muscles of the heart begin to suffer immensely and eventually, a part of the muscles eventually begin to die—referred to as ‘necrosis’ in medical terminology. The death of heart muscles means that the cardiac valves and the cardiac rhythm are upset. This in turn causes increased blockage of blood supply to other chambers of the heart without inducing any major symptoms—this is how a typical silent heart attack happens.

Electrocardiogram or ECG or EKG is perhaps the best way of decoding an underlying silent heart attack symptom or the chances of the patient developing these symptoms in the near future. This is a non-invasive test that is often recommended as a part of wellness exams for those who are above the age of 35 years or those who have a family history of cardiac diseases or lifestyle conditions like diabetes and obesity that can radically raise the chances of suffering a heart attack. EKG testing is aimed at measuring electrical activity within the heart to evaluate its overall functioning and conditioning of the heart’s muscles.

For instance, when an individual develops silent ischemia a typical EKG indicator, called the ST depression, is noticed. This is regarded as the easiest, affordable and only certain way of identifying the propensity of an individual to suffer a Silent Heart Attack. This is why most practitioners and cardiac specialists insist upon studying the entire medical history of the patient, since personal and family history of the patient are the primary indicators in terms of an individual’s vulnerability to heart diseases. The only types of Silent Heart attack symptoms that are a bit difficult to decode via ECG testing are those caused by damaged nerves or cardiac neuropathy.