~OT Female Heart Attacks~

[Guest guest]

I got this from a friend. I also checked it out on Snopes and it is a real and

true Article. The credits weren't intact so don't know who originally wrote it

but thought it worth sharing. Since I have Congestive heart failure I know it to

be true!

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 & 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 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 s tomach. 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 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 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 " . 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...

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.

God Bless!

Rev. /WolfPoet

Owner & Founder