Close your eyes and imagine someone having a heart attack. Bet your image included an old and gray haired man. Most of us tend to think of elderly men when we think of heart disease. Our image needs to start including visuals of young, healthy women. According to the American Heart Association each year 10,000 women between the ages of 28-44 suffer from heart attacks, and another 88,000 between the ages of 45-64 also suffer a heart attack. Heart disease is a leading killer of women today.
Ironically, women are not treated as aggressively in diagnosis and treatment as men are. We have been historically taught that heart attacks are classic in their symptoms of chest pain or a tightness of the chest that radiates down the left arm or into the jaw, and can be accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms: perfuse sweating, nausea, headache and shortness of breath. Women are more likely to present with NON classic heart attack symptoms, such as indigestion or heart burn type symptoms, fatigue, back pain, abdominal pain, and shortness of breath.
Heart disease is particularly deadly for women. According to the American Heart Association young women who are having a heart attack are still twice as likely as their male counterparts to die or receive delayed care. Education and research are a must if we are ever going to conquer this woman killing disease, and only recently has the medical community begun to do in depth studies specifically on women and heart disease. So far, we know that we should reduce stress, watch our diets, exercise, and know your family history to help prevent a heart attack. We should also have our blood pressure checked on a fairly regular basis. Women who smoke, are obese, have high blood pressure or uncontrolled blood sugar are at higher risk for heart disease.
Here are the frightening stories of real women and how a heart attack affected their world.
Our first woman, is me, Marion CEO of New Age Venus, was just 32 when I suffered my first heart attack. I have always been fairly secretive about my heart attacks; but have decided to share my story in hopes that it may help just one of our readers. A busy mother of two, I had a myriad of risk factors for coronary artery disease; which I dismissed with nervous laughter and jokes. I was slightly overweight. I have smoked a pack a day, for many more years then I care to admit. I have had high cholesterol since I was 18 years old. I have an extensive (both parents and all 4 grandparents) family history of coronary artery disease.
Even though my doctors knew about my excessively high cholesterol, they only mildly addressed it with low level medications. My first problems began long before my first heart attack. I began experiencing chest pain with exertion. I discussed the problem with my physician who was fairly dismissive at first, but decided to order a stress test just to appease me. The stress test was done, but showed no problems, and I was then completely dismissed regarding my complaints.
Not too long after the stress test my family and I were in a restaurant enjoying a pleasant dinner. I began to experience shortness of breath, and an intense burning chest pain. It felt like someone was pulling on my sternum. It was so intense, that we left my children at the restaurant with my parents and my husband drove me to the hospital. I was left waiting for nearly an hour before the doctor finally entered. Due to my age the emergency room doctor was completely dismissive and bordered on rude. He refused to check my heart. I was treated as if I was having nothing more than a panic attack and was questioned repeatedly about illegal drug use. I assured the hospital staff that I was not on any drugs and I had an extensive family history of heart disease. The doctor then sarcastically stated it was most likely a panic attack and he offered me a valium. I left the hospital without the valium, furious, hurt, in pain and doubting myself.
A short amount of time passed and the chest pain and shortness of breath returned. The pain was intolerable, and even though I felt stupid, I innately knew I needed to seek medical assistance. I insisted that my husband take me to a different hospital than we went to the first time. While, the hospital staff, half pooh-poohed me and treated me like I was just an irrational, melodramatic and over emotional woman. The doctor ordered the basic tests to rule out a heart attack. He ordered an EKG and a bunch of blood work. The EKG showed absolutely nothing. They started to again act like I was nothing more than an over reactive drama queen, who was suffering from nothing more than a panic attack. Thankfully, just a short while later, a blood test called troponin that the doctor had ordered, showed without a doubt that I had suffered from a Myocardial Infarction, also known as a heart attack.
I was admitted to the hospital, and a very young cardiac surgeon came in to advise me that he I would need to have a cardiac catheterization. This is a procedure where the doctor cuts the artery in the groin and inserts medical instruments and feeds it all the way up, until they enter the heart. Once inside they heart they can see where and what is causing the problem. I was taken into the operating room the next morning, for the procedure.
When I came to from the anesthesia, I was furious to learn, that the cardiac surgeon they had sent me in with was new, because they figured it simply could not be a serious or massive heart blockage. Well, when the newbie got into my heart they found the blockage was massive. So massive, he couldn’t handle it, so he simply closed me up. The blockage would require that I be taken back into surgery the next day, with a surgeon who was experienced and could handle the level of blockage that I had.
