Dr Paddy Barrett Profile picture
Jul 13 10 tweets 2 min read Read on X
What are the symptoms of a heart attack?

And what is the most important one to look out for?

🧵👇

/1 Image
When a person on TV has a heart attack, they typically:

- Clutch their chest
- Say, 'Urgh!'
- And then dramatically fall over

That's not very realistic.

Heart attack symptoms are often much more subtle.

/2
There are some 'Classic' symptoms, however:

• A weight or band-like sensation across the chest
• A sensation of that pain in the shoulder or down the arm
• Discomfort in the neck, teeth or jaw
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
•An 'Impending Sense of Doom'

/3
But there are lots of 'atypical' symptoms also:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Sudden loss of energy
• Generally unwell
• 'Heart Burn'
• Dizziness

Some people might think they just have a 'cold' or 'flu'

/4
Females can and often do present with more 'Atypical' features

And less of the 'Classic' symptoms.

Sometimes the symptoms are very hard to distinguish from other issues such as:

- Asthma
- Reflux
- Muscle Pain etc.

/5
What is ESSENTIAL to remember is if you 'THINK' you are having a heart attack

Then get to a hospital ASAP.

If you are having a heart attack, your heart muscle is dying, and the quicker you get treatment, the less likely there is to be significant damage done.

/6
"But won't it be really embarrassing for me if it just turns out to be heartburn from eating a takeaway?"

NO!!!!

1 in 10 people presenting to Emergency Depts have chest pain.

Most will not be having heart attacks.

And that's a good thing!

/7
Hospitals have dedicated pathways to assess heart-related symptoms.

It is standard practice to evaluate and then safely discharge people having ruled out heart-related symptoms.

If you don't present however.....

Thats a totally different problem.

/8
Heart Attack symptoms can be 'Classical' or they can be 'Atypical'.

What's most important is that you don't take any chances.

If you think its a heart attack

Then let the staff at a hospital decide.

Don't make that decision yourself.

/9
That's a wrap!

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More from @Paddy_Barrett

Jul 6
A huge percentage of adults have a condition that seriously increases their risk of heart disease.

The problem is.... most don't even know they have it.

📕Make Sure To Bookmark✅

🧵👇

/1 Image
Insulin resistance is a core risk factor for the three leading causes of death:

- Cardiovascular Disease
- Cancer
- Dementia

Not the cause.

But a massive amplifier of risk.

/2 Image
Insulin resistance impacts up to 88% of adults depending on the studies you look at.

There are multiple ways to determine if you have insulin resistance.

Some are very accurate & complex.

Others are simple & fast to do.

Here's what those tests are from simple to complex

/3
Read 12 tweets
Jun 21
The 90% Rule of Heart Disease Prevention

You’ve heard it before:
90% of early heart disease is preventable.

But how do you actually achieve that?

Here’s a breakdown of the 8 factors that determine whether you live long—or die early.

📕Make Sure To Bookmark ✅
Most people get this wrong in 3 ways:

They start too late
They don’t know what matters
They don’t know what success looks like

You’re about to fix all 3.
Physical Activity

Goal: High VO2 max for your age.
How: Running, swimming, cycling—anything aerobic.
Add 2–3x/week resistance training to build strength + muscle mass.

This isn’t optional.
Read 13 tweets
Jun 14
As a cardiologist, here is what I tell my patients

To help them lose weight and maintain muscle mass using nutrition.

Because most people have this all wrong.

📕Make Sure To Retweet✅

🧵👇

/1 Image
When someone asks me what should they eat to lose weight

It's always hard to give an exact answer to this question

But I will try to give you an answer that is at least helpful & directionally correct.

That everyone can apply.

/2
The real issue with poor nutrition is when it leads to excess visceral fat

& all the associated metabolic consequences

So, in truth, “What should I eat?” is mostly a question of how to address this with nutrition.

And nutrition is a powerful tool to address this problem.

/3 Image
Read 23 tweets
May 31
Exercise is probably the single best way to extend lifespan.

You need to exercise like your life depends on it.

Because it does.

Here's why.
👇🧵
/1
When someone says they ‘want to get fit’, I typically have no idea what they mean.

How you exercise if you want to be an Olympic-level sprinter compared to running 5 km at the weekends is vastly different.

So when you say you want to exercise to get fit, to what end?
/2
I base my goals on lifespan and health span:

to be an active and capable 90-year-old.

I want to win at the ‘game of life’.
/3
Read 22 tweets
May 25
When it comes to the quality of your life

Meditation is the most important skill you can ever learn.

Here's why.
🧵👇
/1 Image
The goal of life is to optimise:

Lifespan - how long you live
&
Health Span - the quality of how you move and interact with the world.

But with this time and body, how will you spend that time?
/2
This is the domain of ‘Soulspan’.

The third axis of health.

Lifespan. Health Span. Soul Span.

True health is optimising all three.

Meditation is the key to soul span.
/3
Read 19 tweets
May 18
I hated running.

Then I learned about Zone 2 training and exercising to specific heart rate zones.

It changed my life.

Here's why.

📕 Make Sure To Bookmark ✅

🧵👇

/1 Image
Those who are very fit versus unfit have a five-fold less chance of dying over a 10-year period.

There is practically nothing in medicine that can generate that type of difference.

But why does exercise have such a huge benefit?

/2
Insulin Resistance is a key risk factor for the 3 leading causes of death:
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Cancer
- Dementia

Exercise is a key factor in reversing insulin resistance.

Insulin Resistance = ⬇️ Mitochondrial activity.

Mitochondria are the powerhouse of your cells
/3 Image
Read 17 tweets

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