Women and heart attacks - This is worth reading & heeding

[Guest guest]

Women and heart attacks

 

I've meant to send this to my women friends to warn them that it's true

that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when

experiencing a 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. I had a completely unexpected 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 that

had 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

adminstering CPR). This fascinat ing 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 foot rest, 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 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 guerny 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 aor ta

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". Ladies, TIME IS OF THE

ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to

others o n 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 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 Dr. 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.)

MI's 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 you

care about**

 

 

 

Kathy Hayes

Sister Hayes

Tim and Kathy