Questions answered

Yes. Some people, especially women, older people and people with diabetes, have little or no chest pain. They may feel breathless, sick, sweaty, dizzy, unusually tired, or have pain in the back, jaw or arm. If these come on suddenly and don’t settle, call 999.

Heart attack pain usually lasts more than a few minutes, often much longer, or goes away and keeps coming back. Chest pain lasting more than 15 minutes, or with sweating, sickness or breathlessness, needs a 999 call.

The pain can ease, but the damage to the heart muscle continues until the blocked artery is opened. Pain that goes away can also be unstable angina, a warning of a heart attack about to happen. It still needs urgent assessment.

Call 999. Ambulance crews can do an ECG, give treatment and take you straight to a specialist heart centre if needed. If you drive and have a cardiac arrest at the wheel, you and others could die.

That’s a good outcome, not a wasted call. Ambulance services want people with possible heart attack symptoms to call. Nobody will be annoyed with you.

No. Arm pain is often from muscles, joints or trapped nerves. But arm pain, especially with chest discomfort, breathlessness, sweating or sickness, can be a heart attack. The same 999 rule applies.

Sit rather than lie. Sitting on the floor with your back against a wall and knees bent is usually most comfortable, eases breathing and means you won’t fall if you faint.

No. “Cough CPR” is a myth spread online. It doesn’t help a heart attack and may waste time. Call 999, sit down, and chew an aspirin if it’s safe for you.

Not for a suspected heart attack. Only aspirin helps, by making the blood less likely to clot. Ibuprofen can be harmful. See the aspirin page for who shouldn’t take it.

Not always. An ECG can be normal early on. That’s why hospitals also do troponin blood tests, often twice a few hours apart, before ruling a heart attack out.

A heart attack is a blocked artery. The person is usually awake and in pain. A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping properly. The person collapses and isn’t breathing normally, and needs CPR and a defibrillator straight away.

Sudden severe stress can trigger a heart attack in someone whose arteries are already narrowed. Long-term stress can also add to risk through blood pressure, smoking, drinking and sleep. Severe emotional shock can also cause a rare condition called takotsubo, or “broken heart syndrome”, which looks like a heart attack.

You often can’t. Heartburn is usually burning, rises towards the throat, comes after eating or lying down and eases with antacids. If it’s new, doesn’t ease, or comes with sweating, breathlessness or sickness, call 999.

Yes, though it’s uncommon. Smoking, inherited high cholesterol, diabetes, cocaine use and a condition called SCAD are the most common causes in younger people.

Yes. Move them out of standing water and wipe the chest dry. For a pregnant woman, use it as normal. If you can see a pacemaker lump under the skin, place the pad a little away from it. The defibrillator will guide you.

A few 300mg aspirin tablets, a charged phone, and a list of your medicines and allergies. You can make a Heart Card on this site that stays on your phone. Knowing where your nearest public defibrillator is helps too.