Silent heart attacks are pain-free, but still risky

Does the possibility of suffering a genuine heart attack without ever being aware that it happened scare anyone else but me? Well, it should if it doesn't, because an estimated 4 million people have suffered these "silent heart attacks" at one point or another. The scary part is that they are symptom-free, so it would be very hard to detect.

This poses an obvious question: How do you check or treat a silent heart attack if there are no signs to point you in the right direction? First off, these are full-blown attacks just like the painful ones -- both exhibit blockage of the blood vessels. Because of this, the same consequences and after-effects could be felt.

There are a couple ways to find out, but these are mainly post-attack procedures. Electrocardiograms can detect these "hushed" versions, as well as hormone tests using blood samples. But if you have any risk factors like diabetes, smoking or hypertension then consider getting checked out. Especially if you feel the potential after effects that could signal heart damage like unusually frequent fatigue or lowered endurance.