Nausea and abdominal pain in women - hidden signs of a heart attack

Nausea and abdominal pain may not be a sign of digestive problems, but an early signal of a heart attack in women. This is because nerve impulses from the heart and digestive organs are transmitted to the brain through common pathways, which sometimes causes the brain to erroneously "translate" heart pain as stomach discomfort.

As reported by TUT.AZ with reference to "Gazeta.Ru", gastroenterologist Anna Menshchikova revealed an important medical feature of the female body. Women more often experience diffuse coronary artery disease affecting small vessels. This condition is insidious because it proceeds without typical symptoms, but causes oxygen starvation of the heart muscle, which masquerades as stomach problems — weakness, discomfort, and unpleasant sensations in the abdominal area.

The specialist explained in detail the mechanism of this phenomenon: during a myocardial infarction, especially when the lower wall of the heart is affected, there is intense stimulation of the vagus nerve — the main regulator of the gastrointestinal tract. As a result, patients experience nausea, vomiting, heaviness in the abdomen, and medical devices record a sharp decrease in pulse and blood pressure.

Hormonal and physiological differences between the sexes play a significant role in this process. Female hormones estrogens affect vascular tone and pain perception, and the pain threshold in women is usually lower than in men. This explains why a heart attack in women often manifests atypically — with pronounced fatigue, labored breathing, nausea, pain in the back, between the shoulder blades, in the jaw, or upper abdomen.

The medic noted that it is almost impossible to differentiate cardiac pathology from gastrointestinal diseases on your own, but there are alarming signs. If symptoms worsen during physical activity, when climbing stairs, or in stressful situations, and decrease when at rest — this may indicate heart problems. Whereas digestive tract diseases are more often associated with food intake.

The specialist emphasized that symptoms such as cold clammy sweat, sudden severe weakness, dizziness, feeling short of breath, unexplained anxiety or fear of death should cause particular alarm. If such signs appear, it is necessary to immediately call an ambulance, since in most cases they are not related to digestive disorders.