[Fwd: FW:]

[Guest guest]

I am an ER

nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have ever

heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!

Diane K. in A

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 heart attack at about 10 :3 0 PM with NO prior exertion, NO

prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on.

I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring

cat in my lap, reading an intere sting 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 wi th 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 it 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 spasms), 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 o n 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 a 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

un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me

when they came in.

I unlocked

the door and 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 on20the way,

but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist

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 stints 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 stints.

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.'

And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on

the road.

Do NOT have 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 e quipment 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). MIs 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 (male & female) you care about!**

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