How to differentiate between panic and heart attack

Source =  By MaryAnn de Pietro

Dated = August 16,2018

The symptoms of panic and heart attack are very similar and it becomes very difficult to differentiate.

2 to 3% of US people have every year panic attack and this has the following symptoms:

1. Feeling of sharp pain in the chest.
2. There is a feeling of tightness in the hands.
3. There is shortness of breath.
4. There is tachycardia.
5. The patient may have sweating.
6. There may be shivering.

Evey year in USA 735,000 people have a heart attack and having the following symptoms:

1. There is chest pain.
2. There is shortness of breath.
3. The patient may have nausea and vomiting.
4. There is sweating.

So there is overlap in both conditions.

The difference between the two conditions are:

1. The main difference is the pain.
   1. In the panic attack, the chest pain is sharp and stabbing and localized to the middle of the chest.
   2. While the heart attack pain may resemble pressure and squeezing sensation.
   3. Heart attack pain starts from the center of the chest.
   4. Heart attack pain radiates to the arm, jaw or shoulder blades.