Identification

• A myocardial infarction, or heart attack, often gets underway gradually, causing confusion as to severity or even actual existence. Pain may be mild or severe. Many people discount the attack as another condition, such as indigestion.
  
  

Significance

• Physicians urge people to seek treatment within one hour of a suspected attack. "There is a limited amount of time before significant and long-lasting damage is done to the muscle of your heart," The Cleveland Clinic states on its website.
  
  

Effects

• Most individuals understand initial warning signs. "The classic symptom is a crushing left-sided or mid-sternal chest pain, which may be triggered or exacerbated by exertion, but it may also occur at rest," according to Dr. Tareneh Razavi, a physician affiliated with the website heartdiseaseattack.com.
  
  

Symptoms

• Signs of an attack may also express themselves as shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, or radiating pain through the legs, arms, back, neck, shoulders or stomach.
  
  

Time Frame

• The duration of heart attack pain may vary. "The pain usually lasts longer than 20 minutes," according to The U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Symptoms may also go away and come back."