Heart attacks are medical emergencies in which the heart's own blood supply is compromised. Like all body cells, the heart cells need blood to function and can't utilize the blood from within the heart. Instead, for the heart cells to obtain oxygen, vessels supply the heart with blood. Should one of these vessels become clogged, often by a blood clot, a portion of the heart muscle will be deprived of oxygen and will start to die. The symptoms of a heart attack in men are important to recognize, as they help an individual suffering a heart attack to get medical attention quickly and minimize damage to the heart muscle.
Chest Pain
The classic symptom of heart attack, particularly in men, is chest pain. Explains MayoClinic.com, many of the most familiar and recognizable heart attack symptoms occur more frequently in men than in women---men's heart attack symptoms tend to be a bit more dramatic. The chest pain may feel like the heart is being crushed or squeezed and may radiate to the arm or shoulder. Discomfort may be intermittent or continual and may come on gradually or suddenly.
Shortness of Breath
Another common heart attack symptom in men is shortness of breath, explains the American Heart Association. As with chest pain, this classic heart attack symptom is a bit more common in men than in women. The reason for the shortness of breath is that when the heart muscle is deprived of blood, the efficiency and power of the heartbeat diminishes considerably. As a result, the body cells don't receive enough blood, and consequently become oxygen deprived. The body cells can't tell whether they're oxygen deprived because there's too little oxygen in the blood or too little blood circulation, so the brain interprets their distress signal to mean that there's too little oxygen. This leads to the sensation of not getting enough air, or shortness of breath.
Anxiety
Sometimes, men who are having heart attacks will feel a sense of doom or impending death, even in the absence of other heart attack symptoms, explains MayoClinic.com. When heart cells begin to die, they secrete chemicals that are interpreted by the brain as distress signals. This causes anxiety and panic, though the heart attack sufferer won't necessarily know where the panic is coming from. Men, however, rarely experience otherwise asymptomatic, panic-inducing heart attacks and generally have severe pain and discomfort in addition to anxiety.
