Female heart attacks

This has just arrived with our latest batch from the States.

I have not checked it for authenticity but it appears to contain some useful information.
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NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

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!

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.

Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

I had a heart attack at about 10:30 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 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 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 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 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 on the 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 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.' 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 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.

Re: Female heart attacks

My mum had an MI which they called a "silent heart attack. She was suffering with a bad chest infection and she was admitted into hospital for that, but the heart attack she had in EMU assessment killed her. It was not at all how you would have identified a heart attack. She did not complain of pain, but it was a massive heart attack and after about a day in hospital she died. I don''t know what we could have done any different because there were no symptoms of a MI to be able to know what was happening to her. She was fully conscious and could communicate, but Iit was only the fact that she was linked up to diagnostic machinery which told the medics what was going on.

Re: Female heart attacks

Great advice, i had a heart attack just over a year ago, at the time all i felt was a bit of a tight feeling in my chest. i thought it was a chest infection returning. I was going to go home but as it was just before Christmas and i didnt want to feel ill, i decided to go to my GP.

I had never visited this practice before, as i had just changed, so it was embarrasing to ask the receptionist to fit me in. at first she was a bit snotty, but eventually a GP came out and took me in to be seen.

Next thing i know im in hospital being told ive had a heart attack. i could not believe it It seemed so innocuous. i thought it was all about massive chest pain etc. I do wonder what might have happened if i had just went home.

Re: Female heart attacks

My heart attack was an odd one.. more like an asthma attack. I just couldn't breathe as deeply as I felt I needed to & it was painful. I drove from North Lincs down to Nottingham to visit a friend & was convinced I had a fluey thing happening. I cut the visit short as I felt rough & made my way back towards home. By this time I was unable to sit up straight & was almost leant forward on the steering wheel & had my window half open to try & get some air. I fancied a coffee & pulled into the services & somehow made it to the coffee bar where there was a queue. After about 2minutes I just couldn't stand there any more so went back to my van and carried on my trip. I got home & simply walked in the back door struggled upstairs and layed on the bed fully dressed. I didnt sleep all night and in the morning I rang the kennels I worked at and said I wasnt well and was going to call in the surgery and i'd be in after. I got into the Dr.'s room and explained and he looked horrified and immediately rigged me up on the heart trace machine and was making a phone call as the results were emerging on the trace. He then rang my boss and asked if they could come and get my car and told them I was having a heart attack!! I had absolutely no idea this was happening as I was quite sure I had a chest infection doing something strange. An ambulance came for me and took me to the hospital in Lincoln and after much faffing and poking and being rigged up on various machines I went for an angiogram where it was discovered that my arteries were in fact ok and I had no heart disease but I had a virus that had started in my neck (I remembered the bad pain in my neck the week before) and it had attacked the heart muscle. I had in fact been having this attack over 24 hours and had no idea. I had various treatment and eventually a fortnight later was allowed to go home and had to rest for another couple of weeks before I was allowed to go back to work. Ive got 2 prolapsed heart valves and my heart is often quite painful but its being dealt with.

Re: Female heart attacks

Glad to see and read this very informative thread. Cassie - especially glad you made it through! What an ordeal for you. (hugs)

Re: Female heart attacks

Great thread to give everyone who reads it some idea of what might happen to us. Better to be armed with some information than to carry
on and drop dead. You did suffer along time Cassie. You would have
been better off going to the QMC in Nottingham as they would have been
able to sort you out earlier. Good you are still here to tell the tale.
Hope everyone gets on the phone straight away if needed and as mentioned its better to be safe than sorry.