This was sent to me by a Realtor friend:
Women and heart attacks - (Myocardial infarction)
Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a heart attack (numbness in the left arm, sudden stabbing pain in the chest, cold sweat, etc.)
Here is the story of one woman's heart attack.
"I had a heart attack at about 10:30 pm with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trama that one would suspect might've brought it on.
I was sitting one evening with my purring cat in my lap, reading a book, actually thinking, "A-A-Ah, this is the life!"
A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, the feeling you get after you take too big a bite, like a golf ball is going down the esophagus in slow motion, although I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After that subsided, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.
Having read that jaw pain could signify a heart attack in women, I realized, "Dear God, I'm having a heart attack!"
I stood, started to take a step, and fell on the floor.
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room, and dialed the Paramedics.
I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws.
I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, I was just stating the facts.
She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un bolt the door and lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
I did as instructed, and lost consciousness,.
I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into the ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap.
He was bending over me asking questions,but I couldn't
make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and I nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femor artery into the aorta and
into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.
I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the
Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was all ready to re-start my heart, which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure to install the stents.
Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaw got into the act).
It is said that many more women than men die of their first and last MI because they didn't know they were
having one, and commonly mistook it as indigestion, took some Maalox & went to bed, hoping they'd feel better
in the morning.
only they never woke up.
My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine;
I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING unpleasant is happening that you've not felt before.
It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said "Call the Paramedics."
Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER:
you're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor-
he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his office will tell you to call the Paramedics.
He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved!
The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count.
Research shows that MIs occur whether the cholesterol is elevated or not.
MI's are often caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps deadly
hormones into your system to sludge up your heart & your arteries.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let's be careful and be aware.
The more we know, the better chance we could survive.
mikeandbarb
denisew
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