A woman says her life was "changed forever" when she suffered a heart attack at the age of just 24. "

Raquel Hutt lived a "perfectly healthy" lifestyle before the medical emergency. "

She would walk 10,000 steps a day - as well as doing a daily one-hour workout at the gym.

But she was left "screaming and crying" when she suddenly experienced severe left arm pain on August 9, 2024, after getting home from work."

She rushed to NYU Langone Hospital, Mineola, New York and doctors quickly realised she was suffering a heart attack - and had the vitals of a "middle-aged overweight man"."

Now she says she's living the rest of her life in fear of another one - and she wants to raise awareness of heart attacks in young people.

Raquel, a social media manager, from Long Island, New York, US, said: "I was perfectly healthy in every capacity of my life - until I had a random heart attack. "

"I do feel like I wasn't totally believed at first - because I was a young, hysterical woman. "

"Now I have to take a bunch of statins and beta blockers, for the rest of my life."

"It's so important for young people to advocate for themselves, if they're having a medical emergency."

Raquel had just arrived home from her nine-to-five, when the shooting pain in her left arm began.

As she went to the toilet, she felt the "most severe, radiating pain" she'd ever experienced in her WHAT - and it wouldn't go away. "

Having suffered from generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and broken her arm before - she knew she hadn't hurt herself and she wasn't experiencing a panic attack.

She says she "immediately" knew she was having a heart attack."

"I just knew," she said."

"It felt like someone was stabbing me. "

"It was the worst pain I'd ever felt - I was screaming, crying and tugging at my clothes."

Her mum, Jennifer, 54, a podcaster, called an ambulance - which arrived in minutes.

But Raquel says the paramedic suggested she was having a panic attack - and asked her to walk 1,000 steps to the ambulance.

Once she arrived at the emergency room at NYU Langone Hospital, Raquel was rushed off for an echocardiogram (ECG) - but it was too early to see any trauma on her heart.

Raquel said: "Sometimes, when your heart goes through trauma, you can't initially see it on an ECG."

"So once it came up normal, I had to go and sit in a waiting room with other patients in the ER. "

"I had a blood test, and while I waited, my doctor gave me a lidocaine pack for the pain, as well as baby aspirin."

Doctors measured Raquel's blood for a protein called troponin - which is released into the bloodstream during a heart attack.

The normal range for troponin in a person's blood is 0-0.04ng/ml - but Raquel's measured in at 600ng/ml.

She was measured across a few hours - and her levels jumped from 600 to 2,000, 7,000, up to 37,000ng/ml.

"I was told my results were indicative of a middle-aged, overweight man," she added. "

"They did all the scans to check my heart function - but it was still good."

"But my troponin levels were so crazy, they admitted me into the critical care unit (CCU)."

Raquel was under intensive supervision from the doctors - not even being allowed to use the toilet by herself.

After two nights in the CCU, she felt "perfectly normal" - and her arm pain had gradually disappeared. "

On August 11, she was moved to the next ward down, and doctors gave her an MRI the next day.

The MRI showed Raquel had suffered from spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) - a rare condition that occurs when the inner layers of the coronary artery tear away from the outer layer.

"Basically, a little piece of artery fell off the wall of my heart," she said. "

"It was very small - which means I luckily won't suffer any long-term damage."

Raquel is expected to make a full recovery - but says her life "won't be the same" even after the six-week rehabilitation period. "

She has to take a variety of statins and beta blockers for the rest of her life, as well as receiving psychotherapy to prevent future stress.

Her recovery involves her increasing her heartbeats per minute (BPM) by 10 per week - and she's currently not allowed to exceed 90 BPM during light exercise.

She's also been told to adopt a heart-healthy diet - despite rarely eating junk food before the heart attack.

"I was completely healthy before the heart attack," she said. "

"I exercised, never drank energy drinks, never took drugs. "

"It was a really crazy thing - but I'm lucky to be alive. "

"It's really important for young people to address when something in their body feels 'off' - even a sneeze. "

"Don't be ashamed, or embarrassed, to seek medical help."