How to Know if You're Having a Heart Attack

Dr. Valentin Fuster, director of Mount Sinai Heart Center in Manhattan, and one of the leading cardiologists in the country, says heart attacks begins as severe central chest pains and may extend to the jaw and both arms.

"What is important is that the chest pain is different than all the other chest pains," Fuster told Dr. Manny Alvarez last week. "All of us have chest pains, but there is one that says 'I feel frightened. This is different. That's the key'."

But there is a difference between men and women, said Fuster, former president of the American Heart Association.

Women's heart attack symptoms are more atypical -- they may become more stoic and the symptoms not as apparent. However, he said, all abnormal chest pains should be taken seriously.

For more on Dr. Fuster's interview with Dr. Manny, watch the video.