Heart attacks can be deadly, but recognizing early signs and seeking immediate treatment can reduce complications. Even those without a history of heart problems can experience subtle, often overlooked symptoms, suggests the story of a middle-aged woman from Texas who reveals how she dismissed early heart attack symptoms as perimenopause.
The 46-year-old from Houston, who goes by the name Nikki, took to TikTok to raise awareness about heart attack signs, explaining how her body sent red flags even a week before the medical emergency struck her.
“Two days ago I had a heart attack. I have no previous medical conditions. I have never taken a COVID vaccine … I had some warnings approximately a week before,” Nikki said in a video posted on TikTok.
It all started one morning, around a week before her heart attack, when she woke up with a sore left shoulder, feeling like she’d “slept on it wrong.” Initially, she brushed it off as a possible “frozen shoulder” from perimenopause, a common condition at her age. However, this seemingly minor discomfort turned out to be the first subtle sign of the looming danger.
“Then the day before I had my heart attack, I woke up in the morning and my shoulder was sore again. I felt like I was going to throw up,” she said. The feeling took over her for around 15 minutes but she later went about her day as normally she’d do.
However, the same sensation returned the day she had the heart attack, but this time, she felt a tightness in her chest, as if someone were squeezing it. The shoulder pain also began radiating down her arm. After taking a warm shower, she initially felt better and went to a doctor’s appointment for other unrelated reasons.
At the doctor’s office, Nikki explained her symptoms and asked if she needed to go to the ER. The doctor advised her to head to the ER if the symptoms returned. “He didn’t feel like I should go to the emergency room right then because I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms and they probably weren’t going to be able to see what was going on,” she said.
Feeling relieved, Nikki left the doctor’s office, grabbed some lunch, and stepped out of the restaurant, only for the symptoms to strike again. This time, however, it was a full-blown heart attack. “The arm pain was radiating all the way down, my chest felt like it was being squeezed as tight as you could squeeze it, I started to feel sick again,” she said.
As she started driving herself to the emergency room on the next street, she started sweating profusely and the pain in her arm turned to a “numbing feeling.” Thankfully, a nurse in the ER quickly recognized her heart attack and swiftly got her to the procedure that saved her life.
Many people commented on the video which has already grabbed more than 410,000 likes, with some pointing out that female heart attack symptoms differ from those in men, while others thanked her for sharing symptoms that could save lives.
Heart attacks can be deadly, but recognizing early signs and seeking immediate treatment can reduce complications. Even those without a history of heart problems can experience subtle, often overlooked symptoms, suggests the story of a middle-aged woman from Texas who reveals how she dismissed early heart attack symptoms as perimenopause. The 46-year-old from Houston, who goes by the name Nikki, took to TikTok to raise awareness about heart attack signs, explaining how her body sent red flags even a week before the medical emergency struck her. “Two days ago I had a heart attack. I have no previous medical conditions. I have never taken a COVID vaccine … I had some warnings approximately a week before,” Nikki said in a video posted on TikTok. It all started one morning, around a week before her heart attack, when she woke up with a sore left shoulder, feeling like she’d “slept on it wrong.” Initially, she brushed it off as a possible “frozen shoulder” from perimenopause, a common condition at her age. However, this seemingly minor discomfort turned out to be the first subtle sign of the looming danger. “Then the day before I had my heart attack, I woke up in the morning and my shoulder was sore again. I felt like I was going to throw up,” she said. The feeling took over her for around 15 minutes but she later went about her day as normally she’d do. However, the same sensation returned the day she had the heart attack, but this time, she felt a tightness in her chest, as if someone were squeezing it. The shoulder pain also began radiating down her arm. After taking a warm shower, she initially felt better and went to a doctor’s appointment for other unrelated reasons. At the doctor’s office, Nikki explained her symptoms and asked if she needed to go to the ER. The doctor advised her to head to the ER if the symptoms returned. “He didn’t feel like I should go to the emergency room right then because I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms and they probably weren’t going to be able to see what was going on,” she said. Feeling relieved, Nikki left the doctor’s office, grabbed some lunch, and stepped out of the restaurant, only for the symptoms to strike again. This time, however, it was a full-blown heart attack. “The arm pain was radiating all the way down, my chest felt like it was being squeezed as tight as you could squeeze it, I started to feel sick again,” she said. As she started driving herself to the emergency room on the next street, she started sweating profusely and the pain in her arm turned to a “numbing feeling.” Thankfully, a nurse in the ER quickly recognized her heart attack and swiftly got her to the procedure that saved her life. Many people commented on the video which has already grabbed more than 410,000 likes, with some pointing out that female heart attack symptoms differ from those in men, while others thanked her for sharing symptoms that could save lives.
