What are the symptoms of an aortic dissection?
Aortic dissection often has the same symptoms as some heart conditions, such as a heart attack. Therefore, it is usually difficult to detect a dissection in the aorta. The most common symptoms associated with this condition include pain in the upper back and chest pain. In some cases, the pain may be severe, and feel sharp or tearing in your chest. However, unlike a heart attack, the pain often starts abruptly when the dissection begins to occur and seems to move around. This mostly occurs as other parts of your body get affected by the condition.
You may start to experience other symptoms as the condition worsens. Some of these symptoms include:
- Vomiting
- Jaw pain
- Neck pain
- Shoulder pain
- Shock
- Sudden weakness
- Clammy skin
- Difficulty breathing
- Fainting or dizziness
- Abdominal pain [1]
- Nausea [2]