What should I do if I think I am having a heart attack?

If you think you're having a heart attack, get help at once. Don't wait to be sure. Call 9-1-1 right away. Delay can be deadly. While you wait for the ambulance to come, chew one regular tablet of aspirin (unless you're allergic to aspirin).

If you can, go to a hospital with advanced care facilities for people with heart attacks. In these medical centers, the latest heart attack technology is available 24 hours a day. This technology includes rapid thrombolysis (using medicines called "clot busters"), cardiac catheterization and angioplasty.

In the hospital, you might be given "clot busters" that reopen the arteries to your heart very fast. Nurses and technicians will place an IV line (intravenous line) in your arm to give you medicines. They will also do an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), give you oxygen to help you breathe and watch your heart rate and rhythm on a monitor.

Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/