Heart attacks and women

[Calypso]

I came across some scary research the other day. Almost half of women who have heart attacks never experience chest pain. The most common symptoms are fatigue, nausea, back or neck pain, and dizziness. Also, many women surveyed reported experiencing mild symptoms--especially fatigue--for up to thirty days before the actual heart attack took place.

Add all that together with the fact that women are more likely than men to die within a year after a heart attack, and you have a pretty scary picture. Really makes you think twice about days when you just feel "off."

[Taggart]

Fatigue is pretty common with a lot of people I know because of their busy lives. And I'd say back pain is pretty common too.

That must make it challenging to spot the symptoms of a potential problem.

[debrajean]

I would have to agree with the challenges of spotting the symptoms. Many women have so many misdiagnosed health problems that sometimes the real problem never gets noticed until, unfortunately, it's too late.

[tater03]

I had no idea that the symptoms were so online with common symptoms of other things. That is scary because most of those I would tend to ignore.

[SageMother]

Doctors are so unnerved by this realization that I have to spend the night in the hospital when ever my chronic pain spikes past the point where I can control it at home.

The good thing about it, though, is that the doctor is no longer hesitant about killing my pain.

[riskey58]

I agree when my doctor told me what symptoms were. As a women alt of them I have a lot. Who don't get tired and have back or neck aches often. So I guess we just have to be a little more careful.

[Calypso]

A woman I work with had a heart attack last year. She thought she was having a panic attack (shortnes of breath, anxiety, no chest pain) and didn't go to the ER until the symptoms had been going on for hours. When the doctors did an EKG, they realized that she'd suffered heart damage. Luckily she made a full recovery, but it makes me cringe when I realize how easily her heart attack could have been missed.

[SageMother]

Originally Posted by rubybeetle

Reading all this scares me. It seems like it would be hard to know which symptoms are serious. I hope I could tell the difference.

I think the key is to put aside the socialization that has taught women that most of the symptoms are trivial. I have noticed that if I correct a doctor's terminology, they are usually shocked.

An example is when I was last in hospital and I was explaining what was going on with my heart's activity while in extreme pain. I explaining that I was experiencing tachycardia...a rapid heartbeat, followed by several other things that are just too long to write here.

His response was to first call the sequence "palpitations" which may be a nice description but creates this feeling that the patient is a hypochondriac or hysterical. He may as well have told me it was all in my head and I would feel better if I just settled down. When I corrected him, that attitude changed.

To remove fear, do a little research. Learn about the heart, learn about conditions that can affect it. Look at your risk factors and keep those you want, and get rid of those you don't want. Then, be willing to speak a doctor's language. Using medical terminology can slow them down a bit as it catches them off guard!

[micheal]

That is come scary stuff, my wife was checked for heart disease not too long ago but she learned that woman are more known to have it than men are. Real scary news.

[Calypso]

I agree with Sagemother that it's important to inform yourself about risk factors for heart disease and to speak to the doctor in his/her own language.

I also think it's important to trust your intuition. Some of the women I've known who've had heart attacks (like my co-worker) suspected there was something seriously wrong but were afraid to act on their feelings out of fear of being labeled "hysterical" or "irrational" or _______________ (fill in your favorite minimizing insult).

[SageMother]

Originally Posted by crystal

Yes heart disease is a huge issue with women and smoking is a one of the issues that can cause heart disease. I wonder if they have a cure for heart disease.

Regardless of personal habits, heart disease is one of the artifacts of aging. It is important to remember that the longer the lifespan, the more "diseases" develop from simple wear and tear associated with time.

[mollyL]

Another reason the incidence of heart attacks in women has risen is because only a generation or two ago, women hardly smoked, worked outside the home, or imbibed liquor at the rate women do today. Now the women are, in some cases, competing with men for heart attack numbers.

[ken7700]

My mom had a heart attack a few years ago and the bad part she did not even know she had one. It was a slight one and was found when she had a routine checkup. It is kind of scary in a way.

[loysten]

hi,

As i know womens suffer from heart attack than men,

It's due to dizziness, fatigue and back pain pretty common in woman.

So, it's better to check the risk factors.

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loysten,

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[Swastik]

It has been seen that women with over weight faces heart attacks in an increasing number as compare to maintained weight womens. And for overweight women's the symptoms you have mentioned is common. Over weight women always have back pain and feel fatigue.

[mollyL]

Good for you, Sage; it is important that women learn to be much more assertive with the medical community.
Yes, gone are the days when heart attacks were mainly a male occurrence. Study and knowledge are important in maintaining cardiac health.

[shree123]

The women are always sensitive and now a days in this busy life they try to do many things at a time and also get frustrated. The stress is the main cause of heart attack and this is the thing which is very badly affect on our body. If you want to avoid this then daily in the morning go for walk or do the exercise which will help you to decrease the stress and also help you to generate more energy to run with with fast running life. Healthy food is also have a same importance in our life to make it healthy. This is the best way to decrease the chances of heart attack.