posted May 10, 2010 06:50 AM         

This has been passed on from an ER nurse and is the best description of

this event that she had 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 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 :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 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 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 footrest 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 unlocked the door and then lay 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.

posted May 10, 2010 06:56 AM         

all of you 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). 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.

posted May 10, 2010 11:12 AM         

never assume it is nothing!

posted May 10, 2010 01:11 PM         

------------------

quote:

---

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

---

posted June 26, 2010 08:19 PM         

The shame...

The humiliation...