According to the American Heart Association, some heart attacks are sudden and intense, while others begin slowly, with mild symptoms. The most common heart attack symptom among both men and women is chest pain or discomfort, although women have a greater likelihood of experiencing other common left-sided heart attack symptoms.
Chest Pain
Left-sided chest pain or discomfort is a common heart attack symptom. According to the Mayo Clinic, heart attack-related chest pain or discomfort can feel like a tight ache, heavy pressure on the chest or a fullness or squeezing in the chest that lasts longer than several minutes. Chest pain or discomfort typically is intermittent. The Cleveland Clinic--one of the top four hospitals in the United States--states that angina or chest pain in those experiencing a heart attack is often confused with indigestion or heartburn, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health say that heart attack-related chest pain or discomfort occurs because the heart is not getting sufficient quantities of blood and oxygen. Heart attack-related chest pain occurs just behind and slightly to the left of the sternum or breastbone.
Jaw Pain
Left-sided jaw pain is a less common heart attack symptom, although it's seen more often in women than men. According to a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, women--especially older women--who had experienced an acute myocardial infarction or heart attack were less likely than men to report chest pain or discomfort as their main complaints. Overall, a significant proportion of women and men who survive a cardiac event such as a heart attack have symptoms, including left-sided jaw pain, that are more intense than chest pain or discomfort. The NIH notes that heart pain can radiate to both the jaw and the teeth, and that it's more common for heart attack-related pain or discomfort to affect the lower jaw than the upper jaw. However, pain in the upper jaw or teeth may signal the presence of another underlying condition, such as a sinus infection. A physician can evaluate a person with left-sided jaw pain to determine the origin of his symptoms.
Arm Pain
Left-sided arm pain is a common heart attack symptom. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, heart attack-related arm pain may occur in one or both arms, although left arm pain or discomfort is more common. Left-sided upper extremity pain--which ranges from mild to severe--may radiate from the chest into the shoulder to beyond the elbow, on the inside aspect of the arm, or it may arise without any associated chest pain. In fact, left-sided arm pain may be one of the first indications that a heart attack is about to occur, and left-sided arm pain can cause sleep disturbances days before the heart attack. The American Heart Association says that if a person experiences unfamiliar or unexplainable pain in one or both arms, he should get immediate medical care, since every second counts in reducing the disability caused by heart attack.
