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Heart Awareness 101
As women, we fear things like breast and ovarian cancer and think of heart attacks as a "man's disease." But it's not!
Feb 08, 2010
Aug 06, 2024
Cardiovascular DiseasesSheryl Kraft, a freelance writer and breast cancer survivor, was born in Long Beach, New York. She currently lives in Connecticut with her husband Alan and dog Chloe, where her nest is empty of her two sons Jonathan. Sheryl writes articles and essays on breast cancer and contributes to a variety of publications and websites where she writes on general health and wellness issues. She earned her MFA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College in 2005.
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When a friend of mine called me to tell me that her neighbor's husband had suddenly and unexpectedly died of a heart attack, she was understandably upset. He was just shy of his 54th birthday.
As women, we fear things like breast and ovarian cancer and think of heart attacks as a "man's disease."
But it's not!
One reason more women than men die of heart disease might be because their symptoms of heart attack may be different. We don't always exhibit the "classic" symptoms, like sharp, burning chest pain; and if we do, it's not always the most prominent and/or severe. Consequently, we may show up later in emergency rooms – after the damage has already set in. And even if we do show up at the ER, there still tends to be some gender discrimination – our symptoms might be dismissed as stress and not taken as seriously.
I, for one, tend to downplay a lot of physical symptoms in general. But when it comes to matters of the heart, this is worrisome. I don't want to be a Chicken Little, convinced that the sky is tumbling downward…yet I don't want to be an alarmist, either. Yet everything I read stresses that women should absolutely not brush off their symptoms, convinced they're just indigestion, anxiety, or our imagination.
Getting proper treatment – and quickly – can greatly improve your chance of survival and minimize heart damage. Speaking of which – don't drive yourself to the hospital if you can help it. By calling 911, you'll get the benefit of paramedics who are quick and trained to handle heart situations, able hook you up to the necessary meds before you even hit the ER.
Confusing? You bet. That's why I think it's important to learn the symptoms more common to us females, which are not always the typical made-for-TV clutch-at your-chest symptoms:
Remember that if you do go to the hospital, make sure you ask the doctors if you are being ruled out for a heart attack. You might look healthy, or like you're not a typical heart attack patient, but that doesn't mean you're in the clear. Tests like an electrocardiogram and blood tests (like troponin, which measure the levels of injury to the heart muscle) should be performed.
So, you might be asking at this point, how do I keep my heart healthy in the first place? (If you have gotten this far, thanks for staying with me. It's too important a topic to ignore. Just a bit more…)
And please, be a friend to another woman you love, and pass on this information. It's too important to keep to yourself!