Health watch

JILLIAM MILAM ASST. FEATURES EDITOR JGM726@CABRINI EDU

Aman grabs his chest as if he was being stabbed with a knife, tumbles to the ground with shortness of breath and extends his arm in the air grasping for help. This man is obviously experiencing a heart attack…at least that’s how it’s portrayed in the movies.

In real life, this isn’t always how heart attacks present themselves. Some people don’t recognize the signs soon enough because of how subtle the beginnings of cardiac problems can be.

My father speaks from a personal account. “If I could tell the world one thing, I would want to educate people about the lesser known symptoms of a heart attack.”

Ever since his heart attack in September of 2003, his whole life has changed partially due to lack of knowledge about the signs. He woke up in the middle of the night with normal symptoms of indigestion. After walking around the house for about a half hour feeling “not right,” he woke up my mother to tell her something was wrong. Dizziness, cold sweats and dull ache in his upper chest were his complaints. All of which are indications of heartburn or indigestion, something my father regularly experiences.

However, after realizing that the dull ache continued into his upper arms, they began to suspect that it might actually be something other than serious heartburn. After debating whether or not to take him to the hospital, they finally got in the car and started driving. Initially, my mother was going to drive him to Doylestown Hospital because the closest hospital to our house does not have a car-