[Dialogue] Women's heart attack symptoms

[KarenBueno at aol.com]

(Copied from another source--good for all of us to know.  Karen Bueno)
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 (hindsight, 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 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 
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 edications?") 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 ac tually 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 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 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...  




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