[Dialogue] Women's heart attack symptoms

[Ruth Reames]

        Karen, thank you so much for this informative email.

                Ruth


On 3/24/07 3:39 PM, "KarenBueno at aol.com" <KarenBueno at aol.com> wrote:

> (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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> 
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