Heart Attack Symptoms

Your doctor tells you to lower your cholesterol or you'll have a heart attack.

You take the statin. Your cholesterol drops. You feel terrible.

Then you have a heart attack anyway.

Why? Because cholesterol doesn't cause heart attacks. Half of all heart attack victims have normal or low cholesterol.

Here's what you actually need to know: how to recognize a heart attack when it's happening, what really causes them, and how to prevent them without medication.

Heart Attack Symptoms: Know Them, Don't Ignore Them

Most people know the obvious one: sudden, gripping chest pain means call 911 now.

But heart attacks don't always announce themselves so clearly. Sometimes the symptoms are subtle. Sometimes they masquerade as other problems.

"Oh, I'm just having heartburn." Maybe not.

"I'm just tired from work." Maybe not.

The most dangerous statement you can make is "maybe it will just go away."

If you have any of these symptoms, especially in combination, get checked out immediately. Don't wait. Don't hope it's nothing.

Anxiety Attack

An anxiety attack can be a sign you may be having a heart problem. Additionally, ongoing stress plays a major role in heart health.

Appetite Loss

A symptom of heart failure is abdominal swelling, which in turn can cause appetite loss.

Chest Discomfort

This is certainly the most recognizable symptom of a heart attack, and it's always wise to take it seriously, even if it turns out to be something else.

Symptoms can include pressure in the chest, squeezing, a feeling of fullness, or a burning sensation (hence the often misconception of heartburn).

Dizziness

Along with a heart attack, arrhythmias (heart rhythm abnormalities) can cause lightheadedness, even loss of consciousness.

This is something to take seriously, but it could be an adrenal gland related problem or, potentially, a dehydration issue.

Fatigue

Feeling tired all the time can be a symptom of heart failure. Before a heart attack, a person can feel unusually fatigued, particularly true for women.

This is because your heart is probably having a hard time getting blood to the rest of your body and you can't oxygenate your tissues, including your brain, very well.

Irregular and/or Rapid Pulse

If a rapid or irregular pulse is accompanied by dizziness, shortness of breath or weakness, it could be an indication of heart attack, failure, or an arrhythmia.

Arrhythmias, if left untreated, can lead to strokes and sudden death. This could be related to your diet and is one of the major symptoms of food allergies or sensitivities.

Nausea

During a heart attack, a person may feel sick to their stomach, even throw up.

Other Bodily Pains

While chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom, sometimes pain may not present in the chest but, instead, in the shoulders, arms, elbows, back, abdomen, neck, even jaw.

Persistent Cough

A sign of heart failure may be coughing or wheezing, particularly if bloody phlegm is expectorated.

Shortness of Breath

While becoming winded with minimal exertion could show a pulmonary condition such as asthma or COPD, being out of breath could also be a sign of heart failure or a heart attack.

Sweats

A relatively common symptom of a heart attack is suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat.

Swelling

With heart failure, fluid can accumulate in the body, causing feet, ankles, legs or abdomen to swell. An indication of this could be sudden weight gain.

Weakness

An early warning sign of a heart attack may be an overwhelming and unusual weakness.

What Actually Causes Heart Attacks (And Why You've Been Lied To)

Now that you know the symptoms, let's talk about what you've been told prevents heart attacks.

For 70 years, the medical establishment has told you cholesterol causes heart disease. Lower your cholesterol, avoid saturated fat, take a statin, prevent heart attacks.

This is completely wrong.

Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease. It never did. The evidence against the cholesterol hypothesis has existed for decades, but admitting the mistake would cost pharmaceutical companies billions and expose 70 years of catastrophic medical error.

So the lie continues.

Here's what the evidence actually shows: half of all heart attack victims have normal or low cholesterol. If cholesterol caused heart attacks, this would be impossible.

Your cholesterol numbers don't predict heart attacks. Total cholesterol is useless. LDL by itself is useless. What matters is inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress.

So what actually causes heart attacks?

Chronic inflammation that damages your arterial walls.

Here's the mechanism your doctor should have explained but probably doesn't know:

Step 1: Something Damages Your Arterial Walls

Your arterial endothelium (the inner lining of your arteries) is one cell thick. When it's healthy, it's smooth and resistant to inflammation.

But certain things damage this delicate lining:

Chronic stress elevates cortisol. Cortisol increases blood pressure, damages arterial walls, and drives inflammation. Your arteries aren't designed for constant high-pressure assault.

High blood sugar glycates (damages) proteins in arterial walls. This is why diabetics have such high rates of heart disease. Insulin resistance creates constant blood sugar spikes that batter your arterial lining every single day.

