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I was aware that female heart attacks
are
different, but this is the best description I've
ever read.
Women and heart attacks (Myocar dial
infarction).
Did you know that women rarely have the same
dramatic
symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack
...
you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the
cold
sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that
we
see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's
experience with a heart attack.
I had a heart attack
at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
prior emotional
trauma
that one would suspect might've brought it on.
I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with
my
purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story
my friend had
sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h,
this is the life, all cozy
and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy
Boy with my feet propped
up.
A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of
indigestion,> when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of
sandwich
and washed it down with a dash of water, and that
hurried
bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball
going
down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most
uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it
down so
fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this
time drink a
glass of water to hasten its progress down to the
stomach. This was
my initial sensation---the only trouble was
that I hadn't taken a
bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed
to subside, 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 fascinating
process continued on in to my throat and
branched out into both
jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling
about what was happening -- we
all have read and/or heard
about pain in the jaws being one of the
signals of an MI
happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and
the cat,
Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap,
started
to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to
myself,
If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the
next
room where the phone is or
anywhere else ... but,
on the other
hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help,
and if I
wait any longer I may not be able to get up in
moment.
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, 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 unbolt the door
and
then lie down on the floor where they could see me when
they
came in.
I unlocked the door and
then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost
consciousness,
as I don't remember the medics coming,
their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me
into
their 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,
helping the
medics
pull my stretcher out of the
ambulance. He was bending
over me asking questions (probably
something like
'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't
make
my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an
answer,
and nodded off again, not waking up until the
Cardiologist
and partner had already threaded the teeny
angiogram
balloon up my femoral 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 already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get
going
on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere
between my arrival and the procedure) and installing 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
jaws 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 mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox
or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed,
hoping
they'll feel better in the morning when they
wake up ... which
doesn't happen. My female friends,
your symptoms might not be
exactly like mine, so I
advise you to call the Paramedics if
ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt
before.
It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than
to
risk your life guessing
what at it might
be!
2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if
you can
take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER * you are a hazard
to
others on the road.
Do NOT have 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 assistants (or answering
service) will
tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the
equipment
in his ca car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics
do,
principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be
a heart attack because you have
a normal cholesterol count.
Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is
rarely the cause of an MI
by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused
by long-term stress and inflammation in the
body, which dumps
all sorts of deadly hormones
into your system to sludge things up
in there.
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.
A cardiologist says if
everyone who gets this mail
sends it to 10 people, you can be sure
that we'll save
at least one life
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