What does your heart rate do before a heart attack?

A slow heart rate is common during a heart attack. Bradycardia is a heart rate below 60 beats per minute and often with a heart attack is associated with chest pain or angina. If the heart rate is too slow, often below 40 beats per minute, dizzyness, passing out, inability to concentrate and dangerously low blood pressure result. read more

A: A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, usually by a blood clot. If this clot cuts off the blood flow completely, the part of the heart muscle supplied by that artery begins to die. Here’s where it gets (more) complicated. Depending on the type of heart attack you are having and where the blockage occurs, your heart rate may be slower or faster than normal. read more

This extreme condition of the heart does not go unnoticed by the rest of the body. The nervous system, true to its name, begins to act up. You begin sweating, feel clammy, and heart rate increases. The nervous system makes you feel weak and nauseated. read more