Industrial seed oils oxidize immediately. Canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, vegetable oil. These are the most inflammatory substances in the modern diet. They're chemically unstable, oxidize in your body, and directly damage arterial walls. This is the biggest dietary driver of heart disease, and nobody talks about it.

Inflammatory foods like grains trigger immune responses. Your immune system attacks the irritant. Collateral damage hits your arterial walls.

Smoking. Direct chemical damage to arterial endothelium.

High blood pressure. Constant mechanical stress on arterial walls.

These insults damage your arterial lining. The endothelium develops cracks, lesions, and areas of dysfunction.

This is where heart disease begins. Not with cholesterol.

Step 2: Cholesterol Arrives to Repair the Damage

When your arterial walls are damaged, your body sends repair crews to the site.

One of those repair crews is cholesterol.

Cholesterol patches damaged areas. It provides structural material for repair. It supports immune function at the injury site. This is a normal, healthy healing response.

Think of it this way: firefighters show up at burning buildings. You wouldn't blame firefighters for starting the fire just because you found them at the scene.

Cholesterol is the firefighter. Inflammation is the fire. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming firefighters for arson.

Your body needs cholesterol to repair arterial damage. This is why cholesterol levels often rise when you're sick or injured. Your liver is producing what your body needs to heal.

The problem isn't cholesterol showing up. The problem is chronic damage that requires constant repair.

Step 3: Oxidized LDL Creates the Problem

Normal LDL cholesterol is harmless. Let me repeat that: normal LDL doesn't cause heart disease.

The problem is when LDL becomes oxidized.

Oxidation happens when LDL particles encounter free radicals and inflammatory molecules in your bloodstream. The LDL structure changes. It becomes sticky, reactive, and pro-inflammatory.

This oxidized LDL penetrates damaged areas of your arterial wall where healthy LDL wouldn't fit. Once inside the arterial wall, oxidized LDL triggers an immune response.

Your white blood cells (macrophages) try to clean up the oxidized LDL. They engulf it, become foam cells, and get stuck in the arterial wall. This creates fatty streaks, the earliest stage of plaque formation.

More oxidized LDL arrives. More immune cells respond. More foam cells form. The area becomes increasingly inflamed.

What oxidizes LDL in the first place?

• Industrial seed oils – These oils are already oxidized before you eat them due to high-heat processing. Once in your body, they oxidize LDL directly. This is why removing seed oils is the single most important dietary change for heart health.
• High blood sugar – Glucose directly glycates and oxidizes LDL particles.
• Chronic inflammation – Creates an oxidative environment in your bloodstream.
• Smoking – Floods your blood with free radicals.
• Lack of antioxidants – Vegetables, especially colorful ones, provide antioxidants that protect LDL from oxidation.

Fix these, and LDL oxidation drops dramatically. Your LDL stays in its normal, benign form.

Step 4: Plaque Becomes Unstable and Ruptures

Over time, the inflammatory process continues. Foam cells die. Cholesterol accumulates. Calcium deposits form. You now have atherosclerotic plaque.

But here's what most people don't understand: stable plaque doesn't cause heart attacks.

You can have significant arterial plaque and never have a heart attack. Some people walk around with 70% arterial blockage and never have symptoms because the plaque is stable.

Heart attacks happen when plaque ruptures.

Unstable plaque has a thin fibrous cap covering an inflammatory core. Continued inflammation weakens this cap. Eventually, it ruptures.

When the cap breaks, the inflammatory contents of the plaque are exposed to your bloodstream. Your clotting system activates immediately. A blood clot forms at the rupture site.

If the clot is large enough, it completely blocks blood flow to your heart muscle. The muscle tissue downstream of the blockage dies from lack of oxygen.

That's a heart attack.

Notice the pattern? Every step in this cascade is driven by inflammation and oxidative stress, not cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is present at every stage because it's trying to repair damage and support immune function. It's not causing the problem.

For more on why the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis is wrong, read: Cholesterol: The Myth That Won't Die.

How to Actually Prevent Heart Attacks

If inflammation and arterial damage cause heart disease, prevention is straightforward: reduce inflammation and stop damaging your arteries.

Not with medication. With lifestyle.

Here's what actually works:

1. Move More

Just the act of getting up and walking at a moderate pace will help you begin reversing the signs and symptoms of heart disease.

Movement reduces inflammation, improves insulin sensitivity, lowers blood pressure, and strengthens your cardiovascular system.

You don't need marathon training. You need consistent, moderate movement.

2. Remove Inflammatory Foods (Especially Seed Oils)

Get all sugar, wheat, corn, dairy and soy out of your diet.

These food allergies and sensitivities lead to inflammation that contributes to heart disease.

