WHEN David Jobson woke with a pain below his left shoulder blade last Sunday week, he initially thought he was suffering from indigestion.

But when his chest and arm tightened and the pain became sharper, he realised it was more serious.

"I realised nah, this ain't indigestion," said Mr Jobson, a familiar face at JB Hi-Fi in Dandenong. "It was too extreme pain."

He woke his girlfriend, Sheree, and asked her to call an ambulance. Fifteen minutes later he was on his way to MonashHeart in Clayton, where doctors told the startled 35 year old that he was suffering a major heart attack and one of his arteries was blocked. At that point Mr Jobson thought he was going to die.

As he recovers from his ordeal, Mr Jobson is well aware that unless he changes his lifestyle he is at risk of suffering another heart attack.

He acknowledged his life included many risk factors. He had a history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and had also smoked for 15 years.

For the past two years he regularly smoked a pack a day, and takeaway food was a big part of his diet.

He said he had no intention of turning his nose up at a second chance at life.

"No, onwards and upwards. I'd already started changing my diet before I even had this. Now it's a case of yeah, really cut it out."

A report released recently by Heart-Support Australia found 90 per cent of heart attack survivors were unaware they were susceptible to another attack.

MonashHeart acting director and cardiologist Sujith Seneviratne said he was surprised by the findings.

He said patients were warned about the risk of a second heart attack and it was standard practice to send them to cardiac rehab where they would be educated. "Perhaps we're not giving that message strongly enough."

Dr Seneviratne ascribed the lack of knowledge to the fact that most patients felt almost normal shortly after being treated.

"Once you actually treat that event, usually with either stenting or bypass surgery, within four weeks time they're pretty much back to their normal self.

"After a while they tend to forget about it and think the risk of another event is very small."