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When it might be a heart attack
For people in the United States who have had a heart attack; for the husband, wife, son, daughter or friend beside them; and for anyone who may one day be standing next to a person having one. The signs, and calling 911. When it doesn’t look the way you expect. What to do if the person collapses. What a heart attack is. What happens at the hospital. Recovery and cardiac rehabilitation. Fear, mood and the weeks after. Lowering the chance of another one. Work, driving and money. Finding help. And the words to say when you call or write. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Call 911 right away for any of these: chest pain or discomfort; feeling weak, light-headed, or faint, or a cold sweat; pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back; pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders; shortness of breath. These are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s major symptoms of a heart attack. Unusual tiredness, nausea or vomiting can be signs too.
- Call even if you are not sure. Do not drive to the hospital or let someone else drive you: call for an ambulance.
- If the person collapses and does not respond: call 911, push hard and fast on the center of the chest, and send someone for an AED.
- Thinking about ending your life, or about hurting yourself? Call or text 988, at any hour.
More help
- The signs of a stroke? When it might be a stroke.
- Choking? When someone is choking.
- Diabetes too? When blood sugar goes too low or too high. Asthma? When it’s hard to breathe. A swollen throat or hives? When it might be a severe allergic reaction.
- Might it be panic? When panic hits. If you are not sure, call 911.
- Low, or afraid all the time? When the heaviness won’t lift and When the worry won’t switch off.
- Looking after someone? When you’re caring for someone and Help as you get older.
- Seeing a doctor soon? Get ready for your appointment and When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- Changes at work? Ask for what helps you work.
- Can’t work? Applying for disability benefits.
- Someone died? When someone has died.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Your heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, thyroid or blood, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for a heart attack or stroke, blood pressure, AFib, heart failure, cholesterol, diabetes and prediabetes, the thyroid, anemia, sickle cell and menopause, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke: what raises the risk, the warning signs, the ABCs, and the medicines: diabetes, heart disease and stroke: why diabetes raises the risk, what else adds to it, the warning signs of a heart attack and a stroke, how doctors check your heart, aspirin, statins and the medicines to ask about, and your diabetes ABCs.
- When it’s high blood pressure: what the numbers mean, a very high reading and when to call 911, checking at home, medicines, salt and food, pregnancy, and what to ask: high blood pressure: what the two numbers mean, what to do with a very high reading and when it is a 911 call, how to get a true reading, the kinds of medicine, and salt.
- When it’s high cholesterol: what the numbers mean, how often to be tested, statins and other medicines, food, when it runs in the family, and what to ask: high cholesterol: what the numbers on a lab report mean, how often to be tested, the kinds of medicine and what is said about statins, food, and when it runs in the family.
- When it’s heart failure: when to call 911, symptoms, the ejection fraction number, medicines, the morning weigh-in, salt and fluid, and what to ask: heart failure: when it is a 911 call and when to call your provider, the ejection fraction number, the kinds of medicine, the morning weigh-in, and salt and fluid.
- When it’s atrial fibrillation (AFib): when to call 911, what it feels like, blood clots and blood thinners, medicines, cardioversion and ablation, day to day, and what to ask: atrial fibrillation (AFib): the signs that are a 911 call, what it feels like, blood clots and blood thinners, the medicines that slow the heart or steady its rhythm, and cardioversion, ablation and other procedures.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 2, 2026: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery; About Cardiac Arrest; How Cardiac Rehabilitation Can Help Heal Your Heart; Preventing Heart Disease; About Heart Disease and Mental Health; and About Women and Heart Disease); the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (its heart attack pages: What Is a Heart Attack?, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Causes and Risk Factors, Treatment, Recovery, and Heart Attacks in Women; and its cardiac arrest overview and treatment pages); the U.S. National Institute on Aging (What Is a Heart Attack?); MedlinePlus (Heart Attack; CPR; Cardiac Rehabilitation; and Angina); the American Heart Association (Warning Signs of a Heart Attack; Heart Attack Symptoms in Women; Heart Attack and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Differences; Life After a Heart Attack; Cardiac Rehab; and What is Cardiac Rehabilitation?); and the Job Accommodation Network (its Heart Condition page, and its contact page). The description of Crisis Text Line is from its own front page, read the same day. The American Heart Association and Crisis Text Line are private organisations describing themselves; we have no connection with either. We did not call or text any line, contact any provider, program or group, or search any directory. We did not read any clinical or resuscitation guideline, any CPR course material, any drug label, any law or regulation, any state’s driving rules, what any insurance pays for, or the research behind any statement; where the page touches one of these, it says so. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose: a list is not an assessment. It names no medicine and gives no dose, quotes no named person, and gives no figures for how common heart attacks or cardiac arrests are or how many people survive them; the sources have them, with their context. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].