According to Daily Mail - Health, Kiki Fehling described that panic attack symptoms and heart attack symptoms overlap so significantly that even emergency room physicians often cannot distinguish them without medical testing. Roughly a quarter of people arriving at emergency departments with heart attack symptoms are actually suffering from severe anxiety attacks. Many people, particularly women who are more likely to have atypical symptoms, are misdiagnosed by doctors who attribute their symptoms to anxiety.
Both conditions can cause chest discomfort, shallow breathing, profuse cold sweat, and lightheadedness, complicating diagnosis. What specific medical tests are required to definitively distinguish a panic attack from a heart attack remains unclear, and how common fatal misdiagnosis is, especially in women, is not fully known. Heart attack signs in women can differ significantly from those in men.
Panic attack symptoms and heart attack symptoms overlap so significantly that even ER physicians often can't tell them apart without medical testing.
Common male heart attack symptoms include tight chest pain and shortness of breath. In contrast, key heart attack symptoms for women can include pain in the jaw, throat, and back, alongside intense fevers. This gender disparity increases the risk of misdiagnosis, as women's symptoms may be less recognized as heart-related.
Distinguishing characteristics exist between panic attacks and heart attacks. Chest discomfort from a panic attack tends to be sharp, stabbing, or fleeting and usually stays confined to a small area. A heart attack feels like pressure or squeezing, often described as an elephant sitting on the chest, and often radiates outward to the back, jaw, and arms.
Panic attacks feel terrifying because the body is genuinely going through a survival response.
Heart attacks may follow days of subtle warning signs like unusual fatigue or indigestion and are often triggered by physical exertion, sudden anger, or distressing news. Panic attacks hit suddenly, often with little warning, due to stress, fear, or racing thoughts. According to Daily Mail - Health, Dr Chloë Bean described that panic attacks feel terrifying because the body is genuinely going through a survival response, with symptoms like chest tightness and dizziness.
A panic attack is not deadly, unlike a heart attack, which can be fatal. What specific advice health authorities give for immediate action when experiencing ambiguous symptoms is not detailed here.
From a somatic perspective, it can feel like the nervous system has the gas and brake pressed at the same time, which is why people feel chest tightness, dizziness, shortness of breath, sweating, a falling and spinning sensation, or heart racing all at once.