But here's what matters even more than removing grains and sugar: industrial seed oils.

Canola oil. Soybean oil. Corn oil. Vegetable oil. Sunflower oil. Safflower oil.

These are the primary drivers of LDL oxidation and arterial inflammation in the modern diet. They're in everything: restaurant food, packaged snacks, salad dressings, baked goods, fried foods.

The oils are chemically unstable. They oxidize during high-heat processing before you even eat them. Once in your body, they incorporate into your cell membranes and LDL particles, making both more susceptible to oxidative damage.

This is the single most important dietary change you can make for heart health. More important than lowering cholesterol. More important than reducing saturated fat.

Remove all seed oils completely.

Replace with: olive oil (for low-heat cooking and dressing), coconut oil (for medium-heat cooking), avocado oil (for high-heat cooking), grass-fed butter, and animal fats (tallow, lard from pastured animals).

Yes, saturated fat. No, it won't kill you. The idea that saturated fat causes heart disease came from the same flawed research as the cholesterol myth.

3. Eat More Omega-3 Fatty Acids

The omega-3 fatty acids in wild-caught fish can help reduce inflammation in the arteries and reverse some of the damage.

Eat fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring) 2-3 times per week.

Grass-fed meat and pastured eggs also provide omega-3s.

4. Manage Stress (It's Damaging Your Arteries Right Now)

De-stress. Look at all aspects of your life and figure out where your biggest stress is.

This isn't about feeling calm. This is about physiology.

Chronic stress elevates cortisol. Cortisol:

• Raises blood pressure – Constant high pressure mechanically damages arterial walls
• Increases blood sugar – Which glycates proteins in arterial walls
• Drives inflammation – Creates an oxidative environment throughout your body
• Impairs sleep – Which worsens all of the above
• Promotes abdominal fat storage – Visceral fat is metabolically active and pro-inflammatory

You can eat perfectly and exercise daily, but if you're chronically stressed, you're still damaging your arteries.

This doesn't mean quit your job and move to a beach (though if you can, great). It means address the stressors you can control.

Sleep 7-9 hours. Say no to commitments that drain you. Set boundaries. Meditate. Walk in nature. Whatever actually lowers your cortisol.

For comprehensive stress management strategies, visit the Regulate Your System pillar page.

5. Stabilize Blood Sugar

High blood sugar and insulin resistance are major drivers of arterial damage and inflammation.

Remove sugar and refined carbohydrates. Eat protein and fat at every meal. Don't let your blood sugar swing wildly throughout the day.

For comprehensive nutrition strategies, visit the Fuel Your Body pillar page.

6. Stay Hydrated

Drink at least 2/3 your body weight in ounces of quality water.

Your blood is mostly water. If you aren't getting enough water, your blood won't travel through your arteries as efficiently.

Dehydration also increases inflammation and blood viscosity, making clots more likely.

The Bottom Line

Know the warning signs of a heart attack. Don't ignore symptoms. Call 911 if you're having chest pain, unusual fatigue, shortness of breath, or any combination of symptoms listed above.

But here's what matters more: understanding what actually causes heart attacks so you can prevent them.

It's not cholesterol. It never was.

The cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis is a 70-year-old mistake that became too profitable to correct. Billions of dollars in statin sales depend on you believing cholesterol is dangerous.

What actually causes heart attacks? Chronic inflammation that damages your arterial walls. That inflammation comes from:

• Chronic stress and elevated cortisol
• Blood sugar dysfunction and insulin resistance
• Industrial seed oils (the biggest dietary driver)
• Inflammatory foods like grains and sugar
• Smoking
• Oxidative stress from lack of antioxidants

Cholesterol shows up because it's trying to repair the damage. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming firefighters for arson.

You want to prevent heart attacks? Address the root causes:

Move daily. Remove seed oils completely. Eliminate sugar and grains. Eat wild fish, grass-fed meat, and vegetables. Manage stress. Sleep 7-9 hours. Fix your blood sugar.

This works. Not because I say so, but because it addresses the actual mechanism of heart disease.

Your doctor will tell you to lower your cholesterol with statins. That's what they were trained to do. They're not hiding anything from you. They genuinely believe it because that's what they were taught.

But you now know better.

The evidence is clear. The mechanism makes sense. Half of all heart attack victims have normal cholesterol.

Stop fearing cholesterol. Start addressing inflammation.

Your heart will thank you.

Experiencing concerning symptoms or want to prevent heart disease naturally? Dr. JJ Gregor provides comprehensive functional health evaluations at his Frisco, Texas practice. Schedule a consultation to understand your unique cardiovascular risk factors and develop a personalized prevention strategy.