I was filled with dread as I was wheeled into the operating room a second time. Turns out, my blockage was so large that it required the blockage be cleared and then 3 stents be placed in the right main coronary artery. Stents are tiny mesh tubes that are placed into a weakened artery, in hopes of keeping the artery open and prevent it from collapsing. While performing the intricate procedure, the surgeon found a blot clot. Which most likely came from having the surgeries back to back.
The blood clot required that a heart pump be temporarily placed into the groin artery and up into the heart to help the it pump. The device came out the groin artery, proceeded down my leg and was stitched to my leg, near the knee. The device had to remain in for 24 hours. I was restricted to the bed. I was bruised from my navel line to my knees from the surgeries. I was in agony on both sides of my groin, because they went in on the right with the first surgery and on the left for my second day surgery. But, I was lucky I survived.
This was just the start of my personal heart issues. While, I am on my feet and feeling well, my heart requires constant attention. I am on numerous medications and will be for the rest of my life. I jokingly refer to it as my, “pill salad.”
My children have had to deal with the emotional burden of this since they were very young. I struggled with the concept of doing this story because I was not sure if I wanted to share my personal medical issues, because I do not want symathy or pity. I decided that I had a responsibility to our readers, to share my story, in hopes of saving even one young woman, who may read this and learn information that could help save her life. Also, to make the many women, who have suffered from a heart attack know that they are not alone. I think it imperative that young women today realize that they could be at risk for having a heart attack. They need to know the signs and symptoms of heart attack and they need to be confident in their intimate knowledge of their bodies when they are having a medical problem.
Our second interview with a young female heart attack survivor who we will call Mary; a now 34 year old Arkansas resident and a single mother of three young children. Mary was just 29 years old when she began having dull contractions in her chest and at the top of her back. At first it seemed like nothing major, but it got more painful as the day went on. The pain became intense enough that this young and otherwise healthy woman headed to the emergency room.
At the ER, her EKG was abnormal, and showed that she was in Sinus Tachycardia, this means that the heart was beating too fast. Even though her symptoms could be indicative of a heart attack the doctor, outrageously instead ordered a drug screen and a basic blood panel. But he did not order cardiac enzyme tests, (troponin included,) which would have definitively shown if she had suffered a heart attack.
The basic blood work showed a potassium deficiency. Mary was discharged from the hospital with nothing more than a potassium prescription. She went straight to the pharmacy to fill the prescription that the doctor had just given her, and then home to rest. She began to experience shortness of breath, perfuse sweating, and a tightening in her chest. Thankfully, Mary was in tune with her body and knew this was serious.
She headed back to the emergency room. As the medical staff hooked her up to the EKG, she coded. Her heart actually stopped beating, stopped circulating blood, and stopped providing her body with the oxygen necessary. The hospital staff performed CPR, which did not restart Mary’s heart. They had to use a defibrillator and shock her heart, not once, but twice; before it began again beating, miraculously bringing her back to life.
Mary had to have surgery that very evening. A stent was placed in the left anterior descending artery of her heart. The entire scenario was surreal because she was not aware of any cardiac risk factors. There was no family history of heart disease. She was not over weight. Her cholesterol was not elevated. She did not suffer from high blood pressure. After a slew of tests, the doctor would explain that Mary’s heart issues were most likely caused by stress.
She had to learn to reduce her stress levels. Mary exemplifies the meaning of the words fighter and survivor. We at NewAgeVenus.Com wish her a long, stress free and healthy life.
Women please remember it is not just little old men that have heart attacks. Women, young women suffer life threatening heart attacks every single day. Today alone, approximately 27 women between the ages of 28 and 44 will have a Myocardial Infarction. Many women do not suffer the “typical” signs and symptoms of a heart attack. If you are having any chest discomfort seek immediate medical attention! Remember the name, “Troponin” it is a blood test that confirms and or disproves definitely whether it is a heart attack or not. EKG’s can be very helpful in diagnosing a currently active heart attck, but are Not as definitive as, “Troponin” blood test.
Ladies beware and do not allow yourself to become a static. Know your risk factors and discuss them with your personal physician. Exercise, eat right and know your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Finally, if you suspect you are having a heart attack call 911 immediately.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/18/why-is-heart-disease-more-deadly-in-young-women-th/life/
http://womentodaymagazine.com/fitnesshealth/heartattack.html
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/ |
