The lights dim in your favorite movie theater. You have your popcorn, Goobers and the largest soda you've ever seen. You're ready to watch the hero battle corruption for the good of all mankind -- to risk it all and lose his one true love in the process. He overcomes the odds and defeats the unscrupulous enemy. Alone and exhausted, his true love returns to reclaim the man that she cannot live without. Suddenly, our hero clutches his chest, doubles over and has trouble breathing. He drops to his knees and lays in his lover's arms. Before he goes, he manages a final farewell -- "I did it all for you." Then his tired, broken heart gives out once and for all. The curtain falls -- not a dry eye in the house. If only all heart attacks were like they are in the movies. Unfortunately, that's not how they typically go down. A heart attack isn't very complicated. Your heart, like all muscles, needs blood to function properly.

Blood is carried throughout the body through blood vessels and larger arteries. When the coronary arteries that supply blood to your heart get blocked, you're likely to have a heart attack. These arteries become blocked because of a buildup of something called plaque. Once that plaque builds up, it can rupture and completely block the artery, cutting off the blood supply to your heart. Women may also experience additional symptoms when they have heart attacks, and no one is quite sure why. The symptoms include clammy skin, dizziness, a burning sensation in the chest and unexplained fatigued. About 1.2 million Americans have heart attacks each year, and it's the leading killer of both men and women. About a third of these victims die before they ever get to the hospital. This is because you can actually have a heart attack and never realize it. It's called a "silent" heart attack, and Read more it happens more often than you might think.

It's called the silent heart attack, when someone either shows no symptoms at all or ignores or misinterprets the symptoms until the pain goes away. Because the key to recovering from a heart attack is by restoring the blood flow to the heart as quickly as possible, silent heart attacks are even more deadly. What's going on here in most cases is something called ischemia -- when blood that normally flows to a part of the body is temporarily restricted. When this happens to the heart it's called cardiac ischemia. A temporary loss of blood flow to the heart causes chest pain, or angina, which is basically a warning sign that something bad could happen shortly. This is where things get a little tricky. Sometimes there's no angina. This is called silent ischemia and it leads to the silent heart attack. That'a heart attack and pay attention if you experience any of them. Call paramedics immediately if you feel chest pain, have shortness of breath or This product are unusually fatigued and they'll walk you through the proper course of action. Ignoring these signs because of embarrassment or shame can kill you. How are sleep and heart disease related? What's more likely -- death by an auto accident or Prime Boosts death by French fries? Is the cure for heart disease one carrot away? What determines the rhythm of your heart? What's the difference between angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery? Is quitting smoking contagious? How does a blood pressure gauge (sphygmomanometer) work? What is blood pressure? What is open heart surgery and a bypass operation? Condos, William R. Jr. MD.