For the ladies: heart attack warning?

This was forwared to me today by a very good friend, and I thought it was worthwhile enough to pass along. If anyone here is a medical professional, feel free to comment on anything that may be incorrect . . .

Apparently this is from a nurse. Worth the read for you or your loved ones...         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 and 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 have brought it on.
I was sitting all snugly and 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 PM.

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.
  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 his partner
had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery
into the aorta and into my heart where they installed two 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 all
ready 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.
 Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the
usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening ****il 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!
  
  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.
  
 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.
  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." 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.

Thank you for this very good message.

Kay

Hi, I work in a Cardiac Cath Lab and used to work in an ER.  I am not clinical anymore but I can tell you that these symptoms are pretty much right on for women.  Our symptoms are different and women are more likely to try and weather out the symptoms.

Women should never ignore any strange symptoms, if in doubt - check it out! 

I have a question for everybody ,

since you got the lapband have gotten to goal, close to goal or just starting out do you all still take your aspirin a  day ?

 

 I do, because both my PCP and cardiologist told me to keep doing it.

Very nicely written...
I am a nurse also.. and as a woman, I also know we do minimize our symtoms and just keep on trucking... because if we do not do it, no one will!!!!

It is so very important to listen to your body and know what it is trying to tell you...
Many of the little twinges and aches we ignore, could be cluing us in on a bigger issue.................

Thats really useful & well written information...thank you!!  I'm glad you were ok!