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Hello My Dear Adland Pro Family,
I am not sure if you have read this before or not, but I wanted
to make sure that this gets passed around as it is very important
to know, especially for us women. It could save someones life.
I know, it is really not something to make you smile, but I have nowhere else to post this.
>> To all my friends I e-mail please read very carefully
>> and plant this like you would a flower in your mind.
>> Heart burn or indigestion is a warning to you. Take
>> heed.
>>
>> I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of
>> this event that I have ever heard.
>>
>> Please read, pay attention, and send it on!
>>
>> Diane K. in AZ
>>
>> FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
>>
>> I was aware that female heart attacks are different,
>> but this is the best description I've ever read.
>>
>> Women and heart attacks (Myocardial 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 and
>> 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,
>> I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 pm.
>>
>> 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 into 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 in, 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
>> it might be!
>>
>> 2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.'
>> And if you can take an asprin. 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 car that you need to be
>> saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that
>>
>> you need ASAP, your Doctor will be notified later.
>>
>> 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 (unless
>> it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied 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.
>>
>> **Please be a true friend and send this article to
>> all your friends (male & female) you care about!**
God Bless!
Marion
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