FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

A NURSES HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse, (day in and day out!) 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 AZ

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 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
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
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). 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.