If you think you are having a heart attack right now, stop reading and call your local emergency number immediately. Don’t try to drive yourself to the hospital. Emergency medical services can begin treatment while transporting you.
If you’re alone, do this
- Call emergency services. Say that you may be having a heart attack and give your exact location. Don’t wait to see whether it passes.
- Sit down and rest in a comfortable position with your back supported. Avoid walking around or exerting yourself.
- Unlock your door if you can do so safely, so responders can reach you quickly.
- Put your phone on speaker and follow the dispatcher’s instructions.
- Aspirin: If you’re an alert adult with suspected heart-attack chest pain, current first-aid guidance says you may chew and swallow 162–325 mg aspirin while waiting for EMS, provided you aren’t allergic to aspirin and haven’t been told by a healthcare professional not to take it. If you’re uncertain whether aspirin is safe for you, wait for EMS rather than taking it.
- If you have prescribed nitroglycerin/GTN for angina, use it according to your prescribed instructions.
- Don’t eat a meal, exercise, or attempt to “walk it off.” Most importantly, don’t delay emergency care.
Recognize the warning signs
A heart attack can cause pressure, squeezing, or discomfort in the chest, but it can also cause shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, lightheadedness, or pain/discomfort in an arm, shoulder, back, neck, jaw, or upper abdomen. Some people—particularly women, older adults, and people with diabetes—may have less typical symptoms.
There is no reliable “cough CPR” or other trick that can safely stop a heart attack while you’re alone. The lifesaving step is getting emergency medical treatment as quickly as possible. A heart attack is different from cardiac arrest; if you become unconscious and stop breathing normally, CPR/AED treatment is required.
